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i used to go rocker nights once a month in Melbourne in the '80's at Bell St Rock...all the hoopla...the Chevs...the dancing..it was great..miss it...the bands were awesome...l'd love to see that scene take off again...was good mates with the lots of the crowd...would catch up at other venues and they never looked down or judged anyone who wore the clothes of the day...very genuine folks who loved their music...at the end of the day they were passionate about their cars,music and their clothes..it certainly wasn't a fad for them...they lived that life. Saw some of the best Rockabilly bands at that time...great muso's...very honest and passionate performances...great showmen...geez l miss em!!!
btw.. you said "The fact that quite a few people around the world feel the same - of all ages - tells me it still works. Therefore it's still relevant. Much like if there's still young bands out there playing the music, then it goes without saying that the music is still relevant. "
youre right. While my 15yr old likes the stuff I like a bit, its the younger versions of the neo movement that catch his attention like your band, the hillbilly casino and rev horton, etc. He's actually picked up the upright bass BECAUSE of the Imelda May band and the Casino.
check it out he's rockin your Johnny tune on our 51' kay (dont mind the dumb guitarist slaying the drums)
btw.. you said "The fact that quite a few people around the world feel the same - of all ages - tells me it still works. Therefore it's still relevant. Much like if there's still young bands out there playing the music, then it goes without saying that the music is still relevant. "
youre right. While my 15yr old likes the stuff I like a bit, its the younger versions of the neo movement that catch his attention like your band, the hillbilly casino and rev horton, etc. He's actually picked up the upright bass BECAUSE of the Imelda May band and the Casino.
check it out he's rockin your Johnny tune on our 51' kay (dont mind the dumb guitarist slaying the drums)
I can't get that link to work, Tavo. But thanks for the kind words. I think it's great your son is getting into the bass and the music. Hopefully he'll be the next generation! You must be very proud. Mind you, he's got a good role model there with his Dad!!
Bob and I exchanged a pleasant PM and there were no hard feelings on either side. I understand his point, as others have also expressed on here about the look and image.
I for one do not believe it is dead, I sure hope not. There is a Rockabilly festival every year in Vegas called VIVA LAS VEGAS complete with vintage cars, around 100-200 bands, sock hops etc.. I bought a Gretsch 5120 to try and learn Rockabilly. So far I am doing all right the only problem is I am 5 ft 4 and have small hands and the Gretsch 5120 is a pretty large guitar, but I keep on trucking. I hope to form a 3 piece band in about 2-3 years and play mainly for fun. As far as why it it is huge in Europe it is probably because of World War ll. A lot of countries are still 20 plus years behind the times (in some areas) because of rebuilding. Okinawa, Japan was this way in the 70's and 80's.
It's been quite interesting reading through these postings; mostly folk seem to be focused on the music, but for me and my wife it's the dancing. We know that we can always cut a rug at a rockabilly or R and R event without feeling judged, and just enjoy having a good time.
I feel that as long as there a folk around that enjoy listening and playing (and dancing to) rockabilly, then the tradition is likely to carry on. Whether or not the style is musically relevant in today's world is another question, but that doesn't stop folk listing to and enjoying jazz, bluegrass, classical and ragtime. It's about whatever floats your boat!
As for my Gretsch guitar, well, it's a Gretsch, and I'll never need to justify wanting to play the heck out of it to anyone!
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If it ain't broke......don't break it!
As far as why it it is huge in Europe it is probably because of World War ll.
I live in a small town on the Essex coast in the UK, and weekly we go to watch rockabilly and R&R bands in a local dance hall that was built for US servicemen to dance in the 40's. I understand from some of the oldtimers that it was the regiments comprising of Afro-American soldiers that were billeted in the region, explaining perhaps why the dance traditions here are a little different from those in the north of the country where the White guys were placed.
There have always been quite a few US cars here, left behind by returning servicemen, the car scene and rocking scene overlapping considerably.
__________________
If it ain't broke......don't break it!
Guys, I don't understand this whole thing... and I don't get the craziness late 40's and 50' style. I think this is the main problem with rockabilly. Back it the late 80's, when I was starting to play rockabilly it wasn't about the 50's so seriously. Ok, it was a little bit, but not like today. Rockabilly for me was Stray Cats first. I loved the old school rockabilly but I find the modern rockabilly stuff more advanced, more challenging for a young guitar player. The 80% of my rockabilly brain capacity was about the music, solos, advanced guitar techniques, rehearsals night and day, 15% was about rockabilly look, and 5% was about the 50's.
What I see today is that 5% music (all kind of music is good if it has some relations to the 50's) and the rest of it is the externals and formally. Cars, clothes, tattoos. The gigs are not about the music, but create an occasion to meet and show the externals to each other and feel the "team spirit".
Rockabilly is a music. Period. The 50's style is an other thing.
Thats why the rockabilly music is having hard times today. The world greatest piano players, classical munitions today would be nowhere If the spent so much time to look like Mozart or Wagner, wearing the same clothes, experimenting how they behaved in the late 1700's century.
I believe that rockabilly is for all the people not just for the 50's enthusiasts. Thats why I think that rockabilly must be more modern, more advanced. Don't forget, back in the 50's rockabilly was hard rock. The message today should be the same, not some kind of nostalgia club.
As someone who has returned to his rockabilly roots after twenty years of rock / thrash / metal, I'd say that Rockabilly is not dead but has merely evolved like all music does. I just hope we don't get any "rap-rockabilly"!
I too developed my love due to the Stray Cats and watching Brian rock on his Gretsch is what inspired me to play guitar. Now I have a Gretsch so my life is complete There again, I also have a LP copy and a nice Peavey acoustic. I've also just ordered one of those LP kits from Guitar Fetish. They're all guitars and they are all good.
Anyway, has to your style and look, one thing I have learnt over the years is to be yourself. I'm a biker and I am sick of seeing everyone looking alike. OK, I wear a leather waistcoat but that is just so I have somewhere to put my clubs patches. I have been known to turn up to parties wearing a suit, shirt and tie. When they ask me why, I reply that no one else is! Wear whatever you're comfortable in and don't be afraid to rock the boat. We're all individuals, after all
Personally, I love the music.
I'm not a fan of the "horror movie" psychobilly bands. I like the guys (and gals) that push rockabilly forward. Myself, I'm not really into the retro "50's" look (whatever that means) I don't dress like an extra from Grease in my daily life. Some folks I know do, and that's cool. Really whatever makes you happy. Now, dissing a band because they aren't wearing the "uniform" of the genre, well that's just moronic.
Usually when we play, I tend to wear cowboy shirts, either slacks or nice blue jeans depending on the venue, and a jacket, depending on how hot it is. Joel, our bassplayer has an impressive amount of cowboy shirts, and Greg, our drummer usually wears the same, until he starts getting hot then he strips down to the "wife-beater"
There really isn't a rockabilly "scene" here in Baton Rouge. We're it for the city. In the state, there's 3 or 4 really great bands playing what could broadly be called "rockabilly" but they are all doing their own thing.
In the end, I like the music, and will continue playing it as long as folks show up, dance and have a great time. As long as we have nights like the one in this video, we'll continue on!
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I'm an easy going guy, but I've always got to have my way - Eddie Cochran
That is a question that deserves to be stabbed in the neck with my stiletto!
The only thing that is dead is actual radio stations that play real music, and a society that accepts whatever is on the plate in front of them...if you ask if Rockabilly is dead...maybe you should be WAY more concerned about the Popular Country Music Situation!
Where is the heart?The Soul?The wild days?
They are still here and there is 1,000's of musicians still living hard, so I think in general, the SHEEPLE get what they deserve, and the REAL PEOPLE THAT STILL LIVE HARD find the music that is still the soundtrack of our lives.
Back when I had my Rockabilly-ish band The Dieselfitters together we were out playing a gig. My "Freak Flag" was down my back, drummer looked like a farmer and our bass player could have been just off a week long cattle drive. After our set, a couple of hep cats came up & said "with our eyes closed, you're the best Rockabilly band in town."
Guess we lost a few style points to the judges, but the music made a difference. And when you're laying it down, the dancers don't care. I didn't take offense and treated it as a compliment.
I had this same discussion a few months ago....but, about the blues.
I attended a blues jam at the local blues club. Now, here in Baton Rouge we have a long blues tradition. There's a longstanding blues jam at a local club. So many great bluesmen have showed up and played, and you never know who you might see. I used to attend the jams pretty frequently. The club is about 2 miles from my house, and it's a cool little watering hole. It used to me more of the old school cats that played low down, get you in the heart blues, then slowly over the years, it was invaded by the "Stevie Ray Wannabes" Now, it's mainly a guitar wank fest............Yawn.
Anyhow, same deal applies. I love old blues, and some of the contemporary stuff, but I hate going into blues clubs and hearing the same old tired jams.
Even modern indie rock is mostly a rehash of 80's and 90's indie stuff. There's nothing new under the sun unless you are really going avant garde and doing some kind of crazy off the wall stuff, and most of that is pretty unlistenable.
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I'm an easy going guy, but I've always got to have my way - Eddie Cochran
Not much to add that hasn't already been said. It's definitely not dead, there will always be people who love it and want to carry it forward to the next generation. I don't get caught up in any sort of rules about looks or fashion, I let the music guide me first and foremost. I cherry pick bits and pieces of the style if it suits me, but I have to be myself above all. You'd be hard pressed to look at me from day to day and say, "Oh, he's definitely a rockabilly guy".
Lots of crap to wade through as far as the music goes, but there's some monster bands and players out there to carry on the tradition while bringing their own sound and style to the table. That's true of any genre.
For me the original rockabilly guys from the 50s are my guide. They were trying to bring something new and original into the world with their music, letting their musical roots filter through and putting something uniquely their own out in the process. They weren't bound by any rules with their music, or their fashion.
Having said that, I don't see fit to knock anyone else on their choice of music or style. I greatly admire guys who don the full style and wear it proudly, day in and day out, because that's truely who they are. The posers always fall by the way side. Those of us who love this music will still be there to listen.
That is a question that deserves to be stabbed in the neck with my stiletto!
The only thing that is dead is actual radio stations that play real music, and a society that accepts whatever is on the plate in front of them...if you ask if Rockabilly is dead...maybe you should be WAY more concerned about the Popular Country Music Situation!
Where is the heart?The Soul?The wild days?
They are still here and there is 1,000's of musicians still living hard, so I think in general, the SHEEPLE get what they deserve, and the REAL PEOPLE THAT STILL LIVE HARD find the music that is still the soundtrack of our lives.
I couldn't agree more . . . to me many of the country acts are Xerox of others, cookie cutter crapola with no real feeling. One of my pet peeves (and I know I'll hear it for this) is the way people have jumped on the Taylor Swift wagon. I watched a show on TV a while back that she was supposed to be singing on, she was just plain horrible. Her writing style is, "I stubbed my toe - it's a song", "I have a boy friend . . he dumped me , it's a song". There are truly talented people out there and she wins awards and promotions . . . all due to the marketing machine . . . please people wake up! The same applies to modern Rock n Roll
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