Rumble in Brighton: Rockabilly Revivals and PsychoBill

Dave Alvin (left) and James Intveld, two LA rockabilly revivalist pioneers

In my last post, I discussed the wild, frenetic early beginnings of rockabilly in the mid-50’s. Sometime around 1960 or so, rockabilly started to decline in popularity.  Elvis being drafted, the deaths of Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry’s arrest on Mann Act violations, Little Richard leaving perfoming temporarily to join the ministry, all seemed to take some of the momentum away from this musical art form. 

But rockabilly has undergone a number of revivals over the subsequent forty-odd years.  Starting even in the mid to late 60’s, England’s teddy boys worshipped at the altar of Bill Haley and all things 50’s and greaser, and clashes between rockers and mods punctuated the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.  Malcolm McLaren’s first store on King’s Road in London catered to the teddy boy crowd in the late 60’s and early 70’s.  And the pub rock movement in England that presaged the punk explosion of the late 70’s was built on a solid foundation of respect for rockabilly and other forms of early rock; Dr. Feelgood and Be-Bop Deluxe both hearkened to an earlier, wilder, but simpler era, and echoes of rockabilly can be heard in their music. 

 But it was Los Angeles that was a major force in the rockabilly revival in the 80’s, with groups like the Blasters and Levi and the Rockats jitterbugging it up on bills with punk bands like X and Black Flag. I mentioned in a previous post that it was my extreme good fortune to interview Dave Alvin of the Blasters, Knitters, and X when I was a DJ at UCLA’s radio station in around ’88 or ’89; he was as nice and professional a human being as has ever lived, and it’s given me enormous pride and satisfaction to see his career continue to grow over the years.  His compositions on the Blasters’ self-titled second album are first rate, most notably “American Music”, a celebration of, and reflection of American roots rock and roll that garnered considerable national interest in 1983.

Around the same time, I met a girl on my dorm floor who was really into X and she took me to see Billy Zoom’s post-X solo band, and they played a rip roarin’ rockabilly-punk fusion that presaged some of the wild stuff that came out in the late 80’s and early 90’s.  This girl also took me to see rockabilly icon James Intveld at a Hollywood club in late 1985.  Intveld is a largely unheralded figure in rock circles but has spent the better part of the past three decades working with local musicians such as Billy Zoom, Rosie Flores, and the Blasters (he played guitar for them through the 80’s and into the 90’s).  His own brother Ricky was a member of Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band and died tragically in the plane crash that took Rick’s life as well.  James’ sound strides somewhere in the territory between that of the earliest rockabilly icons like Eddie Cochran and that of contemporary rockabilly interpreters like Chris Isaak.  Falling closer to the former is his sweet, rocking song “My Heart is Achin’ For You”, a 1982 single of his on Dog House Records that can be found on YouTube, which really splits the difference between the more rocking aspects of Eddie Cochran and the sweet, catchy pop work of Buddy Holly.  Another standout Intveld track is also only available on YouTube is his cover of “Good Rockin’ Tonight” with Billy Zoom and Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats from a 1987 episode of Art Fein’s Poker Party; Zoom famously acts like a cranky curmudgeon in this video but James and Setzer seem to be having a terrific time ripping through this terrific old gem. Intveld’s more recent stuff is more introspective and thoughtful; specifically, “Remember Me”, which is clearly inspired by the struggles of his father with cognitive decline with aging, has an aching, high lonesome sound that evokes the best of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” era work.  Intveld has never really gotten the respect he’s deserved for his part in reviving, and more importantly, extending, rockabilly beyond its beginnings.  Anyway, he has two albums available commercially on iTunes and elsewhere, 2000’s Somewhere Down the Road, which contains the aforementioned “Remember Me”, and 2008’s more purely country Have Faith. Both are well worth checking out.

In the early 80’s, rockabilly boomed as the Stray Cats exploded, first in England and then in their native America, and brought rockabilly back into mainstream culture.  I have a distinct and embarrassing memory of my mom raving about how great the Stray Cats were because her aerobics instructor played “Rock This Town” in her aerobics class in 1983!  Despite this queasy memory of my mother in leg warmers and a leotard, this has remained my favorite song by the Cats, though I also like “Rumble in Brighton” (a fictional paean to the rocker-mod battles), “Runaway Boys”, and “Double-Talkin’ Baby”.  I must admit that at the time I considered the Stray Cats nothing more than a passing fad, similar to the Bowery Boy swing of Roman Holiday and the blue eyed Northern soul of Haircut 100 and the quirky synth weirdness of Blancmange.  In some ways I was right; after two brilliant albums, the Stray Cats broke up and lead Cat Brian Setzer spent some time wandering in the roots rock wilderness before embracing a second retro fad, swing music, which he also rode to the top in the late 90’s. 

It would be easy to dismiss Setzer as a past-obsessed cultist and opportunist but that would be very very wrong.  Setzer truly seems to love and respect older musical styles and far from treating them as a vehicle for popularity has been a loyal adherent to rockabilly and swing well before, and long after, any mainstream popularity either had.  In recent years Setzer has interspersed rockabilly albums between his swing outings, most notably on his albums Ignition, Nitro Burnin’ Funny Daddy, and 13.  These albums have showcased his phenomenal rockabilly guitar ability; Setzer as much as any human being alive has done more to maintain rockabilly not as a museum piece but as a viable, legitimate musical art form in the 21^st century.  YouTube is littered with videos of Setzer showing up as a surprise at some other artist’s gig and doing an exuberant cover during their encore.  One of my favorite videos like this is of Setzer crashing a gig by Wayne Hancock and covering Hank Williams’ “Mind Your Own Business”; Wayne looks elated to be sharing the stage with such an icon and both of them clearly are having a great time.  Setzer isn’t getting paid for these impromptu live collaborations, he does it because he truly loves the music. 

Rockabilly fell from the national consciousness after the Stray Cats broke up in the mid-80’s, but it has never truly gone away.  Most notably in the late 80’s and early 90’s several bands came along to not only keep rockabilly alive and kicking but also to supercharge it going toward the new millennium.  Most obviously there has been the Reverend Horton Heat, who are one of the main architects of what came to be called “psychobilly”.  Psychobilly has its origins in the twangy, swamp rock blues of the Cramps; their 1986 album A Date With Elvis set an early standard for punk-infused, raunchy neo-rockabilly with songs like “What’s Inside a Girl” and “Hot Pearl Snatch” as well as the legendary “Can Your Pussy Do the Dog”.  Since his first album’s release in 1990, the Reverend has become as much a musical institution as the Rolling Stones, the Ramones, or Metallica, dishing up turbocharged hellfire hillbilly rock on release after release and in his legendarily raucous concerts.  He more than anyone else has been responsible for infusing rockabilly with the wild raw energy of punk and hardcore.  I’ve only just begun to explore the Reverend’s catalog of songs, but my current favorites are “Bad Reputation” and “Psychobilly Freakout” off Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em, “Wiggle Stick” and “Lonesome Train Whistle” off 1993’s The Full-Custom Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat, “One Time for Me”, “Jezebel”, and “I Can’t Surf” off Liquor in the Front, the title track off 1996’s It’s Martini Time, “A Girl In Blue” and “I’ll Make Love” off Spend a Night in the Box, and “Like a Rocket from 2002’s Lucky 7. 

A number of other artists have continued to explore the boundaries of psychobilly.  Buffalo, NY group the Quakes were another early psychobilly pioneer.  Like the Stray Cats, they initially fled America to England during the 80’s in search of a more viable retro musical scene.  Their 1988 debut album is as raw and hard as Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All; songs like “Pack Your Things and Go” are dark and echoey and crude. “You’re Dead” owes as much to the Misfits as it does to the Stray Cats.  Their second album mined a similar vein but their third LP, 1993’s New Generation, highlighted a new pop-rockabilly approach that was invariably disappointing to their core fans.  The title track has a barundi beat and sounds more influenced by Adam and the Ants than by Carl Perkins; what it reminds me of is a blend of early Adam and the Ants with the accessibly 80’s English lite-rockabilly group the Polecats, who’s song “Make a Circuit With Me” was a minor hit.  Other songs like “Dateless Nights” hewed closer to the dark, crude Misfits and Cramps sounds of their first two albums.  Perhaps their best album is 1996’s Quiff Rock; the production has been cleaned up without diminishing the energy or fire and songs like “Throw It All Away” and “Cool To Be a Punk” sparkle and roar.  The Quakes have continued to tour and release albums into the 2000’s and remain a viable force in psycho/rockabilly circles.

Atlanta’s Psycho Devilles formed in the 2000’s around guitarist and singer “Hot Rod” Walt Richards.  They play a barn burning variant of rockabilly not too far removed from Horton Heat’s wild antics.  But this band doesn’t obscure their talented chops behind crude production or ultra-fast rhythms; this is one super tight and talented group of guys and when they turn up the volume it isn’t to hide their flaws but to highlight their talents.  The Devilles are simply one of the best rockabilly/psychobilly bands out there right now.  Among their best songs are “Chopped Up, Hopped Up”, “Jailhouse Bop”, “Bar Fight”, and “Psycho Cadillac” off their 2007 album Psycho Cadillac.  I also like “Thrills For Sure” and “Roots Rock” off Supercharger; “Victory Curls” and “Night Prowler” off 2009’s Night Prowler; and “Torn Up” and the countrified “One Minute At a Time” off –Rockabilly Rodeo from 2012.  This latter album saw the Devilles moving toward a softer, more country-influenced sound, not a bad move for these talented guys.

Nashville, Tennessee’s Hillbilly Casino also released their debut album in 2007; these cats all have hipster cred from stints in much more prominent retro bands, including Brian Setzer’s Nashvillains and the neo-country group BR5-49.  Their sound is like raved up country; songs like “Plain To See” off 2007’s Sucker Punched sound like Hank Williams Sr. as interpreted by Rob Zombie; the song “Voodoo Doll” off this same album even gives a shout out to the Ramones in the form of the “hey ho, let’s go” chant in the middle.  I also like the lighter, Stray Cats sound of “Don’t Stick Around” and “Stop, Drop, and Roll” off their follow-up album Three Step Windup. 2010’s Tennessee Stomp includes the toe tapping “Debt with the Devil” as well as the Johnny Cash-infused duet with Dale Watson “The Ballad of Psycho Steve”. 

Three Bad Jacks hail from the decidedly unrocking town of Woodland Hills, California, but their high energy rockabilly belies their sleepy suburban roots.  They have become a major draw throughout Hollywood and Southern California with their rave-up sound.  Aptly named lead singer Elvis Suissa has a snarl and croon (as well as a hoody charisma) that would knock the pink socks off the King himself, particularly on songs like “Downtown’s Gonna Rumble” and “Long Black Train”.  “Hellbound Train” is more of a punked-up rockabilly raver with a wild, Dead Boys meet Jerry Lee vibe.

One thing that has evolved over the years is a distinction between psychobilly and what is often called neobilly.  Psychobilly of course refers to the rawer, louder, heavier, punkier form of rockabilly crafted by groups like the Cramps and Reverend Horton Heat.   Neobilly, on the other hand, refers to more traditional straight-up rockabilly revival music, and in fact in recent years bands have tended to avoid this syllogism and instead just refer to themselves as a “rockabilly” band.  Moreover, most practitioners frequently cross over this line; even Horton Heat himself plays almost as much straight-up rockabilly as he does psychobilly.  So the line, if it even exists at all, is a blurry one and these days there isn’t much distinction.

One guy who has consistently explored the opposite, more tender side of rockabilly is Chris Isaak, and Chris is another artist who rarely gets his due.  Isaak gets a lot of flak because his music is more soulful and mellow and because it often does well on the adult contemporary charts.  But Isaak has devoted a long and enjoyable career to the sounds of the 50’s.  His work leans more heavily on ballads than on barn burners and hews closer to the work of Ricky Nelson and Roy Orbison, but he’s also provided a number of high energy numbers over the years, like “Gone Ridin’”, “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing”, his cover of Bo Diddley’s “Diddley Daddy”, “Go Walking Down There”, his cover of Neil Diamond’s “Solitary Man”, and others.  His earlier work was also much twangier and closer to classic rockabilly; songs like “Western Stars” and “Gone Ridin’”, “Tears”, “Voodoo”, “Talk to Me”, and “Livin’ For Your Lover” off his debut album all retain the reverb sound of early Johnny Cash, and “Blue Hotel” off his eponymous 1987 follow-up sounds like classic late 50’s Elvis.  My favorite songs by Chris are “Dancin’” off 1985’s Silvertone (named after a famous rockabilly guitar model but this also was the name of Chris’ pre-solo band), “Somebody’s Crying” off 1995’s Forever Blue and “Walk Slow” off 1998’s Speak of the Devil, and pretty much everything off the Baja Sessions album but especially “Pretty Girls Don’t Cry”, “Two Hearts”, and “Think of Tomorrow”.  I can remember seeing the music video for “Dancin’” in ’85 or ’86 and really liking it even then.  I’ve also seen Chris twice in concert and he always puts on a fantastic, high energy show.   I recently watched his PBS special on his latest album, 2011’s Beyond the Sun, in which Chris went to Sun Studios in Memphis and covered a number of Sun singles both famous and obscure.  He also shares the stage with rockabilly hellcat Wanda Jackson, who at 82 can still get up and belt out “Fujiyama Mama”.  My favorites off this album are his cover of the King’s “Trying To Get To You”, Carl Perkins’ “Dixie Fried”, and his originals “Live It Up” and “Lovely Loretta”.

Isaak’s former guitarist, James Wilsey, released an album of guitar instrumentals in 2008 called El Dorado. Anyone loving the twangy melancholy of Isaak songs like “Wicked Game” will greatly enjoy this album.  “City of Broke Dolls” is fantastic, as is “Tierra Del Fuego”. 

In coming posts I hope to explore, with the help of the fantastic web site Reverbnation, some of the smaller and more regional rockabilly groups and see what I can find.