"Psychobilly"
 

Is anyone into 'Psychobilly' as its termed? Ive always meant to explore what the genre was, mainly because a few years ago i was into a couple of bands who were termed as such but i didnt realise at the time, and being a fan of The Fall and the fact they play some Rockabilly style songs ive been wondering.

I was into The Meteors a very long time ago. It took me quite a while to realise they weren't very good, but my excuse is that I was living in Portsmouth at the time, and psychobilly was (and still is) very big in Portsmouth.

What about The Cramps? Are we including them in this categorisation? Because they're Gods, you know, and they always will be.

you mean the new emo?

a lot of kids into the myspace emo goth are going myspace teddy goth.

most bands who play that suck big time, tiger army = social distortion rip off, nekromantix = the cramps minus the edge, and so on.

my interest in this music starts and ends with the cramps...some horrorpops songs are good in a no doubt way.

New Emo? I dont like the sound of that... there does seem to be an inherantly dress-up element to what ive seen, ive not got a problem with that, but its something that usually puts me off. What ive heard and read seems to be more about enjoyment rather than indie oneupmanship though.
Seems like The Cramps are the way to go.

is 'reverend horton heat' psychobilly?

I saw him live a couple of years ago, i thought he was marvellous. I think he's connected to the skatepunk industry in some way

skatepunk ? really?
man i have no idea what bands are being called these days crikey

yeh i think hes pretty groovey.

Does anyone remember the 80s Matchbox B-Line disaster?
they were fantastic

ohh he was good, people who used to be into the cramps were into him, but then again, so were people into the mighty bosstones, or rancid, or the stray cats, etc.

---------------------------------------------------

seems like a natural thing going with the mainstream emo, especially here since ska was huge, then people got into the reverse mullet and my chemical romance and now they seem to be combining the two.

yeah, it is a visual thing, the psychobilly rag, i mean, the only reason nekromantix are famous is because the bass player has an upright fashioned from a coffin!

i rather listen to jerry lee, little richard, chuck berry, link wray, sun records-era elvis and all that.

so RHH has a following with a look?

that was unrelated to rev, i just continued with the post.

At the height of psychobilly there was a series of videos called something like Stomping At The Club (Klub?) Foot. Try and find one of those for an idea of the sheer horror of that era.



There's a load of CDs of the same name too:

, etc, etc until you reach the "best of": (which may be a good starting point)

 

this is a cracking compilation. it was put together by the cramps and runs through some great psychobilly from the early 60's to 80's. Includes a few originals that the cramps later covered.
I wasn;t really into that scene much (although loved the cramps) but one of the greatist/funniest/maddest gigs I ever went to was the legendary stardust cowboy (he's still around now). He came on stage riding a toy bull and blowing wildy and dissonantly on a bugle. Members of the late period gun club (without JLP) were his backing band, including the gorgeous bassist whose name I now forget. she was in sisters of mercy for a bit.

I seem to remember King Kurt and Gallon Drunk being pretty big on the psychobilly front back in my era.
I think Gallon Drunk are still going.
King Kurt gigs used to get very messy.

Oh yeah, and the Inca Babies! Supported them once, a very long time ago.

Mr Cult: You are aware, I assume, of your own home town's vital link to the psychobilly scene in the '80s?

I always thought The Meteors were the ''kings'' of psychobilly....
Anyways my sister is huge into them as well as psychobilly in general, she has been for almost 15 years now, and whenever I hear a discussion this topic I wish she was around to talk about it.

Cant say i am Mr L.

Look up "Guana Batz" on wikipedia.

Well strike me down. Ive never heard of them. My freinds dad was in a Skiffle band, thats the only local musical connection i know (apart from the small matter of Freddy Mercury living there for some period of his life)

southern culture on the skids, the meteors, the cramps, rev. horton heat, stray cats when not doing poppier numbers (progenitors along with screamin' jay hawkins?), and many more, and last but not least...

Flat Duo Jets!