Virgil

Eddie Angel (Planet Rockers, Los Straitjackets…)

eddie_angel_480Eddie Angel really don’t need no introduction. If you’re into today’s rock’n’roll you’ve already heard about him and even if you’re a rock’n’roll beginner, it’s almost impossible you haven’t heard of The Planet Rockers, The Neanderthals and Los Straitjackets yet. Eddie also owns a record label called Spinout on which he released as well as his own stuff, records by The Hi-Risers, The Stumbleweeds, Barbara Burnette, The Kaisers, Sonny George etc.
Now, enough talking, read the facts from the man himself.

by Fred “Virgil” Turgis

When did you know you wanted to be a musician?
Eddie Angel   When I was very young, probably 10 or 12… Music had a magical effect on me

Fans of rock’n’roll are aware of your stuff with Tex Rubinowitz in the early 80’s but what kind of stuff did you play before joining him?
Eddie Angel   Well my first love was rockabilly and 50’s R’n’R in general but there was no opportunity to play that in Albany, NY in the 1970’s so I did whatever I had to do in order to play music… I played in an oldies lounge band “Tino and The Revlons” for a while. Tino, the leader was later murdered in Jamaica….in the mid 70’s i played in a band called “The Star Spangled Washboard Band” which was a jug band/skiffle band but was very successful because it was very entertaining and funny. We played clubs and colleges and bluegrass festivals up and down the east coast. that indirectly got me into Tex’s band because we were very popular in Washington, DC so in 1980 when Tex was looking for a guitar player I got the gig.

What made you move to Nashville?
Eddie Angel   I was living in Albany,NY and had a rockabilly type band with a girl singer who sounded like Wanda Jackson. So we thought “lets go to Nashville” it was the only place where they still made records that featured guitars… This was in 1986. I was determined to make it in music so I wanted to go to a music center. I never thought I’d live here permanently.

How did you come with the idea of a label ?
Eddie Angel   I never really wanted a label… it was initially just an outlet for some of my recordings … we started out just putting out 45’s . I was recording with The Planet Rockers and The Neanderthals in London at Toe Rag. Barney Koumis was putting the stuff out on No Hit Records….so he just gave me some tracks to use for 45’s. it was 1994 and I started touring a lot with Los Straitjackets and surf bands were popping up everywhere so we put out a few instro comps….and then friends would ask me to put out their bands….thats how we did the first Shack Shakers cd for instance.

You once said that your holly trinity of Rock’n’roll was Elvis, The Beatles and The Beach Boys. And Spinout really seems to be a place halfway between Liverpool and the USA…
Eddie Angel   well, for my money Elvis and The Beatles are in league of their own… I hear a lot of groaning out there cos there are lots of wilder records than Elvis or The Beatles made and I agree there are lots of artists who made one or two more exciting,interesting or rockin’ record than The Beatles or Elvis but not with the consistency or overall quality. It was usually a one-off, some hillbilly capturing lightning in a bottle. I love The Sonics and Charlie Feathers and their records are wild but in the end they seem human to me… The Beatles and Elvis don’t seem human to me . The Beach Boys I like a lot, but I don’t remember putting them in the same pantheon as Elvis and The Beatles, but, I think they might be the best American “band”….again taking into account songwriting,recording quality, consistency .

Of course you have to cover fabrication costs and all that stuff, but Spinout really seems to be a labour of love, similar in a way to Deke Dickerson’s Eccofonic label…
Eddie Angel   well everything you do in music has to start as a labor of love. It doesn’t make sense to get into music to make money, there are much easier ways to do that. If you don’t believe me,ask anyone who does it for a living

In another interview you said “I definitely think rock music is way too serious. It bores me to death”
Eddie Angel   Notice I said “rock” music not rock’n’roll. I’m talking about all the crap thats been flying around for the last 20 years or so…. and yes it bores me when someone sings about themselves, I’d rather hear “Surfin’ Bird” or Chubby Checker.

Is this why you did “Young At Heart”?
Eddie Angel   I did “Young at Heart” because I wanted to do a kids record.  It features Cindy Fee, a friend of mine who has a voice like Ella Fitzgerald

Tell us about the idea behind “Meet The Beatles”…
Eddie Angel   I wanted to do songs that were in The Beatles live repertoire before they made it, not Beatles songs themselves, but what were The Beatles playing at the Cavern or the Star Club. A list exists of every song known that the Beatles ever performed, some of them i’d never heard like “One Track Mind”, it was the flip side of “Tossin and Turning” or “Nobody but Me” by The Lafayettes… again a flip side to their hit single.
It was a fun and interesting project and I came away with a few thoughts. They were genius in their choice of songs and totally unorthodox. They were a product of the twist era.

You were approximately 10 when the Beatles “conquered” the USA. Did you have the chance to see them on the Ed Sullivan Show?
Eddie Angel   Yes! I remember seeing them on their first Ed Sullivan appearance. It put me on my life’s trajectory. I actually remember the first time I heard The Beatles. I was in the record department of my local department store and they would play the new records over the PA system. I heard “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and I was knocked out… I thought it was a black group,like The Miracles, anyway I bought the 45 on the spot and brought it home to my sister who was strictly an Elvis fan. She looked at the cover, made a face and sneered “ooh they LOOK like beetles

Some discovered rockabilly and rock’n’roll through the versions The Beatles did of Matchbox, Rock’n’roll Music, Honey Don’t, Words Of Love etc. What about you?
Eddie Angel   Yes to a certain degree, but I also had 2 older sisters who were original rock’n’nroll fans, they had all the Elvis records, some Jerry Lee,Little Richard, Everly Bros etc. so I heard that music growing up. But I don’t think I had heard much Carl Perkins,outside of “Blue Suede Shoes”, but I think I play the guitar the way I do is because my brain was wired at an early age by the 50’s R’nR records my sisters played constantly around the house. R’n’R was the only music I heard growing up, there was no classical or pop standards played in the house.

On “Meet The Beatles” this is the first time, to my knowledge, you’re taking the lead vocal part, at least on a long distance. How did you approach that?
Eddie Angel   Well, I have sung in bands over the years, its just not something I ever gave much thought to. I never thought of myself as a singer… but I’m not bad.

A constant with Spinout’s records and this one makes no exception is the quality of the covers design. It really seems like it’s very important for you…
Eddie Angel   I’m lucky to know a few very talented graphic artists. Kaiser George does most of the covers and I think he’s a genius.

Please tell us more about Ray Wallace described as a “Psychotic Leonard Cohen on Ritalin”. Add to this, songs like “Hitler’s Gone Surfin’ with your Mother” or “When The Partridge Family Meets The Manson Family” to name but two, it’s kinda intriguing…
Eddie Angel   I first met Ray in 1980. Ray was 16 and a troubled youth,when his mother brought him to see Tex Rubinowitz and The Bad Boys… Ray flipped out, went from being a kinda Greatful Dead fan to a full blown Rockabilly and Link Wray fan. I began giving him guitar lessons. He learned every Link Wray song he could and then every Bob Dylan song and started busking.
Ray was kicked out of every school he attended for violent anti-social behavior. His mother finally had to put him in a school for nut cases. He later moved to Denver and started writing all these songs. I thought they were great and put the CD out. Ray is now back in the Washington DC area and I hope he stays out of trouble!

You also released “Eddie Angel Plays Link Wray”. How did you discover Link’s music?
Eddie Angel   I met Link in 1973. I was living in Venice Beach,CA trying to make it as a songwriter. My friend and songwriting partner Dave Bloom came home one day and told me he had gotten a gig playing piano for some guy named Link Wray. I have to admit, I had never heard of him. Link had a new record out on Polydor and was putting a band together to tour. I said “get me in the band,I’ll play rhythm!!” Next thing I know I’m jamming with Link Wray in a garage in North Hollywood. But really it was Tex Rubinowitz that got me into Link’s music. Link was Tex’s favorite guitar player and he turned me on to Link’s early stuff. We used to perform “Rawhide”, “Run, Chicken,Run” and “Jack the Ripper”. This was in 1980, Washington,DC, Link’s old stomping grounds. I took to Link’s playing like a duck to water… it was in my blood.

Do you have a special memory with him?
Eddie Angel   One of my favorite memories was doing “Rumble” onstage in Minneapolis with him and Tony Andreason of the Trashmen. Another time when he played my hometown Albany,NY, he invited my mother onstage and sang a bunch of songs to her!! I wasn’t there, but heard about it…
My fondest memories were just hanging out with him and listening to his stories. He told me how he came to write Run Chicken Run and how he and his brother first discovered R’n’R at Hank Williams’ memorial service in Montgomery, Alabama, they heard a guy doing rockabilly, he didn’t remember the guy’s name but my guess is it was Curtis Gordon. So after that he and his brothers stopped playing country music and started playing R’n’R.

How did you choose the songs? Did you intentionally make the choice from the start to avoid “big” classics like Rumble or Jack The Ripper?
Eddie Angel   Yes.I wanted to stay away from the obvious ones as much as possible.

Another connection you have with Link Wray is Robert Gordon. You produced one of his album, tell us about that…
Eddie Angel   Hakki from Jungle Records in Finland called me and proposed the idea to me. He had seen Robert and me together at Green Bay. I put the band together of guys I know in Nashville and we recorded it in Nashville. The bass player Dave Roe was Johnny Cash’s bass player. Robert has an amazing voice, like an opera singer.

Over the years you had a lot of guest on album and on tour (Dave Alvin, Deke Dickerson, Big Sandy, Peter Zaremba, Kaiser George…). As a heavy touring band is this a way to always have something new to propose to the audience and to avoid you some kind of routine?
Eddie Angel   Yes, exactly….we try to keep things fresh and entertaining for us and the audience.

One last word?
Eddie Angel   “Trust your gut,even if its a beer gut”

Ruby Ann

ruby ann - run wildRuby Ann – Running Wild

Rhythm Bomb Records – RBR 5752 [2014]
One More Time – Half past Crazy – You Gotta Pay – Always Gone – Anytime – Have A Heart – Bossman – Same Thing – Heartless Man – Watchdog – Got The Feeling – Run Wild
Oh my soul! With the release of “Running Wild”, Portuguese songstress Ruby Ann has entered the very close club of the great singers (in which she’s in very good company with Deke Dickerson, Big Sandy…). Recorded in Chicago at Hi-Style studio by Alex Hall (who also plays piano) it gathers an impressive cast of musicians: Beau Sample (double bass), Patrick Morrow (drums), Bill Pekara (guitar), Joel Paterson (guitar and harmonica), Eddie Clendening (guitar), Josh Bell (sax) and Sophia Wolff (backing vocals).
It features some well chosen covers and a couple of originals tailor-made for the singer from the pens of Big Sandy, Mark Winchester (Planet Rockers, Brian Setzer) and Ken Mottet.
As Big Sandy puts it in his introduction, this twelve-song effort showcases Ruby Ann’s incredible versatility. Whether it’s a country tinged song or a soulful ballad, a rock’n’roll or a British blues invasion number (Anytime by Riot Squad) she’s always on top. Not only she can sing anything (I’d bet she could sing the phone book and make it sound hot) but she has the rare capacity to make covers that sound as if they had been written specifically for her.
In that, she’s very similar to Marti Brom (another permanent member of the “greats” club) who can easily go from All I Can Do Is Cry to I Go To Sleep without effort.
Highly, highly recommended (and let me add one more highly just for the superbly designed digipack.)

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Billie and the Kids – Jukebox Daddy

billie-and-the-kids-jukebox-daddyRhythm Bomb Records – RBR 5757 [2014]
Scorched – Your First Kiss – Bumble Bee – Jukebox Daddy – Blueprint Of My Heart – Maybe – It’s Wrong – How Can You Leave A Man Like This – I’ve Got A Feelin’ – Lonely Days – Come On and Fool Around With Me – You’re Gonna Be Sorry – Need You Tonight – Your Love – Tough – I’m Wise – I Thought I Told You Not To Tell ’em

I realised that this one was on my list of record to review for quite a long time and I quickly put it in the player. After a few bars of the first song I thought I had made a mistake, the sound I hear didn’t match the picture I saw on the booklet. How could a strong and “black” voice like that come from such a young and frail lady? I double checked, pinched me (one never knows) but I soon had to admit the reality: Billie & the Kids don’t come from New Orleans but from Zagreb, Croatia and Jukebox Daddy has not been recorded for Savoy or Modern in the fifties but for Rhythm Bomb in 2013.
These boys (piano, guitar, double bass, drums and three saxes as well as a couple of guests) and girl nailed the sound of their favourite records (Etta James, Ruth Brown, Varetta Dillard) perfectly and make it sound natural. It’s due to their musicianship and ease, but mostly to their ten originals penned by Jurica Stelma, the band’s bassist that include ballads, boppers, jumpers and some latin too.
Don’t miss it.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

John Munnerlyn and Lee Jeffriess

munnerlynjeffriess_small

John Munnerlyn and Lee Jeffriess – Guitars in perspective

[2010]
Sins & Woes – It Ain’t Hay – Johnny Has The Keys – Make Way for Wyatt – Blues for Earl – Java Jump – Mercy Street – Hello Stranger – Can’t Go Back – Chester’s Mule – Swingin’ in the Kitchen – I Lost You

Fans of Big Sandy already know Lee Jeffriess, he’s, with Jeremy Wakefield, one of today’s most talented lap and pedal steel player, and you might remember Munnerlyn as the guitar player with the Haywoods. It’s an all instrumental album (all original material mostly from the pen of Munnerlyn). Of course the comparison with West and Bryant, or closer to us, Biller and Wakefield, comes to mind but they’re less jazzy and more country, hence the presence of a fiddle on a majority of tracks. Their sound owes more to the Texas Troubadours solo albums or the stuff Buddy Emmons cut with Howard Rhoton and Spider Wilson for Little Jimmy Dickens. You’ll also find a bit of gipsy jazz in Mercy Street and some nice Merle Travis/Chet Atkins picking on Chester’s Mule.
An excellent album that won’t be out of place near your Fly Rite Boys and Biller and Wakefield albums.
Icing on the cake, it comes in a nice digipack with a tip of the hat to Tal Farlow on the cover.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Cavemen (the) – Dutch neo-rockabilly / psychobilly band

cavemen_stone age
Cavemen – Stone Age Beat

The Cavemen – Stone Age Beat

Count Orlock Records
Living Dead – Haunted House – Silver Surfer – Stone Age Beat (Wilma) – Wilderella – Is It Over – The Car – Devils Road – Vampire – Indian Style – Jericho – One More Chance – Do Do Ta Ta – Don’t Need A Job

Drowned in the mass of psychobilly releases in the late 80’s, this too often overlooked album deserves to be rediscovered today.
The Cavemen formed in 1982 with Marcel Hoitsema on guitar and vocals, Roland Verbruggen on double bass, and Jos “Toolie” de Groot on drums. Verbruggen previously played guitar with Mac Taple in the early 80s
After a while, Jos left the band, and Berto Rerimassi joined in on drums. This line-up recorded two songs for the compilation album Cool Cat Go Ape (Big Shot Records – big shot rec 001), released in 1986. These two songs were A Couple of Days and an early version of Vampire.
After these recordings, Marcel asked his friend Jean-François Besson to join the band. But after a couple of rehearsals, the new direction taken by the band didn’t please Roland and Berto that much. Marcel then left the band to form Bang Bang Bazooka with Jean-François.
Berto switched to lead guitar, and Ronald Smet joined as the new drummer. In August 1989, this new line-up went to Tango studio in Eindhoven to record the band’s sole album, Stone Age Beat. It’s an excellent album of soft Psychobilly with well-crafted and varied songs. Particularly good are Stone Age Beat (written by Hoitsema and featuring a quote of the Flintstones theme), Silver Surfer, and One More Chance, a humoristic slow number with outrageously fake cries. It also contains a new version of Vampire, which was also re-recorded by Bang Bang Bazooka on their debut album.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

cavemen

An interview with Cavan Grogan

Cavan Grogan
Cavan Grogan still crazy after all these years with the great Rhythm Rockers

An interview with Cavan Grogan (Crazy Cavan & the Rhythm Rockers)

Crazy Cavan & the Rhythm Rockers are the longest rockabilly band in activity with a line-up almost unchanged. They made the link between the pioneers of the 50’s and the rockabilly revival of the 80’s, and when bands were happy to play covers, they came with a set of solid originals and never stop writing classic after classic. What Rockabilly fan have never heard of Sadie, Teddy Boy Boogie, Are You Still Crazy, My Little Sister, Rockabilly Rules OK, The Rockin’ Alcoholic, Hey Teenager?
Crazy Cavan & the Rhythm Rockers always give themsleves at 100% on stage and I’m ready to bet my collection that they never refuse a picture with a fan.
For all this things, and for the rest you have in store, Cavan, Lyndon, Terry, Mike and Graham (without forgetting Vance and Don), thanks a lot!

Fred “Virgil” Turgis
Proud fan club member #76
(this interview with Cavan Grogan was conducted when the band was celebrated its 40 years of activity)

Crazy Cavan & the Rhythm Rockers will soon celebrate its 40th birthday. What are your feelings?
Could you imagine it would last that long when you started?
Cavan Grogan 40 Year’s no way man, I don’t think we even thought about how long the band might last.We were just having fun, and trying to keep rock’n’roll alive.
But we knew we’d always be rock’n’roll fans.

Did you see an evolution of the rockin’ scene during these years?
Cavan Grogan Oh yes we saw the rockabilly thing coming and a lot of fans of the music started to look back at the roots, Swing even came into the rock’n’roll scene for a while, Like Louis Jordan, Louis Prima ect. Also hillbilly and blues. A lot of young bands started up across Europe which led to today’s scene.

The line up of Crazy Cavan & the Rhythm Rockers has remained extremely steady across the years, which is very rare…
Cavan Grogan Yeah we just can’t hold bass player’s they keep going then coming back for more.

Crazy Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers
Crazy Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers in the 70’s

From the beginning you wrote your own songs and proved that rock’n’roll was a living thing. Was it hard to impose new songs to the audience ?
Cavan Grogan Well we like doing some of the old song’s, But we like to do them our way. But we al way’s felt new original material is what would keep the ball rolling and attract new , maybe younger fan’s into the scene. We had no trouble getting our song’s over because when we started nobody had heard of most of the 50’s rockabilly we were playing anyway.

How do you choose the covers that you play?
Cavan Grogan First off, I have to like the song, Then we have to mould it into the bands style. We never pick song’s because they’re popular, and we try to avoid songs the other bands are playing. Although if they become popular by us, most bands start doing them any how like, Old Black Joe, Creek Goes Dry etc.

What was the music you grew up listening to, before you were old enough to choose music by yourself? What was the music in your house and did your family had an importance in the music you listened to and later played?
Cavan Grogan I think I always choose the music I liked even as a kid I twiddled with the radio and listened to music on the fair grounds. My father yo used to sing some great old Irish songs with wonderful lyrics.

What was the first rock’n’roll/rockabilly record you’ve heard?
Cavan Grogan When I was a kid I lived in a town called Claremorrris in County Mayo in the west of Ireland. The music there was mostly country or traditional Irish. But you had the fair grounds the radio, and the cinema. I remember hearing Bill Haley quite often, But what really knocked me out , Was when I saw the film Lovin You with Elvis in the amazing scenes like lonesome cowboy with the spotlight. Got a lot of livin to do, with his scruffy denims, and i couldn’t stop singing let’s have a party. !! I wasn’t to see this movie again for about 20 years. But i never forgot those scenes. And have never seen anything to beat them to this day. I’m sure that was the day I decided to be a singer. (On their latest album, Cavan wrote a song called Groovy At The Movie about this memories)

What did appeal to you in Rockabilly?
Cavan Grogan Rockabilly to me is a rock’n’roll stripped down to it’s bare essentials. The appeal is like skiffle. You feel if you can hold a good steady beat play a few chords, It’s open for anyone to have a go. Although in the reality it’s far more complicated then that. I loved that ol slap bass, and the echo’s vocal’s ‘n’ hiccups yeah man!!

One can safely say you didn’t feel very concerned by the music of your generation?
Cavan Grogan Yes I had no interest in the music of my generation, Rock’n’roll to me was the big explosion. My interest was to look back on what caused this, not to follow a bit of sharpnal that flew off into space from it.

Crazy Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers: Don Kinsella (bass), Terry Walley (guitar), Lyndon Needs (guitar), Mike Coffey (drums) and Cavan Grogan (vocals).
Crazy Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers: Don Kinsella (bass), Terry Walley (guitar), Lyndon Needs (guitar), Mike Coffey (drums) and Cavan Grogan (vocals).

There’s always been a huge dose of country music in your songs. Was it easy to find this stuff in the UK?
Cavan Grogan Yeah it was fairly easy i think Hank William’s was the first one i took to.

Did you see onstage or hear on record a band that impressed you recently?
Cavan Grogan Yes I often see bands that impress me. I like bands who don’t copy who try to do things their own way. And put all there energy into putting it over

What is the album you’re never tired of listening to?
Cavan Grogan Gotta be Carl Perkins Dance album or maybe Elvis Rock’n’Roll No2. And now thinking about it there are quite a few actually.

Just by curiosity, what is the last record you bought?
Cavan Grogan I recently found a copy of Nellie Lutcher singing Fine Brown Frame on a 78, Doe’s that count ?

It sure does, one last word?
Cavan Grogan LET”S FUCKIN ROCK !!!

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