The Spaceballs – Self-Titled

Jun29

Recently when covering the new album from Bad Luck Gamblers we pondered how big and potent the psychobilly scene was in their native Brazil. Investigation revealed it is pretty good and growing and so it appears, going by the new album from fellow countrymen The Spaceballs, is the region’s rockabilly scene. Hailing from São Paulo, the band also recently released a new album in the shape of a self-titled debut which quickly had ears hooked and bodies bouncing.

Consisting of vocalist/guitarist Ale Marinho, double bassist/vocalist Marcelo Zarra, and drummer Jeff Billy, The Spaceballs have a sound seeded in and proudly showing inspirations from the likes of Stray Cats, Eddie Cochran, Elvis Presley, The Rhythm Shakers, Bill Haley, and Billy Lee Riley, essences all providing strong flavouring which added with the bands own craft and imagination makes for a refreshing romp. It is a proposition which mixes the familiar and new with tenacious enterprise and an open passion for the genre it embraces; an invention and energy openly fuelling their first attention grabbing album.

The album opens up with I Have Fallen In Love and quickly has ears relishing a classic rockabilly melody but one with its own magnetic nature as rhythms stroll and vocals add a harmonic caress to the senses. That Bill Haley essence is alive within the song, Cochran’s too but equally there is something of The Reverend Horton Heat to the swiftly magnetic shuffle and enticement of the song. In saying that, it also reveals plenty which is distinct to The Spaceballs, in tone and character which continues in the following Be My Valentine. With the clipping lure of beats and the vibrant throb of Zarra’s bass, the song quickly has feet involved and hips swinging, Marinho’s chords equally potent while entangling the song’s melodic boisterousness and country scented smile.

Showing an Elvis thrust of its hips, next up Rockabilly Ghost soon eclipses its predecessors, the song a mischievous tempting of melodic hooks, angular riffs, and lively rhythms as vocals play. As with those around them, you feel you know the song at heart but it never has expectations met as the song with a touch of UK band The Stargazers to it, flirts and swings with body and imagination.

There is a meatier air to Never Enough straight after, the track bringing a psychobilly edge to its bold stroll, a lining which expands The Spaceballs sound and invention as well as their imagination as the track twists and turns along its captivating length with sultry melodies wrapped in further sonic heat. That broader adventure of sound continues with Just Go Away, its mix of surf inspired melodic strands and old school rock ‘n’ roll flavours a magnetic enticement matched by vocals and the flirtatious rhythmic lure of Zarra and Billy.

Good times continue to insist and impress as I Will Always Rock, with more than a hue of The Shakin’ Pyramids to it, has the listener swiftly hooked on its compelling canter. Once more there is no stopping physical participation with the excellent track which is as fresh as it is familiar, traits and success employed and found as potently by Lost in The Desert with a resourceful and almost mischievous appetite. The closing track alone has all the qualities which make The Spaceballs sound and album a highly appealing opportunity for rockabilly fans to discover and explore something new. It also makes for another thoroughly inviting gateway into what seems a very promising and exciting not forgetting varied Brazilian rock ‘n’ roll scene.

The Spaceballs album is out now @ https://thespaceballs.bandcamp.com/album/the-spaceballs

http://www.thespaceballs.com.br/ https://www.facebook.com/thespaceballs/

Pete RingMaster 28/06/2017

Norm And The Nightmarez – Psychobilly D.N.A.

Nov3

After the stomping triumph of their debut album two years ago, anticipation here for a successor from Norm And The Nightmarez was always heading towards the lustful side. Psychobilly Infection was a devilish treat of the trio’s distinctive multi-flavoured psychobilly; a rousingly virulent bout of “wickedly contagious and warped rock ‘n’ roll” which Psychobilly D.N.A. has now only gone and eclipsed.

The Norm And The Nightmarez sound is a magnetic blend of old school psychobilly drawing on and infusing the heart and creative blood of early day and beyond rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll. Formed by guitarist/vocalist Norm Elliott (Mickey & The Mutants/ Phantom Zone/ The Bionic Krugerrands), the Birmingham based band’s line-up is a fluid proposition around the core of Norm and his lively and imaginative songwriting, as further evidenced by his solo single She last year. For Psychobilly D.N.A., Norm has enticed the striking craft and enterprise of drummer Paul Mummery and double bassist Nile ‘The Rev’ Robbins; a threesome which just feels like they were meant to be as the album sparks the instincts from start to finish.

Inspirations to Norm include the likes of The Meteors, The Cramps, Johnny and Dorsey Burnette, and plenty of artists making up the Sun Records catalogue as well as various rockabilly and psychobilly offerings over the decades. They are essences which proudly and uniquely spice up Psychobilly D.N.A. from start to finish, immediately teasing ears within opener Thank You Very Much. A tribute to Elvis, the track is a contagion of anthemic beats and spicy grooves around Norm’s vocal homage. Within seconds hips are swinging and feet a blur to the lively temptation pouring from the speakers, vocal chords swiftly engaged too as the rockabilly nurtured track provides a collage of stirring enterprise bred by the trio.

The following Misery is just as forcibly infectious, its psychobilly instincts colluding with tangy melodies while being driven by the pulsating slaps of The Rev on darkly taut strings. Vocally Norm is as inviting and potent as his flair with grooves and hooks; it all matched by the eagerly landing beats of Mummery as smile sparking humour fuels the lyrical heart of the encounter. As its predecessor, the song quickly enslaves attention and enjoyment before Bury Me With My Guitar reinforces the album’s already firm hold with swinging rhythms and nagging riffs. A web of inescapable and inventive hooks invading body and imagination like a mix of The Polecats and Tiger Army infested by the spirit of Johnny Burnette, the track is a glorious trespass dictating movement and pleasure with ease.

The album’s title track steps up next, providing its own invasive catchiness and irresistible demand on the senses and limbs. The vocal backing of The Rev and Mummery is as sinisterly flavoursome as Norm’s lead as darkly toxic groves and niggly riffs all add with instinct rousing rhythms to psychobilly manna for ears and appetite.

That hunger for the album’s body and spirit ailment is instantly nourished again by the opening of The Sun Burned Down, The Rev’s shadow soaked bass line pure temptation soon joined by just as flavoursome crisp beats and the toxic beauty of guitar melody. Narrating the demise of planet earth, they combine like a final sultry sunset, seducing with portentous beauty as Norm’s vocals echo their apocalyptic radiance.

It Made Me Lose My Mind surrounds the listener next, its rhythmic palpitation alone a delicious infestation infused with the psychotic grooves of Norm while the following and irrepressible Wild Wild Woman carries a great Gene Vincent / The Shakin’ Pyramids groove before the band spice up Voodoo Street with some early Stray Cats sultriness. All three show the variety honed within and shaping the album and its creatively energetic character, a success nailed down once more in the unquenchable flirtation of the sci-fi bred Timeslip where hooks and grooves command as rhythms control whilst throughout Norm takes the imagination on a time defusing romance for yet another impossible to resist defeat of inhibitions.

Old school textures wind around psychobilly seducing for The Devil’s Gate next, its smouldering atmosphere as blood red as the dark moon shining upon is toxic tale. The track is sheer captivation, maybe not quite holding all the sparks of songs before it and certainly of successor Bad Evil Woman, but another treat to devour greedily. It is fair to say that an even lustier response was nurtured by the second of the two, a song offering another chorus which simply demands participation whilst its grooves and rhythmic enticement take swift control of body and intent with not for the first time within Psychobilly D.N.A., a touch of Leiber and Stoller like spicing colouring the songwriting.

As shown by previous releases Norm also has a handy knack at composing instrumentals which grip the imagination with their suggestive characters and melodic endeavours, Lynch Mob another fine example with it’s on the run intrigue and creative espionage. With The Rev and Mummery simply compelling too, it is an easy to get lost in adventure passing keen attention over to the fifties spawned Love You Little Baby, a scintillating track anyone like Eddie Cochran, Sweet Gene, and Link Wray would embrace in their discography.

The rhythmic voodoo of Night Fever is enough alone to send the passions into ecstasy next; the song blossoming into a boisterous bout of mouth-watering fiercely enterprising psychobilly equipped with feverish grooves and passion ensnaring hooks as rhythms cast a relentless tapestry of temptation. The track is superb but still overshadowed by the album’s outstanding closer.

To Victory is a canvas of battle strewn valour and destruction; a bold romance of bravery treated with honesty and reality as basslines eagerly prowl and beats scythe across the sonic and vocal dexterity of Norm. It is a glorious end to an album which infests every aspect of the body and emotions to leave instinctive and unbridled pleasure in its wake.

Norm And The Nightmarez might by primarily tagged as psychobilly but trust us, their sound and certainly Psychobilly D.N.A. is something any heart for rock ‘n’ roll in its various broad flavours over the decades will beat excitedly to.

Psychobilly D.N.A. is out now via Western Star Records on CD @ https://western-star.tmstor.es/cart/product.php?id=30216

and through https://www.raucousrecords.com/norm-nightmarez-psychobilly-dna-cd.html

https://www.facebook.com/Normandthenightmarez/

Pete RingMaster 03/11/2016

Hole In The Head – Primitive Love

Jan12

HITH 2015 line-up

It is always a negative when someone says they need something like a hole in the head, but when it applies to the Finnish rockabilly band of the same name the want is completely different, especially if talking about the band’s debut album Primitive Love. It is a ten track stomp bred in a rockabilly heart but involving spicy rhythm ‘n’ blues and broader rock ‘n’ roll adventure to create something not exactly unique but predominantly individual to Hole In The Head.

The Kuopio hailing band began in 1997, founded by vocalist/guitarist Sasse Savolainen. Two 7” EPs, Tornado Ride (2000) and Trouble Cruiser (2003) were well-received successes for a band also experiencing a few line-up changes. The summer of 2012 saw the quartet of Sasse, Brother Andy Liukko (guitar, harmonica, sax), Turkka (upright bass), and Laasanen (drums) begin recording Primitive Love with Tomi Leino at Suprovox Studio, Ikkala. In the wake of the recording though Laasanen left the band with Turkka subsequently leaving too. The remaining pair decided to carry on performing as the Sasse & Andy Duo and work towards releasing the album. New impetus to Hole in the Head after its near demise came with the recruitment of Tony Lehto (upright bass) and Joonas Hiltunen (drums), the band hitting the live scene again with force further backed by the 2015 release of Primitive Love.

A strong start to the album is made by Out of Hands, the opener coaxing ears with scuzzy guitar and the winy charm of Andy’s harmonica incitement. With punchy rhythms and inviting vocals, the enjoyable encounter is an easy to climb on board canter with swinging hips and excitable energy that has feet bouncing and attention aroused. Increasingly more virulent as it stomps into its dynamic climax, the track passes an already keen appetite over to the following Bad Luck Driver. Straight away a sultry and siren-esque psychobilly tang wraps ears as the bass of Turkka gets the instincts going with its delicious dark stroll. With beats just as enticing, the track only blossoms further as blues lined tempting escapes through a flirtatious sax as the potent tones of Sasse strike up further pleasure and satisfaction, each adding to the excellent Frantic Flintstones meets Ray Campi with a touch of Roy Hawkins like song.

picture By Ville Angervuori

From one big treat to another as the dark noir mystique of The Night Walk takes over, its blues/surf blend of temptation a smouldering seduction of spicy air and sound. The resonating elegance of the guitar comes with a great sinister swell to its tone whilst the rhythms perfectly temper that intoxication with understated but pungent repetition. Already song by song, Primitive Love gets thicker and bolder in adventurous invention, a trend continuing with the swiftly magnetic Let Me Be Your Heartbeat. Imagine The Stray Cats in collusion with Tiger Army without the haunting and you have the anthemic prowess of a gripping track only broadening in varied sound with each passing minute.

Vintage Kind of Fever leaps in with tenacious rhythms and an energetic swagger next, its fifties nurtured and robustly delivered rockabilly weave littered with flaming sax, scything guitar, and a rhythmic rumble to lose the body too. Addiction is inevitable as also through the bluesabilly romp of Rude Boy Blues, a mix of rousing enterprise and fiery flavouring at times reminding of The Shakin’ Pyramids. Both tracks are superb incitements to lose inhibitions to and quickly backed by the jazzy canter of Lonely Wolf, the song a Parisian touched harmonica wielding vagabond of a song which simply leads hips into an eager sway.

Rhythmic jabs and swinging hooks are the order of the day within Knock Out Boogie, bass and guitar hooks hypnotic bait as masterful vocals and bodacious sax lead the listener on a rebellious yet controlled dance before having to make way for the sixties R&B hued blues devilry of Wolf Girl. Bounding around with the scent of The Living End and Johnny Burnette to its insatiable energy and feverish character, the song just entices and incites like a frisky temptress.

The album is closed by Bondage Love, a track living up to hopes inspired by its title with its exotic melodic landscape and addictively nagging rhythms. Like a rapture driven shindig on the banks of the River Nile, further accentuated by the Madness like smooch of the sax, the track is pure manna for ears and rock ‘n’ roll passions; a claim easy to attach to the whole of Primitive Love.

It may have taken time to see the light of day, but Primitive Love hits the sweet spot with persistent ease whilst suggesting to the world that Finland has a rockabilly/R&B band which deserves real attention.

Primitive Love is out now @ http://hith.net/wordpress/shop/

http://hith.net/ https://www.facebook.com/holeintheheadfin

Pete RingMaster 12/01/2016

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