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Batmobile

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Batmobile

Batmobile – Ba-Baboon

BatmobileMusic On Vinyl – MOV7058 [2021]
Ba-Baboon / Everybody’s Dancin’

Batmobile returns with a brand new single featuring two originals and a beautiful cover design drawn by Pieter M. Dorrenboom.

BabaBoon is a tribal tune with a jungle beat and could be seen as a follow-up to Bambooland. The B-side is more traditional. This revved-up rocker with handclaps is guaranteed to make you bop. 

Batmobile ‎– Big Bat

batmobile big batMusic On Vinyl ‎– MOV10033 [2020]
Transylvanian Express – Beasts – Ain’T Got You – Man With The Shovel – Walkaway Baby – Go On

What a surprise! Batmobile released a 10″ mini-album with a six-piece horn section (three saxophones, two trumpets, and one trombone.) Most surprising, it works. The arrangements are superb and carefully done. The horn section is fully integrated into the trio. It really adds something and completes the sound of the band.
From the new version of Transylvanian Express to the sinister Man with the Shovel, with the “mariachi meets psychobilly” sound of Walkaway Baby and the country-tinged Go On in between, without forgetting the 100% Batmobile sound of Beast and Ain’t Got You, this mini-album is perfect from start to finish.
It’s a limited edition of 1500 copies in transparent yellow vinyl.

Batmobile ‎– Big Bat A Go-Go

batmobile big bat a gogoMusic On Vinyl ‎– MOV7042 [2020]
Drums-A Go-Go / Hammering

Two more songs recorded with the Bosco Horns.
The A-side is a cover of Sandy Nelson and is a tour de force by Johnny Zuidhof. The B-side is a new version of Hammering previously released on Hard Hammer Hits.
Limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on yellow vinyl.

Batmobile - Live at the Klub Foot
Batmobile – Live at the Klub Foot

Batmobile – Live At The Klub Foot 1986

Cherry Red CDM PSYCHO 70
Transylvanian Express / Slapping Suspenders / Love Disease / Frenzy / Mission Impossible / Ballroom Blitz / Zombie Riot / Racing With The Sun / Ain’t Gonna Drink No More / Bat Attack / Bambooland / Chasin’ / Cold Sweat

In 1986, three young boys from the Netherland arrived in London to play on the stage of the psychobilly mecqua, the now legendary Klub Foot. They play in front of hundreds of psychos who discovered that night one of the best, most beloved and most influential psychobilly band : Batmobile. This is this historic day this album gives us the occasion to hear.
For many years the tapes of this gig were considered lost or destroyed until someone found them and under the guidance of Alan Wilson (God or anyone else bless him) they were restored and saved.
So here you have the whole set, 13 Batmobile classics from their mini lp and “Bambooland”, with a booming sound that does justice to the band energy and captures the excitment of their youth.
Considering that Batmobile never released a live album (though they issued two live videos) this is definitely a must have. And the historical aspect of the whole thing will make you forgive the occasional out of tune and trembling voice. Just remember that was their first gig abroad, so you can imagine they were anxious.
The package is completed with informative liner notes and interviews. And as Alan Wilson interview suggests, some recordings from other bands exist and we can only hope it’s going to be the debut of a long serie.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Nigel Lewis And The Stereo Satellites

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Nigel Lewis

Nigel Lewis And The Stereo Satellites – Satellite Baby

Crazy Love Records – CLEP64434 [2021]
Satellite Baby / Surfin’ Bird – The Train Kept A Rollin’

Nigel Lewis of the Meteors fame recorded these three songs with Chris Shearwood on acoustic guitar and Stewart Rhodes on snare drum December 1980 while still playing with the Meteors.
If there’s an undeniable historical interest, the musical aspect is also gratifying if you don’t expect a clean sound or else. Don’t forget that this is the recording of an informal rehearsal. The sound is raw, and the performance somewhat wild. The terms of low-fidelity or even no-fidelity can’t even apply here. At best, one could describe it as the mix between a bare-bones version of Garage rock with a hint of Tav Falco and Panther Burns, especially in their rendition of Train Kept A-Rollin’.
It’s a limited edition of 300, including red, gold, green, white & black vinyl, so grab a copy while you can.

The Dead Beat Jacks

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The Dead Beat Jacks – Graveyard Chicks Are Easy

dead beat jacks

Jax Wax Records [2021]
Psychobilliac – Before I Lose My Mind -Graveyard Chicks Are Easy – Scary Truck – Baddest Cat In Town – Demon O – Drink IPA – Satan’s Niece – How I Go – An Undying Quest – Bone Stimulator – It Just Gets Worse – Zombie Bloodbath

Coming from Chicago, The Dead Beat Jacks are a trio (guitar, double bass and drums) and sing songs about graveyards, zombies and demonic things. That would be enough for a lazy reviewer to qualify them as a Psychobilly band. But things are a little bit more complicated than that.
Of course, it contains plenty of songs that belong to the Psychobilly idiom — like Scary Truck or the ‘Demented Are Go’ influenced Psychobilliac — but they also have more neo-Rockabilly sounding tunes like Drink IPA. Their album also contains, and that’s where they develop their true identity, a solid dose of musical oddities like Before I Lose My Mind, which in its structure evokes a 50’s ballad in the style of Buddy Holly. Still, once the Dead Beat Jacks treatment is applied, it becomes a weird and totally insane thing. The same goes for Satan’s Niece. This one is very close to Heavy Metal in its form but escapes the genre’s grandiloquence by a very down to earth treatment.
This is one of the main strengths of these guys. By avoiding all the clichés and the facilities, their songs are often groovy with unusual structures and changes of pace. Hell, they even play a love song!
By not following the rules, the Dead Beat Jacks have developed an infectious and very original brand of music.

More infos here.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

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

Dazzlers (the)

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dazzlers

The Dazzlers – The Dazzlers


Rockhouse Records – LP 8310 [1983]
Get Away Of My Brain – Country Stress – Bear Cat -. Day Dream – Whistle Bait – Indianapolis – Cat Man _ Gun In Head – Ride On – Susie Q – Her Love Rubbed Off – All Night Long – Street Fight – Switch Off Sun


Shortly after the release of their single, the Bopkats changed their name to the Dazzlers, not to be assimilated to the wave of copycats that appeared following the Stray Cats’ sudden success. Michel Thonney (ex-manager of Gene Vincent) noticed them and introduced them to Rockhouse records, giving them a recording contract. They then recorded their only album, which was released in 1983.
The sound mixes Rockabilly and Garage with a Psychobilly influence like the first Meteors or Ricochets. One can also find wild Rock’n’roll (a frenzied cover of Whistle Bait, Bearcat), an instrumental (Indianapolis) in the lineage of Hot Rods songs from the Del-Fi label, sound effects included, a cover of Cat Man all in tension, and more neo-rockabilly oriented songs like Gun In Head. Their cover of Perkins’ Her Love Rubbed Off has nothing to envy what the Cramps will do of this song on Stay Sick. The bassist also plays the saxophone on Street Fight, a slow and menacing track. The Dazzlers had everything to succeed, an almost perfect album, an incredible stage presence (watch the videos on youtube), but unfortunately, the group did not realize all these hopes. Perhaps they were too honest. We can only regret that, when any lousy band that played with a double-bass in the 1980s (no name please) is being reissued, the Dazzlers remain a hidden treasure. The Dazzlers are still too little known, whereas they should have been bigger than the Beatles.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Smell of Kat

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Smell of Kat

Smell of Kat – Raw Beat

Vampirella Music – 10200009-7 [1997]

Nothing More But Shout – You’re Gonna Die / Evil Girl – Raw Beat

“Smell of Kat” is the name of an excellent song by Stringbeans, a Finish neo-rockabilly trio. This is also the name of an equally excellent quartet from Spain. Smell of Kat formed in 1994, and in 1996 the band recorded their first EP. The line-up consisted of Javi Caballero on vocals, David Mourello on double bass, Christobal Saez on drums, and Javi Uroz on guitar. All four songs are originals.
Their music falls somewhere in the blurry zone between fast Neo-Rockabilly and Psychobilly, a bit like the Blue Cats meet the Ricochets or something like that. The instruments are well played, and the tight rhythm section keeps a solid beat throughout. Superb production too.

The radioactive Kid

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