Image by popsike.com

Let’s start in the 1950s with some civilized boogie woogin’. ‘The Lover’s Curse’ is a 1958 one-hit-wonder and sure as hell makes those happy hormones bolt through ya body. Although the heartbroken lyrics suggest otherwise, the chirpy choon makes the list of ‘songs to play to suicidal kids’ because they’ll change their mind after going ‘Whoaha-ha-ha-ha’ to Everett’s rueful cheer. Come on, what could be worse than the lover’s curse?
 
 
 
 
The Cramps – ‘The Way I Walk’

Image by retrokimmer.com

‘We weren’t even describing the music when we put ‘psychobilly’ on our old fliers; we were just using carny terms to drum up business. It wasn’t meant as a style of music,’ say The Cramps about appropriating the term from a Johnny Cash song. Be that as it may, many consider their music and lyrical subject matter a significant contribution to the forming of the ‘psycho’ sound. They were a firm part of the budding punk scene in New York City, b-movie sci-fi and horror iconography were their thang and their tunes were heavily influenced by 1950s rockabilly. How much more ‘psycho’ can you get? Here’s ‘The Way I Walk’ from their 1979 debut EP entitled Gravest Hits, which is said to be one of the first documentations of the rockabilly revival genre that brought its rowdy companion psychobilly with it. You be the judge!
 
 
 
 
The Meteors – ‘The Crazed’

Image by last.fm

Unlike The Cramps, London-hailing band The Meteors were the first to self-identify as psychobilly and are honoured by many fans as being the genre’s only ‘pure’ band. After being treated as outcasts by the rockabilly scene, they took psychobilly to new levels by spitting chicken blood on stage or inventing ‘wrecking’, a mixture between dancing, fighting and punk rock’s moshing. Their fittingly titled single ‘The Crazed’ (1981) was their first from their album The Case Of The Meteors In Heaven, but also one of their last in their original constellation featuring P. Paul Fenech and Nigel Lewis. Hoarsely sung lyrics such as ‘Just close one eye when you’re asleep, choose well the company you keep’, render it appropriately spooky while its steady beat makes it ‘wreckable’. Here it is, don’t hurt yourself!
 
 
 
 
The MojoKings – ‘Whatever Happened to Rock ‘n’ Roll’

Image by psycho.rockabilly-online.com

 
 
‘I believe with all my heart that rock ’n’ roll is a contributing factor to our juvenile delinquency of today…and why I believe that is? Because I know how it feels when you sing it,’ said wise ass Rev. Jimmy Snow while Frank Sinatra calls it ‘the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth’. Sadly, they never grasped the sheer fun of feeling as disgracefully dirty as one does listening to tumultuous tunes such as these. There’s no such thing as passive protest here, sorry Sinatra, but we wanna get into trouble! Give this a listen but be sure about what your getting yourself into, The Mojokings sure do summon the riotous revolutionary in you. No refunds!
 
 
 
 
Hot Boogie Chillun – ‘Fuckin’ Sweet’

Image by xlyrics.de

Hot Boogie Chillun don’t mess about, this song’s straightforward steady slap-bass will have you tapping your feet in boogie-woogie wonderland in no time. ‘Blues, Rockabilly and trashy stuff with hooker beats, linkster guitars and sonic power,’ is how they describe their sound. Yet having been around for twelve years, they get offended if you call them ‘retro’ like any middle-aged lady would. We don’t care! Whether old or new, they know how to rock a party dirty hillbilly style! Fuckin’ sweeeeet…
 
 
 
 
Them Tornados – ‘Psycho’

Image by lauramccullagh.com

Playing shows for over ten years now, Cape Town’s oldest rockabilly act deserves a slot on this list. Dirty, dangerous and up for lots of shaking — these rock ‘n’ roll bastards will steal your innocent soul and convert it for the better. Welcome to the dark side, there’s no turning back after this track!
 
 
 
 
The Hillbilly Moon Explosion – ‘Live the Life’

Image by tumblr.com

The Hillbilly Moon Explosion are European rock ‘n’ roll revivalists, who have established quite an established fan base through touring the continent extensively. Sometimes pop-ey, their full-blown groove and optimistic conduct will have your flirtatious instincts running high. Here’s ‘Live the Life’ from their album All Grown Up!
 
 
 
 
The Stray Cats – ‘Fishnet Stocking’

Image by tumblr.com

Founded in 1980, The Stray Cats, whose sound is heavily based on 1950s Sun Records artists (a record label that signed the likes of Elvis Presley), can aptly be described as being part of the neo-rockabily movement. It’s not a surprise that this hyperactive tune is full of wild ‘wop bop a doo dops’ and ‘shoo wop a doo dops’. Let’s get rocking!
 
 
 
 
Peachy Keen – ‘I Shot a Man Down’

Image by Kian Eriksen

This selection being predominantly male, it has become about time to change this with the next to last song. Not only is Peachy Keen fronted by two powerful female vocalists, they are also a well-established South African rockabilly act. Apparently they are playing their last show at Shake Some Action on February 23rd, so CT rockabilly fans better be markin’ their calendars. Until then, this murderous tale of revenge is worth a couple of listens!
 
 
 
 
Demented Are Go – ‘Lucky Charm’

Image by tumblr.com

Last but not least, we go back to the more aggressively riotous and disorderly. Formed in the 1980s, Demented Are Go are a must-listen in the psychobilly world and infamous for their the devil-may-care attitude as well as lead singer Sparky’s extensive consumption of LSD resulting in a deteriorating mental state. About thirty years later he is back on track and we can still listen to his deep croaky vocals that sound like it’s the devil himself singing. Here’s ‘Lucky Charm’ of the 2012 album Welcome Back to Insanity Hall . Make way for the ‘Demon Teds’ from hell!

If this has got you into the rock ‘n’ roll mood, click here to find out about Cape Town’s scene and budding bands.

Image by Diane Styger

How did it all start?

K.C.: In short, I wanted to start a rockabilly band because I love the music and I posted an ad online and Rickabilly replied saying let’s give it a try. So we started fiddling and initially we got a bassist, which didn’t quite work out, so we put another ad online and Double Dave replied. We’ve been going with this line-up for about three years now.

Do you have a band philosophy?

K.C.: Don’t fuck up. (laughs)
Double Dave: Yeah pretty much.
Rickabilly: It’s really just about having a good time really. If we enjoy it, I think people who are listening to it will enjoy it.
Double Dave: We try to stay out of politics and the deep spiritual meanings of life. Rockabilly music is about having fun.
Rickabilly: We’re not one of those bands who stand up there and ramble on for about five minutes about what the song means, because it means fuck-all. Get up and dance and enjoy it and that’s it.
K.C.: Yeah,

you’re not going to hear sloppy love songs, it’s all upbeat and fun.

When did you start listening to rockabilly?

K.C.: Rick? Don’t say exact dates here you might give your age away…
Rickabilly: I started listening to rockabilly when I was about four years old. My dad was spinning records on the turntable — Elvis, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent — all those guys. Right from a very early age I just loved the music. I grew up with it with my dad and just got interested in it. I’ve always loved it.
K.C.: I started in my late teens with psychobilly. I kind of got into it after that. I then found out that I prefer rockabilly more to psychobilly.
Double Dave: My parents used to listen to a wide variety of music so I would listen to a huge variety of music.

Image by Christine Hogg

Did you always know that you’d play in a rockabilly band one day?

Double Dave: I was sort of looking for a band when I saw the ad online so I thought I’d give it a try.
K.C.: You didn’t really set out to be an upright rockabilly bassist did you?
Double Dave: No, I played blues, I played punk…but it all fits in musically.

You’ve obviously been listening to it for a while. Do you know when the first South African rockabilly band surfaced and did you listen to South African rockabilly bands?

Rickabilly: Until I met K.C., I didn’t know there were any South African rockabilly bands. The rockabilly bands that are around now have only been around for maybe 10 years at best. It’s not something that South Africa has had a history with. The roots of it were started in the ’50s and there weren’t really any South African rockabilly bands back then. I think everyone is just catching on to that hype decades after.
K.C.: At the same time though, the reason why I wanted to start this band was because the South African psychobilly and rockabilly guys got me into it. Acts like Them Tornados and Martin Rocka and The Sickshop were the inspiration for me to get into it. I’ve been doing music for many years and I’ve always loved rockabilly and psychobilly but I never really wanted to pursue it. And then I thought, you know what, I’ve been doing the rock thing for a while let me look at this. So I gave it a try and it sure as hell worked out.

It was the local guys more than the overseas guys that made me look for this band.

Rickabilly: It’s always been a goal of mine to eventually have a rockabilly band. I’ve been growing up with the music since I was a young child, and somewhere along the line I started writing my own songs. Then I started thinking it would be nice to start something like this because it’s not being done anywhere around here. So when I saw K.C.’s ad I jumped on it because I didn’t even hear anybody mention the word rockabilly around here before. I thought, ‘That’s exactly what I’m after and if he’s on the same page then this could work.’ The right thing came along at the right time.

Would you say the scene is growing at the moment?

Rickabilly: This scene is definitely growing. And we like to believe that we’ve got some small part in helping it grow as well, because there are bands out there that are getting some sort of inspiration from us by being out there and advertising the music and saying ‘well this is what it’s about’. And more and more you see the term being used and the whole throw-back to the ’50s resurfacing around here.
K.C.: Even psychobilly. The psychobilly is doing well now. Psychobilly, especially looking at the scene now, wouldn’t happen without rockabilly. Psychobilly is the darker side. And don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome, we love it. Seeing the little resurgence now, with all the cool bands. It wouldn’t have happened without the rockabilly element, you know, the guys like Them Tornados. So there definitely is a revival happening now and it’s awesome to see, but it’s kind of a nice in-between thing — rockabilly and psychobilly mixed together. And there’s a bluesy side to it. Rockabilly is fast blues. You see a lot of the blues guys now, like Crimson House Blues, Ballistic Blues and Sixgun Gospel… it’s slow rockabilly, it’s blues but essentially blues is slow rockabilly. So it’s all tying in nicely.

Image by Christine Hogg

Is there a rockabilly sound that’s unique to South Africa?

Rickabilly: Not really. I think our accents would be the only thing.
K.C.: I don’t think there’s anything from the dress to the tattoos to the actual music to the actual lyrics. I don’t think anything really differs to overseas. It’s all pretty much similar. Yeah, the only thing that I can think of is our accents. Everything else can be traced to overseas.
Rickabilly: Even that’s hard to tell when you’re singing.

So would you call yourselves a rockabilly revival band?

K.C.: What we’re doing essentially is called neo-rockabilly. Neo-rockabilly was started with The Stray Cats in the late ’70s. And it was a bit of a harder version of normal rockabilly. It wasn’t psychobilly, but it was kind of in-between. That’s called neo-rockabilly. So I think what we’re doing is neo-rockabilly. It’s a modern day slightly edgy throw-back to rockabilly. That’s what we would be classified as if we really had to dig deep.

Would you want the scene here to reach the stage that it is at overseas?

K.C.: We would love that. As we said before, we live the scene! In the sense that it’s Rickabilly and old motorbikes… and I have an old muscle car — we live this thing! So, the scene isn’t only about the music, it’s about the lifestyle. If we could see more classic cars on the road and hot rods, we would be very happy. If we could see more people getting their hair done and grease back that would be cool too. It’s about living, it’s not only about the music. And if we get five people that look rockabilly and the rest don’t, we don’t care. It’s cool to see those five people who are living and feeling it. We would love to see it grow like it did overseas, but it probably won’t happen because we don’t have that many muscle cars in South Africa. And we don’t have that many clubs to play in, but we can definitely see how far we can take it. And there need to be more bands, which is happening now so it’s becoming more accessible. More people from the punk genre are looking at psychobilly because they’re very close. And more traditional rock and blues bands are coming to rockabilly shows.
Double Dave: There are also other guys working on building the hot rod and muscle car community in Cape Town.

Image by Christine Hogg

So the spirit will live on?

K.C.: I think it’s going to live on, it’s going to be — not necessarily niche — but it’s going to be true. The people who are going to come through will really enjoy it. And that’s going to grow, but you’ve got to read out the people who are just there to be seen because it’s the thing at the time. We’re finding a lot of people like that.
Double Dave: We wouldn’t mind it becoming more mainstream but at the same time we don’t want it to become just a fad.
K.C.: And don’t get us a wrong, we’re not saying we want to be niche. We want to be mainstream because that’s where people come in the door, that’s where we essentially make money as musicians. We want to expose ourselves to as many people as possible. We want to expose ourselves to people who appreciate it and get a kick out of it.
Double Dave: But we don’t want to compromise our sound to fit in.
K.C.: Yeah.

If music changes in six months time, and in another six months time, and in another six months time, we’re still going to be making rockabilly.

Is rockabilly going to live on in the form that it is in now?
K.C.: ‘Rockabilly’ in inverted commas, the style, the music, the genre is going to live on. It’s not going anywhere. You’ve got people restoring and trying to maintain. If it’s lasted from the ’50s until now, then it’s not going anywhere. That’s what I say. Rockabilly was the first rock ‘n’ roll ever and if it’s still around, then it’s not going anywhere.
Double Dave: If you go to a club and they start playing ’50s music, people get on the dance floor and dance. If they start playing Elvis, people will be dancing.
K.C.: If you play Elvis to any person in the universe — be it the biggest hip-hop fan or the biggest house DJ — if you play Elvis to them they know the song. Everyone knows rockabilly.
Rickabilly: Even if they don’t know the specific song, they connect with the rhythm, the beat, the swing… those are primal things that you relate to regardless of whose singing it or when.
K.C.: And that’s something that’ll never go away because it’s fun.

So it’s kind of like an eternal genre that’ll always live on in its subculture.

K.C.: It is. It may never ever again be a mainstream thing but it will always exist. If you look at the United States where rockabilly was the only music in the ’50s and was kind of dead in the ’60s and ’70s and then kind of resurged again… but whatever happened, it never went away completely. But if you look at music scenes like disco, that died after how long? Or psychedelic rock in the ’60s? So much has died and never really resurfaced. Rockabilly has always been there and influenced so many other people. If you look at what The Beatles were doing in the ’60s, they got their influence from the guys from the ’50s. It’s not going anywhere. It’s going to stick around. Like you said, as a subculture or just under the radar, but it’ll always stick around.

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 Vodun Haunts, click here.

Interview by Christine Hogg
Images by Diane Styger, Christine Hogg

From March 16 to March 18 at Contermanskloof Wine Farm, Jagermeister presents the annual The Flamjangled Tea Party; the party within a party within a dress-up party within a festival within a bubble of blue sky, green grass and lazy sunny daze. And we have two single full-weekend tickets to give away!

The Flamjangled Tea Party is festival of many things… It’s outdoors, eclectic, humorous, glittering, freaky, funky, jiving, up-beat, jazzy, swinging, sizzling, folksy, rock n rolling, wonderful, gentle, relaxing, silly, cheeky and grrreat! You can expect to find themed spaces and places, great music, top food, fine cocktails, oversized art, dress-up, surprising performances, ridiculous games and daft competitions.

© Jonx Pillemer

Festival breakdown

Friday night is ‘Black n White’ with classic silent movies brought to life by soundtracks provided by infamous DJs. An intimate evening with friends by the Little Market Stage before the weekend steps even further into slower gears. Saturday late night venues include The Night Owl Haunt – a New World party tent, and The Miniscule of Sound (now smaller with bigger sound), The Out of Site Cafe and other surprises! Also on Saturday night is ‘The Greatest Dance Lesson Ever’, where festival goers can learn ‘The Charleston’ by the Main Stage presented by Boogie Back Dance Co.

The Little Market Theatre Stage, with daytime beats, side show antics, and off the cuff performances. Featuring : The Tea Bears Picnic for children of all ages. Saturday and Sunday mornings, with free Tea’s and games. There are also dress-up and talent competitions, so bring your talent for Flamjanglers got Odd Talents Competition (No Fire or Vocal Performances – Sorry). The Tea Garden (main stage) opens Saturday 10am – 1am and Sunday 10am – 5pm, with bands and shenanigans.

© Jonx Pillemer

Melody Makers and Performers

iScream & the Chocolate Stix
GoodLuck
Hotwater
Jeremy Loops
Nomadic Orchestra
Peachy Keen
Beatenberg
Rumspringer
We Set Sail
Them Tornados
Two Minute Puzzle
Black South Easter
The Blacksmith Band
Nate Mainguard & Tim Hutchinson
The Bird and the Cage
TouchWood
The Time Flies
D7
Meri Kenaz
Legoloop
TobyTeaScones
James Copeland
Dusty Human
Circuswing
Mr Pantoffels
Moody Bloom
Ma’original
Spekta
Fletcher
Green Tea
The Great Vernoni
Will Travel
Tarka Sands
Lady Magnolia
A Kettle Called Black
Biscuits at Noon
Capt FieldMouse
The Sneaky Possums
and many more to come..

© Jonx Pillemer

Venue Information

Contermanskloof Wine Farm, only 25km’s from Cape Town and mere minutes away from Durbanville. Rolling grassed fields for camping, plenty of parking space, stunning dam for dipping, a fine selection of food stalls, bars, multiple entertainment zones and too much more then can mentioned here. Gates open Friday: 15:00 – 00:00; Friday 00:00 – Saturday 08:00; and Saturday: 08:00 till Sunday 13:00

Directions to Contermanskloof
Take N1 out of Cape Town.
Take the N7 towards Malmesbury.
Just after the refinery take Exit 22 : the Durbanville / Tableview turn off.
Turn right towards Durbanville.
Turn left at the T-Junction on to Contermanskloof Road.
Slow down and follow the signs you are nearly there.
(watch out for the sharp right)

© Jonx Pillemer

Ticket information

One price covers arrival on Friday or Saturday, so try get there early for extra Jangling the whole weekend long.

Full Weekend Tickets (FRI/SAT/SUN)
Adults: Presale @ Outlets: R320
Presale @ Webtickets: R340
Flamjangled Webtickets are live! www.webtickets.co.za/event.aspx?itemid=4702068

Gate: R380 Full Weekend (Fri or Sat arrival)
Sunday Gate Ticket: R200 (From 9am) – Still a full day of music and antics.

© Jonx Pillemer

Want to win a single full-weekend Flamjangled Tea Party ticket? Just follow these simple steps….

1. Like The Flamjangled Tea Party 2012 and Like one small seed on Facebook

 

2. Tag BOTH @The Flamjangled Tea Party 2012 and @one small seed Magazine & TV in your Facebook status and link to this post

 

3. Tweet @GoodTimesEvents and @onesmallseedSA with a mention of Flamjangled Tea Party and onesmallseed.com

Winners will be announced via Twitter on Wednesday 14 March at 16h00

For more information, email info@goodtimeevents.co.za, or check out the Flamjangled Tea Party site, HERE and join the Facebook group, HERE. Please note that all Trading/Stalls have already been allocated for this year. Sponsored by: Jagermeister / Bos Ice Tea / Eversons Cider / Rayban

© Jonx Pillemer

images: Jonx Pillemer