Image by Jacqui Van Staden

A bit about you – how did it all start?

Lance Brandow: Well, I think The Vodun Haunts basically started when the two of us got together via sheer chance. We walked into the Jolly Roger and we met Le Riche playing psychobilly, so we started speaking to each other, he bought us shots so I was happy about that and now we’re a six-piece band. Le Riche was the one to come up with the whole idea behind the name, which is…

Le Riche Meyer: What we’re trying to do, or what we’re about is kind of like playing predominantly psychobilly but with a very South African twist to it and thus making it our own.

So you wouldn’t say that you’re a straightforward psychobilly band?

Lance: Not at all. That’s what makes me enjoy the band so much because I’m not going to say that it’s easy to play rockabilly or psychobilly, but it’s become very generic.

Cami Scoundrel: There’s a style and convention to follow that makes it what it is.

Ken Bull-Smith: Also we want real music that’s interesting. You don’t want to do the same stuff over and over. It’s so much easier just to follow a set formula.

Do you have a band philosophy?

Lance: Personally for me and for this band it’s ‘the show must go on’. It’s because we’re six people and it’s really difficult for us to be at the same place at the same time and be on the same page. So we’ve always persevered over whatever obstacles have been in our way and for me that’s what this band stands for.

Le Riche: I think it’s ‘less talk and more rock ‘n’ roll’. A lot of bands do a lot of talking and we’re just rocking and rolling I guess.

Image by Stephan Bester

Image by Stephan Bester

So you’re just having a lot of fun.

Le Riche: It’s more about us and about what we’re doing than trying to be a glorified Cape Town celebrity. I feel like a lot of people just play music to get on a stage and be noticed. For us it’s just enjoying each other, enjoying what we do and what we write.

Lance: Yeah, it’s all about the music.

So it’s more about the music than the attitude?

Lance: Well,

we have the attitude but it’s all based on the music.

Ken: The attitude comes from the music…

Lance: It’s a show…

Cami: And different music makes a different show. There are also performance aspects in us.

Le Riche: There’s no choreography or any weird shit like that. There’s no set formula. When you go live on a stage and you feel a certain energy from the people you’re playing with, the music that you’re performing, the crowd – whatever the fuck comes out inside of you is what happens. So if that makes us dress a certain way or perform a certain way then that’s not a planned thing – it’s just what happens.

What bands have you been listening to lately and what bands would you ask for advice?

Le Riche: Locally there are quite a few bands that we really enjoy, there’s a fucking cool band that Ken plays in called The Bone Collectors, which is also completely original. I really enjoy them in terms of song writing and the performance is really entertaining and inspiring. There are also bands up in Jo’burg like The Slashdogs, The Carniwhores, Martin Rocka and the Sickshop, Submachine — there are loads of bands that we dig. In Cape Town there’s also Hog Hoggidy Hog — they’re also really entertaining live. And internationally the bands that stand out are Banane Metalik, Demented Are Go, Nekromantix…

Cami: Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers.

Le Riche: There are a lot of bands that inspire us. I think the one thing that’s really cool about this band is that each person is an individual, each person has their own acquired taste, inspirations, their own style and everybody listens to completely different styles of music – predominantly alternative obviously – but when we get together we bring all those different elements and inspirations together and somehow make it work, which is very fun and cool.

Image by Stephan Bester

And who would you ask for advice?

Le Riche: My band mates.

So nobody who’s more famous than you?

Le Riche: I don’t think we’re famous in the first place.

Cami:

Everybody’s more famous than us.

Le Riche: If I needed advice on what we’re trying to do I would find it within the group of people who I’m surrounding myself with and who the group is playing with. I think you could get some damn good advice from the five other band mates. So I don’t think I need to go to any other place…

Cami: We have a plan and we put it together.

Lance: I enjoy a band called Mad Sin from Germany. I dig their song writing, I dig absolutely everything about them. I think if I had to ask anybody for advice it would be their lead vocalist on how to keep a band together for 25 years. They’ve just been rocking stage after stage — they just carry on regardless of what’s in their way. And they just bring out another album that’s better than the one before. It just carries on — it’s like a nightmare.

Ken: I’d probably ask you (Lance) for advice.

Le Riche: I mean we have made contact with a lot of musicians that are extremely well known in the industry internationally and we have spoken to them but I don’t think it was necessarily from an advice point of view. It was just making contact and telling them that we’re here, we dig what you’re doing and sharing ideas. We’re really trying to grow the scene here in Cape Town and in South Africa — and the only way you can grow a scene is to be pro-active in it. So we’re also trying to make the international market aware of what’s going on and indirectly also promoting the other bands that are a part of it. We’re sharing their sounds with the international crowd and international radio stations because that’s the only way that we can grow. We’re definitely not one of these egotistical fuck bands that are set out to look after themselves. And in order for us to go anywhere we have to have a whole lot of other bands on the same par, a whole lot of other people enjoying the same style and going to the same gigs. We’re definitely marketing a lot of other bands here that we enjoy as well. That’s our kind of logic I guess.

Image by Stephan Bester

It’s a pity that there’s no club that you can go to and be sure to hear psychobilly every night.  Do you feel that’s a problem?

Cami: Jo’burg used to have London Calling. There was punk there every night of the week.

Le Riche: The whole style is pretty much in its baby stages here. All we can do is stick together and support the other bands that are playing the same kind of style and keep pushing. And stay original as well as creative and not become stagnant or boring because there’s one way of promoting a scene and there’s another way of breaking it for your own personal gratification. So you just have to be clever about what you’re doing.

Lance: Also, we’ve been together for four months and we’ve already got our EP out. For me that’s always been the most important thing: production, production, production. You can’t sell anything without having a product. It’s not going to happen. And a lot of the bands in South Africa – from Gauteng or Cape Town – will start to play but then there’s no product. If they do bring out a product, it’s one CD — it doesn’t make it on 5fm’s top 10 or whatever. And that’s the end of it. The band breaks up and they lose the whole plot. That’s not what we’re going for. We’re pushing out our product whether people want to listen to it or not – it’s going to carry on coming.

What’s planned for the future?

Cami: An album.

Lance: Definitely an album by March. And hopefully a music video before then, which we have some crazy ideas for but we’re not going to tell you anything about that. It’s going to be something special. That’s another thing about this band, we think a lot about what we put out there. It’s not just by chance.

Le Riche: We’re not trying to be anyone else but ourselves and that might come across as egotistical but it’s not. I think we’re very critical even though we’re having fun and enjoying what we’re doing — there’s nobody more critical about what we’re doing than us. So I think we’re our biggest fans and our biggest supporters. So everything that we do goes through six musical grinders before it gets put out. We’re in conversation with really big promoters of psychobilly and rockabilly in Europe. There have been talks of possibly going overseas next year and possible invitations to play at really big festivals. Nothing is set in stone yet but we definitely have an idea of where we’re going and what we’re doing.

Cami: And how we’re going to do it.

Le Riche: I don’t think that a lot is going to stand in our way to get there and achieve it. It’s just something that we’re doing for ourselves and that we want to achieve personally. It’s not a financial game, it’s more about fucking enjoying what we’re doing. And getting out there and experiencing really unique situations and circumstances while doing what we’re doing.

Cami: And just being psycho. (laughs)

Image by Stephan Bester

And you practice in a mental hospital right?

Lance: Yeah that’s right. (laughs)

Would you consider performing for the patients like The Cramps did?

Lance: We already have.

(Everyone laughs)

But most of them are just there to bum cigarettes.

Lance: They do give us an opinion. Normally they’re like ‘great’ (does the thumbs-up gesture).

Cami: Yeah we’ve never had a bad review from the mad house.

Le Riche: I think the only obstacle with that (performing for the patients) would be that there might be some band members less afterwards.

Lance: Yeah some of us might get stuck in the mad house.

IMPORTANT LINKS

For the main article ‘Let’s Rock This Party Like It’s 1955′, click here. For the interview with Th’ Damned Crows, click here. For the interview with The Ratrod Cats, click here.

Images by Stephan Bester, Jacqui van Staden
Interview by Christine Hogg

Image by Stephan Bester

Th’ Damned Crows – Image by Leon Visser

‘You’ve got to have somethin’ they can tap their foot, or dance to, or to make ‘em feel it,’ were the wise words of Fred Maddox of The Maddox Brothers and Rose. He was one of the first to develop the slap bass technique and his band thus one of the first to create this new sound, which could no longer be categorized as the familiar blues, country or rock ‘n’ roll. It became ‘rockabilly’ – a term that is derived from the words ‘hillbilly’ and ‘rock’. More than 60 years later the carefree feet-stomping honky-tonk spirit is still alive and resurging subtly but significantly in our very own Cape Town. Be it via the routes of reviving ’50s rockabilly, creating modern neo-rockabilly or being a part of the more aggressive subgenre psychobilly, more and more bands are surfacing and kicking it to increasing audiences of tattooed pin-up girl look-alikes and rebellious-looking greaser culture imitators.

While witnessing this nostalgic celebration breed with passion and enthusiasm, some questions arose. Why is it happening now? Has it existed in SA before? And most importantly, what is it about this special time and place — America of the 1950s – that has created such an impact on youth subcultures and fuelled such a worldwide dedicated cult following throughout the years? One way to find out was to consult the makers of the music that surrounds the mythical neo-’50s magic. Three Cape Town bands, Th’ Damned Crows, The Vodun Haunts and The Ratrod Cats, shared their insights on Cape Town as inspiring ‘psycho territory’, the cultural ‘uniform’ and simply creating quality music.

The Vodun Haunts – Image by Stephan Bester

To get things straight up front, here’s an admittedly brief background. Rockabilly’s mainstream popularity culminated in the ’50s, with guys like Eddie Cochran or Gene Vincent. If those names don’t ring a bell the following lyrics will, ‘there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues’ or ‘be-bop-a-lula she’s my baby’. Jiving greasers in leather jackets, swaying girls with spotted dresses, hot rods, muscle cars… you get the gist. This early rebellious rock genre never really died and lived on outside the mainstream up until today. Not only did the music survive, the culture had such a strong legacy that people still gather with likeminded and ‘like-dressed’ people at events such as the Summer Jamboree in Italy or Viva Las Vegas in the US to listen to revived rockabilly or neo-rockabilly. During the ’80s some guys in Europe thought they’d be inventive while keeping the jivey be-bop-a-lula sound and born was ‘psychobilly’ — a more aggressive punk-infused genre that often incorporates dark science fiction themes. Similar to its predecessor, it wants nothing to do with politics. It’s a holiday for the super ego and an opportunity for the subconscious to get out of control and go ‘psycho’, if you will.

Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent – Image by fanpop.com

The Meteors – Image by mumblerbeaner.blogspot.com

Making use of many influences, Th’ Damned Crows are an energetic four piece that fall into the broad ‘-billy’ genre, yet have more appropriately been described as ‘whatever-fuck-a-billy’ due to the versatile musical backgrounds (blues, industrial metal, punk and garage/psychobilly) each member contributes to the sound. Although they’re determined not to be a clichéd psychobilly band, they still manage to bring a devilish dark edge to the fore through lyrical content and lead singer Liam McDevitt’s steadfast vocals. Only having moved down to the scenically inspiring African southlands from Manchester about one and a half years ago, he agrees that there’s an increasing interest and potential for expansion within the psychobilly/rockabilly and broader Cape Town rock ‘n’ roll scene. Already firmly integrated into the network through being one of the organisers and DJs of the Shake Some Action events as well as hosting the sister show on The Assembly radio, he believes that a lot of hard work needs to be done in order to have a sustainable scene. ‘Without the bands there’s no scene, it’s just a whole lot of geeks on the internet,’ he explains when I inquire about possible improvement.

South Africa’s horrendous history included having to battle with ordeals such as political and geographical isolation and thus scanty record distribution. As a result many music fans’ access to psychobilly records when the genre reached one of its peaks in the ’80s was often only through purchasing them overseas — and that was only if you knew the genre existed. Consequently, although local bands like Joburg’s Psycho Reptiles existed, they were scarce. Today, the rise of the digital age has provided a new playground for music buffs and therefore created the seeds for a new scene. Teddy boy hairdos, leather jackets and ‘psychooo’ here we come. There’s more to it though, behind the scenes strategies need to be in place for the flower to blossom. Liam puts it angrily, ‘venues and promoters need to smarten their ideas up’.

Th’ Damned Crows – Image by Leon Visser

Th’ Damned Crows – Image by Leon Visser

A band needs an audience, an audience needs a venue and a venue wants to make money. These entities need to pull their weight and be coordinated so that things run smoothly. Although, according to Liam, some places are doing it right, gigs often fail to be successful because so called ‘live music venues’ don’t have the appropriate in-house gear or promoters aren’t ‘promoting’ properly. Creating a Facebook event often isn’t enough to ensure coverage of a band’s expenses or — dare one say it — provide a bit of profit. Especially if there’s a door split. “Anywhere else in the world when you book a band, you don’t go, ‘Oh I will give you 40 percent at the door and if nobody comes in, then unlucky but I’m not losing anything,'” he explains while imitating the fictional voice of an exemplary ineffective promoter.

Although Cape Town has to battle with such financial fiascos, the fool’s paradise seems to offer the right environment for ‘horror’ and ‘psycho’ muses to provide inspiration. To stand out from the global mainstream, Th’ Damned Crows pay close attention to combining spooky tales with being proudly South African. The lyrics to ‘The Devil in Me’ are about the legend of Antjie Somers. According to the myth, s/he was a male serial killer back in the 1800s in Cape Town’s city centre, luring her/his victims in through making them believe s/he was a well-meaning prostitute.

Similarly, the six-headed psycho constellation often in zombie disguise, The Vodun Haunts (also not a straightforward psychobilly band because of classically influenced compositions, for example) are bringing SA’s hair-raising horror news stories often found in tabloids, such as ‘muti’ killings, to the fore. ‘We have a lot of dark shit and weird stuff going on in Africa. And we’re trying to tell stories about that,’ lead singer Le Riche Meyer explains. Cami Scoundrel (on the ‘bag of tricks’) adds, ‘psychobilly is supposed to be a non-political movement — more about fun and horror — so we’re taking that and making it our own South African B-grade creepy.’

The Vodun Haunts – Image by Stephan Bester

The Vodun Haunts by Stephan Bester

The Ratrod Cats, a three piece bowling shirt-sporting neo-rockabilly band made up of K.C. Royale, Rickabilly and Double Dave, are less bothered about South African heritage than about rocking a party ‘like it’s 1955′. ‘I know it’s a bit of a cock-up, but it’s about women, it’s about cars, it’s about booze and it’s about the party. If you put those together you’ve got 1955,’ K.C. admits, while a sheepish smirk spreads across his cheeks. That spot on the timeline is, according to the band members, surrounded by such distinct mysticism and beauty because of cult figures such as James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Buddy Holly that — although they all died at an early age — the impact of their legacy allows one to speak of an art form that goes beyond music. To them it’s about the smell, feel and ideology of rebellious ’50s culture. Rickabilly points out, ‘you don’t get the same appreciation out of modern vehicles for example — they all bloody look the same.’

This is why they take no offence if someone calls them wannabes. “If someone says ‘you sound like Elvis‘ then we say ‘thank you, thank you very much, that’s fantastic,'” K.C. explains. In fact, they believe that it’s important to stay true to the roots, especially in South Africa where a lot of people are still new to the genre. Falsely labelled experiments could cause confusion. ‘If we claim to be rockabilly, then we want to present what people want to hear,’ is a principle the ’50s admirers stick to firmly.

The Ratrod Cats – Image by Diane Styger

Another threat to the thriving scene could be what Liam describes as ‘off-the-hanger-psychobilly’ (or rockabilly). All three bands would agree that fashion can be a statement, contribute to entertainment value and thus be a firm component of the budding neo-’50s cultural ‘art form’. Yet awareness of the ever so dangerous manipulative force of the fad is encouraged by all. ‘Appreciation of the MUSIC is central,’ seems to be a collective thought and ambition that all interviewed musicians share. Yet K.C. is not worried that the shallow fashion followers will get in the way of true music devotees and cause the scene to crumble. ‘What’s going to happen is — and what we’re seeing already — rockabilly and psychobilly are reaching a peak now but they’re going to start fading. But the thing is, the people who will be left will really love it.’

So things seem to be looking good for Capetonian rockabilly and psychobilly lovers. This year, for example, Dusty Rebels and the Bombshells is planned for April 6th. Greased-back music fans and the like will be able to gather at the ’50s culture revival festival and tap their feet to musical nostalgia while showing off their most swell ’50s attire. The spirit is alive and will live on — for as long as humanity knows how to dance. K.C. muses with insight, ‘it’s almost built into people’s genes. This is the music you have to move to.’

IMPORTANT LINKS

While you wait for April to come, click here to download Th’ Damned Crows’ first single ‘Blue Eyed Devil’ for free via SoundCloud! They’re also collecting funds to record their debut album. Click here to help ‘em out.

The Vodun Haunts’ self-titled EP is for sale at Mabu Vinyl and Digital, The African Music Store and Revolution Records for R65. Follow their Facebook page for upcoming gigs!

The Ratrod Cats are currently in the studio and are working on getting their debut out by March. Check their Facebook page for updates.

We also sat down with each band for a face to face chit chat about band philosophies, future plans and favourite bands. Click here for Th’ Damned Crows’ interview, here for The Vodun Haunts interview and here for The Ratrod Cats interview.

Words by Christine Hogg
Images by Leon Visser, Stephan Bester, Diane Styger, MUMBLERBEANER.BLOGSPOT.COM, Christine Hogg