Innholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2024 i Vintage Rock

Rewind to a Thursday evening in November 1980 and like every music-loving youngster in the UK, I’m excitedly tuning in to the latest edition of Top Of The Pops. That night, my attention is drawn in particular to the New York trio Stray Cats, who make their debut on the iconic show with a stunning performance of Runaway Boys. Brian Setzer’s quiff is really quite extraordinary, defying gravity as he mimes a fleet-fingered guitar solo. And there’s the inimitable Slim Jim Phantom, too, getting stuck into his stripped-back drumkit. It’s surely the first time I had ever seen such a minimalistic set-up. So what exactly attracted me to the band? I’m barely into my primary school years, after all. Well, the trio’s swaggering cool would no doubt have been a major…

There’s something gloriously dark and hopelessly romantic about Erika & The Ravens’ blend of country and rock’n’roll. Formed last year, the trio hit the ground running, opening for Jim Jones All Stars, The Caezars, and appearing at the Red Rooster Festival in remarkably short order. Frontwoman Erika Nos Oms is no stranger to the vintage music world, established as an in-demand DJ as half of the duo Las Titis, formed with her childhood friend Laura. “I’m from a small town in Spain on the coast, Castellón, near Valencia. There’s not much happening there,” says Erika. “Our mums met when they were pregnant, so we’ve been friends forever. No one was playing our sort of music in our town, so we decided to do it ourselves.” Now based in London, Nos…

“It’s been a huge journey, really stressful, all of us felt really vulnerable doing it,” says Serena Sykes, the frontwoman of Bamboozle. The trio of Sykes on vocals and double bass, guitarist Jim Knowler, and drummer Jax Titmus, are throwing the dice with their new EP Bamboozled. Knowler was playing guitar with Kent rockabillies The Keytones and swing quartet Hullabaloo when he met Sykes. They started performing together in a duo called Swing Noir, which quickly evolved into Bamboozle, drawing upon rockabilly, Western Swing, and rock’n’roll. With Bamboozled, Sykes, Knowler and Titmus have crafted their most ambitious work to date. “It’s a big step up for us and because we’ve put so much work into it, it’s been terrifying,” says Sykes. “The last two months we’ve all been, ‘Oh my…

In May 2023, international supergroup The Barnestormers, released their splendid debut album of carefully curated covers. Featuring Slim Jim Phantom alongside Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes, Chris Cheney of The Living End, Kevin “Caveman” Shirley, and celebrated British ivory tickler Jools Holland, the band remotely recorded tracks by the likes of Johnny Burnette And The Rock’n’Roll Trio, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Bill Haley during the Covid lockdown. Slim Jim explains: “Barnesy has been my friend since the first time the Stray Cats went to Australia in 1981. As with quite a few of the people I met back then – guys like Glen Matlock and Captain Sensible – we’ve remained very good friends to this day. “Jimmy loves Johnny Burnette and we always said that one day…

Several notable names wrote early songs for Brenda Lee. DJ Don Woody, who recorded a few, somewhat gimmicky, rockabilly classics like Barking Up The Wrong Tree, supplied Bigelow 6-200. Mel Tillis, a superb songwriter who later had country hits in his own name, co-penned Rock The Bop with another fine writer Wayne Walker, as well as Brenda’s later crossover hit Emotions. Another future country great, the multi-talented Jerry Reed gave Lee That’s All You Gotta Do. Then here was the mercurial Ronnie Self. He wrote some of Lee’s biggest hits, including Sweet Nothin’s, I’m Sorry, Eventually, Anybody But Me and Everybody Loves Me But You. But Lee recalled that he was so unstable, he was never allowed near the studio while she was recording the songs. Self was another of…

After The Mar-Keys, Cropper joined Booker T. & The M.G.’s, formed in 1962 alongside 17-year-old keyboardist Booker T. Jones. The outfit would become not only Stax’s in-house band, backing such singers as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Bill Withers, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas and Albert King, but also become recording artists in their own right. The group was emblematic of Stax’s multiracial ethos, featuring both Black (Booker T. Jones, Al Jackson Jr) and white (Cropper, Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn) members. The band broke through with the instrumental Green Onions, a No.3 smash hit in the US. The accompanying long-player, also titled Green Onions, peaked at No.33 on the Billboard chart. The M.G.’s would release many LPs throughout the 60s, including Soul Dressing (1965), Hip Hug-Her (1967) and The Booker T. Set…

“From England… Billy J. Kramer And The Dakotas!” He shares the bill with some pretty serious company, but recent Vintage Rock interviewee Kramer does himself proud on The T.A.M.I. Show. The goofy grin says it all as he rattles though a set largely comprised of rockin’ Lennon-McCartney compositions – the exception being Little Children, a slower track that still receives a feverish response whenever his voice becomes even a modicum hoarser. By the time he skips a little and waves during From A Window, you’d think he’s just announced his solution to world peace. The Merseybeat star has the audience right where he wants them, and doesn’t seem a bit fazed at appearing between The Beach Boys and The Supremes. “I think that’s one of the highlights of my career,”…

Max Décharné in his A Rocket In My Pocket: The Hipster’s Guide To Rockabilly allocates an entire chapter to Charlie Feathers. Only Elvis Presley gets a similar amount of space. The section also features some of the most impassioned writing in the book, Décharné correctly taking to task Greil Marcus for the absurdly dismissive statement in his Mystery Train book that “Charlie Feathers [was] a country singer of no special talent or even much drive.” Many other people believe Feathers is the embodiment of rockabilly. It’s not just the classic, slightly unsettling sound of his music that entitles him to that status. It’s also for his maverick tendencies, the fact that he was a working class, poorly educated guy who refused to toe the line or compromise his values. His…

Throughout the 1960s, Manchester’s iconic establishments such as the Twisted Wheel and Free Trade Hall played host to a plethora of top acts, both homegrown and from across the Atlantic. One man who saw (and photographed) them all was Brian Smith, whose visual documents have for the first time been restored and compiled in a fascinating new publication: Boom Boom Boom Boom. “It was a little bit of good luck,” says Brian of his journey into the music scene. “The older brother of a friend of mine and his mates took my friends and I to some jazz concerts, mainly Chris Barber, and what we got out of that was skiffle, Lonnie Donegan, and the blues. That went alongside our discovery of rock’n’roll through sharing records and a jukebox in…

With their driving, chugging rhythm, locomotive trains lend themselves naturally to the rock’n’roll landscape. Deeply rooted in the American consciousness as a potent symbol of adventure, enterprise, romance and loss, it’s no surprise that so many wonderful singles pay tribute to the ‘iron horse’. Many of these compositions date back a long way, and it’s testament to the strength of their power that they became so beloved of the later rock’n’roll generation. From Old West ballads and thrilling narratives to broken hearts and dance novelties, these train tracks remain as wondrous and romantic as the great lost engines themselves. 20 JOE TURNER AND HIS BLUES KINGS Midnight Special Train 1957 (Atlantic) Hailing from Kansas City, ‘Big’ Joe Turner was a pivotal figure in the evolution of rock’n’roll. A swaggering blues shouter of considerable…

Alongside his work with The Rock-It’s, Charlie has pursued other musical avenues including a brief appearance on wax in 2014 as The Fly Cat Trio. “This was a combo that embraced a primitive rockabilly style with a sound closer to hillbilly,” he recalls. “We were trying to replicate the early primitive rockabilly formations without drums. It was an idea I had been eager to explore for a long time, and I finally got to work on it. I recorded just one single Not Sure At All with the trio. Later, the project evolved by adding elements like brushes and steel guitar leading to what is now known as the Hightone Rhythm Ramblers and that band made its debut at the legendary honky-tonk Nashville Palace in Tennessee.” Charlie also teamed up…

The sci-fi futurism of this iconic instrumental certainly made a huge impact upon its release, reaching No.1 in both the UK and US. Named after the Telstar communications satellite, the track was written and produced by Joe Meek. Telstar orbited the UK Singles Chart for 25 weeks in 1962, five of them at No.1. The first chart-topper by a British group in the United States, it also came with a side order of controversy. French composer Jean Ledrut accused the Holloway Road-based producer of plagiarising La Marche d’Austerlitz, a piece he’d provided for the 1960 movie Austerlitz’s score. The legal battle rumbled on for years – with Meek’s royalties withheld in the interim – and the lawsuit was only resolved in Meek’s favour three weeks after his death in 1967.…

A club where The Beatles played some of their earliest shows has been converted into a five-apartment Airbnb. The Grade II listed property at 8 Haymans Green in West Derby, Liverpool, was formerly known as The Casbah Coffee Club, and witnessed performances by both The Quarrymen and The Beatles. The club was opened by Mona Best, mother of the band’s original drummer Pete, in 1959. She purchased the building after placing a bet on the 33-1 outsider Never Say Die, which raced home to victory in the 1954 Epsom Derby. Talking with the BBC, Pete Best, now 82, said: “The Beatles played here, The Beatles partied here and The Beatles slept here,” and that he had “fond memories” of the property. The Casbah, where The Beatles performed more than 40…

The Stray Cats story is an inspirational tale of remarkable resilience and headstrong self-belief. Back when the 70s rolled into the 80s, this rockabilly trio of Brian Setzer, Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom came bursting out of New York’s “old man corner bars” with a hot new (but oh so familiar) sound that garnered global acclaim and a die-hard fanbase. Now, having just commemorated 45 years as a band with sold-out shows on some of the most prestigious stages the US has to offer, the band’s drummer Slim Jim Phantom took time out of his busy schedule to reflect and rejoice for three hours over a real-life rock’n’roll feline fairytale. “Everything has been really good so far,” opens the easy-going drummer from his San Francisco hotel room when Vintage…

On 16 October 2018, the Stray Cats surprised us all when they announced they’d be reuniting to record a new LP with producer Peter Collins. Released the following May by Surfdog Records, 40 was their ninth studio album and first since 1993’s Original Cool. “It was such a great experience,” remembers Slim Jim. “Things had changed, we used to start around 8pm or 10pm and work through the night until the sun came up. For 40 we went to Nashville, which is a central place for all of us. We’d start at noon, take a break, and then work through to about 6pm or 7pm. It was a nice, adult way to make an album. “We have added Three Time’s A Charm from the record to our current set and…

In the early 1960s, Little Richard demonstrated a gift for discovering new musical greats, none more so than Jimi Hendrix, who shredded onstage with Richard’s band after their initial encounter in 1964. Jimi might have been so broke that he could only afford a busted Fender Jazzmaster guitar with one string missing, but that didn’t stop him from playing the thing behind his head or with his teeth. It’s been reported that this showboating brought out the green-eyed monster in Little Richard, who demanded that his charge rein in the theatrics. Those close to the action have disputed this, however, and some claim Richard actually admired Jimi’s stage persona. So why was Hendrix sacked from the band in 1965? A rift developed when Jimi’s timekeeping lapsed and he began to…

Stax is as synonymous with Steve Cropper’s name as much as Cropper’s name is tied to Stax’s. The label, based in Memphis, was formed out of the ashes of Satellite Records, which Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton had started in 1957, initially selling country and western LPs. But as their output slowly evolved to soul, their name changed to Stax (a conflation of the surnames of its sibling owners). Cropper joined Stax when he was just 20, acting as Stewart’s assistant. He would soon rise up the ranks, becoming one of the label’s most valued writers, producers and session guitarists. Under the direction of Stax executive and later president Al Bell, the label would come to define Southern soul in the 1960s, making stars of such artists as…

In April 1963, Leonard and Phil Chess bought a Chicago radio station – WHFC AM 1690 on the dial – for $1 million and rechristened it WVON, tying in its programming with the emerging Civil Rights era. Featuring an array of Black disc jockeys such as Moses “Lucky” Cordell, Ed “Nassau Daddy” Cook and Herb “The Cool Gent” Kent, the station became a Windy City institution, playing blues, R&B and rock’n’roll, including most all of Chess’ artists. “Even if starting WVON was all Leonard ever did, he would still be in the history books,” says Nadine Cohodas. “It completely revolutionised Black radio,” agrees Marshall Chess. “It promoted community. It talked about social issues. It was the first time Coca-Cola or Budweiser ever advertised with a Black station. We had the…

Elvis On Tour (1972) Less celebrated than its predecessor, Elvis: That’s The Way It Is, this account of the King’s 15-city 1972 tour nevertheless boasts rare interviews and candid behind-the-scenes footage. The press conference scene, where he jokes about how down-to-earth he is by flashing a gaudy gold belt, has gone down in legend. The London Rock And Roll Show (1972) The early 70s rock’n’roll revival is in full swing at this Wembley Stadium revue, as Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley and Bill Haley prove the scene’s enduring power. Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock’n’Roll (1987) In which Keith Richards makes a dogged – and ultimately successful – bid to throw Chuck Berry a fitting 60th birthday bash. With live footage taken from two Berry shows, the…

It wasn’t until the late 70s that Brian’s magnificent collection of photographs began to become appreciated as forward-thinking record labels, who had begun reissuing early recordings and were in need of accompanying visuals, tracked down the Manchester man. A decade later, the demand intensified as the CD revolution took off. Even so, such requests were ad-hoc, and Brian’s handiwork was not always treated with the respect it deserved. It wasn’t until Covid hit that a serious attempt to properly collate and document the images took root, through the tireless efforts of publisher Simon Robinson (pictured above). It was music consultant Mark Stratford who first mooted the idea to Robinson. Robinson was quick to see both the potential and the historical importance of such a project. It was a daunting task,…

Roy Orbison has been posthumously inducted into the Texas County Music Hall of Fame. The Big O, who was born in the Texas city of Vernon, was praised for his “distinctive and powerful voice” and for composing “complex song structures” with “dark, emotional ballads.” His granddaughter, Emily, was on hand at the Carthage Civic Center to accept his induction on behalf of the Orbison family. Talking with KLTV’s Blake Holland, Emily said: “This is an honour of course. I never got to meet Roy, he died about four years before I was born, but here I am in my thirties and there are still this many people that care about him. I’m really grateful to be a part of the family and the legacy. People care so much about him…

RHYTHM RIOT 3-7 October FEATURING Gizzelle, Marcel Riesco, Dylan Kirk, Lobo Jones, Alan Power, Ruby Ann LOCATION Vauxhall Holiday Park, Great Yarmouth BOOKING WEBSITE rhythmriot.com GRAN CANARIA BIG BANG 10-13 October FEATURING Paul Collins Beat, Les Rencards, Troupers Swing Band, The Vinylos, Hot Vulcan Stompers LOCATION Parque de San Telmo, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria BOOKING WEBSITE bigbangvintagefestival.net WILDEST CATS XMAS WEEKENDER 2024 22-25 November FEATURING Marty Wilde, Sue Moreno, The Jets, Spunyboys, Junior Marvel LOCATION Pakefield Seaside Village, Lowestoft, Suffolk BOOKING WEBSITE tennesseeclub.net ROCKIN’ RACE 5-9 February 2025 FEATURING Lee Rocker, Nick Lowe And Los Straitjackets, Omar Romero, Jimmy Dale Richardson, The Mean Devils LOCATION Auditorium Príncipe De Asturias, Torremolinos, Spain BOOKING WEBSITE rockinrace.com VIVA LAS VEGAS 24-27 April 2025 FEATURING Artists TBC on website LOCATION The Orleans Hotel,…

Led by lead vocalist and guitarist Kandle Osborne with Rex Elle and Blaise Dahl on guitars, drummer Leah Bluestein and Mrs Slim Jim Phantom, Jennie Vee, on bass, The Midnight Cowgirls are opening for the Stray Cats across the US. “They’re going out there and really winning the crowd over every night,” beams a proud Slim Jim. “I’ve done the opening act slot and it’s hard work – people are still getting seated and not paying attention – but they’ve been going down great, which is really testament to how good they are.” Described by Slim Jim as a healthy mix of “country, rockabilly and pop”, the girls’ debut record was produced by Phantom and released just prior to the tour through the indie label Liquorice Pizza. However, having a…

“Well, all right!” the Georgia Peach bellowed into the microphone on the 1964 Granada TV show It’s Little Richard, whose feverish audience dutifully screamed the words back at him. As if anyone needed reminding that they were witnessing greatness, he then indulged in a roll-call of some of his best-loved 50s hits on Specialty Records: “Ooh! My Soul! Tutti Frutti! Good Golly Miss Molly!” After his notorious denouncement of rock’n’roll at the height of his fame in winter 1957, when he vowed to focus on gospel music and a role in the ministry, Richard Penniman had been lured back to the Devil’s tunes in late 1962. What followed was a blur of rapturously received comeback shows in the UK and Europe and a headline slot above a little-known band called…

If being an octogenarian is now a roadblock for the most important job in world politics, it’s heartening to know that it’s no such impediment in the less cutthroat world of rock’n’roll. Steve ‘The Colonel’ Cropper was born 13 months before Joe Biden, but unlike America’s 46th President, this Stax giant’s talents are, it seems, undimmed by age. In his bloom, Cropper’s guitar playing graced some of the greatest records ever made, many of which he had a hand in writing, too – Green Onions, Knock On Wood, Time Is Tight, In The Midnight Hour, (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay… the list goes on. He’s worked with everyone from Otis Redding, Carla Thomas and John Lennon to Jeff Beck, BB King, Etta James and Roy Orbison. He’s been nominated for…

“My dad’s nickname in the studio was The Foot Stomper,” Marshall Chess says with a laugh. “He always wanted to hear a strong backbeat. And if he didn’t hear it, he’d start stomping his foot at the musicians.” We’re talking about Marshall’s father, the legendary record man Leonard Chess, unravelling the mystery of how he and his brother Phil, two Polish immigrants with no musical background, helped to shape the future of modern rock. Their label, Chess Records, founded in Chicago in 1950, is now synonymous with authenticity in blues, R&B and early rock’n’roll. Marshall says: “At Chuck Berry’s funeral, this old Black man comes up to me. He said, ‘Mr. Chess, I was with Chuck when he went to Chicago to record the first session, and it was your…

It’s organised chaos from start to finish. The opening theme song of The T.A.M.I. Show cheerily introduces “The Rolling Stones from Liverpool”. Chuck Berry, the first act on the bill, refused to perform unless he was paid in advance (he’d accept cash or a cashier’s cheque, thank you very much). Mick Jagger is taken aback when nearly the whole cast – which included James Brown, The Supremes, Chuck, Marvin Gaye and The Beach Boys – shimmies onstage for a boogie to the Stones’ closing number, a rollicking rendition of Let’s Get Together. Three thousand fans scream in unison throughout this legendary but little-seen rock’n’roll variety show, which runs to almost two hours. “I did try to edit out some of the girls screaming,” director Steve Binder (who would go on…

01 (1) JOHNNY REMEMBER ME JOHN LEYTON (TOP RANK) 7 WEEKS ON CHART 02 (3) REACH FOR THE STARS/CLIMB EV’RY MOUNTAIN SHIRLEY BASSEY (COLUMBIA) 8 WEEKS ON CHART 03 (2) YOU DON’T KNOW HELEN SHAPIRO (COLUMBIA) 12 WEEKS ON CHART: 04 (17) WILD IN THE COUNTRY/I FEEL SO BAD ELVIS PRESLEY (RCA) 2 WEEKS ON CHART 05 (5) WELL I ASK YOU EDEN KANE (DECCA) 16 WEEKS ON CHART 06 (4) HALFWAY TO PARADISE BILLY FURY (DECCA) 19 WEEKS ON CHART 07 (24) KON-TIKI THE SHADOWS (COLUMBIA) 2 WEEKS ON CHART 08 (7) THAT’S MY HOME MR ACKER BILK (COLUMBIA) 10 WEEKS ON CHART 09 (9) QUARTER TO THREE U.S. BONDS (TOP RANK) 9 WEEKS ON CHART 10 (11) HOW MANY TEARS BOBBY VEE (LONDON) 7 WEEKS ON CHART 01 JOHNNY REMEMBER ME JOHN…

By 1962, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was residing in relative obscurity in Hawaii, making a living playing piano in Forbidden City, a burlesque strip club owned by the equally notorious Jack Cione. “We had a thing in the magazine,” says Brian, “‘The quest for Screamin’ Jay’ – it became a little running joke in the news pages: if you have any information, let us know.” Everyone the R&B Scene staff met was quizzed. One night, they had a lucky break. “You’ll see some pictures in the book of Little Richard at the Oasis Club,” Brian explains. “Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris was also on the bill. We asked Sugarcane about Screamin’ Jay and he said, ‘Yeah, he’s a good friend of mine, I saw him three weeks ago in Hawaii.’ So, we dropped…

Charlie Hightone & The Rock-It’s HAUNTED RHYTHM VOL. 1 SLEAZY With regular live performances and ‘real life’ often getting in the way, it’s no surprise that Charlie Hightone & The Rock-It’s back catalogue has been somewhat erratic over the past 21 years. It makes perfect sense then that their new album Haunted Rhythm should be released in the unconventional format of a trilogy of 7” EPs. This first volume features all-new compositions and between them they offer ample opportunity to bop, stroll and jive in equal measure. The title track has a real hillbilly feel and Charlie’s unique whoopin’ and hollerin’ singing style is right at the forefront with additional whistles, growls and yelps thrown in for good measure. The country stompin’ beat is relentless and allows Charlie to really…

“Sometimes you’ve just got to take what life gives you in this world,” says Jim Heath, frontman of Reverend Horton Heat. 2025 will mark 40 years of Heath preaching his gospel of rockabilly and psychobilly, whether sharing the bill with country star Dale Watson or punk legends The Misfits, to touring with Lemmy from Motörhead. “I don’t know of that many other bands who can morph between metal, punk, honky tonk, even jazz,” says Heath. “It’s because we were so damn desperate. We were these nearly broke guys with financial obligations who wanted to perform music but not just be a covers band. I wanted to make it, playing my own original music. It’s a real blessing and I’m grateful every day.” Elvis Presley BABY LET’S PLAY HOUSE 1955 I…