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Unkool Hillbillies (the)

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The Unkool Hillbillies – The Corona Sessions vol. 2

Wham Bam Baloony / Rock My Blues Away [2021]

unkool hillbillies

Here are two more tracks recorded by The Unkool Hillbillies during the pandemic.
Wham Bam Baloony is a relaxed piano-driven number with a bluesy feel and a laidback shuffle. Otto Gryting returns and delivers a brief but excellent sax part.
Rock My Blues Away is not that original, but nonetheless, it is efficient. It’s a Rock’n’roll number with a slight Neo-Rockabilly feel.

The Unkool Hillbillies – The Corona Sessions vol. 1

Flat Top Boogie / So Long Mole [2021]

unkool hillbillies

The Unkool Hillbillies (Anders Umegård on piano/vocals, Fredric Bergström double bass, Mats Brobäck on drums, and Jonas Säfsten on electric guitar/backup vocals) recently went to the studio to record a couple of songs. To help us wait until their forthcoming album, two of them have been released as digital singles. Flat Top Boogie is a traditional piano-led rocker yet modern at the same time. It also features some tasty guitar licks. By listening to the intro of So Long Mole, you’d think (and be slightly afraid) that you’ll hear a Twist. Fortunately for us, it evolves into a solid rocker enhanced by the presence of guest saxman Otto Gryting.

The Unkool Hillbillies – Evil Times

Strawberry Records GET004 [2009]
Dangling On A String – Another Day Another Lie – Sarah – Wake Up – I Aint Mad At You – Just Your Fool – I’ll Do My Best – Jump Start My Heart – Linda Lee – Rock This Joint – Evil Times – It Hurts Me Too – Your The One – Dirty – Tore Up – Blisters – Stampen Boogie – Tell Me

unkool hillbillies

Don’t let the band’s name mislead you: this band is anything but uncool, and their music belongs more to New Orleans and Chicago than to the Grand Ole Opry.Featuring the pounding piano of Anders Umegarg and the fantastic blues harp of Richard Andersson (and both sing), a mean guitar, and a solid rhythm section, this 18-song (13 originals) album is a killer from start to finish.It’s a mix of Chicago Blues (Little Walter’s Just Your Fool), jumpin’ blues with an early rock’n’roll edge (Rock This Joint), Jerry Lee Lewis piano (Dangling On A String), New Orleans rhythm’n’blues featuring juicy saxes (Sarah), good old boogie woogie (Stampen Boogie) and some Blasters influences (Wake Up, Evil Time). They add diversity with three songs recorded live (Tore Up, Blisters, and Stampen Boogie), and guest singer Karin Johansson is featured on three tunes, including It Hurts Me Too (done initially by Tampa Red, although their version owes more to Elmore James). After all this, I’m not sure you’ll continue to call them unkool!

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

website: http://www.unkool.se/index2.html

Slapping Suspenders

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Slapping Suspenders – Blood Sucking Freaks

Count Orlok Music – R.O.C.K. X [1990]
Bloodsucking Freaks – Swad Clodhopper – Highlander – End Of The Endless Sleep – Handsome Molly – Fat Slags – Terminator – Duke’s Gonna Be Alright – Chainsaw Peck – All You Need Is A Fist – Night In Whitechapel – Billy The Kid – Hillbilly Freak – Nude Girl – Shobido

slapping suspenders

Slapping Suspenders was a Swedish Psychobilly trio consisting of Thomas Schuldt (double bass and vocals), Johan Wallgren (guitar), and Michael Halonen (drums).
Their debut album, Blood Sucking Freaks, issued on Count Orlock records, is fast, annoying, and above all, very repetitive Psychobilly. The group has no fresh ideas, and their music has very little variation. The tempos and melodies are almost always the same, and the scratchy vocals are similar on all the tracks. They make a few attempts at a bawdy hillbilly style, but these are not very successful, and the same can be said about their cover of The Jungle Book (I Wanna Be Like You).
After listening to this record, it becomes quickly evident that it is not a masterpiece, and the fifteen tracks seem very long. The group also appears to lack musical cohesion. While the double bassist manages to do well, the drummer sometimes struggles to keep the rhythm, and the guitarist seems to have the skill level of an amateurish punk group.
The best thing you can do with this album is to store it next to Captain Coma and quickly forget about it.

Slapping Suspenders – The Good, The Bad And The Keeper Of The Seven Waffles

Count Orlok Music – C.O.C.K. XIV [1992]
1000 Ways To Suicide – Whos Dead? – Oh Darling – Ghostriders In The Sky – Sandy – Midnight Hour – Barfin All Night – Piece Of Dead Meat – Send The Hippo To The Gallows – Magnum 44 – Hedgehog – Rip It Up – Rubber Girls – Spanking – Love Is For Fools – Revenge Of The Mad Cow – Shobido

slapping suspenders

The Slapping Suspenders show no significant progress since their first album. Even if the group is more musically diverse, incorporating different tempos and styles into their songs, this album contains seventeen songs, which is way too long for a group of their level.
Additionally, the group’s bawdy side, as heard in their version of “Rip It Up,” may become tiresome rather quickly.

Nevrotix (the)

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Nevrotix (the) – Light & Shade

Crazy Love Records CLCD 64493 [2023]
Bone Rattle Beat – Blue Again – Creature – She’s My Baby – Cast A Spell – Out Of Sight – All That Was – Midnight Boogie – Distance – Parallel World – Aviophobia

Nevrotix Light & Shades

The Nevrotix are Axel Wennerlund on guitars & vocals, Cecil Kriisin on drums, and Henrik Hellberg Lizama on double bass. They come from Sweden and, may I add, wear lovely jumpers. They play Psychobilly. By that, I mean real Psychobilly (we’ll debate elsewhere if it’s pure Psychobilly), not Punk or Heavy Metal with a double bass. They play with the codes of the genre: a powerful double bass, a light guitar with a clear sound and pounding drums that do not hesitate to slip into tribal rhythms on occasion.
Above all, the Nevrotix has two strong points. First, although they are excellent musicians, what is striking about this trio is its cohesion. We do not have the impression of hearing three individuals or a rhythm section accompanying a singer. On the contrary, the band sounds like a whole, giving the group a unique dynamic. Of course, that doesn’t preclude guitar solos (the album is peppered with brilliant guitar parts) or double bass breaks. And all this is for what? This is where we come to the group’s second and main strength: their songs and arrangements. The Nevrotix compositions are never content to be simply sped-up Rockabilly with a few zombie-themed lyrics thrown in for good measure. Their Psychobilly is highly melodic, and the seemingly simple songs always move into unexpected territories. Each piece has a slight variation or subtle change that will make all the difference. Take songs like Out Of Sight or the Distance, for example. What could be, for the former, a fast track with muffled chords, à la What The Hell (Frantic Flintstones), is quickly transformed into something new by a subtle melodic variation.
The group also manages to brilliantly translate the lyrics’ atmosphere into music. Again, we feel that it has been thought of as a whole. For example, Blue Again is a fast track with a catchy riff that accompanies the track and enters your head like the singer’s discomfort.
Cast A Spell is another track that conveys the narrator’s fear and angst through music.
The group also excels in tracks containing rage and danger, bursting out in brief flashing moments. Thus Bone Rattle Beat is almost based on the double bass and the drums giving the track a jungle atmosphere, evoking Batmobile’s Zombie Riot or the Meteors’ Voodoo Rhythm before accelerating on the chorus. Another song that carries a high dose of danger is Midnight Boogie. Everything about this song screams “danger”, yet listening to it makes you want to roam the city with your friends in the middle of the night.
The group welcomes some guests on certain tracks. Thus we hear Terry Drybone of the Magnetix on Creature bringing his mean voice to this strange alien story. All That Was is a superb dark country/country noir ballad featuring Gunnar Frick on pedal steel guitar, on which Axel duets with Hanna Wennerlund (any link?). The feel is close to the duets recorded between Sparky and Emmanuella of the Hillbilly Moon Explosion. The album closes with Aviophobia, a fast instrumental featuring Anton Eriksson (the Test Pilots) on guitar and, surprisingly, but a good surprise, a saxophone played by Oskar Bäcklin.
One last word to tell you that the production is faultless from start to finish and that the famous Oskar Hertin drew the cover.
Don’t think twice, and grab a copy of this terrific album right now! I said NOW!

Available on CD and LP at Crazy Love Records
https://www.facebook.com/thenevrotix

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Nevrotix

Tiny Minds

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tiny minds

Tiny Minds – s/t

Kix 4 U Records – Kix 3357
Trouble Bound – Tell Me – Don’t You Lie – Young And Restless – Wortless and Weak – Out For The Cold / Song For You – Made In the Shade – It’s Not Me – Psycho Music – Crazy – Psycho Therapy – Shout

tiny minds

File under “another Psychobilly album”. Tiny Minds was a Swedish trio formed by Dan (slap bass, some guitars), Henry (guitar) and Harry (drums and acoustic guitar). Not sure, but it seems that each of them sing.
Considering that the band looks pretty young on the cover (confirmed by the vocals, too), you don’t want to be too harsh, but honestly, this is a more than dispensable album. It’s not as bad as the Punishers, but you can easily live without it. There’s enough slap bass to satisfy the psychotic crowd, and some songs are original and could be very good (Don’t You Lie, Wortless and Weak, Song For You) if mistakes, uneven musicianship and approximate vocals didn’t plague them.

The Radioactive Kid

Lily Locksmith

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Lily Locksmith – s/t

Enviken Records EnRec181 [2022]
When I Put The Blues On You – Praying – Bad – Last Night – Player – Farther Up The Road – Burn Toast And Black Coffee – You Gotta Try – I Don’t Need – No Use But O’Well – When It’s Good Enough For You – I Tried – Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave – Catfight – You Did Me Wrong – What Do You Know About Love

lily locksmith

Caroline Låås, aka Lily Locksmith, had an incredible voice. Her sudden death, at the too-early age of 37, left a massive void on the Rock’n’Roll scene. When she passed away, Lilly was working on an album. Friends of the singer, knowing that her dream was to release a full-length vinyl album, decided to finish it. Thanks to the label, her friends, musicians, and fans who contributed to the project via a Kickstarter campaign, the project was completed and saw the light of day.
Among the sixteen tracks, nine are covers, the remaining seven being from the pen of Locksmith or guitarist Chris Bergström. The covers range from Candye Kane to Bo Diddley, with tunes by Nick Curran, Shorty Long, Little Richard, Chris Ruest, Big Mama Thornton, Larry Davis and Bobby Blue Bland in between.
The whole album is a rollercoaster through the blues idiom. You go from straightforward blues to Rock’n’roll, with groovy stuff and plenty of Rhythm’n’Blues thrown in for good measure. And, of course, like all good albums, there’s a tear-jerker ballad (Last Night). The band is top-notch, providing an excellent job and a solid structure to put the spotlight on Locksmith’s vocals and her impressive range of emotions.
We lost a great singer, but this album is not a monument commemorating the death of someone. Instead, it’s a celebration of life. Each groove of the vinyl and each bit of the CD ooze energy and vitality. This is the best hommage that could’ve been done to this fantastic singer, and I suppose that’s how her friends wanted her to be remembered.

Lily Locksmith – I Don’t Need

Enviken ENREC4512 [2020]
I Don’t Need / Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave

Lily Locksmith has a strong and powerful voice. But, unlike many, she knows how to control it, and this single is the perfect vehicle to show her skills.
The A-side, penned by Locksmith’s guitar player Chris Bergström, is a Bo Diddley tinged song with tremolo guitar and a hint of Garage.
The B-side is a cover of Little Richard. This slow tune allows the singer to play with her voice and its variations, containing the power before letting it explode.
I’m looking forward to the whole album.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Wildfire Willie and the Ramblers

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Wildfire Willie and the Ramblers – Blues, Boogie and Rhythm

Wildfire Willie and the Ramblers

Goofin’ records GOOFY 557 [1995]
My Gal From Kokomo – Crazy ‘Bout You Baby / Honky Tonk Baby – A Bottle Of Loneliness

The A-side opens with My Gal From Kokomo that opens, initially recorded by Roy Brown. The band turns this jump blues into a frantic Rockabilly tune, during which Jan Svenson seems close to asphyxia.
Things calm down a bit with the next song, Crazy Bout You, an original, a mid-tempo rocka-ballad with a country feel.
Hardrock Gunter’s Honky Tonk Baby, the second cover of the EP, is more on the boppin’ hillbilly side. The last track, and for me the best, is Bottle of Loneliness. It’s a great country Rockabilly song with a Carl Perkins feel. I guess that Sam Phillips would have been proud to record this one.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

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