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Kev Saunders

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Kev Saunders, more rockin’ than ever!

Kev Saunders is known to fans for having been the guitarist of Frenzy that he joined in March 1984, replacing Simon Brand. He stayed with the band until December 1987, appearing on four albums (Hall Of Mirrors, Clockwork Toy, Sally’s Pink Bedroom and Live At The 100 Club). His guitar playing, rich in numerous influences, and composing abilities perfectly completed the Whitehouse / Peppler team. This trio, then the one formed with Adam Seviour when the group turned professional, wrote classic after classic, showing no boundaries in their inspiration, and influenced numerous groups after them.
Today, Kev Saunders no longer performs on stage, but fortunately for us, he continues to write and record music under the name Curt Davis.

Please tell us a little about your musical background. What records did you grow up with, and when did you decide to play guitar?

I grew up in the 1960s, during the time of Beatlemania, The Rolling Stones, The Pretty Things, etc.
There was always music playing in the house I lived in, and I had an uncle who was very into the music of that period. Bob Dylan, John Mayall, Pentangle, Electric Flag, Sandy Bull, Hendrix, those are just a few of the artists whose records he passed on to me.
He also played guitar, and a few years later, he showed me some basic chords. Around 1972, when I was 14, I got my first guitar and was well on the way to becoming very passionate about music.
I saw David Bowie on Top of the Pops performing Starman, Roxy Music, T. Rex, and Mott the Hoople were also having hit records. My Schoolwork was beginning to take a backseat, and by 1974, I had left full-time education and started rehearsing with other local musicians in a nearby church hall. We played songs by The Beatles, The Shadows, Chuck Berry, etc., and I was on the rhythm guitar. That band didn’t last long, but it was a start for me, and I began to develop my playing style, which is rooted in rhythm and blues.

What kind of bands did you play with before joining Frenzy?

From 1974 until 1984, when I joined Frenzy, I played in a number of bands and also began songwriting and doing solo material. In the mid-to-late 1970s, I was playing in club bands doing cover versions of popular songs. There was always a fair amount of Rhythm and Blues played, and that style became predominant.
In 1977, Punk Rock exploded and changed the music scene completely. I started recording demo tapes around 1978. In 1980, I was writing my own songs and started hawking the tapes around London publishers, but I didn’t get signed, although I did come close, only to find that due to an internal company shake up, my contact in that department was relieved of his position.
In 1981, I was the lead guitarist with The Chain Gang, a local Rhythm and Blues outfit. I spent some time in the city of Bath and played in a band called South of no North around 1982/83. In April 1984, I joined Frenzy.

Were you familiar with the Rockabilly/Psychobilly scene?

Yes, of the newer bands of the time, I had seen early 80s gigs by The Polecats and Stray Cats and had also seen The Cramps supporting The Police back in 1979. There was an emerging Neo-Rockabilly/Psychobilly scene, and the Link Wray/Robert Gordon musical partnership was also happening then.
As far as live gigs go, I was watching bands such as The Pirates, The Inmates, Nine Below Zero, Doctor Feelgood, etc. As I mentioned earlier, Rhythm and Blues was my thing as well as Punk/Ska…

How did you end up joining Frenzy?

I was in a photography studio in Frome, Somerset, the town where I was living at the time, and Steve Whitehouse came in to pick up some promo photos. He told me that Simon Brand had left Frenzy and asked me if I would be interested in joining. I had known Steve for a year or two and had once jammed with him and Alan Wilson when they were both in The Sharks.
We started rehearsing, and I did my first gig with them in Holland in June. We opened the show, which also featured Restless and Dave Phillips (who had a minor hit with a version of Tainted Love). Recording sessions for Hall of Mirrors were also underway around this time.

When you joined the group, were you initially supposed to model your playing in line with that of Simon Brand, or were you free from the start to innovate according to your style…

I changed my style in so much as I was mainly using transistor amps with Frenzy, rather than the Hiwatt 50-watt valve combo that I had been using since 1976. I just cleaned up my sound, and also used slapback echo. Basically, I was still playing the Chuck Berry-style licks, just a little bit faster…

Tell us about the work dynamic within Frenzy. The songs are almost all credited with your three names. How did you work together to write and arrange them?

Although the credits were often three ways, most of the material was chiefly written by one member with later additions by the others. Someone would write lyrics to a tune or chord pattern another member had created. It was diplomatic to credit all 3 of us.
Merv Pepler, the drummer, could also play guitar and keyboards, as well as sing backing vocals. He also sang lead on In My Prison and played some guitar on it. Both myself and Merv came from a more diverse musical background. Steve was the frontman/bass player and his background was more Rockabilly.
Our songwriting methods made Frenzy more unique and very different from other bands on the scene.

When I listen to your guitar sound and the way you play these albums, I can hear much more than the usual Rock’n’Roll influences. I can feel that you wanted to explore other territories, and above all, you didn’t set limits for yourself…

I can play in a variety of styles: Funk, Pop, Blues, Rock, Reggae, Rockabilly, Folk, Country etc.
That all comes from my time in the club bands back in the 1970s when you needed to be adaptable to get the work. Being flexible is important when you are a professional musician. Meeting Roy Williams and joining Frenzy gave me a break in the music industry. I spent 10 years from the ages of 16 to 26 working towards making music my profession and getting a recording contract.

I have the impression that Frenzy, although being a formidable live band, wanted to demonstrate that an album could be more than capturing three guys live in the studio…,

Frenzy was always developing right from the word Go. We came onto the Rockabilly/Psycho scene, but it was clear to everybody that we were going to evolve rapidly. Scenes and movements have their limitations; they are useful as a stepping stone, but they can backfire on you when the musical climate changes… During my time in the band, we recorded four albums. They are all different, but they show the musical prowess of a band that is still highly regarded.
As we progressed, the recording budgets got bigger, and we continued developing our various styles.
We were also able to faithfully reproduce a lot of our material live, in fact we usually road tested songs before we commited them to vinyl….

Frenzy - Steve Whitehouse, Adam Seviour and Kev Saunders
Steve Whitehouse, Adam Seviour and Kev Saunders

Let’s talk about Sally’s Pink Bedroom. I really think this album needs to be rediscovered, like Restless’ After Midnight. If we consider that Psychobilly was born as a reaction to a Rockabilly/Teddy Boy scene that was too narrow-minded, didn’t you find the reception given to this album unfair and that it deserved better?

Ok, for starters, Sally’s Pink Bedroom is not a Psychobilly album. Although it was the fourth album Frenzy released, it was much more diverse than the previous three. We were looking to move to another record label and approached I.D. Records about making an album of cover versions as we didn’t want to use up any more original material to honour the existing contract. It was decided to make an album of half covers/originals; it was, in fact, a compromise between the label and the band.
It’s the last record I made as Frenzy guitarist, I hear that it now has some kind of cult status as it didn’t sell very well and I believe the record company deleted it a few months after its release.
Maybe it’s time for a re-appraisal, as I do think it was judged rather unfairly at the time.

Didn’t the group ultimately find itself pigeonholed by the Psychobilly label?

Yes, but if you look at the top bands on the scene back in the Klub Foot days such as Frenzy/Meteors/Demented are Go/Guana Batz/Stingrays/Batmobile, they are all musically different, but they drew the same kind of audiences. Psycho/Rocking/Garage…It’s all Beat Music.
The British music press ignored the scene, even though over 800 people turned up on a Saturday night to watch these bands at the Klub Foot. In 1986, we were in the top 5 of the independent charts with I See Red, but the journalists/reviewers rarely showed up.
To be honest, Germany, Holland, and Finland were the places where this kind of music was more appreciated. We once played an outdoor festival in Finland, when we supported Katrina and the Waves, the audience total was around 20 thousand people.

You played with two different drummers in Frenzy, Merv and Adam. What was unique about each person, and did their different styles influence your playing?

As I mentioned earlier, Merv was a multi instrumentalist, and Adam who joined in 1986 was a drummer/percussionist. They were both competent and very powerful behind the drums. Merv also used an electronic drum, I believe it was known as a Synare. They were both nice guys, and they knew one another from other local bands.
When we went professional in 1986, Merv was still doing an engineering apprenticeship and was unable to commit to 6 week tours of Europe. That’s why he was replaced by Adam. Merv later went on to join the Ozric Tentacles,and he currently performs under the name of Eat Static.

Frenzy (Kev Saunders, Adam Seviour, Steve Whitehouse)
ID Records promo pic taken behind the Klubfoot in Hammersmith, London, 1986 (Kev Saunders, Adam Sevious, Steve Whitehouse)

Likewise, you have worked with three different producers: Paul ‘Doc’ Stewart, Pete Gage, and Pat Collier. How was it to work with each of them? Did they have different approaches, and at what levels did they intervene?

As we progressed through the four albums, the budgets increased and we were able to spend longer making the records. All of those producers gave input and advice on different levels.We always worked closely with them, and always attended the mixing sessions.
The first two albums were made at various sessions at Mushroom in Bristol, Madhouse in Luton, and Village Way in London. Sally’s Pink Bedroom was recorded over a 2 week period at Greenhouse studio’s in London, and we started to use electric bass and 12 string guitars…

Can you tell us about the atmosphere at the Klub Foot? How was it to play there?

Klub Foot was the big London gig, with around 800/1000 people most Saturday nights. We played there several times and were recorded for compilation albums. As I mentioned earlier the music press hardly ever turned up to review any of the gigs there, nor did they pay much attention with regards to reviewing the various singles/albums which were released around that time by the bands who were regulars at that venue, even though several bands including us, had releases in high positions in the independent charts.
You could buy records in the foyer, and the bands were always happy to sign autographs and have a drink or two with people who had come along to see them. It was a classic/iconic venue for the rocking scene.

Steve eventually split the band to reform it six months later. But you chose not to be part of this new venture. Were you no longer interested in playing with Frenzy again?

There were several reasons why I decided not to rejoin. We had worked very hard over the previous four years; we were continually touring/recording/writing new material, and it began to feel like a treadmill. I had achieved all the things that I had set out to do as a professional musician. The only way we could make a decent living was by continually touring around Europe. I think there is a shelf life on all projects as regards the enthusiasm you have for them and the kind of returns that you expect in a given time. I went into the education system and also privately as a full-time guitar teacher.

Frenzy continues to perform on stage. How does it feel to see that songs you wrote and recorded 40 years ago (I See Red, Hall Of Mirrors, Misdemeanour, Clockwork Toy) are still highly popular?

It’s good that those songs are still being played. They have stood the test of time. Psychobilly now seems to appeal to a wider audience…

Are you still in touch with Steve?

I haven’t been in contact with Steve for several years now. Back around 2007, he phoned me and asked if I was interested in re joining Frenzy, but due to ill health I have retired from live gigs/touring, so I turned down his offer.
As you can see I still do interviews about my time in the band, as it was a great but brief period in my life..

Tell us about your subsequent musical projects, including Curt Davis. To my knowledge, you have only released one EP with four tracks. Do you plan to release more titles in the near future?

The Curt Davis recordings I made for Nervous Records were not intended to be an EP, Although the fact that there are 4 tracks may lead people to think that it was. Roy Williams asked me to record some instrumental tracks for use in films, television, advertisements, etc. There was a specific direction given as to what he required, such as the use of old valve/vintage gear, mono mixes, and tracks under 3 minutes, etc. I contacted my friend John Pickford to assist/co-produce on these sessions as I knew he was very experienced in this type of recording.
We had to work quickly to complete the project, as, during the second day in the studio, the lockdown was announced due to COVID-19. The Video for Page Parker was filmed a few months later in October 2020.

Curt Davis (Kev Saunders) – Order Order

I have recently been talking with Doc Stewart about recording some material with him at his studio in Taunton. It will probably be as Curt Davis, the name I used for the recordings I made for Nervous in 2020. I am writing new material; this time, there will be vocals, a more hard-edged approach, and Psycho/Rockabilly with some Freakbeat touches and will be influenced by my interest in the music of Iggy Pop/Lou Reed…
I also create electronic music under the name of Spookboy. You can check it out on Bandcamp.

Thanks a lot to Kev Saunders for taking time to answer my questions.

Frenzy

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Frenzy

Frenzy – Hall of Mirrors

Nervous NER016 [1985]
One last chance – Schitzophrenic emotions – Choice – Hall of mirrors(1) – Frenzy – Asylum moves – Skeleton rock – Sweet money – Ghost train – Long gone – Surfin’ bird – Was it me? – Wound up – Frustration – Hall of mirrors(2) – Robot riot – Cry or die – All alone – Torment

Frenzy – Hall of mirrors

If a label “classic psychobilly album” would exist, Hall Of Mirror would be among the first to deserve it.
In 1983, the split of the Sharks allowed Steve Whitehouse to fully concentrate on his new project: Frenzy. By many aspects Frenzy were more adventurous than the Sharks. It marked a new step for the psychobilly scene that was in full bloom and the band went into musical territories rarely explored by slap bass led combos. The recording of Hall Of Mirrors, produced by Paul “Doc” Stewart, began with Simon Brand on guitar and Merv Pepler on drums, this trio having already released one ep for a Dutch label (included on the cd reissues of this album). But Brand quickly left the band (he later formed Torment) with only three songs ready for the forthcoming album (Frustration, Frenzy, Sweet Money).
Whitehouse eventually hired Kev Saunders to complete the album. Both Saunders and Pepler came from different musical horizons and combined with the double bassist’s rockabilly background the result was an unusual, unique and explosive combination.

Frenzy
Frenzy

Musically speaking, Whitehouse fast slapping and technique proved to be a lasting influence for the many psychobilly bassmen that followed.
Hall Of Mirrors offered originals (including a reworking of the Sharks’ Skeleton Rock) and one cover (Surfin’ Bird) probably the only weak track of the album (but who could come after the Trashmen and the Cramps?).
The lyrics also set up new standard. I addition to the usual crew of ghosts, skeleton etc. you can also find songs about madness, frustration and teenage angst.
Brilliant!

Frenzy – Clockwork Toy

I.D. Records ‎– NOSE 8 [1986]
Clockwork Toy – I See Red – Misdemeanour – Nightmares – Love Is the Drug – Mexican Radio – Howard Hughes – In My Prison – Aftermath – Nobody’s Business

Frenzy - Clockwork Toy
Frenzy – Clockwork Toy

With Clockwork Toy, Frenzy confirmed their status of “Psychobilly band with more than two ideas in their songs”. The accent is put on arrangements and variations, giving more elaborated melodies (and sometimes more pop sounding) than your usual fast paced rockabilly (Misdemeanour, Clockwork Toy, Howard Hughes…). And if Whithehouse’s heavy slap bass links the whole thing to the rockabilly idiom (listen to “I See Red” – which spent some decent time in the indie charts – or “Nightmares“), the sound of the guitar doesnt owe anything to the genre. There’s a lot of production work. A powerfull live band, they also want to prove they can deliver a “real” album and not only a hastily live in the studio recording of stage favorites. These’ll remain a constant (with varied degrees of success) in Frenzy’s carreer. Retrospectivly, it sometimes turns to the disadvantage of the band and this will to explore technology shows its limits. The synthetizer’s sound on “Love Is A Drug” (yes Roxy Music’s one) or the drums on “Howard Hughes” sound terribly dated now, and let’s say it, very cheap.
But this minor flaws left aside, Clockwork Toys is as important, for different reasons, as their debut album and still stands today as a classic of the genre.
It’s later been reissued on cd with two b-sides from the same period and 3 songs from Sally’s Pink Bedroom

Frenzy

Frenzy – Sally’s Pink Bedroom

I.D. Records – NOSE 19 [1987]
The Red Book – Sign Of The Times – The Hunt – Game Of Love – Satisfaction – House On Fire – Like Father, Like Son – Man At The Top – Blue Eyes – Jumped The Gun – Run To You – Gotta Go!

Recorded in October 1987 and released the following month, Sally’s Pink Bedroom is Frenzy’s unloved album. On its release, it was shunned by a large part of the fans who criticized it for its polished sound, its arrangements, its covers of artists such as Tubeway Army, Katrina & the Waves or Bryan Adams and, oh sacrilege, its artwork on which Steve Whitehouse proudly poses with an electric bass.
Especially Psychobilly lovers did not find the group’s identity in this album, which had stormed the scene with two almost-perfect albums. In the end, Sally’s Pink Bedroom suffered a fate similar to Restless’s After Midnight.
But if we look more closely, this evolution was in germ from Clockwork Toy (after all, there is already a cover of Roxy Music’s Love Is A Drug). In addition, Whitehouse is a musician who has never hidden his interest in groups that go beyond the simple framework of music rooted in Rockabilly. Besides, was it not to escape a rockabilly scene that was too narrow-minded that he threw himself into the nascent Psychobilly, first with the Sharks, then Frenzy? The same goes for Kev Saunders and Merv Peppler.
But what about this album? Is it as catastrophic as the reputation that precedes it wants to say? Well no! I’m not saying this is the album I would use to introduce someone to Frenzy (do not exaggerate), but if you approach it with an open and curious mind, you’ll find more than enough to please you.
First, let’s get rid of the big crash, the industrial incident: their version of Satisfaction. Forget it! Once this done, we can seriously approach the rest of the album. This consists of two parts. One includes House On Fire, Man At The Top, The Hunt, Jumped The Gun (all written by the band), and Gotta Go, the G-Men (ex-Blue Cats) cover. These five songs are an extension of Clockwork Toy. House On Fire is quite simply one of the best songs ever recorded by Frenzy. Likewise, Man At The Top and Jumped the Gun demonstrate the band’s talent for composing songs with more than two melodic ideas, a skill many bands must envy. And what about the take on Gotta Go? Do you know many covers superior to the original version? Did Whitehouse suspect while recording this song that he would join the Blue Cats many years later?
The second group, composed of the remaining songs, shows a group experimenting and having fun. These songs are different from what you usually find on a Psychobilly record (but after all, it doesn’t say anywhere that it’s a Psychobilly record). Above all, these are good songs, no matter what label you put on them. Game Of Love (Katrina and the Waves) is a skilful cross between a sixties song and a Billy Idol track, while Run To You (Bryan Adams) has a little Soul side revisited by the 80s, finally quite close to what the Rockats did with One More Heartache.
Admittedly, Pat Collier’s production spoils a bit and seems quite dated today, especially on Sign Of The Time and Red Book, but the melodies and rhythms remain unstoppable.
If you own this album, do not hesitate to take it out of the limbo in which you left it 35 years ago. If you don’t have it, take off your blinders and enjoy the music (not the awful cover art.)

Frenzy – Live at the 100 Club

Nervous Records NER 033 – Raucous Records [1988]
I see red – Misdemeanour – Love is the drug 4.House on fire – Howard Hughes – The hunt – Clockwork toy – Migraine – Gotta go! – It’s All Over Now – Robot riot

Frenzy - Live at the 100 Club
Frenzy – Live at the 100 Club

In the quantity of live albums released by psychobilly bands, many were disappointing, whether they were poorly recorded (remember the Live & Loud serie on Link) or the band wasn’t able to recreate the studio recordings on stage. Among the best you find The Long Tall texans’ Five Beans In The Wheel, The Sharks’ Live In Japan, a couple of Meteors and… Frenzy’s Live At The 100 Club. Recorded in 1986, it’s a magic combination of a perfect recording and a tight band of true professionnals, playing at that time 150 dates per year. The set draws heavily into Clockwork Toy recorded that same year.They kick off with a roaring version of their indie charts hit I See Red. Misdemeanor quickly follows, featuring a pumping slap bass, showing how good Steve Whitehouse is.Roxy Music’s Love Is A Drug is far better than the album version. The keyboards parts being replaced by a guest saxophonist giving a bit of a ska touch. They alternate “straight in your face” wild numbers (House On Fire) with their more complex and melodic songs (Clockwork Toy, Howard Hughes) with equal degrees of success. Next are a couple of covers, The Ricochets’Migraine, The G-Men’s Gotta Go and a epic 8 minute It’s All Over Now a song previously performed by Withehouse in The Sharks’ set. This perfect disc ends with a 100 mp/h rendition of their “early” classic Robot Riot that almost manages to make you forget the studio version. Issued on vinyl by Nervous in 1988, it’s been reissued by Raucous in 2001.

Frenzy – The Very Best-Of

Rage CD 107 [1990]

Frenzy - best-of
Frenzy – best-of

A very good overview of the band’s seven first years including songs from Hall Of Mirrors, Clockwork Toy and This Is the Fire as well as unreleased stuff like Long Gone recorded live at Hemsby and some b-sides too.

Frenzy – Live in Japan

Raucous Records RAUCD046
Nervous Breakdown- Clockwork Toy – Misdemeanour – Hall of Mirrors – I See Red – This is the Fire – CC Rider – Love is a Drug – Mad Mad World – Brand New Gun – Long Gone – Tush – Robot Riot – It’s All Over Now – Cry or Die

Frenzy Live in Japan

Another very good live album recorded in Japan (see Restless and the Sharks for others great live albums recorded in jpan with Steve Whitehouse) in 1993.

It’s a very powerful set with all the classics and a couple of covers like Brand New Gun (Tall Boys), Tush (ZZ Top), Nervous Breakdown (Cochran), CC Rider (Elvis) and Royx Music’s Love is a Drug.

It’s very different – and yet very complementary – to Live at the 100 Clubsince Carl Parry has a very Metal sound compared to Kev Saunders who was more ‘new wave meets rockabilly’. It sometimes a bit too much, but more often than not it works very well, even with the songs from Hall of Mirror and Clockwork Toy.

Fractured

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Fractured – No Peace for the Wicked

fractured

ID Records NOSE 17 [1987]
Raucous Records RAUCD 213 [2007]

Honest Lovin’ – Chauffeur Driven Limousine – Dark Blue Sea – Kisses Sweeter Than Wine – Girl On The Corner – Gamblin’ Man – Sold My Secret – Big John

Fractured was a British neo-rockabilly quartet from the mid-’80s formed by Paul Everdell on lead vocals and lead guitar; Mike Herman on guitar; Nick Hoadley on double bass and Paul Davies on drums. Released in 1987, “No Peace for the Wicked” is their sole musical testament, and this is too bad for this band was excellent. They played a fast slappin’/clean guitar brand of neo-rockabilly in a similar vein than Caravans or Restless in the same period. Besides, Pete Gage (Restless but also Frenzy, Rattlers) produced the album giving the band a clean and crisp sound that shows off the band’s musicianship.
Except for the cover of Kisses Sweeter than Wine, originally played Jimmie Rodgers (not the King of Country Music, the other one), each song is performed at a breathtaking pace. Out of the eight songs of this mini-album, six are from the pen of Everdell, while the remaining two are the previously mentioned “Kisses…” and Jimmie Dean’s Big John in a live version that closes the album.
Fractured was very popular among the psychobilly scene. The band played twelve times on the stage of the Klub Foot, the Psychobilly mecqua, and had two songs included on Stomping at the Klub Foot volume 5. More live songs resurfaced on the five-cd box set “Dragged from the wreckage of the Klub Foot” out on Trophy records. Paul, their lead singer/guitarist, also played bass for the Meteors (probably a last-minute replacement) and can be seen on the Attack of the Chainsaw Mutant video.
Nick Hoadley later played with Bob and the Bearcats, Arsen Roulette, the Houserockers and the Cordwood Draggers.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Sureshots (the)

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The Sureshots - Four to the Bar

Sureshots

Sureshots (the) – Four to the Bar

ID Records – NOSE 16 [1987] / Reissue Raucous Records RAUCD 212 [2007]
Four To The Bar – I’m On Fire – Right Behind You Baby – Am I Blue? – I’m Uneasy – No Show Dole Cheque Blues – What I Got For You – China Town – Little Pig – Broken Heart – Wanna Know – True Love

The Sureshots - Four to the Bar
The Sureshots – Four to the Bar

Four to the Bar is one of those album that changes the face of Rockabilly back in the mid 80’s. The Sureshots were at the time of this recording Gary Allen on vocals, Joe Guillan on guitar, Colin Mee on drums and Pete Hardy on double bass. They recorded this album in 1987. Produced by Pete Gage who also worked with Restless, Fractured, Frenzy and later Rusti Steel, and the Rattlers, it became an instant classic.

It opens witht Four to the Bar, the title track, penned by Allen, a highly melodic tune with a strong jazz feel, courtesy of Guillan’s amazing guitar solo.
I’m On Fire, not the Springsteen tune but another original by drummer Colin Mee, is a hot blues bopper in the same vein than Sure Like the Look in your Eyes by Red Hot’n’Blue.
Their cover of Right Behing You Baby, made popular by Ray Smith is pure Rockabilly gold. It also shows Guillan’s versatility, this time you can hear him in fiull Cliff Gallup mode.
Their version of Am I Blue is modeled around Cochran’s version though slighlty (too much?) faster. They calm down with the jazzy ballad I’m Uneasy co-written by Allen and Guillan. Allen is equally at ease with cool stuff than he is with mean number or hot boppin’ rockabilly like What I got for you. Truly a great singer.
Chinatown, the old jazz standard is another guitar tour de force. After a short intro and one verse that sounds as a launch pad, Guillan jumps into three amazing and inventive solos. The production serves the song well with a solid work on the rhythm section and the acoustic guitar.
Back to solid Rockabilly with Little Pig (Dale hawkins and later Buzz and the Flyers and the Polecats) and the Moonlighters’ Broken Heart. After all these years and to my ears, the Sureshots still hold the title of best cover of this song, despite many attemps by other bands. Mee’s Wanna Know brings a bit of Diddley beat and Perkins’ Your True Love concludes the album in beauty.
The cd reissue by Raucous records features No Show Dole Cheque Blues as a bonus, a Rockabilly / blues number recorded for the compilation album the James Dean of the Dole Queue.