Virgil

Biller & Horton

Biller & Horton – Texotica

Biller & Horton

Vinylux V0007 [2005]
The Sneak-A-Roo – Deep Eddy – Tiki, Tiki – Blackberry Bounce – The Devil’s Birthday Party – Whispering Palms – Grease Fire – Slippin the Mickey – The New Thang – Dutch Treat – Mood Music for a Tropical Depression – Adam the Inkman – Texas Twilight

Texas guitar slingers Dave Biller and Bobby Horton teamed up to record this all-instrumental album titled Texotica (for Texas and Exotica) for Vinylux records in 2005. Biller plays the guitar, and Horton takes the steel on most of the track except for a couple of tunes where Horton plays the lead guitar and Biller switches to electric bass. Bobby’s brother, Billy, plays the bass (and records the whole thing), Biller’s wife Karen plays the vibes, T. Jarrod Bonta plays some piano, and Buck Johnson is on drums.
It’s a varied mix of styles. Hence you’ll find Hillbilly swing (The Devil’s Birthday Party with Erik Hokkanen on fiddle, blackberry Bounce), some influences from Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant (The Sneak-A-Roo), jazz (Dutch Treat) and some blues oriented stuff (Slippin’ the Mickey, which I suspect is a reference to Mickey Baker, Texas Twilight). Also, plenty of songs justify the title and songs like Tiki Tiki, Mood Music For A Tropical Depression, and Whispering Palms sound like Hawai/Exotica/Martin Denny all rolled into one with a dash of Les Paul for the former.
This album will ideally find its place next to Biller and Wakefield’s or John Munnerlyn and Lee Jeffriess’ one.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

The Cambles

The Cambles ‎– I’m In Heaven

Cambles ep

Jitterbug Records ‎– BUG 87002
I’m In Heaven – Dreamin’ – Introducing – Little Ole’ You

The Cambles were a German band active between 1985 and 1989. The band fwas formed by Rockin Rolf (Rolf Kaudelka) on vocals, Gretschin Pete (Peter Kaudelka) on guitar, Slappin Tony (Jörg Plachetka) on double bass, and Drummin Martin (Martin Putela) on drums.
I’m In Heaven is a clean Rockabilly with a slight Neo-rockabilly feel. The superb balance between the double bass and the acoustic guitar in the rhythm section is worth mentioning.
A brushed snare propels Dreamin, a song close to Frankie Lymon’s I’m Not a Juvenile Delinquent. In this song, the band is not far from the style of the early recordings of the Speedos.
Little Ole You (Wayne Walker, Billy “Crash” Craddock) is pure Rockabilly gold with another powerful double bass part from Slappin’ Tony.

The Cambles – Part Of A Fool

Cambles

Jitterbug Records – BBUG 91 005
Part Of A Fool – First Year – Hot Dog – Why Can’t I Get Enough

The label released the second EP after the band disbanded in 1991.
It opens with a super cover of Robin Luke’s Part Of A Fool. If the original is a bit sentimental, their version sounds like a mix between Dion and Buddy Holly. First Year is straight ahead Rockabilly with a rural bop feel, as is Hot Dog.

Cambles
Cambles

Two Timin Three

Two Timin Three

The Two Timin’ Three – Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

Two Timin Three

Vinylux V0010 [2009]
Black and White Baby – No Thru – I’ll Be True – Love Sick Lullaby – Lonely, Lonely, Lonely – Your New Flame – Since I Found Love – Where Did You Sleep Last Night? – It’s All your Fault – Marie – Got You Figured Out – Just One Wink – Through Foolin’ Around – One Red Rose – No Good Man

“The newcomer that impressed me is the Two Timin’ Three!!! Shane, Jeff, and Eric are an excellent rockabilly trio from Austin, Texas, who write and perform in the highest quality.” That’s what Sean Mencher answered in 2006 when asked if a band recently impressed him.
The Two Timin’ Three was founded in Boston, in late 2003, by stand-up bassist Shane Kiel and lead guitarist Jeff Herring. They tried various vocalists before meeting Eric Laufer.
They carried on the long tradition of drummerless Rockabilly, but the Two Timin’ Three were not your run-of-the-mill Rockabilly band. Laufer’s voice was enough to distinguish them, being able to sing with a soft crooning one minute and calm-down menacing the other. Herring’s guitar showed that his influences went far beyond Scotty Moore and Grady Martin, contrary to many aspiring Rockabilly guitar players. One can hear a healthy dose of Jazz and some traces of Chet Atkins and Les Paul in his style. Shane Kiel’s solid slap provided a solid backbone for the band. It’s no wonder that sharing a similar musical background, the band would cross paths with Sean Mencher, who produced this album and Lance LeBeau, who recorded it.
All songs but two (Mencher’s Your New Flame and Cindy Walker’s It’s All Your Fault) are originals. They showed a high level of maturity, with special care to write melodic songs. They mainly played mid-tempos, which allows the singer and the guitar player to ‘breath’ and fully develop their melodies.
Another excellent album followed in 2006 (Payin’ the Price), then the band added Patrick Morrow on drums and became the Two Timin’ Four, thus expanding their musical scope.
Sadly, on September 4, 2008, Eric Laufer was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was only 25.
On a lighter note, I remember the Two Timin’ Three’s performance at The Rockabilly Rave. It was in the afternoon, not on the main stage, but everyone present was blown away by the energy of these three young men.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Streetbuckets (the)

streetbuckets
streetbuckets

The Streetbuckets – Rollin’ Boppin’ Ballin’

Mac Records – MAC 130 [1989]
Rollin’ Boppin’ Ballin’ / City Slicker Blues

The Streebuckets were a Dutch Rockabilly quartet. They were Peter Dekker on vocals and slap bass, Simone on vocals and drums, Roel on acoustic guitar and William on lead and steel guitar.
They released two singles for the Belgian label Mac Records. The first one features an excellent and danceable piece of rural bop on side A. The flip is in the same vein and features a steel guitar. Both songs are from the pen of Dekker. The sound is mainly acoustic, with powerful slap bass, spare drums and just a light electric guitar. The nasal vocals – not dissimilar to Jeff Spencer of the Memphis Rockabilly Band – add a touch of authenticity.

The Streetbuckets – Liz Taylor

Mac Records – MAC 137
Liz Taylor – Honky Tonkin

The Streetbuckers returned with a second single in the same vein as the first and once again featuring two originals. Liz Taylor is an ode to the great actress and could be described as rural neo-rockabilly. The B-side kicks off with powerful slap bass. It’s more rustic and authentic and sees Simone, the drummer, taking the lead vocals.
Peter Dekker later joined the King Size Trio.

streetbuckets

Fred ”Virgil” Turgis

Milkshakes (the)

The Milkshakes – It’s You

Milkshakes Records – BILK-0 [1982]  
 It’s You / Please Don’t Tell My Baby 

Mickey Hampshire (guitar and vocals) and Mark’ Banana Bertie’ Gilbert played with two friends in a band called Mickey and the Milkshakes. They also accompanied the Pop Rivets (featuring Billy Childish on vocals and Bruce Brand on guitar) during a tour of Europe as roadies. When half of the Milkshakes lost interest in the band, and the Pop Rivets broke up, the natural move was to merge both bands. Childish learned to play the guitar in the process, and Brand switched to drums.

Childish and Hampshire quickly began to pen minor classics one after another, becoming the Garage rock equivalent of Lennon & McCartney, Childish bringing the Punk energy and Hampshire the melodic side.

The career of the Milkshakes was placed under the double influence of the early Beatles and the Kinks (with always some Link Wray thrown in for good measure.) The A-side of this single is clearly on the Kinks’ side. It’s You bears more than one common point with the Kinks’ I Need You (B-side of Set Me Free.)

Sung in a husky voice, Please Don’t Tell My Baby is more desperate and shows the band’s Punkish side. But lyrics like “Please don’t tell my baby I saw her last night / I saw her kiss that boy / Please don’t tell her that I know / ’cause when I catch her gonna get it all / I’m gonna put it on the line / That I’ll take her…all her lying / She made me very mad / I’m gonna treat her bad / She gonna wish she never told the lie she had” remain close to the Beatles’ Run For Your Life.

The Milkshakes – Soldiers of Love

Milkshakes - Soldier of love

Upright records – UP-6 [1983]
Soldiers of Love / Shimmy Shimmy

By 1983, Russ Wilkins, formerly of the Pop Rivets, had replaced Mark Gilbert on bass, but that was the only change in the band since, stylistically-wise, the Milkshakes didn’t change their musical formula. Their second single was a vivid demonstration of their love for the Star Club days of the Beatles. If both songs weren’t from the pen of Lennon and McCartney (Soldiers of Love was an Arthur Alexander song and Shimmy Shimmy derivated from a traditional jazz tune), the Milkshakes versions were obviously inspired by the covers of the same songs made by the Beatles; they even got the same wrong credit as the Beatles for Shimmy Shimmy.
Soldiers of Love is also the first apparition by the Milk-Boilers who soon became the Delmonas.

Debbie & Jackie

JP Mc Dermott & Western Bop

JP McDermott

JP McDermottJ.P. McDermott and Western Bop – Lucky Stars

Shower Tone Records STR 250 [2022]
Long Beach Stomp / Lucky Stars ‘22 / (Still the) Last Fool Here / Rock-A-Bye Rock

I’m a huge Buddy Holly fan (and believe me, that’s an understatement), and you can imagine my joy to see that J.P. McDermott had released a brand new record. I have McDermott in high esteem because he doesn’t copy Holly’s style with gimmicks and riffs like poor imitators could do, but he manages to capture his musical spirit.
After relocating to Southern California, he formed a new version of Western Bop (as in “Buddy and Bob, Western & Bop”) with D.A. Valdez on drums and Keisuke Motoki on upright bass. He soon felt the urge to record, resulting in this superb EP.
It opens with Long Beach Stomp, a cover of Warren Smith’s Ubangi Stomp with updated lyrics from McDermott telling the story of his Californian relocation. It’s a great rocker sounding like a Ripsaw classic from Tex Rubinowitz or Billy Hancock, nothing less. The second track, Lucky Stars, is well-known to anyone who follows McDermott. He recorded it on Last Fool Here, his debut album and Dagmar and the Seductones also did an excellent version. This song is one of the great modern Rock’n’roll classics mixing a Buddy Holly feel with a Tex-Mex beat (or is it a Tex-Mex beat with a Buddy Holly feel?) Anyway, it’s great. Could the new incarnation of Western Bop bring something new to something that’s already perfect? The answer is a massive YES. Powerful yet melodic. We need more tunes like this. Last Fool Here also comes from the band’s debut album. But this new version has nothing to do with the original. While the previous version was a gentle and subtle ballad on a waltz time, the 2022 rendition of the same song is a hard-hitting country rocker with a twangy baritone guitar. This one rocks like no tomorrow and, although radically different, is equally good.
This all-too-short EP ends with a superb cover of Rock-A-Bye Rock, one of Buddy Holly’s lesser-known tunes (recorded during the same session as Changing All Those Changes). McDermott’s rendition remains faithful to the original, but as I said in the introduction, he brings a welcome touch of modernity to the song.
Do I really need to write a conclusion saying something like “I warmly recommend you this Ep“? Just follow this links:
https://www.westernbop.com/

https://www.facebook.com/WesternBop

https://www.instagram.com/jpmcdmusic/

JP Mc Dermott - Last Fool Here
JP Mc Dermott

JP Mc Dermott & Western Bop – Last Fool Here

Shower-Tone Records
My Damn Baby – Do I Love You – Cry Cry Cry – Coulda Shoulda Woulda -Not Enough of You – Blue Days, Black Nights – Lucky Stars – Sixteen Chicks – Go Cat Go! – Heartaches for a Dime – That Ain’t Nothin’ But Right – Last Fool Here
JP Mc Dermott is one hell of a singer. He has been voted “Country vocalist of the year” by the Washington Area Music Association. Backed by talented and competent musicians of the Washington area like Bob Newscaster (Tex Rubinowitz, Billy Hancock and more recently Dagmar & The Seductones), he delivered an album rich in styles and genres.
Whatever the kind of rockin’/roots stuff you like, you’ll find one here for you: from wild and fast-paced rockabilly (the first song, “My Damn Baby”, is a total killer, as is his cover of “16 Chicks”), a bluesy song with a hot greasy sound on the guitar (Do I Love You), or some classic country (Cash’s Cry Cry Cry) and Honky Tonk (Harlan Howard’s Heartache for a Dime). “Go Cat Go” is an instant hymn for all the rockabilly cats and would have made Carl Perkins proud. “Lucky Stars”, a song also played by Dagmar And The Seductones, is a fine rockabilly tune that shows the influence of the great Buddy Holly. The kid from Lubbock is also represented with “Blue Days, Black Nights”, a fine rendition with perfect harmony vocals. On the slow side, “Not Enough Of You” is a beautiful ballad, but the real gem has been kept to end the album: “Last Fool Here”, a soulful waltz with a 60’s country feel. Backed by just a piano and a light rhythm section, the fantastic voice of McDermott could make the strongest man in the world cry.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

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