Roy Williams Archives - the rockabilly chronicle

Kev Saunders

Published on 21 November 202421 November 2024

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.

The Surfin’ Wombatz

Published on 10 November 202310 November 2023

Reviews

The Surfin’ Wombatz – Lager Loutz

Nervous Records – NERD 045 [1989]
Take the Money and Run – Bad Company Blues – Down the Line – Manhunt – The Sound – I Hear the Pounding of My Heart – Dick Turpin – Welcome to the Nightmare – Trapped in My Bottle of Beer – Norman – Moving Down the Street – No More – Wild Man – Make Your Name Count

The Surfin Wombatz were formed around 1987. In 1988, they appeared on the Zorch Factor 3 compilation with the excellent I Hear The Pounding Of My Heart. They can also be heard on the compilation I Ain’t Lonely No More (Fury Records) with Wild Man, another good track.
In February 1989, the group recorded their first album for Nervous Records titled ”Lager Loutz”. The band’s name and the album’s title say it all: the Surfin’ Wombatz are a pleasant group, here for having some fun and probably the beer.
They play a traditional Psychobilly, that is to say, with a light guitar (even a little under-mixed at times) and a very present rhythm section. They clearly don’t have the ambition to revolutionize the genre, and their Psychobilly, tinged with skiffle at times thanks to the presence of a washboard, is rather enjoyable… up to a certain point. Over the length of the album (fourteen tracks!), the group shows its limits. The singer’s voice using always the same mannerisms ends up getting boring, and the compositions lack originality, and all sound a bit similar. The presence of Trapped In My Bottle Of Beer, sung by the guitarist, offers a welcome variation in an album that is a bit monotonous over the long haul. In the end, the Surfin’ Wombatz are more of a compilation group, or perhaps they should have, like many bands of this era, released a mini-album more focused on their qualities.

The Radioactive Kid

Jackals (the)

Published on 30 December 202230 December 2022

Reviews

Jackals (the) – Prowlin’

Nervous Records NERD038 [1988]
Ice Cold Blues – Makes You Scream – Too Crucial – She’s The One – Some Body’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight – I’ll Go Crazy – No Brain – Party Train – My Baby Loves Rock ‘N’ Roll – The Fly – Ghetto Ride – What’s Wrong

The Jackals were an American band from Portland, Oregon active between 1983 and 1992. The quartet was formed by David Corboy (guitar), Louis Samora (guitar), Rob Parker (drums), and Steve Casmano (bass). The band first released an album on Anubis records in 1984 before recording this one at Falcon Studios in 1988 for Nervous Records.
The strength and particularity of the Jackals is that three of the members (all except Parker) sing. This gives a rich and varied repertoire. Ice Cold Blues is heavy blues-rock quite similar to what George Thorogood does with tracks like If You Don’t Start Drinkin’. The tension does not fall, far from it, with Makes You Scream, a hard-hittin’ Rock’n’Roll which rushes at full speed and does not seem to want to stop.
Lighter, More Crucial is an excellent boppin’ Neo-Rockabilly. The following track is in the same spirit and evokes the style of the Rockats.
The group changes register with their cover of Somedy’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked Tonight by Earl Vince and the Valiants (aka Fleetwood Mac). The sound is raw and wild, almost Punk. The next track is also a cover, an excellent version of James Brown’s I’ll Go Crazy.
No Train is solid Modern Rock. Still on the “train” theme, Party Train has the power of a Blasters track. My Baby Loves Rock’n’Roll is a boppin’ Rock’n’roll, and even if it is not very original, the tune is devilishly effective, especially with two fantastic guitar solos.
The Fly is a Chubby Checker cover, resulting in a high-octane and energic version of Twist. The group continues with a powerful instrumental close to Webb Wilder’s style (Cactus Planet, Rough Rider). The album ends with What’s Wrong. It’s not the most original track on the album, but it’s still very effective.
Released between the first album of the Quakes and the second album of Skitzo, Prowlin contrasts a little with the label’s production, which at the time was very Psychobilly-oriented. However, it deserves to be rediscovered, and the classic Rock’nRoll lover will find plenty to enjoy with this album.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Paul “Doc” Stewart

Published on 9 August 20229 August 2022

Articles & Interviews

Paul “Doc” Stewart is an unsung hero of the Psychobilly / Rockabilly scene. Unless you’re a maniac like me who likes to read the covers from top to bottom (and even read the dead wax just in case…), you may not be familiar with his name. But Paul “Doc” Stewart recorded, engineered, and produced some of the best and the most innovative bands of the genre, including the Quakes, the Rapids, the Rattlers, Outer Limits, the Pharaohs, Frenzy, Torment…
Impressive, isn’t it? Well, here at the Rockabilly Chronicle, we thought that the man deserved an interview. So here it is, and thank you, Mr Stewart, for your work!

First, I’d like to know how you became interested in Rockabilly and Psychobilly?

Well I come from a family that has produced many musicians and performers over several hundred years, so it’s in the blood, and I was of course born in the mid 1950s, so l started to become aware of music then and in the pre Beatles 60s.
My mother was always on a mission to make sure my brothers and I were aware of the two most important things in life… which were Blues and Jazz. De who was eldest brother, was eight years my senior and he played a lot of rock and roll. When I say played I do mean played, he had a guitar and I can remember him with his ear pressed to the speaker of our old black and white TV, calling out the words of songs to my mum, who would write them down in shorthand, then type them up so he could learn them. So I grew up with a lot of rock and roll in the house.

What led you to produce albums?

I was always into the technology of making music, I got my first tape recorder in 1968 and started making recordings then. In 1973 I made my first professional recording of a band called “A Phantasy Circus”, which led to them getting a showcase with WEA Records and I just carried on doing things in music from then.

How did you get in touch with Roy Williams, with whom you worked extensively?

I worked at London’s most famous rock venue, the Rainbow Theatre, where I designed, installed and ran the recording studio and rehearsal facilities but after about 18 months I had the opportunity to go to the USA, so went there and worked with a number of bands while developing a business with my brother, who by this time was a DJ on a station in Charleston SC.

When I came back to the U.K., I was working both in photography and live sound with all manner of bands, including King Kurt at the University of North London. I then got a call from a studio in Harrow in the north of London. They told me that the owner Ozzie Burns, who was the original producer of the BeeGees was sadly very ill with cancer and they wanted me to run the studio for him. I had only been there about three weeks when a Teddy boy walked in to the place, with a BMX bike, about two sizes too small for him. This was of course Rockin’ Roy Williams. He lived nearby and had seen the studio and as it was near enough for him to borrow his kid’s bike to get there, he decided to check the place out.
We spoke about rocking music, Rockabilly, Psychobilly and the fusion with Punk. He booked some time and the next week Frenzy arrived. I was initially booked as the engineer, but as is my way started making suggestions and shaping the sound, so I became co-producer by default, and the band acknowledged this by giving me a production credit on the album.

You often shared a co-producer credit with Williams. How did you work together?

I’m not really sure there was ever a conscious co-production strategy, normally we had both heard the bands before we went into the studio, I always tried to see them live if possible too. Then we would start to run through the tracks and get a feel for the sound. Roy left things like mic selection and miking up to me, and that’s the first point you can start influencing the final overall sound. Then we would both suggest things to the bands and hopefully they would take it on board.

We did have a few differences of opinion on some tracks, pretty early on I wanted to change the way the bass drum sounded in the recordings, making it sharper and more modern. Roy sometimes wanted a more old fashioned deeper sound. In most cases I think we went with what suited the rest of the recording and the modern sound stayed. On the Pharaohs album Blue Egypt you hear on the track “Tomb of the Dead” the “Panic at the Desk” mix, which frankly I hated, it was Roy’s baby even though in the absence of a digital delay, I had to do by copying, cutting a splicing the tape. The straight mix which came out on Zorch Factor One was a far better result in my opinion, but Roy was paying the bills, so the better mix got relegated to the compilation.

Many young bands recorded their debut album with you. Is that something you had to consider when working with them? Was a part of your job devoted to familiarising them with the studio?

Many bands and performers I’ve worked with have been “Studio Virgins” and you need to show them the ropes, but in the main the Psychobilly bands I worked with were professional and understood that my job was to get the best possible performance and result for them. A few who did have studio experience were surprised that I didn’t want to record everything as completely separate parts, but really wanted, at least on the first take, to get an organic sound where everybody sparks off one another. After that, you can over dub and polish the performance, if you need to.

You’ve worked with bands with drastically different sounds, from the Jazzabilly of Get Smart to the heavy Psychobilly of Skitzo or the Quakes. How did you approach each project?

I always listen to the band and try to find that special something that they have to offer. In advertising it’s referred to as the USP or unique selling potential, a good band will have a “Unique Performing Potential”, something that sets them apart from the run of the mill. I look for that and try and enhance it

How did you work with the bands in the studio? Did you suggest covers, changes in the songs’ structures or different arrangements? Can you give some examples?

Quite often the arrangements of a song can be not quite right for recording and need a bit of a tweak to get them right. As an example “The Outer Limits” EP “The Edge of Time”, needed a bit of depth, because as a three piece with bass guitar, the sound was a bit light. I was working with Steve Rispin as my engineer at the time, and we programmed some really fat organ sounds on my Yamaha DX7/CX5 synth.
We also used that for the spacey keyboard sound on The Pharaoh’s track “Tomb of The Dead”. On that track and “Turkey Dance” from the same album, I had an old friend of mine, Mike Abramov, (who is sadly no longer with us), put down some violin. Mike was a Blues and Klezmer man, so Psychobilly was not his thing at all, but he liked the guys in the band, and they liked him so it worked well.

With The Rattlers’ “Take a Ride” sessions, that also led to the mini album “Rock” the band were short a couple of songs and having watched a Bond movie the night before, I suggested they do the James Bond theme. I wrote it down on the track List as “Jimmy Bond goes Psycho (007)” the record company, with a complete lack of imagination, called it “007 theme” on the sleeve. On a technical note, I’ve been asked about the space sound of the bass slap on that track. I had the loan of a great piece of kit from France, called an Infernal Machine from a company called Publison. I just dialled the sound on that ‘til it sounded right. Tin Pan Alley, was adjacent to Soho, which is London’s red light district. While out for lunch the guys saw an adult shop, which was selling shall we call them inflatable companions. They came into the studio and with all of us suggesting lines, they wrote “Blow up Baby”. Later we went back in the studio and I knew a woman who was a former interpreter and by then the international secretary of a trades union. She was quite straight laced, but when I asked her she came down to the studio, translated the words of “Blow up Baby” into the various European languages and coached Mark Carrington of the correct pronunciation. That’s how the Euro-Mix on “Rock” came about.

You produced some of the most “experimental” bands on the scene, like Torment, Frenzy, the Rapids, and the Pharaohs. Those bands weren’t narrow-minded and were not afraid to include modern elements. Was it something you were looking for?

Frenzy were highly experimental and I really liked working with them and Torment another band from the same part of the world, where by the way I now live. Torment’s Simon Brand was very open to discuss the structure of the tracks and how we were going to do them. “The Mystery Men” EP we did was a great project, with the title track and “Rock Strong” being really special, but all the tracks on that are good. It’s a shame we didn’t do a full album. I did one track for a compilation with the Rapids at Village Way and really liked them. By the time we got round to the album “Turning Point”, I was at Tin Pan Alley and was more or less running the place and was also the main client, this meant that I had more time to spend on the projects. This meant I could work with the bands to develop the sounds. A lot of good tracks came out of that studio at that time. The albums by The Pharaohs and The Rapids had really good production values I think, and were out of mainstream Psychobilly. Roy once said to me that he thought that “Turning Point” sounded like it didn’t belong on his label, it should be on a major.

I’ve read in an interview that Coffin Nails weren’t that happy with the sound of their debut album and said that you and Roy Williams tried to make them sound like Demented Are Go.

the Coffin Nails (Paul “Doc” Stewart produced their debut album) — The Coffin Nails

Really! I’d not heard they thought that, about Demented are Go I mean, I knew they weren’t happy with the album, which I’m told is still their biggest seller and of course established them as a band. Nothing could be further from the truth as neither Roy or me tried to make them like any other band. As I said, my approach is to find what makes the performer special and enhance that. We brought out what made them special and that was Dave Ward the singer, after he left them, in my opinion, they were pretty mediocre, but tracks like “Werewolf Bitch” and “Myra Hindley” are belting Psycho tracks. I think the truth may be that they had a set idea of what they wanted to sound like and were unhappy giving any kind of creative control to the producer. However as I said I’m told that the fans liked and bought it. And it’s still being streamed today.

Are there unreleased sessions that you worked on?

Yes there are perhaps one or two tracks that I did just with Paul Roman of the Quakes I think I’ve not seen on anything. I also laid down some tracks with The Ant Hill Mob, who were a Neo-Rockabilly band and I think at that time the only one in the UK with a female singer. Lost Moment Records asked Roy and I to produce them and I think they weren’t happy with the way it was going. I went to Village Way Studios for some thing else, only to find them in the control room with another producer, mixing my tape. I was told that when Roy replaced the guitar solo with whistling, they didn’t like it, which to be fair to Roy, was the wrong decision on their part as it really raised the track. I still have a copy master of the tracks from that session, so they may see the light of day at some point.

You not only produced the Quakes’ debut album, but I believe that you also shot the picture for the sleeve that is famous for its Stray Cats reference.

I alway had a parallel career in photography and decided to do a photo shoot with the Quakes. Paul Roman had the idea to pastiche the Stray Cats cover, and I found the location, the basement of a Safeways car park, which was pretty dank. My ex knew the manager so I organised it, I also shot the image of the three of them in black and white, which has become an icon. I also shot the cover for Skitzo Mania.

the Quakes - picture by Paul “doc” Stewart — The Quakes © Paul “Doc” Stewart

Do you have special memories or anecdotes you’d like to share?

Loads, but we’ll have to change all the names to protect the guilty. I think my favourite experience was at the Klub Foot one night. A kid walked up to me and said, rather aggressively, “You’re Paul “Doc” Stewart and you produced the Rattlers’ “Take a Ride”. I admitted that yes it was me, at which point he grabbed my hand and shook it say “I’ve worn out three copies of that mate, its my favourite record ever”’

Is there a band you would have liked to work with?

Lee Gotcher from the Rapids renamed himself J. C. Lee, and did an interesting album in Japan, I would liked to have worked with him again as a solo project.
Also, I would like to have worked with the BlueCats/ Beltane Fire. Also I did a couple of tracks with the Sidewinders, I thought that they had really great potential and would love to have done an album with them.

They’re all different, but is there an album that you’re particularly proud of?

Where do you start, I enjoyed making them all so it’s a bit like asking which of your kids is your favourite. There’s not one I’m not proud of and believe me there is some mainstream stuff I engineered that I’m embarrassed by, the rockin’ stuff I love it all.

Why did you stop producing bands?

I stopped having it as the main stream of my activity as I hated the way the music scene was going, with far too many bands just producing sampled computerised garbage, rather than learn their craft and play music. But I’ve never really stopped, having done a few mixes for bands over the years. In fact if there are any good psycho bands out there who want to send me a demo, I could be tempted into the studio once again.

Can you tell us more about that Doc-A-Billy project?

Doc-A-Billy - Paul “Doc” Stewart's Psychobilly Years — Doc-A-Billy – Paul “Doc” Stewart’s Psychobilly Years

I’ve talked to a few of the labels I’ve worked for and I have a list of my favourite tracks from over the years. I’ve been putting together some of them for a limited edition vinyl and CD release (Doc-A-Billy – Paul “Doc” Stewart’s Psychobilly Years) and I plan to film some interviews with the bands in question. I’m developing an online documentary channel at the moment and this would be ideal for that.
(so keep your eyes open and check this site. We’ll give you more info as soon as the album hits the shelves).

This interview © Fred “Virgil” Turgis & the Rockabilly Chronicle / Paul “Doc” Stewart.

Paul “Doc” Stewart on discogs.
Paul “Doc” Stewart is a famous photographer with many exhibitions and books under his belt: http://www.paulstewartphoto.co.uk/

The Jets (British Rock'n'roll band)

Published on 30 April 202230 April 2022

Reviews

Jets (the) – The Isolation Sessions #2

Krypton Records KRYP CD215 [2021]
Crazy Baby – Open Up Your Heart – Steppin’ Out Tonight – Would You – Love Bug – Jitterbop Baby – Somebody To Love – Bop Machine – Midnight Dynamos – Sleep Rock’n’Roll – Lovers Once Again – Mountain of Love – Lonely Hearts – Baby Take Me Back

As you can guess from the title, the Jets recorded this album during the third lockdown, with each musician playing from their home. They decided to invite Darrel Higham as a guest singer/musician. The result is a killer combination that takes no prisoners. I don’t have much to say about this excellent record. The Cotton brothers and Higham are such consummate professionals so that you can expect mean rock’n’roll, wild guitars, smooth vocals, sweet harmonies and more. The performance is solid, and you’d never believe they didn’t record it in the same room. The set mixes covers and originals, most of the songs having been recorded by the band before. So this is more like a live album (albeit without an audience) than a studio one.
They even managed to make me appreciate Matchbox’s Midnight Dynamos far more than than the original one.

www.thejets.co.uk/

Jets (the) – Stare-Stare-Stare

Krypton Records – KRYPCD 205 [1996]
(You Just Don’t Know How To) Treat Your Man – Oh Baby Please – 1,2,3 – Stare-Stare-Stare – When The Cats Away – Pussy Cat – Hearts On Fire – What A Fool – Lovers Once Again – Kiss Me – Little Orphan Girl – One Heaven – Saturday Night – Put My Lips All Over This Town – Can’t Live With ‘Em – Lookin’ Pretty Good – Nashville Blue

The Jets recorded and released this album in 1996. There’s no big surprise nor significant departure in terms of sound, but that’s another Jets classic.
The first track is a mean Rock’n’Roll with a haunting riff, and the result is not that far from Restless’ Madhouse years. Oh, Baby Please is a superb Doo Wop. Back to Rock’n’Roll with 1,2,3, which sounds like a modern version of Elvis’ All Shook Up. The title track is a Doo-Wop ballad with a dash of Rock’n’Roll, but the result is a bit marred by the synthetic production. Much better is When the Cats Away, a modern Rockabilly in the Dave Edmunds style. Pussy Cat brings a touch of blues with a Johnny Kidd and the Pirates feel. Hearts on Fire is a solid stroller, and it just needs a piano to turn into a great Little Richard tune. What A Fool is a wild Rockabilly with powerful slap bass. After that, you need to calm down, and Lovers Once Again, a lovely and gentle ballad is perfect. But the rest doesn’t last long when Kiss Me, a Johnny Burnette-tinged song, blasts through your speakers. Next are two slow tunes: a doo-wop (Little Orphan Girl) and a tender ballad with steel (One Heaven). Saturday Night is a Rockabilly with a hillbilly beat. It contrasts with Put My Lips All Over This Town and its modern production. Can’t Live Em is a stripped-down Rockabilly, and Looking Pretty Good evokes the sound of Elvis circa 1956. The album closes with a superb instrumental with dobro and fingerpicking.
Even if the production is sometimes a bit synthetic on some tunes, Stare, Stare, Stare remains a highly enjoyable album despite an ugly cover.

Jets (the) – Cotton Pickin

Krypton Records KRYP200 [1988]
Nervous – Be-El-Zebub Boogie – Penny Loafers And Bobby Sox – Would You – Heartbreaker – Bones – Razor Alley – Can’t Keep A Good Man Down – Primadonna – I Didn’t Like It The First Time – Oh Judy – The Hunter

Cotton Pickin, the Jets’ fourth lp, is more or less made of the same wood as its predecessor. You’ll find Neo-Rockabilly (Nervous, Razor Alley) and even a song bordering on Psychobilly (the Hunter.) Still, in the Rockabilly idiom, there’s plenty of Rockabilly tunes with Doo-Wop embellishments (Would You, the Sparkletones’ Penny Loafers And Bobby Sox, I Didn’t Like It The First Time.) Talking about Doo-Wop, it wouldn’t be a Jets album without a couple of pure Doo-Wop tunes. Here you have Dion’s Prima Donna, Heartbreaker (that sounds a bit like Runaround Sue), and Judy performed acapella by the three brothers.
A mean Rock’n’Roll (Can’t Keep A Good Man Down), a boogie with jazzy echoes (Be-El-Zebub Boogie), and Bones, an instrumental in the vein of Steel Guitar Rag complete the set.

Jets (the) – Session Out

Nervous Records NERD 021 [1986]
Jitterbuggin’ Baby – Dan O’ Dell – Drunk Again – Charlene – Moonshine – Bye Bye Baby – Open Your Heart – Forget The Love – Did Anyone Tell You – Millionaire Hobo – Cry The Blues – Slippin’ In

After beginning their career with Roy Williams as a manager, the Jets (Bob, Ray and Tony Cotton, respectively on double-bass, guitar, and drums) went on to international fame with EMI scoring hits and TV appearances.
For their third album, they returned to Williams and Nervous records. And the result is one hell of a rocking album produced by the band. All songs are originals, either written by Ray or Bob, except for Millionaire Hobo and Slippin’ In.
The opening number sets the moods for what will follow: top-notch production, tight arrangement (excellent twin guitar part), and superb musicianship.
Next, you find Dan O Dell. It’s a Rock’n’roll number yet with a Jazz mood and a nod to Tennessee Ernie Ford’s 16 Tons. It also sees the Jets’ secret weapon’s introduction: their vocals harmonies. Drunk Again follows. Jet-propelled by Bob’s fantastic slap-bass, I can easily imagine it recorded by Eddie Cochran.
Charlene is a pure Doo-wop candy that seems to come straight from the fifties. Maybe these three brothers have a special connection or something, but their voices sure blend magnifically.
How about an instrumental after that? With a title like Moonshine, don’t be surprised to find a strong Hillbilly touch.
Bye Bye Baby is a soft Neo-Rockabilly with, once again, a great guitar part that mixes rockabilly with jazz.
The B-side begins with Open Up Your Heart, a Rockaballad with the brothers’ harmonies. More rockin’ is Forget the Love. Imagine Right Behind You baby with a Neo-Rockabilly feel. Sounds great? The result is even better. Still rockin’ but more classical, the stripped-down sound of Did Anyone Tell You evokes the legendary recordings made by Sam Phillips.
Next are two Doo-wop tunes: a storming rendition of the Fantastics’ Millionaire Hobo and the more classical Cry the Blues.
To confirm the Neo-Rockabilly orientation of this album, a breathless rendition of Slippin’ In concludes the set.

Jets (the) ‎– Love Makes The World Go Round

EMI ‎– EMI 5262 [1982]
Love Makes the World Go Round – I’m Just A Score

Back in the early 80s, the Jets achieved the delicate task of reaching commercial success without selling themselves out.
This single is a perfect example of that. The sound is undoubtedly more radio-friendly than the most hardcore Rockabilly bands, but the Cotton brothers remain faithful to the genre. Suffice to compare their cover of Love Makes the World Go Round with the original by Perry Como. They bring everything to turn it into a Rockabilly tune, soft Rockabilly maybe, but Rockabilly nonetheless. The same goes for the flip-side, with its powerful slap bass, subtle harmonies, and delicate guitar.

Jets (the) ‎– Who’s That Knocking

EMI ‎– EMI 5134 [1981]
Who’s That Knocking – I Seen Ya

Excellent single by the Cotton brothers. The A-side is a fast-paced doo-wop on which the band sees its line-up augmented by Mickey Gallagher on piano and Davey Payne on saxophone, both from Ian Dury and the Blockheads. The B-side is another superb example of their brand of soft Rockabilly with a terrific guitar.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Official website: http://www.thejets.co.uk/

Deltas (the)

Published on 2 June 20202 June 2020

Reviews

The Deltas – Boogie Disease

Nervous Records NER002 [1981]

Boogie Disease – As You Like It – Blues In The Bottle – Honey Babe – Victim Of My Love – London Girls – Who – That Ain’t Your Business – Raging Sea – Heart Attack – Temperature – Pie ‘n’ Mash – Moonshine – Nine Below Zero – Fashion Train – Long Black Train

The Deltas were playing wild and frantic Rockabilly but unlike many other bands, they related heavily to the blues idiom covering the likes of Doctor Ross, Slim Harpo, Lightnin’ Hopkins or Sonny Boy Williamson. If the Meteors created psychobilly by mistreating rockabilly music, the Deltas were doing the same to the blues.

The Deltas were one of the very first act to be signed by Roy Williams on his Nervous label. It’s no surprise for their were among those who wanted to push the boundaries of the genre like Restless, the Meteors, the Blue Cats to name but three.

Their debut album is loaded with 16 wild and psychoticwith half of them penned by the band. The triple attack of Littlejohn’s double bass, Pat Panioty’s guitar and Steve Bongo banging his drums while singing his heart out (which often leads him to end the song faster than it started) takes no prisonners.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

The Deltas – Heart Attack b/w Spellbound

Nervous Records NER005 [1981]
In 1981 the British rockabilly scene was in bloom. After Raw Deal split, Paul Fenech and Nigel Lewis formed the Meteors and Pat Panioty formed the Deltas. This single announces their excellent debut album. The version of Heartattack is different than the one that appears on the album.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

The Deltas – You Cant Judge a Book

Raucous Records – RAUC006 [1988]
How Come You Do Me Like You Do – You Can’t Judge A Book – Do What I Do – This Train Is Bound For Glory

Superb ep recorded for Raucous featuring high octane rockin’ blues in the same vein of Tuffer than Tuff.

The Deltas – Mad for it

ID Records NOSE 11 [1986]
Whip It Up – Cigarette – Catch’em Young – The Cat – Age Of Nil – Electric Chair – Hit The Road Jack – Mad For It – Sex Therapy – Gimme The Drugs – No More No More No More – How Come You Do Me Like You Do* – You Can’t Judge A Book* – Do What I Do* – This Train Is Bound For Glory* (*cd bonus)

In 1986 the Deltas returned with a brand new album and a brand new lineup. The orginal trio (Captain Pat Marvel, Little John and Steve Bongo) added a drummer Ricochet Ray (allowing Steve to fully concentrate on the vocals) and a second guitar and a saxophone in the person of Boz Boorer of the Polecats who also produced the album and wrote several originals. With the addition of guests on piano and blues harp, the result is a blusier album, yet with a rockin’ feel to it, and a fuller sound.
It also sees them more at ease to go into new territories like the jazzy “Electric Chair”. But fans of the first lp and their psychotic rockabilly will sure enjoy the title track and their cover of the Cat. The cd version includes the “You Can’t Judge a book… ep” recorded for Raucous in 1988.

The Deltas ‎– From Fleetville To Vegas

Rockout Records ‎– NIT 007
High Falutin’ Mama – Getting Drunk – Look Out Mabel – Shim Sham Shimmy – Willie Brown – Doctor Jazz – Down By The Riverside – I Love To Boogie – King Of The Road – Rock Me
Released in 1995 on Gary Day’s short-lived Rockout Records, From Fleetville to Vegas is one of the very best Deltas album.
The five-piece line-up (the original trio plus Boz Boorer and John Buck) rips through a set of wild and frantic rockin’ blues leaving the listener breathless. Amid that wildness, they managed to add some Jive (Gettin’ Drunk), Jazz (Doctor Jazz, a Boorer’s original that quotes Charlie Parker), Rock’n’Roll (High Falutin’ Mama), Rockabilly (Rock Me) and even Gospel (Down By the Riverside.)
Occasional piano, saxophone, and harmonica enlighten the performance. The sound is raw and crude, in the same vein as Billy Childish’s blues albums.

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