Virgil

The Boppin’ Kids

The Boppin' Kids - Still Rockin' EP
The Boppin’ Kids – Still Rockin’ EP

The Boppin’ Kids – Still Rockin’

[1987]
Maybe One Day – You’ll Never Loose – Brand New Cadillac

This is the first recordings made by this Italian band and it’s a good neo-rockabilly Ep typical of the sound of the mid-80’s. “Maybe One Day” falls somewhere between Frenzy’s earliest work, Dave Phillips and Restless, “You’ll Never Loose” is faster and leans more toward psychobilly and Batmobile. The last song is a cover of Brand New Cadillac and is not quite as good as the other two.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Rip Carson

Rip Carson - Stand Back
Rip Carson – Stand Back
Rip Carson - Savage American Rock
Rip Carson – Savage American Rock

Rip Carson – Savage American Rock/Stand Back

Savage American Rock
PART-CD 682.001 – Part Records [2009]
Don’t Hold My Baby – Full Of Sin – So Long – Come On Back – Green In My Pocket – All Alone & Blue – 2 Timin’ Woman – You Can Find Another Man – Gamble My Life Away – Keep Your Pain – I Gotta Rock – Down That Line – Get It Through To You – I’m Gonna Drink – Tornado Love – Whiskey ‘n Water
Stand Back
PART-CD 682.002 – Part Records [2009]
Little Red Hen – Heart Attack – Can’t Comfort Her – After School Rock – Saw Ya Walkin’ – La La Love Me – Another Bridge To Burn – Stand Back – Rock Me Right – End Of The Tracks – Stay For Me – Holler Little Baby – Don’t Leave Me – Voodoo Woman

Part Records reissue Rip’s first two albums previously released on Rockin’ Ronnie Weiser’s Rollin’ Rock and now long out of print.
Savage American Rock is Rip debut album. One can hear the influence of rockabilly masters like Johnny Burnette or Gene Vincent wildest sides. The band is excellent especially Danny Angulo’s lead guitar. Of course you’ll find some minor flaws inherent to many debut album. Rip’s voice lacks of confidence (even though he’s never clearly out of tune) and the songwriting is not totally original. Though every songs are credited to Carson or Carson/Angulo the careful listener will find resemblances between Full Of Sin and Carl Perkins’ Matchbox, All Alone & Blue and Tex Rubinowitz’s No Club Lone Wolf and You Can Find Another Man and Bob Dylan’s Dont Think Twice.
Those little reserve apart, it’s a good album.

Stand Back goes further on the wild side as prove the first two tracks, all in savage guitars, screams and hoarse voice. But it also shows a more melodic side of the man with tunes like Can’t Comfort Her, Saw Ya Walkin’, Another Bridge To Burn, Stay For Me. A style he’ll explore more thoroughly with his album “My Simple Life”.
A good album, more consistent than Savage American Rock that gives you the best of both world.


Rip Carson - My Simple Life
Rip Carson – My Simple Life

Rip Carson – My Simple Life

Golly Gee Records GGR
The Hate Inside Of Me – All I Ask – Sinking Down – Miss Heartbreak – My Simple Life – Let Me Be -The One I Want – I’ll Tell You – That Aint Enough – Stuttering Cindy – Poor Me- Keep Moving -Happy Heart – I’m Not Free
“My Simple Life”, is Rip best (and last) album to date and probably one of the best rockabilly records this genre has given us in recent years. The musicians are no strangers to rockabilly fans:veteran Paul Diffin (The Blue Cats, Sugar Ray Ford, Big Six, Marshall & The Shooting Stars) on bass and recording, Joel Morin (Dawn Shipley, Pep Torres) on guitar and Michael Faughnan (Lustre Kings) on drums. The mid tempo The Hate Inside Of Me starts the album and you know you’re not just listening to “another good record”.
I won’t go into a song by song review but you’ll find here great rockabilly tunes like Sinkin’ Down, That Ain’t Enough (two collaborations with Rip’s partner in crime: Ryan Sagat), Poor Me and I’m Not Free (with handclaps), a beautiful ballad that sounds like Sam Cooke meets Don Gibson (All I Ask) and two well chosen covers that suit perfectly Rip’s voice : Jackie Lee Cochran’ Miss Heartbreak and Charlie Feathers’ Stutterin’ Cindy. So, the result is quite simple: great musicians with great songwriting and great production work. Take a listen just to hear the instruments separately and you’ll see what I mean. What you have here is a piece of classic rockabilly. An album as important as Big Sandy’s On The Go, High Noon’s Show & Dance and maybe even Gene Vincent’s second album. You couldn’t say I didn’t warn you.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

The Punishers

The Punishers - Beat Me
The Punishers – Beat Me

The Punishers – Beat Me

Rumble Records [1992]
Sexy Sewer – Zombificatet – Beat Me – Red Rain – Midnight Dog – Virgin – Desert – Fish of Death – Freddy K. (Is Not Dead) – Stone Cold Rubber – Born to Be Wild
The Punishers came from Germany and were Sascha Walczyk (vox), Olaf Raffel (Guitar), Frank Schmitz (bass), and Roland König (drums) and released this album in 1992. They were part of this wave of bands that tried to cash on the psychobilly trend but were at best Punk rock or heavy metal with a double bass. Captain Coma is an excellent example of that sound too. This album consists of poorly inspired melodies, the usual horror cliches (Freddy K is not dead), a particularly lousy cover of Steppenwolf’s Born To Be Wild, and a singer who’d like to be Sparky (but is not). Add a muddy production with the guitar on the front, a barely audible bass, and a vocal far, far away, and the result is a dispensable album.


The Punishers - House of Rock'n'Roll
The Punishers – House of Rock’n’Roll

The Punishers – House of Rock’n’Roll

Rumble 12GANG008 [199?]
House Of Rock’n’Roll – Punisher Boogie – Sick Without You – Pervy Dance

Don’t expect to hear any change or difference between “Beat Me” and this ep: it’s is in the exact same vein. Loud, poorly produced, uninspired, and boring, even with only four songs. Avoid it if you can.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Slim Jim Phantom, the Rockabilly cat!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Slim Jim Phantom in action

Slim Jim Phantom

He’s banged the skins for rock ‘n’ roll supergroup, Dead Men Walking.

He’s drummed for the rockabilly star-studded 13 Cats.

He’s played with the Head Cat, Col. Parker, his own Phantom Trio, and…did I mention a little band from Long Island, New York called the Stray Cats? He’s Slim Jim Phantom, rockabilly’s man of a thousand faces.

Since picking up his first pair of drumsticks at the age of ten, Slim Jim Phantom has become widely recognized as rockabilly’s premiere drummer. With a distinctive standup drumming style inspired by the genre’s musicians of yesteryear, Phantom’s skin skills are in high demand.
by Denise Daliege-Pierce

Who taught you to play the drums?
Slim Jim Phantom I pretty much learned from—took lessons from—Mousie Alexander, an old time jazzy guy. Benny Goodman’s drummer, I think. At least, that’s what he said. I’d like to believe him.

How did your love of rockabilly—both the music and the lifestyle—develop?
Slim Jim Phantom I had always liked rhythm and blues music. There were no Hootenannies, no Viva Las Vegas’s kind of thing—none of that existed. I think that we [Stray Cats] first discovered it with the Beatles and Carl Perkins kind of records. Nothing like that was available at the time, really. We rediscovered Elvis, really. We knew the fat Elvis; that was it. From there, we met English kind of guys: teddy boy types. It was just really trial and error.

The Tomcats - 1979
The Tomcats – 1979

Was it difficult to switch from drumming in a sitting position to drumming while standing?
Slim Jim Phantom I don’t remember it being difficult. It was the cool thing that no one else was really doing. It was a different concept. I kind of kept pushing it all forward. It was pretty easy.

Who, would you say, have been your biggest musical influences?
Slim Jim Phantom Really, any of the original rock ‘n’ rollers. Elvis, of course; Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins…Little Richard was a big influence—any one of those original rock ‘n’ rollers. The Beatles; Led Zeppelin…anything that was true to rock ‘n’ roll. Ricky Nelson; the Johnny Burnette Trio—we played a lot of songs off of those records.

The Johnny Burnette Trio was just incredible. I recently read a book titled Rockabilly Legends, in which the author claims—I’m not sure if you’ve heard this story—that the term “rockabilly” was started by the Burnette brothers’ song “Rockabilly Boogie”, which they wrote for their sons, Rocky and Billy.
Slim Jim Phantom I don’t know. I’d heard that “rockabilly” was first used by some record executives or [Sun Records founder] Sam Phillips. It’s all stories, and you never know which ones are true. I just did a gig with Rocky Burnette. I had about twenty minutes’ notice!

What brand of drums do you play?
Slim Jim Phantom Gretsch.

Why do you prefer the Gretsch brand?
Slim Jim Phantom Well, they kind of endorsed me. I think a lot of it has to do with Gretsch having a certain history with rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll. Fred and Diane Gretsch met me as a teen. It’s American…it’s just a great product.

I know that you are frequently asked about your least favorite Stray Cats album, but which is your favorite?
Slim Jim Phantom Almost every guy’s first record is their favorite. Look at the Beatles; the Rolling Stones. It’s your greatest accomplishment. The fact that the gigs and the hard work have finally paid off…you did this. The first record that anyone makes is always their favorite. You didn’t really make demos then. The fact that we had a pretty unique story—we moved from New York to London. We had everything against us: no money, no place to live; no one was recording this music. We were All-American, like the Yankees. Now, new fans of rockabilly are rediscovering our music. Our music is like the “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Rockabilly Boogie” of today. “Rock This Town” and “Runaway Boys” are like that.

Phantom, Rocker and Slick - 1985
Phantom, Rocker and Slick – 1985

How was Phantom, Rocker & Slick formed?
Slim Jim Phantom Wow, Phantom, Rocker & Slick. Right after Stray Cats, we all had to take time off. I think that Earl Slick had just done John Lennon’s record when he was killed. I think that I met Julian Lennon, and he said, ‘You should all get together.’ Brian was doing a solo thing. We had a deal with EMI and we had just gone off a record with Stray Cats, and didn’t want to do that, but everything I play winds up sounding like me. We were young and trendy. The first record was really good. Phantom, Rocker & Slick sounds a little more rock ‘n’ roll; a little more metal. I think we made the Top 20 with that first record.

What caused the group to split up?
Slim Jim Phantom Well, Brian called and wanted to do the band again. The Stray Cats are first priority.

I own a copy of the Carl Perkins television special from the mid-1980s in which you, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and numerous other musicians performed with the rockabilly legend. What was that experience like for you?
Slim Jim Phantom I’ve been very lucky to get these historic kind of events. David Edmunds—he produced three or four of the really good Stray Cats records—was the musical director for the show. He called the Stray Cats, but we’d split up. He hired Lee and me for the rhythm section. The cool thing was we rehearsed about a week before the show. Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, George Harrison—all the older guys kind of kept to their selves. We were the young guys. I went up to George and broke the ice. We became pretty friendly after that. The show went so well; such a positive kind of experience.

George was reclusive—was out of music for about six years. For a good three years, we became friendly. He gave me some things, like some old boots from the Beatles. You could sense a certain enlightenment about him, or elevation. I spent the day with him before he died—he was just an amazing character.

How did you obtain your role in the Charlie Parker biopic Bird?
Slim Jim Phantom I got it pretty much by accident. I can mention that I worked with an Oscar-winning actor and director at the same time. How many people can say that? Forest Whitaker is, probably, the best actor around. Clint Eastwood’s an award-winning director.

It—somehow—had to do with the agency I was with needed a drummer who looked like they were playing the drums, but not, and who could talk, at the same time. And my wife at the time was an actress. So, I did it—five, six, eight lines—for a month. I didn’t really want to do it, but my son was being born, and SAG [Screen Actors Guild] insurance kicked in and covered it. I was nervous about my lines, I repeated them a billion times. So, I get down to the set; there’s an old little trailer. Someone took me inside and introduced me to Forest. We were hanging out and talking. Forest and I became good friends for a few years after that.

Did you ever consider pursuing acting on a larger scale?
Slim Jim Phantom No, it seems too hard, going to auditions; the rejection of it.

How did you become a member of Dead Men Walking?
Slim Jim Phantom Dead Men Walking is just another chancy, cool thing. On the first Stray Cats tour of England in 1980, we got to the first gig. Mike Peters of the Alarm, his band was the opening act. Mike and I became pretty good friends. After a few weeks, we found out they’d just brought their instruments and started playing. They made believe they were the opening act, but they weren’t. But, by then, they were so entrenched in the tour…

How often, in rock ‘n’ roll, do you meet someone and stay friendly with them for 25 years, putting together a thing of a group with three or four hit songs each that everyone knows? It was Mike, [Spear of Destiny’s] Kirk Brandon, [the Damned’s] Captain Sensible and me. We did it mainly acoustic. Mike called me one day at home and said, ‘I’ve got this concept.’ I said, ‘I’m doing it.’ I can’t say no to Mike. We made a record this year.

I’ve heard that you sang lead vocal on “Runaway Boys” during a recent DMW tour. How did that feel?
Slim Jim Phantom Oh, it was good. I can warble my way through it, I sing most of the Stray Cats songs, I can warble my way through most of the songs, except “Stray Cat Strut”. Brian and Lee can sing. You have to be a singer to sing “Stray Cat Strut”. Mike Peters has a great voice and sings it on the tour. I know what Ringo felt like when he sang with the Beatles. I think that the audience appreciates me singing those songs.

For those who may not know, you have recently become involved with the Love Hope Strength Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing treatment and support for cancer patients. How did your affiliation with the group come about?
Slim Jim Phantom That’s Mike Peters. Like I said, I can’t say no to Mike. Mike Peters is a cancer survivor. Twice. The first time, he had it nine years. Nine years. It came back when we were on tour. We only cancelled one show, because he had to have tests done. After six months of lockdown—chemo and remission—we walked the steps of the Empire State Building. We recorded the performance on the deck. It was another one of those great historic events. We’re gonna do the Eiffel Tower [in the future].

How did you meet fellow Head Cat members Lemmy Kilmister and Danny B. Harvey? How did the three of you come together to form the group?
Slim Jim Phantom Lemmy is another guy I’ve known—27 years. He was one of the first guys at a Stray Cats gig at a pub in London. There were, like, ten people there—Keith Richards was there; Chrissie Hynde was in the audience. Lemmy’s a very hip guy, very knowledgeable; a big Buddy Holly fan. We became friends back then and stayed friends.

He moved to L.A. on the street next to me. We played one track on a tribute album to Elvis. Me, Lemmy, Danny B. and Johnny Ramone—who we also lost to cancer—got two or three songs we wanted to play and came back every day for two weeks, until we had a record. I’ve known Danny B. since [his days with] the Rockats.

Headcats in action.
Headcats in action.

Danny B. Harvey is just tremendous. He can, pretty much, do anything musically.
Slim Jim Phantom Danny is as good as everybody: as good a guitar player; as good a producer.

Our readers may be unaware that you own a West Hollywood, California nightclub called the Cat Club. How do you juggle your numerous music projects—Stray Cats, Dead Men Walking, the Head Cat, Slim Jim’s Phantom Trio, 13 Cats—with your Cat Club duties and family life?
Slim Jim Phantom Me, my little trick is I have a very big calendar with big squares that I hang on the wall. I have bad handwriting. I use a Sharpie. Like music—when the Cats call, that kinda trumps everything. E-mail’s great. E-mail’s perfect, ‘cause the time doesn’t matter. If I have a question for Captain Sensible, I can send an e-mail anytime. Everyone has it, except Lemmy. Sometimes, things overlap. Guys in rock ‘n’ roll are more together than you think.

On a different note, are there any contemporary rockabilly musicians that you enjoy listening to?
Slim Jim Phantom Guys who I became very friendly with is Living End. [Guitarist/vocalist] Chris Cheney’s become a very good friend of mine, and they wanted to meet me. My son played a record for me, and I loved it. I think that Big Sandy’s very good. Hot Rod Lincoln’s very good. Sue Moreno; Tiger Army. Reverend Horton Heat is very good. He’s become a friend.

Danny B. has a group called Lonesome Spurs with Lynda Kay—she’s a star. She’s the real deal. Lonesome Spurs is like a country version of White Stripes, which is my favorite band. I just did a couple gigs and needed a bass player, so I used Rory Justice. He’s very good. Eddie Angel’s great. He has a band, the Neanderthals. I think the Neanderthals are the most entertaining band around. We’re gonna try to plan a little tour with the Neanderthals and the Head Cat.

I know that Brian Setzer has developed ear problems as a result of years of playing electric guitar. Have you had any wrist pain after drumming for so many years?
Slim Jim Phantom No, I’ve been pretty fortunate, somehow.

What is your favorite Stray Cats-related memory?
Slim Jim Phantom It’s my whole life, really. So many things that have happened came from that. Probably hearing the first record for the first time; hearing “Runaway Boys” on the radio for the first time. The odds were stacked against us for making it. No one was playing this music. There was no template for it.

Jim, thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me today. Do you have any final thoughts that you would like to share with our readers?
Slim Jim Phantom I do a lot of work with ONE.org. They don’t want any money, just an e-mail address. Go check it out; sign up. It takes two seconds. Just two seconds, and you’ll be doing something nice for me.

or more information on Slim Jim Phantom, the Love Hope Strength Foundation, ONE.org, or to purchase some of Slim Jim’s music, check out the following websites:
www.slimjimphantom.com
www.facebook.com/officialsjp
www.one.org

The Shadowmen

The Shadowmen - True Love Highway - Rhythm Bomb
The Shadowmen – True Love Highway – Rhythm Bomb

The Shadowmen – True Love Highway

Rhythm Bomb RBR 5785 [2014]
Revenoorman – Sleep Rock-A-Roll Rock-A-Baby – Aint That A Dilly – Rebound – Oh Sally – True Love Highway – Warm Love – Baby’s Gone – See It My Way – Poor Boy Blues – Cant Find The Door Knob – Don’t Mean Maybe, Baby – Have A Ball – Love Bug – Kitty Kat – Baby We’re Trough

The Shadowmen are a five-piece band from Albuquerque and “True Love Highway” is their debut album. This excellent piece of music is sure to make the delight of 50’s sounding rockabilly lovers, espacially those who dig the Texas style of Alvis Wayne, George Jones, Sid King or Buddy Holly.
Their originals, 6 out of 16 songs, are solid and don’t detract from the very well chosen covers. Their main singer, Josh Garcia, can easily switch from hillbilly to hot rockabilly and his hiccups, unlike too many singers, don’t sound like a gimmick. Lead guitarist Tom Sanderson plays tasty licks and one can hear the influences of the greats like Hal Harris or Hank Garland. Jeremy McDonald is the band’s second singer and sings harmonies on their hillbilly number and Jimmy and Johnny influenced stuff. He also engineered the recordings and a special kudos must be given to his excellent work. You’d never believe it’s been recorded in 2014 but think of the Gold Star studio in the second half of the 50’s instead. The mix is clear and it allows you to hear and appreciate each instrument and musicians (too often modern bands think that “authentic” means “muddy”).
Really looking forward their nexty efort.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Charlie Feathers

charliefeathers_small

Charlie Feathers – Can’t Hardly Stand It – The Complete 50’s Recordings

El Toro ETCD 1020
Peepin’ Eyes – I’ve Been Deceived -Defrost Your Heart- A Wedding Gown of White
– Tongue-Tied Jill – Get With It- Everybody’s Lovin’ My Baby- Can’t Hardly Stand It- One Hand Loose – Bottle to the Baby – When You Decide – Nobody’s Woman – Too Much Alike – When You Come Around – Why Don’t You – Jungle Fever – One Hand Loose (alternative take) – Can’t Hardly Stand It (alternative take) – Bottle to the Baby (alternative take) – Bottle to the Baby (alternative take) – Everybody’s Lovin’ My Baby (alternative take) – Too Much Alike (alternative take) – My My/ Jody Chastain (Ch. Feathers on guitar) – Jody’s Beat/Jody Chastain (Ch. Feathers on guitar)
I’ve Been Deceived (demo version) – Runnin’ Around (demo version) – Defrost Your Heart (demo version) – Runnin’ Around – I’ve Been Deceived (alternative take) – Someday You Will Pay/The Miller Sisters (Charlie Feathers on spoons) – Defrost Your Heart (alternative take) – A Wedding Gown of White (alt. take) – We’re Getting Closer to Being Apart – Bottle to the Baby (Sun demo version #1) – Bottle to the Baby (Sun demo version #2) – Frankie and Johnny (take #2) – Frankie and Johnny (take #5) – Bottle to the Baby (Sun take #1) – Bottle to the Baby (Sun take #2) – Honky Tonk Kind (take #3) – Honky Tonk Kind (take #4) – So Ashamed (take #1) – So Ashamed (take #2) – Corrine Corrina – The Man in Love – This Lonesome Feeling – Johnny Come Listen

May the gods of Rock’n’roll bless ElToro. Here you have the complete 50’s recordings of Charlie Feathers, in other words “the ultimate rockabilly album” :47 songs from the best stylist of the genre, a great country singer (Sam Phillips once said “He could have been the George Jones of his day.”) and an even greater rockabilly singer, the man that brought up the hiccup to the rank of art. His singles for Sun, Meteor and King are now legendary. They’re all here of course, and much more, including numerous alternate takes and demos (I’ve Been Deceived, Runnin Around, Defrost Your Heart, Bottle to the Baby). Also present are songs he played as a guest musician like Jody Chastain’s single on Kay on which he played rhythm guitar and The Miller Sisters’debut featuring Charlie on spoons. A 8 page booklet completes this absolute must have.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

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