Good evening all!
Now to recap on where we were last week, I started to touch upon the genre of Psychobilly. What it is all about, mosh styles, a little bit about the history of it all, influences, and fashion styles.
This week I shall cover the greater part of it which I have been mentioning about! I kind of underestimated how much I genuinely wanted to talk about, so by the looks of it… there will be THREE parts to this blog!
So, with this second part, I would like to take a look at the original first wave of key bands in the Psychobilly genre in the UK, Europe (next week we will look at the American influence), giving some brief biographies which will clue you up as to what relevance they have had in the genre itself. Please do note, Psychobilly is still so underground that half the bands do not necessarily have a functioning and consistent website, and only partial information is available. That is how underground it still operates. So I will try and do the best I can to bring information to light!
So without further ado, let us begin with the UK Mob!
THE METEORS
The Meteors are what many call the ‘only pure psychobilly band’. When in all truth, they are the band who kickstarted the genre in to what it is now. Formed in 1980 in London, UK, (with the original lineup consisting of the only now original member Paul Fenech (vocals), Nigel Lewis (bass / vocals), and Mark Robertson (drums) ), they blended lyrical themes such as shock horror and science fiction, with a rockabilly and punk rock crossover; like mashing together The Cramps with the attitude of the Sex Pistols.
Their first ever show was at The Sparrow Hawk in London in 1980, at a Rockabilly Night. Because of the forward thinking of their image and sound, they were pretty much exiled from the rockabilly community because of their outrageous stage presence and different sound.
However, with the exile also came curiosity. Over time the band began to take on a legion of fans who were nicknamed ‘The Zorchmen’ , ‘Crazies’, or ‘The Cattle’, who then developed a moshing style which would be called ‘wrecking’ which, if you remember in part one, was the style of moshing that is prevalent in Psychobilly shows even to this day. A mix between fighting, slam dancing, and moshing.
To this day, The Meteors are still touring the world with Paul Fenech still only the one sole original member. They have had a grand total of 47 studio, live album and releases. It is safe to say that they have earn’t their place as the originators of the Psychobilly movement. This is the band that you need to begin with if you want to take a glimpse in to the origins of the movement.
GUANA BATZ
Another influential name within the beginnings of the Psychobilly movement are Feltham’s very own Guana Batz.
Formed in 1983 just shortly after the opening of the landmark Klubfoot club in Hammersmith, the Guana Batz have been noted as one of the most important UK Psychobilly bands to date.
During their first wave of success, they were active between 1983-1990. Enjoying much success by headlining countless club nights and festival circuits in UK / Europe, they were also highly regarded for their high energy live shows.
Having reunited in 1996, the Guana Batz have been going strong to this very day with a selection of albums, and key headline appearances worldwide. More importantly, Guana Batz were one of first UK psychobilly bands to achieve decent success in the USA. The band also have two different lineups which tour the USA, and the UK / Europe respectively. Mainly being Pip Hancox on vocals and Johnny Bowler on bass, who tour both sides of the Atlantic as the key consistent members of the band.
KING KURT
King Kurt are what some would call the ‘rarity’ of the Psychobilly movement. Whilst they never really regarded themselves as a Psychobilly band (they claim they were more of a fun time rock and roll band), they were highly accepted within the community.
Formed in 1981 as Rockin’ Kurt and his Saur Krauts, they eventually decided to shorten it to King Kurt after their third gig.
Noted for their outrageous live shows, which would often involve a lot of baked beans, eggs and flour being thrown in to the audience, free haircuts (yes it did happen), and the highly amusing ‘Wheel Of Misfortune’ (which someone was tied up to a massive wheel and fed snakebite through a tube), they were more of a fun time, yet slightly theatrical, live band who unquestionably brought a smile to the faces of those in the wreck!
More notably, they are arguably the only UK band within the genre to achieve moderate mainstream success, when they released ‘Ooh Walla Walla’ in 1983 via Stiff Records, with their lead single ‘Destination Zululand’ receiving heavy rotational airplay and saw them get to number 36 in the UK charts.
Whilst they only went on until 1988, they enjoyed a fruitful reformation in 2010, which they have played occasional festival headline slots, and have performed a few mini-tours with the original lineup.
FRENZY
Formed in 1983 by Steve Whitehouse (vocals / double bass), Frenzy have long been a staple in the Psychobilly movement for 30 years, and still going strong today.
Known to be one of the most consistent and inspiring acts of the UK bunch, they have had success all over the world, especially with their earlier albums such as ‘Hall Of Mirrors’, and ‘Clockwork Toy’.
In 2007, the band enjoyed a fresh re-launch after a little bit of time out, and have since been one of the most dominant forces in Psychobilly which has seen them play such places in America, Japan, and Scandanavia.
With their 30th Anniversary being this very year, Frenzy are going to be releasing brand new material, and will still faithfully be touring all over the world in celebration of such a year!
SKITZO
Quite possibly the most notorious band of the Psychobilly movement, Skitzo were an entirely different animal that entered the ring. Originally formed as The Electros in the early 80’s, they then changed their name to Skitzo in the mid-1980s with the original lineup of Phil Connor (vocals), Rod Connor (drums), Mac (guitars), and Moses (bass).
What set these guys apart from the rest was their anarchic blend of very raw and gritty lyrical content, streetwise personalities, outcast / underdog attitudes, and different music style, that set them apart from the rest.
Skitzo were probably one of the only bands who did not adhere to the more ‘theatrical’ image of psychobilly, but instead accidentally created what would be a more street smart, almost ‘urban punk’ edge to Psychobilly music, without actually being punk or pure Psychobilly. They mainly learnt towards a more Trash / Garage influence along the lines of The Stingrays, and bringing in other influences from 1950s blues rock and rockabilly like Hank Williams JR, and Johnny Burnette.
Since the formation of their underground sensation debut album ‘Skitzo Mania’ in 1987 via Nervous Recordings, they have had a differing lineup on every release. But with every tour came a sting of notoriety and excess, which saw them create a dedicated and loyal cult fanbase called the ‘Skitzoid Dance Movement’, and playing shows everywhere from abattoirs to biker rallies.
They split in 1996 shortly after their last LP ‘Vertigo’, but due to a phenomenal buzz and demand to bring them out of retirement, they reformed in 2010 to much hype and buzz.
Since the reformation, they have co-headlined festivals all over Europe, their first ever US show being a headline show in Los Angeles, California (which almost ended in a near riot with the police shutting the venue down due to a highly over capacity venue), and playing a couple of small one off shows, playing with the original lineup but with Moses being replaced on bass by Joel Spiers.
With their first new album in 18 years, Skitzo are about to prove all over again why they are considered as one of the most respected names in the game, and have also been name checked by the Reverend Horton Heat as one of his main influences within his music. Not bad going for four chaps from London Town!
DEMENTED ARE GO
Demented Are Go are a Welsh Psychobilly band, who formed in 1982 by Mark ‘Sparky’ Phillips (drums), Ant Thomas (vocals / bass), and Steve Jordan (guitar). Whilst they were not the most organized of chaps in the beginning, the inclusion of Dick Thomas to the lineup, produced a new wave of discipline to the group and even encouraged a line up change to which everyone would consolidate their positions.
The band enjoyed much underground success over the course of the 1980s, and had five studio album releases up until their temporary break up in 1995. They reformed in 1996, and have since then have released three new studio album (the latest being released in 2012 entitled ‘Welcome Back To Insanity Hall’ via People Like You Records).
While these are some of the keynote bands from the UK Psychobilly movement, it’s not just limited to these bands! There are many other great bands from the time, and some who are still functioning to this very day such as Torment, Klingonz, Shark Bait, The Polecats (who are more attributed with Rockabilly), and the Coffin Nails.
Among many others, I would also recommend checking out some of the Fury Records Psychobilly Sampler vinyls / CD’s for some decent underground material!
Now secondly, here is the European mob who helped pave the way for the origins of the Psychobilly movement!
BATMOBILE
Formed in 1983 with members coming from Rotterdam and Breda, Batmobile are one of the earliest and biggest bands in the Psychobilly movement. Their self-titled debut album saw them gain international recognition, and they were the first European Psychobilly band to headline out-of-country festivals, and have enough of a fan base to sell-out their own headline shows as well, including shows at the KlubFoot.
Being one of the most hard working bands in the movement, and after 17 years of non-stop touring and countless studio releases, they split up in 2000 and played their last show at the New York Rumble. This then followed up with a reunion show three years later, to which they then decided to start up as a band again due to rekindled interest and enthusiasm, to which they are still going to this very day.
MAD SIN
Probably one of the most lucrative of the European community, Mad Sin are also one of the more successful bands to emerge from the European circuit, and achieve worldwide success. Formed in Berlin, Germany in 1987 by Koefte DeVille, they claim that their sound is not ‘constrained’ to the psychobilly tag, but veers in to punk, country, and metal influences too.
With this in mind, this stands a decent testament to just how much crossover appeal Psychobilly has on its musicians and to others. They have released 11 studio albums to date, and have been noted as one of the more ‘punk’ influenced bands of the genre, with a very distinguishable hyper speed tempo in their songs, and keeping a very astute sense of sarcastic humor to their theatrical ‘psych-horror’ imagery.
NEKROMANTIX
Nekromantix formed in 1989 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and have since been arguably the most influential of all the European community. The first half of their careers saw them achieve much underground success with five studio albums such as ‘Hellbound’, and ‘Curse Of The Coffin’.
Their fame and acclaim saw them eventually signing up to American punk label Hellcat Records, run by Tim Armstrong from Rancid in 2002, who was a longtime fan of the band. This also got the Nekromantix a lot of acclaim over in the USA, through extensive touring and album releases. To this day, Kim Nekroman is still the only surviving original member, and they are still just as much of a major influence in Europe as they are all over the world in the Psychobilly community.
THE QUAKES
The Quakes are probably the most interesting of the European community of Psychobilly bands. Founding member Paul Roman first heard of Psychobilly music whilst living in London when he tried to start a Rockabilly band. Moving back stateside at the time of their formation in Buffalo, NYC in 1986, there was no such thing as Psychobilly in the USA so The Quakes (originally called The Quiffs) moved to London in order to achieve the success in the Psychobilly circuit that they had so long been seeking.
Although not immediately successful, and with much perseverance trying to land a deal with Nervous Recordings, The Quakes finally got their break when they replaced The Rattlers at a Psychobilly festival in Belgium in 1987. With their first European show being in front of 4000 people, this led to immediate European exposure. The following year, this was led to their debut show at the legendary KlubFoot show on June 5th 1988.
Following all this exposure, the deal with Nervous Recordings was finally sealed, and whilst under their label released four studio albums which were released during 1988-1993.
Since then they did a one album release on Tombstone Records, and have now self-released all following albums on their own record label Orrexx records.
To this day, The Quakes remain as one of the most influential of the European community (even though coming from the USA), and have also cemented their legacy with much international success and extensive touring and headline festival appearances all over the world.
Other keynote bands from the European community include Banane Metalik, Nitkie, as well as many, many more.I hope this has proven to be a sort of decent beginning to start you off with your guide to the key bands and pivotal roles that they have helped in the formation of Psychobilly music!
In next week’s blog, I shall be looking at the American influence (which we touched upon with The Quakes), cultural impact, and the future of the genre itself. I figured that there was just far too much to actually talk about in just two parts! Please bare in mind, this is no published book. This is a starting guide for those who may not be familiar with the Psychobilly movement, so call this ‘Part 2’ of your soon to be comprehensive information! Make sure you tune in next week for part 3!
TO BE CONTINUED…
