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Scum Rats

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Scum Rats
Scum Rats – ep

Scum Rats
S/t

Rumble records – Gang 003 [1990]
I See Your Face – Too Much Pain – Blood In Your Face

Led by Charlie Fallensteller’s fast slap bass and vocals, this quator from Germany delivered a powerful three tracks ep of self-penned tunes on the extreme side of the Psychobilly genre with hard core influences. If you prefer they were closer to band like Demented Are Go or the Krewmen (when led by Tony McMillan) than the Long Tall Texans.
In addition to the supersonic bass, the ingredients are Fallensteller’s rasping voice, hard hitting and thud drums (with barely no cymbals) and fine arrangements that rely on the different sounds and textures of the two guitars. All in all an excellent ep.

Scum Rats - Go Out Into a Scum Dream
Scum Rats – Go Out Into a Scum Dream

Scum Rats
Go Out Into a Scum Dream

Rumble records – RUMBLE001 [1990]
Scum Rats – Go Out – Scum Of The Night – I Love Rock & Roll – Money – Runaway – Die To Be Free – My Baby Is Alone – Come On Little Sister – Scum Love – Cryin To Be Satisfied

The Scum Rats debut album doesn’t differ much from the ep in term of sounds (and show no sign of amelioration in term of cover design either).
The same ingredients can be found to serve solid and powerful originals and two covers (Joan Jett’s I Love Rock’n’roll also released on single and Del Shannon’s Runaway sung by the guitar player, probably not the band’s best moment).
Once again the way the two guitars interact is worth noticing, one with a distorded sound and the other with a clean sound. All of this makes of Go Out… one of the best Psychobilly album of the the early 90’s.If my memory serves me right the first pressing was on green vinyl.
It was later reissued on cd with their second mini album.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

The Retarded Rats

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Retarded rats

Retarded ratsThe Retarded Rats – I Hate Chocolate

Killjoy records – Kill 024 [2017]

The Head and the Axe – Survival

A broken record player coupled with a busy schedule delayed the review of a batch of vinyl records I received from Killjoy records, including this single from the Retarded rats. And just when I finally can review it, I hear the news that they decided to take a break . Rats !

Killjoys is known for its colored vinyl releases and cassettes. This single makes no exception to the good taste of the label. It comes in a beautiful gatefold sleeve, nicely designed and illustrated with… a flexi disc inside. Yes you read well, a flexi disc.
For releasing such beautiful objects, Flatty and Anna Killjoy deserve all our respect, admiration and support (in other words : buy the discs !) But they deserve all of that and more  for another simple and obvious reason : their music.
A side could be described as psychedelic-psychobilly, not that surprising for a song about voices in the head that lead to a hatchet in a skull.
B side is more rocking with a slight western twang. It also features pretty good lyrics too. Like everyone I like songs about vampires, ghouls and zombies but I was pleased to find more personnal and almost reflective lyrics that find a strange echo with the news of the band calling it quit.

Limited to 500 copies.

Available here and here.

The Retarded Rats - Screams from the 10th Planet
The Retarded Rats – Screams from the 10th Planet

The Retarded Rats – Screams from the 10th Planet

Killjoy Records KILL-017
The Engine Starts – No time to die – Neo-psychobilly – You Lost my brain – Headshot – Searching – Fingertip in the Sky – Inquisition – the key – Coulrophobia – Nananananananananananana – Screams fromt he 10th planet

I sometimes fear that I don’t have the legitimacy to review Psychobilly albums. After all, I stopped following the evolution of the genre since the mid 90’s, when bands began to incorporate too much elements of metal, hardcore or were just playing punk with a slap bass. But the Retarded Rats LP came as a nice surprise. I first thought that the main reason was due to the sound that brought back my teenage year. But it was much more than that. And simplier: the Retarded Rats are a pretty good band.

With the feet firmly rooted in the classic Psychobilly tradition of the mid 80’s/late 90’s, this trio (Gordon melmac on drums, Flatty Killjoy on guitar and organ and Anna Killjoy on doublebass and lead vocals) from Leipzig, Germany, takes the genre one step further without denaturing it. Without a doubt the light guitar, the slap bass (a real slap bass with warm notes and a wood sound, not that horrendous metallic clicking sound one too often hears) and even the voice of Anna, the female lead singer (I couldn’t help but think about Something Shocking or Dypsomaniaxe) belong to the what is usually described as old school psychobilly but the melodies, the songs (all originals) and the arrangements are 100% their own.
By no means are the Retarded Rats a nostalgic band playing a music of the past. They have too many good ideas for that. The sound has a lot to do with that too, it’s raw – recorded live on 8 track reel to reel – but not dirty (well, okay a bit dirty, but just what it needs, see what I mean)

In the end the best way I can find to describe this excellent combo is the title of one of the best songs of the album: neo-psychobilly.
Like Rockabilly, Psychobilly saw a lot of 80’s bands reforming in the recent years to play weekenders, that’s a good thing (who wouldn’t like to see legends?) but I firmly believe that the future of Psychobilly lays in bands like the Retarded Rats who bring new blood and ideas but remain faithful to the genre.

Order it here : http://www.killjoy-records.de/en/home/136-the-retarded-rats-screams-from-the-10th-planet.html

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Torment

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Torment - Live at the Klub Foot
Torment - Live at the Klub Foot
Torment – Live at the Klub Foot

Torment – Live at the Klub Foot

Trophy Records TR003
Introduction – Torment – The Source – Slow Down – Rockjet – Conscription Plan – Uncle Sam – Satisfied – The Last Time – Pass It On

A couple of years ago Alan Wilson (of Western Star and the Sharks fame) found a box full of tapes recorded at the Klub Foot, the mecca of Psychobilly and Neo-rockabilly in the mid-80’s. These tapes needed to be restored and cleaned, a very costly process and two of these shows (Batmobile and Sting Rays) were released on Anagram/Cherry Red Records. Sadly the sales weren’t enough for the label and they called it quit. Knowing he had history in his hands, Wilson created a sub-label to his own Western Star to keep on releasing this stuff.
Torment was a highly original band of the Psychobilly movement. They counted among those bands – like Frenzy – that weren’t just happy to sings songs about werewolves, zombies, ghouls or to stick with a brand of Psychobilly that was just uptempo Rockabilly. Sadly, in the early 90’s, the sudden death of Simon Brand their lead singer – guitarist and main composer pulled the final curtain on a rich discography. With this in mind and considering that they never released a live album, this record sounds like a time capsule saved from the past. Some of the songs featured here have already appeared on previous Klub Foot compilations (the “original” serie) but in term of sound there’s no comparison possible. It’s like hearing brand new recordings. What can I say ? If you dig Torment you probably already own it (or you plan to), if you don’t, remember that Torment deserves to be in any decent Psychobilly collection and this album is a good start.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Krewmen (the)

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The Krewmen started as a rockabilly band, then played the best rockin’ blues you could find in England in the early 80’s and finally evolved, under the influence of leader Tony McMillan into one of the most influential psychobilly band of the mid 80’s. It was worth an article, don’t you think.

The rockabilly – rockin’ blues years

The Krewmen were formed in 1982 by Tony Mc Millan and, at that time, played rockabilly. (according to some sources the band went under the name of The Starlites until 1984). This early formation starts to build a name and a following and in 1985 they are hired to play Elvis’ band in “Elvis the musical” which brings them to the USA and Canada. Back to Europe, Lost Moment offers them a record deal but the other two decide to leave to pursue personal projects.

Mc Millan on double bass soon recruits Jimmy Fahy on drums and Carl “Sonny” Leyland on piano, guitar, harmonica and vocals to play more blues influenced material but still with a heavy rockabilly flavour in it. The band releases two singles on Lost Moment (both excellent) now very rare but available on the compact disc Klassic Tracks Fom 1985! (still on Lost Moment) and some other unissued recordings are available on Carl Sonny Leyland’s album “I Like Boogie Woogie” (On The Hill OTHRCD 001).

Early Krewmen with Carl Sonny Leyland
Early Krewmen with Carl Sonny Leyland

Among their best songs is “Ramblin’” a great “delta-blues meets Chicago blues” tune. The electricity is here but you still have a big country flavour. It also shows what a great slide guitarist is Carl Leyland, too bad he doesn’t play it anymore. The b-side, “I’m gonna get it” is a Jazz Gillum song. Listening to this version shows that the Krewmen were more than a “cover band”. They play this song and make it their own. The song, the voice and the harp are clearly bluesy, but the way McMillan slaps his bass and the scorchy guitar look toward rockabilly. Let’s call it rockabilly blues.

In late 1985, tired of playing covers and with the will to play a more modern music, Mc Millan thinks it’s time for a change of direction. This leads Leyland and Fahy to leave. Leyland joined various bands before moving to the USA where he built a solid reputation as a boogie-woogie, jazz and blues pianist, Fahy later teamed with Get Smart, a band which described itself as Jazzabilly.

Introducing Mark Cole – The Krewmen goes psychobilly

The brand new line-up consists of Mc Millan on guitar (his former instrument), Mark Cole on vocals (sometimes close to Guana Batz’s singer, Pip), Dominic Parr on drums and Jason Thornton back on double bass (he played with The Starlites). They play fast rockabilly / psychobilly and original material
Their first album, in 1986, “The Adventure Of…” entirely written by Cole and McMillan became highly influential on the psychobilly scene, for good reasons. The rhythm section is tight, Cole is one of the best vocalist of the era and the songs are really well crafted and original, still anchored in the rockabilly idiom. The band doesn’t try to put as many songs as possible and with 10 songs there’s no filler.

The Krewmen with Mark Cole
The Krewmen with Mark Cole

“Sweat Dreams” follows in 1987 and is based on the same recipe. It’s even better. The band is tighter, so are the songs, and McMillan adds a bit of metal to his guitar style. Once again the songs alternate fast and slow parts, with well played breaks. Another unusual thing, three songs out of ten are more then 6 minute long, including the fake live version of the Isley Brother’s Shout.

Next is “Into The Tomb” still in 1987. And it proves they manage to record three classics in a row. But this time, the sound hardens a bit and it features more covers : The Clash’s Should I Stay Or Should I Go (a song which proved to be very popular on the psychobilly scene), T-Rex’s Solid Gold Easy Action and the traditional Hava Nagila .

Exit Cole and a step toward metal…

But all good things comes to an end and Cole leaves the band in 1987.
McMillan takes over the vocal duties, but in 1988 Cole is followed by Parr and Thornton. It was time for a new line-up with Steve Piper on drums and various bass player Mark Burke then Graham Grant.

The sound changes with the line-up too, getting harder and harder with elements of metal, punk, glam rock. “Plague Of The Dead” in 1988 combines all those influences. The choice of the covers reveals this orientation and McMillan’s varied tastes. From Eddie Cochran’s Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie to Gary Glitter’s Do You Wanna Touch via The Who’s My Generation and Steppin’ Stone (Paul Revere, The Monkees but also covered by The Sex Pistols). In his influences, Tony cites Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jimmi Hendrix and Sex Pistols.
If not unforgettable, it suffers the comparison with the “Cole period”, “Plague Of The Dead” has some good moments like “Legend Of The Piper”, “Take A Little More” and the previously mentioned covers. Despite the credit, it seems that McMillan plays the bass parts on this album, not satisfied with their bassist. It was before he finds Paul Oxley.
After his stint with The Krewmen, Burke formed The Phantom Rockers in 1988.

1988 and 1989 are busy years for the band and they tour a lot in the USA. The band enters the 90’s with the release of “Power” (a perfectly suited title) which goes further in the direction announced by “Plague…”. “Knight Moves” is clearly metal, “Devil’s Lair” mixes hard-rock guitars with slap bass and a good part of the rest is hard-core influenced. What a long way since the rockin’ blues days. But all in all “Power” is better than the previous. More coherent, entirely self-written and very well produced. Cherry Red has issued a live DVD with the “Power” line-up (Mc Millan, Hoxley, Piper).

The final adventure? Maybe not…

The following year with “The Final Adventure…” The Krewmen return to a more “classical” sound. Something like the missing link between “Into The Tomb” and “Plague…”. The single issued from this album is good too. Forbidden Planet is one of the best song written by McMillan. The b-side features a country song (but with The Krewmen treatment) and a cover of the Rolling Stones’ Paint It Black with electronic drums (!). If you can’t find the original single, these songs are available on the cd “Single Out” that gathers the singles recording since McMillan took over the vocals.
In 1992, Steve Piper left the drums to play rhythm guitar and Tony Gallagher replaced him on the drummer’s seat. On the recording front everything has been very quiet since then, but Lost Moment reissued the classic trilogy on CD.

Discography
Albums

The Adventures Of- Lost Moment LM08
Sweet Dreams – Lost Moment LM10
Into The Tomb- Lost Moment LM14
Plague Of The Dead- Lost Moment LM20
Power – Lost Moment LM21
The Final Adventure Of- Lost Moment LM23

Singles

Ramblin’- Lost Moment LM024
What Are You Today- Lost Moment LM12034
My Generation- Lost Moment
Do You Wanna Touch- Lost Moment LM045
Forbidden Planet- Lost Moment LM050

Compilations

Klassic Tracks From 1985- Lost Moment LMCD054
Singled Out – Lost Moment LMCD024

V/A – Psycho Tendencies

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Psycho Tendencies - Raucous
Psycho Tendencies – Raucous
Raucous
The Griswalds – Nighthawk / Spellbound – Last Breath / Full Moon Freaks – Surfboard Song / Frantic Flintstones – Hot Head Baby / Termites – Let Me In / Grovelhog – Times Gotta Change / Long Tall Texans – 900 Miles / Full Moon Freaks – Swamp Rockin’ Baby / Go-Katz – Real Gone Demented Hillbilly Kat / Sugarpuff Demons – Weedin’ / Griswalds – Psycho Tendencies / Termites – I Can’t Wait / Shakin’ Bones – Deviltown USA / Frantic Flintstones – Alley Cat King / Go-Katz – Nightmare / Griswalds – Robbie Robot / Sgt Fury – Cold Cold Sunday / Radium Cats – Haunted By Your Love / Cosmic Voodoo – Old Man In The Woods / Frantic Flintstones – Let’s Go Somewhere

This compilation is a good snapshot of the Psychobilly scene in the second half of the 80’s. The original vinyl was the first long player released on Raucous, a label that has made a long way since. It covers a variety of styles and proves if needed that this music isn’t that easy to pigeonhole. It ranges from the up-tempo skiffle/rockabilly of the Long Tall Texans to the punkish sound of the Grovelhogs. In between you find excellent bands like the Frantic Flintstones, the Go-Katz (with an excellent psycho-hillbilly number), the Griswalds (Robbie Robot sounds like a psychobilly version of Devo!) and Spellbound. Less essential are Full Moon Freaks, Shakin’ Bones and Cosmic Voodoo.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

V/A – Rare Psychobilly from the Vaults

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Rare Psychobilly from the Vaults
Rare Psychobilly from the Vaults

Rare Psychobilly from the Vaults – Vol.1 – X-Ray Studio
Raucous Records
The Kid From Mars – THE SHARKS / Teenage Operation – THE SHARKS / She’s Dead – THE SHARKS / Surfcaster – THE SHARKS / Scratchin’ My Way Out – FRANTIC FLINTSTONES / Unfortunate Jake – FRANTIC FLINTSTONES / Lunatics Are Raving – FRANTIC FLINTSTONES / Diablo – FRANTIC FLINTSTONES / Mudman’s Revenge – BREAKOUT / Witchcraft – BREAKOUT / Tornado – BREAKOUT / Borstal Breakout – BREAKOUT / Punks On Billy – SKABZ / Go Find Yourself A Guy – ROCKIN’ BANDITS / She’s All Mine – LUX / Leopardskin – LUX / Down In The Cellar – LUX / Leopard Skin – LUX / Fashion – LUX / Bad Trip – THE MEN FROM UNCLE / Can’t Get Enough – THE MEN FROM UNCLE / Charlie 2 – THE MEN FROM UNCLE / Scratchin’ My Way Out – THE MEN FROM UNCLE / Man With The X-Ray Eyes – THE MEN FROM UNCLE

Alan Wilson (the Sharks) formed the X-Ray studios in the early 80’s. It can be seen as an early incarnation of the Western Star studio he runs today. Included on this compilation are rare tracks that were recorded there and see the light of day for the first time.
The first four tracks are Sharks demos recorded when Gary Day was in the band (around 1993-94). He sings lead on Kid From Mars and Teenage Operation. They never appeared on a Sharks album but were recorded by the Gazmen (who were basically the Sharks plus Alan Whyte). The other two are a jam around a rockabilly riff (She’s Dead) and an alternate version of Surfcaster. These are not perfect and slick recordings but they are very interesting as you can hear songs in construction (listen to Gary repeating the same verse and indicating chords during Teenage Operation). One can find more Sharks demos on the excellent cd “Ruff Stuff” also on Raucous.
Next band is the Frantic Flintstones. They recorded some of their best albums at X-Ray. Featured here are Wilson’s Scratchin’ My Way Out and demos of songs that later appeared on Jamboree. You can’t go wrong with Chuck and his gang.
Breakout was a neo-rockabilly/psychobilly band that recorded some songs at X-Ray but never had to my knowledge a proper release. They’re not exceptionnal but the songs, including a cover of the Ricochets, are good.
Skabz was a punkish band and to be honest I’m happy this cd features only one song from them instead of four.
“Go Find Yourself A Guy” shows the neo-rockabilly side of the The Rockin’ bandits. What a pity there’s only one.
Lux is a band very hard to pigeonhole. They mixed psychobilly with elements of the Gun Club, some Damned and a bit of 80’s new wave. Very good. Strange but very good. This songs remained unreleased until now. Why? It’s a mystery cause they’re easily as good and ten times more originals than many bands.
The remaining four tracks are from the Men From Uncle who were actually the Space Cadets (NOT Mouse’s band) : Alan Wilson, Simon Seago and Hodge. Recorded around 1983-84, this songs previously appeared on a bootleg lp called Cream Of the Cats (long story told in the booklet) and appear here for the first time on cd . “Charlie 2”, “Scratching My Way Out” and “The Man With The X-Ray Eyes” would later be re-recorded by the Sharks.
A great comp full of lost treasures.

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