Phantom Rockers – Kissed By A Werewolf
Tombstone Records TOMB-DISC 683 [1990]
Phantom Stomp – Horror Rock – Escape – Phantom Rockers – Rottin’ In My Coffin – Leather-Zombie – Killer Train – Kissed By A Werewolf – Valley Of Kings – Freddy – Friday Night – Jailbreak – Livin’ Dead – Forget Him Baby
Formed in 1988 by Mark Burke (vocals and double bass) after his departure from the Krewmen, the Phantom Rockers are a cosmopolitan band. Indeed, alongside Burke are his fellow Briton Mike Carroll on guitar, as well as a German, Olaf Schubert, on second guitar, and a Dutchman, Marcus Losen, on drums. Three months after their formation and with only a handful of concerts under their belt, the band landed a contract with Tombstone Records. The album consists of thirteen original compositions and one cover, Zombies by the British punk band Attak, renamed Leather Zombies here (and uncredited).
The album opens with Phantom Stomp, a hard-hitting instrumental. Overall, the quartet plays classic psychobilly with a powerful, prominent double bass, while remaining true to the genre’s rockabilly roots, as demonstrated by the excellent Friday Night. Of course, the band doesn’t shy away from a few clichés, both in certain structures and in the lyrics. We find the usual horror tropes of werewolves, coffins, zombies, and the undead. But after all, we don’t listen to psychobilly to hear stories of chirping birds or streams flowing through green valleys.
The only real drawback is that the band doesn’t fully exploit the possibilities offered by the two guitars by varying the sounds and textures in the style of bands like the Scum Rats, for example. There are hints of this approach on tracks like Escape and Rottin In My Coffin, but overall the two guitars have a fairly similar and compact sound. But this is just a minor detail on an album that, as a whole, is more than well-crafted and enjoyable.
Phantom Rockers (the) – Demon Lover
Tombstone Records – Tomb-Disc 690
Man Eating Troops – The Phone – Prison Walls – Backstreet Fight – Ho Down Stomp – Matchbox – Mental – Dark Dimensions – Stay Wild – Texas Rose – Psycho Slut’s – Psycho Party
Less than a year after their debut album, the Phantom Rockers return with a vengeance with Demon Lover, still on Tombstone Records. Compared to their debut album, the overall sound is more powerful, the vocals more aggressive, and the rhythms faster. The interplay between the two guitars is also more refined. In addition to the band’s own compositions, there are two covers: a high-energy version of Carl Perkins’ Matchbox and Fireball XL5’s Prison Walls. The album concludes with the excellent Psycho Party, sounding like a cross between Demented Are Go and Krewmen.
Phantom Rockers (the) – Search & Destroy
Tombstone Records – Tomb-Disc 704
Search & Destroy – Come Back Bird – Fight For Your Love – Wild Night – Byonic Psycho – Pot & Politicians – Riding With The Devil – Demon Lover – Nervous Breakdown – Rottin In My Coffin – Brand New Cadillac – Hip-A-Billy
Between this album and the previous one, Olaf Shubert, the second guitarist, left the band. Mark Burke decided to continue as a trio. They took the opportunity to further harden their sound, evolving towards a form of hardcore psychobilly which, while effective on some tracks, can sometimes be quite messy. The best way to appreciate this evolution is to compare the version of Rottin’ In My Coffin from their debut album to the new version recorded for Search and Destroy. This album also contains some strange elements, such as the indigestible (and lengthy) mix of rap, hardcore, and rockabilly that is Hip-A-Billy, clearly influenced by the Beastie Boys. As for covers, there’s Eddie Cochran’s Nervous Breakdown, a very dispensable version of Vince Taylor‘s Brand New Cadillac (please, stop covering Brand New Cadillac), the Blue Cats‘ Wild Night, and Come Back Bird (Chevelle V via The Vibes).
With search and Destroy, the Phantom Records released a third album of mixed quality, to be considered as a transitional record between the early Phantom Rockers and the excellent Shag Squirt which would see the group reinvent themselves spectacularly.
The Radioactive Kid
