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Gazmen (the) – psychobilly band with Gaz Day

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Gazmen

GazmenThe Gazmen

Country: England
Genre: Psychobilly

Gary Day: vocals / bass
Alain Whyte: guitar
Alan Wilson: guitar
Hodge: drums

Gary "Gaz" Day
Gary “Gaz” Day

The Gazmen were formed around the charismatic personnality of Gary “Gaz” Day, known for his collaboration with many influential bands, notably The Frantic Flintstones, The Sharks, The Nitros, The Caravans without forgetting his stint with popstar (and rockabilly afficionado) Morrissey.. The rest of the band was basically The Sharks with the addition of ex-Born Bad and Morrissey’s guitarist, Alain Whyte. They played a traditionnal psychobilly close to the Sharks (not very surprising) and the early Meteors, Day’s voice reminding the great Nigel Lewis, but with a fuller sound.
The Gazmen released one four-track ep on Vinyl Japan in 1996, later reissued in cd due to Day’s popularity in Morrissey’s band. The songs were Rigormortis Rock (previously recorded by Alan Wilson under the moniker of the Space Cadets for a Nervous compilation), Teenage Operation, Kid from Mars and Ace of Hearts (that has a strong Morrissey feel). Some of these songs were part of the Sharks set when Gary was in the band (see the compilation album Rare Psychobilly from the Vault of X-Ray Studio). More songs were recorded but never saw the light of day. The line-up later evolved, including Pug from the Frantic Flintstones and Stuart from the Guana Batz.
They appeared at different all dayers including one Big Rumble I guess.
The Gazmen were a very good band and one can only regret they never released a full album.

Rigormortis Rock – Vinyl Japan JRT9 [1996]
Reissue on CD on Rock-It Records [2000]

The Mysterons

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Country: England
Genre: Psychobilly

Gary Day: double bass / vocals
Johnny “Pug” Peet: guitar / vocals
Mark Clements: drums

The Mysterons were a psychobilly band heavily influenced by the early Meteors that lasted from mid 1986 to mid 1987.
They recorded a four track demo tape with “No One Stays“, “House Of Rockin’ Bones“, “Crazy Blood” and “Highway To Hell“. The band wasn’t really going anywhere so they decided to split. Day joined the Frantic Flintstones and was joined by Pug on their second album Rockin’ Out (Link records) that features No One Stays and House Of Rockin’ Bones.
Mark Clements joined a ska band called the Riffs.

The Caravans

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the Caravans
The Caravans - Easy Money
The Caravans – Easy Money

The Caravans – Easy Money

Nervous Records – NERD 036 [1988]
Rough Diamond – Sneakin` Out – I`ve Lost , You Win – Cryin’ – I Ain’t Got No Excuses – Easy Money – A Better Place – Blues Train – Stranded – Good Bye, Good Bye – In The Heat Of The Day – Sometimes I Wish – Stoned Tired & Cryin` – (Be My) Heart`s Desire – Love Me Like You Do

The Caravans formed in 1983 and after a few contributions to various compilation albums they finally released ther debut album on Nervous records in 1988. The line-up for this album was Mark Pennington (double bass/lead vocals), Rich Caso (lead guitar who replaced former lead guitarist Rob taylor), Darren Francis and Brian Gillman (rhythm guitars) and Lee Barnett on drums.
The result is very good melodic but hard hitting neo-rockabilly. All the songs are originals mostly from the pen of Pennington. Some songs are very good (Easy Money, Goodbye Goodbye, Sneakin’ Out, A Better Place, Cryin’ in a neo-Gene Vincent style or the hillbilly skiffle of In the Heat of the Day with accordion) still, some are more average and break the dynamic and the homogeneity of the records . And on some songs the two rhythm guitars add more confusion than power.
A good album but had it been limited to 6/7 tracks it could have been a killer.
Later reissues on cd include four unreleased songs from the same sessions.

the Caravans

Caravans - No Excuses
Caravans – No Excuses

The Caravans – No Excuses

Chuckeedee Records – CHUC 001 [1991]
After the release of their debut album (Easy Money) the Caravans saw some line up changes. Brian Gillman, Darren Frances and Lee Barnett had left . Mark Pennington (vocals and double bass) and Rich Caso (lead guitar) then recruited Johnny Bowler (who played bass with Caso in Get Smart) to play drums and this three piece band recorded No Excuses for Chuck Harvey (Frantic Flintstones) short lived label.

Though Easy Money was good, it contained a few fillers that broke the dynamic of the album and were a bit monotonous on long distance. This is not the case here. No Excuses is simply perfect. It’s exactly what one can expect from a neo-rockabilly album with powerful slap bass, syncopated drums (with breaks and rolls), light guitar. The absence of the two rhythm guitar doesn’t affect the sound of the band, far from that. It’s clearer and Caso’s solos are more in evidence rather than drawned in the rhythm section like on Easy Money. The better mix also helps alot to achieve that.

The reissue features the three tracks of the « On The Rocks » Ep.

The Caravans - Straightside
The Caravans – Straightside

The Caravans – Straightside

Rockout [1994] Crazy Love [reissue 2001]
Sure Miss You – Hobo Baby – Rockin’ Tonight – Baby Blue Eyes – Sunset Blues – She’s Just Rockin’ – Baby that’s Where You’re Wrong – Mean & Cruel – Lost Love Blues – Do Without You – That’s What It’s Meant Tobe – Freight Train – That Gal Of Mine – That’s My Belief – Gonna Love Ya – Ole River Blue – Want U Back

New album and new line-up for the Caravans. On Straightside Sean Goan arrived on drums, Jonny Bowler switched to doublebass and leader Mark Pennington ended on… guitar.
But this is the main change to be noted for the music remains more or less the same than on the previous albums.
Good originals and tailored made covers to suit the brand of neo-rockabilly that became the Caravans’ trademark.
Originally released on orange vinyl on Gaz Day’s Rockout records and later reissued on cd on Crazy Love with five bonus tracks.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Born Bad

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Born Bad - 1989
Born Bad – 1989

Born Bad

A short-lived rockabilly band from North London formed in 1988 by Guy Bolton (guitar) and Alain Whyte (vocals and guitar). Bolton introduced Whyte to Spencer Cobrin (drums), a guy he knew for having jammed with in a band that later became Carlos & The Bandidos. Ian Arrow, the bass player was recruited through a newspaper. They rehearsed a bit and quickly gigged in the London area.
Some songs, produced by Boz Boorer, were recorded and “Movin’ On” and “Born Bad” later appeared on the comp’ 20 Blasters From Blighty (NV COMP 001).
Arrow then left the band and his replacement was Gary “Gaz” Day (Frantic Flintstones, Sharks, Gazmen, Nitros…) but they eventually disbanded after a few gigs when Bolton went on to form another band.
Whyte, Cobrin and Day evolved into The Memphis Sinners and then became Morrissey’s backing band. Bolton joined Mouse (Red Hot’n’Blue) to form Switchblade a rockabilly / rockin’ blues band.

Born Bad – 1989

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