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Crackle Rattle Bash

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crackle rattle bash

Crackle Rattle Bash – S/T

Count Orlok Music – R.O.C.K. II [1987]
Save My Money – Gone – I Really Know – Gotta Get You – He Good Lookin’ – Black Out – Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms – When You Wanna Go (It’s A Choice) – Wrong Direction, No Perfection – There Was A Time – What Shall We Do Now? – Someday – Memoires – Trouble Minded Girl

Crackle Rattle Bash

Crackle Rattle Bash started around 1986 when Kay Kesting and Aris de Vries performed in a squatter’s building in Arnhem (Holland). Kay played his T-bass, and Aris played the guitar and sang.

Afterwards, they regularly played Amsterdam streets, and Richard Weydert soon joined them on the washboard. They eventually switched the washboard for drums, and the T-bass was dropped for the double bass. They were asked to record two tracks for the Cool Cat Go Ape compilation album.
Then, Frank Bayer joined the band on guitar and ukulele, and in July 1987, they recorded their first and only album on the Count Orlok label.
The band’s overall sound falls somewhere between Neo-Rockabilly and Psychobilly. The whole is pleasant, and some songs are good, but very often, the group does not have the means of its ambitions. And, although they make detours through Rockabilly with doo-wop or skiffle influences, the album is a bit monotonous. Furthermore, the production is a bit light and lacks power. They should have recorded an eight-track mini-album and thus devoted more time to arrangement and production.
They played many gigs in Holland, and after a while, Paul van de Groen replaced Richard on drums. They did a short tour with Batmobile in Germany and eventually split around 1990. Recently, Just Another Normal Guy Records released an album with demos and live recordings of the band.

The Radioactive Kid

crackle rattle bash
crackle rattle bash

Powerdog

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powerdog

Powerdog – S/T

Count Orlock R.O.C.K.13-C.O.C.K.13 [1992]
What Else Is New – Wild Cat – Dog Power – Hideaway – Blood Like Mine – Wild Places – The Gambler – There Ain’t That Much – We Used To Rock – It’s Alright – Sun Goes Down – True Rockabilly – I’ll Be Your Man – I Can’t Believe It

powerdog

Powerdog is another band that is difficult to pigeonhole. Marcel Verbaas formed the combo in 1988 with Wim Van Der Heiden, an old friend with whom he used to hang out in the Rockabilly clubs of Rotterdam. They decided to form a band right away. They rehearsed with various drummers for their first year of existence, playing only covers. The band finally took shape when Robert Van Driesten joined them in 1989. From that moment, they begin to write their own material, with Wim taking the lead vocals duties. They also adopted the name Powerdog.
They caught the attention of Count Orlock, and by October 1991, they found themselves in the studio (Commodore Studio at Zelhem) with Dick Kemper (Batmobile, Bang Bang Bazooka…).
All songs on the album are originals and are very good. Powerdog developed a highly unique sound. They mixed influences from early eighties Neo-Rockabilly (one can hear echoes from the Polecats throughout the platter), Batmobile, and Psychobilly, with hints of Country music (Blood Like Mine) or Heavy Metal (Marcel used to play rhythm guitar in a Heavy Metal band). But they always emphasise the melody, and some songs sound like a cross between Batmobile and the Beatles. The minor flaw is their instrumental (Dog Power), which could be more inspired and sounds more like a backing track than a real instrumental.
Count Orlock released the album in 1992, and that same year Powerdog was the support act for the Stray Cats when they played at the Paradiso in Amsterdam in September.
Powerdog disbanded in 1994.

Powerdog
Powerdog

The Jive Cats

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The Jive Cats – My Lovin’ Baby

MAC 107 [1977]
My Lovin’ Baby / Big Guy

I don’t know much about this Dutch band.The Jive Cats were two girls who sung in harmony. Both songs are penned by Norbert Balicki, aka Burt Allis. Maybe he also played some instruments on it, but I couldn’t find more info.
Anyway, this single is genuinely unique. It’s female Rockabilly at its finest. It’s short (the total time of both sides doesn’t exceed 2’20”) and goes straight to the point, though they never rush, and they manage to have two hot guitar solos on each side. The sound is raw and mainly acoustic, with just a light electric guitar.

the Jive Cats
The Jive Cats

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Archie

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Archie – Listen to What Archie Sez

Archie

Kix4U 4U2224 [1986]
Listen To What Archie Sez – Eat The Worm – The Creep – Steelcap Stomp – Radar Love – The Hottest Rod – Casting My Spell – In Search Of The Lost Prairie

Born out of the ashes of Honey Hush, Archie released a short yet powerful album in 1986 in a more modern vein. This is a total success on every level. The self-penned songs are excellent and original, each sounding different from the previous one. The two covers – Golden Earring’s Radar Love and a version of Castin’ My Spell clearly inspired by the Pirates – are very well-chosen. The production is top-notch, and the band’s musicianship allows them to go where they want to go. The drummer is one of the keys to their sound. He participates in creating the originality of the tunes with breaks, rolls on tom-tom etc. 
Moreover, there’s no room for weak songs with only eight tracks on this album.
With Listen to What Archie Sez, Archie released one of the landmarks of Psychobilly in the Netherlands. Strangely (and sadly), this album was their sole release.

The Radioactive Kid

Toxaemia

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Toxaemia – Invasion Of The Rubber Dolls

Jungle Noise – APECALL 003 [1990]
Pig Headed Woman – Get Out You Crazy Bitch – Friday Night 8 P.M. – All Alone – I Still Love You – Space Invaders – Doll(e) Nellie – Defloration – You And I – Midnight Cruise – Down In Memphis – Badge Of The Assisin – Toxic Blood

Even if Psychobilly was not a commercial genre compared to mainstream music, it sold well enough to see labels sign bands, even when the musical level of those bands was not up to the standards one can expect from a recording project. One of those bands was Toxaemia, a combo from the Netherland whose line-up consisted of Marco ‘Bigfoot’ Emmerig (Guitar, Lead Vocals), Frank ‘Fried’ Jager (Double Bass) and Björn ‘Yeti’ Cremer Drums, Backing Vocals.
There are very few things to save from their debut album.
Their singer sings with a high-pitch and croaky voice; imagine Mark Phillips mixed with Olga of the Toy Dolls but with the talent of none.
The band is not better, especially the guitar player, who is particularly uninspired. The songs are predictable, and for a band that doesn’t have many ideas, they manage to record songs that go beyond the four-minute mark (and they seem even longer.)
The final result sounds more like a joke between friends than an actual album.

The Radioactive Kid

Chessnuts (the)

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chessnuts

The Chessnuts – EP

chessnuts

NUTS – NUTS 001 [1989]
Lollipop Lover – Hungry For Your Lovin – Everlovin – Beyond The Sea

The Chessnuts were a Dutch band formed by Ronald Balten (vocal and double bass), Kees Stigter (vocal and lead guitar),  Jeroen Haagedoorn (vocal and rhythm guitar) and Jan Van Leeuwen (vocal and drums). This EP released in 1989 on their own Nuts Records contains four tracks. Danny Dill’s Hungry For Your Lovin’ is a traditional Rockabilly. They turn the Davis Sisters’ Everlovin into a soft Rockabilly tune with some doo-wop thrown in for good measure. Lollipop Lover (aka The Three Chuckles’ Cinnamon Sinner) and Beyond the Sea (Bobby Darin) show some jive influences and wouldn’t be out of place on a Keytones album.
Jan van Leeuwen later played with the Haystack Hi-Tones and Jess’n’Jill and the Sinners and both Kees Stigter and Jeroen Haagedoorn formed the Barnstompers.

Fred ‘Virgil’ Turgis

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