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TromBonus - 71 - Psychobilly Primer
156 Plays28 days ago
CPSC finishes its three part January Primer Series with a shallow dive on the fastest genre with an upright bass: Psychobilly! Celine, Rob and Joey run through its history from its first wave in the wake of punk in the UK, to its proliferation in continental Europe in the 80s and 90s to its explosion in North America in the early 00s.
Hosts: Rob, Celine and Joey
Engineer: Joey
Editor: Joey
Theme Song: Keelan
Skassociate Producer: Chris Reeves of Ska Punk International
Special Thanks: Mega Michi and Adam the Ska Mailman
Merch: www.checkeredpast.ca/merch
Patreon: www.patreon.com/checkeredpast
Hear this episode's Playlist!
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Transcript
Introduction to Psychobilly Episode
00:00:00
Speaker
wamp wamp wa It's another trombonus episode. It's just Rob, Celine, Engineer, Joey in a pocket full of dreams as we slick our hair, grab a pack of smokes, and above all else, go psycho with a primer on psychobilly. On Checkered Past, the Skycast.
00:00:30
Speaker
For this episode
00:00:40
Speaker
What up, Checkerheads? Welcome to Checker Pass, the SCODcast with Celine and Rob. ah shower The The Sharrr. The Sharrr. Such a ti Canadian accent coming out. The Sharrr. The really big Sharrr. We're a tiger two-tone army and a demented R wanna to go with you, but I think I'll stay. Explore the history and impact of a different band each episode and hope to bring in new fans along the way. I'm
Overview of Ska-related Genres Series
00:01:00
Speaker
Rob and this is my sister and co-host, Celine. Psychobilly bands and SCAR. Yes.
00:01:06
Speaker
yeah And here is our co-host with the most toast engineer Joey I'm yeah, let's smoke and get pompadours. Yeah Roll it up and put it in your and put in your shirt. Yeah. Yeah, totally but dupe Something you have open got clicked in there they got duped somebody but duped How are things going? What are we talking about? I don't know we didn't think we talked about dooooo dooooo doom that's gonna be all one Yeah, that's the salinity.
Exploring the Waves of Psychobilly
00:01:40
Speaker
Yeah, but that's also just Billy energy. OK, Billy's. That's what we're talking about here. So it's January. ah We're doing a three part primer. ah We're doing a three part primer series this month on some of the biggest Scott adjacent scenes that we've in and out of Scott scenes and often toured alongside the Scott bands from the 80s to today. This is our third and final part. We've already done swing revival and folk punk.
00:02:08
Speaker
and today's genre is another three-wave genre, Psychobilly. That is right. it's a so It's another three? It's another three-wave genre. Oh, right, because like the OG and then Rockabilly and then Psychobilly. No, there's three waves of Psychobilly. There's three waves of Psychobilly? Oh, yeah, because like Meteors and then... Meteors, Cramps would be first wave. Yeah, they call it New Billy. New Billy? No!
00:02:35
Speaker
Third wave, Psychobilly is kind of just the way they keep doing it. Third wave would be like, with third wave, then like horror pops and stuff? Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're getting it. The third revision was the one they went with. They stuck with that one after. They kind of just stuck that one out. It still pays the bills, man. As someone who listened to so much Psychobilly, I guess maybe I've heard about waves. I don't know.
00:02:54
Speaker
It's not really, it's not talked about in the scene here as much. Yeah, I've gone to truly so many shows. It's
Psychobilly's Unique Culture and Aesthetics
00:03:00
Speaker
more of a journalist kind of thing. Okay. Yeah. Plus it's more of a English European thing. Who's your favorite Billy? Like Zane, Shakespeare, who do you got, Connolly? Well, I call him Billy Ass. Yeah, obviously.
00:03:15
Speaker
but You're looking at me to my favorite Billy. Um, I don't have to think about it for a bit. Okay. Maybe we'll get back to it. yeah we Think about it as the episode goes along. Yeah, goat. Yeah. Perhaps. I just like don't know any Billies. You know, my son William. Yeah. I guess that's a Billy. That's my favorite then.
00:03:35
Speaker
the the Easy answer. Yeah, so long time checkerheads will know that frequently bullet bill from smooth Mario yeah bull billy honest say and can you happy my nephew that's my nephew no phil it still yeah is Strong too, but bullet bills number one. Yeah, I mean that's pretty damn hard to be mad. Sorry you were saying Long time checker heads will know that we frequently, Celine specifically, will talk about whether a song or a band has hard Billie energy. yeah um And what she be what she's referring to is psychobilly, which is a genre of music that we're gonna be talking about today that we're pretty of. I feel like it gets shit on as much as Ska.
Global Influence and Cultural Connections
00:04:20
Speaker
It does, but I would argue that- The aesthetic is more respected. For sure. I will say this about psychobilly fans.
00:04:28
Speaker
Iron skinned when it comes to yeah, I don't give a they don't give them shit about what you think about their when I looked pretty psychobili I don't give a fuck. I didn't give a fuck I've never given less fucks than when I was presenting his thank you even from punk rock Oh cuz I guess punk you're trying to look cool Psychobili never I was always aware. I was never one thing I was always a weird amalgamation of a million, right? So what's the what's the psychobili aesthetic? That was like my closest I feel like it's like 1950s mixed with like punk rock and goth That is
Rockabilly's Impact and The Cramps' Legacy
00:05:00
Speaker
extremely, yes. I took a sip because I thought Selina would have things to say, but she really got it down in one sentence. Yeah, just like that. How about the music? How would you describe the music? It's like 1950s mixed with punk rock and goth.
00:05:13
Speaker
Fucking nailed it. Turn off the pond. That's it. I had 19 songs coming up. I don't know if I can beat that, and honestly. I was going to go through waves. I was going to talk about them. It doesn't matter. You heard it in the 1950s mixed with punk and goth. You got it. which That is kind of fun. It is fun. It's great. I feel like liking 1950s is like less cute now that we've had like you know conversations about that it was like super racist is like not fun to be like anything at all other than like a white straight yeah de dude of a certain like economic class but uh yeah so you know but uh but i don't know the aesthetic was there and also
00:05:59
Speaker
It's not, I would say that there's a difference between idolizing the 50s and being like fucking hot rods and jackets and smokes are sick, so I'm gonna take those things. And also, Japan always does it better. Japan's, like, psychobility scene is the best one by far. There are two psychobility scenes I'm gonna not have a lot, because I'm just not as familiar, and that's Japan and Mexico.
00:06:24
Speaker
Oh yeah, both of them. Even just the way like Japan's relationship, alternative Japan's relationship with 1950s Americana culture is fun. Yeah, I mean, pompadours are more fun you literally literally yeah huge. Literally huge. If you ever have read a manga and you're like, why does that guy got weird curly hair, that guy who's like a delinquent or whatever, it's because they have pompadours because pompadours were a big thing for like delinquents in the 80s and 90s in Japan. It's a very cool thing. I'm b blanking on the movie. It's a Japanese movie? Yeah, like really famous. like
00:07:03
Speaker
psychobili kind of now I'll figure it out I'll figure it out um but we're saying so basically this is how this episode's gonna play out we're gonna start with the rockabilly resurgence talking about rockabilly how it got punked up in england gained a hold in europe and then landed in north america so its trajectory is a full circle It goes from America to ah England to Europe and then back to America. it's It almost like gets washed and like soaks up a bunch of stuff as it travels around the world and then comes right back. Interesting. um So the stuff we won't talk about. So I talked about the two scenes that I'm going to skip over.
00:07:45
Speaker
We did an episode on the Living End so they're not going to come up. Also, I'm not going to talk about the Peacocks. They're a band from Sweden, I believe. You're not going to be talking about the Peacocks. That's kind of fucked up. Yeah, because we should do an episode on the Peacocks. Oh yeah, because they're only like Scott and Billy. Because they got a lot of Scott and their stuff, yeah. But I'm also not going to do, aside from a couple bands, I'm not really going to do about straight rockabilly. I want to stick to just psychobilly. And I'm not going to talk about cow punk. So you're not going to hear any social distortion. You're not going to hear any gun club. And you're not going to hear any Hank Williams the third. You're not going to hear any of that stuff. That's different.
00:08:21
Speaker
Because it's different, right? Or or even like Reverend Payton's Big Damn Band. Wild Zero. That's the... The movie Wild Zero. It's like a comedy horror movie. And it's like... um There's a good band called Guitar... A fake band called Guitar Wolf. It's very good. Guitar Wolf. Yeah. Awesome. yeah yeah anyway So there's a lot of there's a lot of debate as to where the term came from. Psychobilly, right? Obviously it's a play on the term rockabilly. Somebody will coin that term eventually. yeah um But we'll start in 1976. That's where we're going to start. So if you want to hear a true rockabilly song like from the 50s, just listen to Rock Around the Clock. like Seriously. like
00:09:03
Speaker
Listen to like, I don't know, any Elvis song. Listen to Wanda Jackson. Listen to some good, Wanda Jackson. Yeah, I'm just saying, Rock Around the Clock is a quintessential rockabilly song. There's better real rockabilly songs. The song sucks, but. Jailhouse Rock is usually disturbed. And forgetting who it is, but there's a song called Nosey Neighbors. That's a fucking banger.
00:09:26
Speaker
There you go. if you ever I will say if you're ever going to get into psychobility, like get into the scene that, so one thing I'll say about the scene is it has, ah it has some rules. There are some rules that go with it. Um, and so electric cars. any yeah And they're like 50 space electric cars, like jet anyways but one of the things is definitely that you have to have like some but pretty deep like record knowledge of like 50s, like Americana rockabilly. Like it's it's not a genre that only listens to itself. You know have to go to its roots. It's super, super important. true It's like listening to tradscot people. Like they are like, you have to know your roots too.
00:10:09
Speaker
That's my biggest kind of comparison. Makes sense. So the song that I think makes the most sense as the reference point is this Johnny Cash song, because Johnny Cash played a lot of Rockabilly songs, called One Piece at a Time. And you know who loves Johnny Cash? Rockabilly people. I listen to so much Johnny Cash. Yeah. It's classic. When I come through your town. And it's about cars. Yeah, cars. When there is intent around, I fucking, this is bringing me back. I feel like you're going to be saying it. He's going to say it. Psycho Billy Cadillac. Psycho Billy Cadillac. That's probably why this was played so much.
00:10:56
Speaker
Because he gets it one piece at a time. The car, he builds the car one piece at a time. Yeah, because he steals it, isn't it? Isn't that the song? Yeah. It's a pretty good song. It's great. He loved a song where he counted some stuff, hey? Like the bounce of feet, the horizon. He liked to say a lot of words really fast. Yeah. And this is 70s Johnny Cash, so this is like in his punkiest phase. Yeah, for sure.
00:11:25
Speaker
Um, but it's like a hot rod. It's like a fucking building a hot rod song. That's so rockabilly. Yeah, that's right. So cars are a big part of the rockabilly psychobilly thing. Yeah. Well, we'll, we'll keep teasing little parts of it. There's a lot of pieces, uh, one piece at a time. That's what we'll be doing. Uh, so, but let's get into the proto psychobilly bands. There were two, there were two that basically sort of set the foundation.
00:11:50
Speaker
for the band, for how the genre will go. One starts with an M and one starts with a C? Oh no. Oh. The one that starts with an M is literally doing it. Okay, right, right. The one that starts with a C is the one that kinda helped build it. The coin did, okay. And it's a little band called The Cramps. This is rocking on the moon. Which, hey, Gen Z likes, they like the worst song though. I mean, The Cramps in general are like an album band for me. I'd rather just put on an album and let it go. Is this the only Cramps song you're playing? Yes.
00:12:18
Speaker
That's insane. You should have texted me. Why would I play a spooky song? Like but no not a butbilitiess like a bad girl should. yeah That's a psychobilly song. I guess you're rockabilling right now. A little bit. yeah I'm trying to build the piece. shit I should have texted you. Everyone messaged me for better gram songs.
00:12:39
Speaker
This isn't bad, it's not bad. I like the song. The Cramps fucking kick ass. yeah like The Cramps are just generally like super cool fucking all really good musicians. Their vision was like immaculate right from the beginning. Hell yeah, sick band.
00:12:58
Speaker
So, while they didn't exclusively write, like, Billy's songs, like, they wrote a lot of, like, punk, cloth. Human Fine is bizarre. And that one's, like, a cover of a cover of a cover of a cover or something. They kind of did a little bit of everything. They were definitely, like, right in the CBGB type punk stuff. And Surf. And Surf, yeah. So while their sound wasn't necessarily what it is, the tood definitely was. The tood and the look. The tood was everything. They had the lurk. They had the tood. They had it all. Poison IP and Luxe Interior. R.I.P. Luxe.
00:13:28
Speaker
Yeah, they definitely set the tone for also having crazy names. Watch the video for like a bad girl should. Yeah, it's very good. The song is so fun and it's a stupid silly video and I feel like it explains their essence.
00:13:42
Speaker
And their first two records are both pretty much flawless. Bikini girls with machine guns. Like, that's fun. They got that like spooky stuff. Charisma. Again, if the the swing episode comes out before this. yeah um Again, with the vocals being charisma. You don't have to be a good singer. It can be charisma and confidence. Yeah, it's all ah yeah attitude.
00:14:06
Speaker
two ah two That's also like a psychobili thing. You have to like the Misfits. Yeah. And that's psychobili coded because... Yeah, it is super. And I actually had a song queued up that I cut for time. That was a Misfits song that I wanted to put on here because yes, that's a very big part of the psychobili. Like the punk part of psychobili really came from the Misfits and the Cramps.
00:14:31
Speaker
like that was that's those are the punk bands they were listening to right right um if not the billy stuff right yeah uh the other band that they were listening to was the one that had definitely the crazy hair the three piece setup and the sound if not the whole thing obsession you got it oh yeah so we're just gonna do the big one we're gonna rock this town Hell yeah. This is the second time Brian Sancer came up. You're not doing stray cat struts? That song is so fucking slow. Why would I do that for a Psycho Billy episode? Because it's good. Yeah, but. Because I told you my reason. Should've texted her. I got my mom.
00:15:11
Speaker
We had Columbia House when I was a kid. Nice. Did you guys have that, Columbia House? We were adjacent to it. We did. Yeah, okay. We got scammed too. Okay, so she got Stray Cat's greatest hits on CD, like pretty early and us having CDs, and I appropriated it pretty fast. Yeah. I remember listening to it quite a bit. But it was like back at a time when they could just have like 10 songs on the greatest hits. CDs? Yeah. So it was only like 10 songs long. But this is one of them. And Stray Cat's Dred.
00:15:40
Speaker
It ain't a bad song. It's a good song. And they honestly, they had the look too. They had the fucking crazy pompadour. Hell yeah. But they were of an earlier time, but they were at the right time to like infuse the 80s kind of into their look a little more too, which was like, I think helped them a lot.
00:16:06
Speaker
And they were super tight with punk bands. Yeah. yeah The punks love the Stray Cats. Yeah, punks like the Stray Cats. Punks love the Stray Cats. At the time. That'd be like their only native band like like this they would listen to. Pretty much, yeah. It's a pretty good guitar solo, I guess. He's an okay guitar player. Do you want to know something? things When I was cueing this part up, that is literally exactly what I said. but It's not a guess, it's a pretty good guitar solo. He's an insane guitar player. It's so fucking good. And he was so young when he played, like he would have been a baby, because they were like maybe 19, 20. That greatest hits album, he they they do. They look like Slim Jim their Phantom is like Slim because he's a child, not because he like did drugs for 40 years or whatever.
00:16:54
Speaker
And Slim Jim Phantom, for those that don't know, stood up and played a three-piece kit. Yeah. It was very fun. Yeah. He's got sweat. And he was in the Motorhead band. Full of Riz, is that what you're saying? Full of Riz. Yeah, Slim Jim's got Riz. Hell yeah. All right. And then the other guy. I don't remember. Who plays bass? Who plays bass? Who plays stand-up bass?
00:17:15
Speaker
Yeah, i don't um I used to know. yeah I have a terrible memory at the best of times. But this is the average psychobilly band will copy this makeup. It's yeah singer-guitarist, bassist, upright bassist, maybe singer-upright bassist, not as common, but it is enough, and then a drummer yeah i with a really simple kit. Lee Rocker, and because he is quite famous. And also he continued on doing his own stuff. He's come here a bunch of times, I think. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:17:44
Speaker
ah So yeah, so this is what set the table and we're still in the States mostly like it's all like very America American coded but What's gonna happen next is that the English are gonna pick it up? And that's where the first wave of psychobility happens with a band called the meaty yours. media Oh, yeah Rockers from hell. Oh, yeah, they're very vocal about being the first psychobility are they're not wrong. No, I that's the problem and they're punk as fuck yeah you have to it's almost if you like actually try to listen to all of the meteors music which i have there's so much unlistenable stuff yeah and there's a lot of it but there's some good shit and so they covers are fun yeah and they came up in the 70s so they have a very like big tie to like 77 punk yeah right
00:18:42
Speaker
Like this is some 77 funk attitude to playing music. For sure. what if
00:19:05
Speaker
Guitar tone, super big in psychobility. Yes. to me i like I think you have to play the type of guitar. Yeah, i think it's I think guitar tone is semi-hollow guitar, yeah Fender Deluxe. A Gretsch. Or a Gretsch. Yeah, like i said like ah like an ES335 or a 339, a Gretsch, something like that. Even like a bigger jazz box, but like always a Fender Deluxe. Space echo, Marshall amp. That's brain sets are set up.
00:19:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's surprisingly he plays a marshal to be honest because he's most of her fender guys. Maybe I'm wrong, but no, it's a fender basement. It's a fender basement. Makes sense. Fender basement. Yeah. So yeah, that's a gear in your bedroom with Joey. Yeah. Ensel in. Ensel in. It was here. She was locking in. You were the guest. Space echo. Yeah. Space echo.
00:19:56
Speaker
ah He travels with like extra tubes because he only has it's a vintage like Fender basement of a specific year that he plays And yeah, he like buys out most of the tubes that exist for it. Bros has got to pick up a quad cord. And the space echo that he uses is a specific year and also like all vintage and shit, so I don't know if that's changed since I've seen videos on it, but that's pretty crazy.
00:20:20
Speaker
Yeah. He has like a very extremely specific honed guitar tone. Gotta respect that. And he plays it very well. Yeah, he's a guitar player. I think we said that. Yeah. and Now that I'm thinking about it, we may have mentioned that. He's a pretty guitar player. Okay, so the thing with the meteors that I love, that when I read about I loved, is that the They had a video, too. They had a dance craze. Oh, did they? They did. They made a movie that's kind of like dance craze, which was supposed to be like, hey, look at this psychobilly movement that's happening out here in England. And he even, the guy from the meteors, I remember his name. would bring it to showings of dance craze and play it before it showed. What? That's wild. So there was a time when you could, and there's a reason why Scott and Psycho Billy, I think, are tied. And I think it starts here. Yeah. Makes sense. Where literally it was on the same movie bill. It was a double feature. You saw the Psycho Billy movie and then the Scott movie.
00:21:15
Speaker
Really? Yeah, that's crazy, right? Wow. And so then a band from not the UK would pick up the torch in the first wave, which would kind of ah sort of bridge the gap into the second wave. ah I don't have a lot of first wave stuff, I'll just be honest. So this is 1985 with a band called Batmobile. They were from ah Holland, yeah. They helped spread the good word in Europe. Yeah, Europe had definitely a lot of sync, I believe.
00:21:44
Speaker
Necromantic score pops and Batmobile. Batmobile's pretty public sounding, too. Yeah. Similar, very similar to the meteors in their approach. While that surf, that boing, kind of starts here.
00:22:00
Speaker
But now the bass tone is starting to really get up. A real plucky bass. Yeah. Yeah, this is very much, it's very similar to surf with an upright bass. Yeah.
00:22:14
Speaker
It's not bad. You have to admit, that's not bad. Funny voice. and Lots of charisma. Psychobili does it too. Yeah, definitely. Psychobili does it too. But Psychobili loves vibrato. That's true. Huge vibrato heads.
00:22:34
Speaker
So what hasn't happened yet is the breakdown hasn't started yet in psychovility Diagram we love to break down. Yeah, so they were one of the yeah, we'll get the third wave stuff is definitely big on the breakdowns, but There was a band. Okay, so let's get into the second wave Well, I think in my mind, this band basically started it all. I'm curious about what's considered just the second wave. It was a band from, they were pretty early in, love them or hate them. This is the one and only, Demented or Go. Oh, Demented or Go, I guess they are a bit development. This is an early song. Or none of Busted Hymen. You chose a bizarre, your song choices. It's just different. Just different. Because I went with songs that are a little bit more, like, fast-paced. That's fair. Yeah. I didn't want to... Because I'm a slow guy. Well, especially with this band. This band plays pretty slow. Really slow. Yeah. Their covers are super fun. Super fun. Yeah. They have some fucking... Their Red Riding Hood cover is good. This was a big LimeWire band, too. Yes. And Psychobilly also had a lot of misnamed covers. Yes. And misnamed songs.
00:23:40
Speaker
Similar to Ska. God, that's a lot of reverb. in So much reverb on everything.
00:23:49
Speaker
Yeah, this is a very like, cut they have quite a few that sound kind of country, but this one's like extra country.
00:23:58
Speaker
This is not representative of all the music. Their newer stuff is much different, too. Yeah, that's true. Their comeback music. I guess, I think, yeah. I mean, you know what? Maybe I didn't listen to a lot of their old stuff. Oh, yeah. So, so. To be fair. That's part of it, too. The biggest thing with Psychobilly bands is that often they were not big when they started. They would create like a regional scene around themselves and they would hustle and hustle and hustle for like a decade before they got like big, big.
00:24:25
Speaker
And that was pretty common, at especially a lot of these bands like Demented Our Go and the next band we're going to talk about and another one. I'll start in the late 80s, early 90s, but don't really pick up until like the mid 90s, early 2000s when the third wave sort of kicks off. But what's happening right now is that they're kind of getting big in Europe and Demented Our Go in Europe in the early 90s, late 80s are gigantic.
00:24:49
Speaker
And so now the second wave is happening, which is the European wave. And so another band is from Germany, and they went hard for a very long time. This is an early song. of There's two, I wouldn't say, representatives. Maybe I'm just not familiar with the second wave. Yeah, this is Mad Sin. OK, yeah, Mad Sin. That makes sense.
00:25:14
Speaker
It's pretty punk. Mad Sin are very punk. Yeah, they're very punk. Their hair is crazy. Yeah. Crazy hair. Yeah, their hair's nuts.
00:25:38
Speaker
there This is the start of the breakdown. Pretty close, it's like a bass breakdown. It's a bass solo, I guess.
00:25:46
Speaker
And sometimes, people will hop on their bass. They'll hop right on in. So the tricks are a big part of the Psychobili show. It's pretty exciting when someone jumps on the bass. You know it's going to come because it's really cool. like it No matter when you're watching it, it's like the guitarist jumps on the bass and starts playing guitar. oh Yeah, it's cool. The tricks are fun. Yeah. yeah But they're also like...
00:26:13
Speaker
Like if they're not there, it hurts the show. Yeah. Like if you see a psychobilly band and they don't get on their base at some point, you're like, well, it's pretty cool to like take a very classical instrument and then just like fuck around with it. Yeah. That's why they all have like pinstripes on them and shit. Yeah. Yeah. and Yeah. You got a hot rods mod out your, your base. got Yeah. Yeah. Hot rod out your base. Yeah.
00:26:39
Speaker
So this is where the second wave really peaks back in the US s with a guy who I would say basically made it all happen for everybody. This is the Reverend Horton Heat. Oh, the rev. The rev is second wave. And this is the song. So every everyone likes the rev. Freak out. go yeah And he was on a cool hit. Another good guitar player. People love the Reverend. yeah like the day That band has a lot of respect. Yeah, he's the only rockabilly, psychobilly band that was on warp tour like every freaking year. you know they're good I feel like they're a lot of the music, I'm like, okay, I like it, but I get like why other people wouldn't. This is like objectively good music. Yeah.
00:27:21
Speaker
And punks love Reverend Horton. Yes. I feel like for like a not punk, but they have like punk energy. Also, it's crazy that this song in particular was like huge for as long as it was kind of underground. And barely on these lyrics. And then it was on Guitar Hero. Yeah. And it got even bigger. And it's just mental. It's a psychobilly freak out. Because I remember listening to this once when I was younger, like way before a Guitar Hero came out. That guitar's crazy. Yeah. It's a psychobilly freak out.
00:27:50
Speaker
I think this, this set the tone for the the breakdown. Cause like after this, all of the bands needed a psychobilly freak out section of their song. Yeah. This goes so hard. Yeah. Yeah. Some fucking rips. Yeah. And the best, we all can agree that the actual best Reverend song is Bails of Cocaine. Bails of Cocaine coming from a little flying plane.
00:28:20
Speaker
Yeah, I had a lot of that. on It's just so good. Yeah. It's a funny story. It's stupid. But the bales of cocaine. Bales of cocaine. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That is a funny story. Yeah. Just talking about how great Psychobilly Freakout's amazing. Yeah. Fucking rips. All right. With that, we're going to take a break. And when we get back, we got more Psychobilly. Freakout.
00:28:53
Speaker
back here in Checker Pass and we are talking psychobilly and let's do it. ah that So I had to make a judgment call for this next one because I would have felt so bad if I did it the other way. So normally what I've been doing is playing of era songs for bands. um Like if we're playing Mad Sin, I want something from their early stuff because that's what makes sense for the evolution.
00:29:16
Speaker
The next band we're going to talk about is one of the biggest breakout bands that kind of brought it from this European sort of niche market to the US. and they bridge the second and third wave. And normally I'd play like an early 90s song to demonstrate that sound. But they have a song that's so big that I would be remiss not to play it. You know, it came out 10 years later. yeah ah So this band, i I should just table set, they they set the whole, like everybody had their aesthetic thing. Demented Argo had their thing, Madsen had their thing. But the Necromatics,
00:29:52
Speaker
yeah they had the thing they they were the the the the So Kim Necroman is the singer and he also plays bass and his bass is shaped like a coffin. Which is very cool. They got into all of that stuff. Basically the whole aesthetic. Just basically rockabilly misfits, 100% all in on it. And they brought everything together. So they're literally setting the blueprint for the future by saying, we're going to play punk They as fuck, had the we're going to thing play they fast. It's going to be horror. they were nothing the It's all horror themed. They set that whole tone of no politics in the music. They're going to have the demented or go thing of having some like dirty lyrics, like that's got to be a big part of it, like salaciously sexual, right? They're romantics, are they not? They are. They are. They are not not. Right? This is their huge hit, who killed the cheerleader? Yeah.
00:30:50
Speaker
It's a good song. And their cover of Dead Bodies is better. I almost put it on. dead bodynie I see almost put it on. And I listened back to it and was like, I'd have to play the whole song. There's a whole song. Because it's one minute
00:31:29
Speaker
There it is. That's the go psycho moment.
00:31:41
Speaker
This song's so good. This song does rip though. It's crazy. Also, two guitars. that's the A lot of these bands did the one guitar thing. This song this band was like fuck that we're doing the two guitar thing and it makes a huge difference.
00:32:01
Speaker
It doesn't feel good. they not use, did they also use double kick too? Or are they one of the, one of the rock, but one of the, the psychobiliies, double kick bands? Mad sin did double kicks. Okay. I don't know if Necromatics did. They played pretty fast though. Yeah. Yeah. They played super fast and they will not be the fastest band we listen to today, but like fuck the Necromatics are good. Yeah. It's crazy. Also like main, like, uh,
00:32:38
Speaker
Vans Warped Tour mainstays. Yeah, absolutely. Like just like them and Horror Pops. Yeah, if Nickerman wasn't with his band, he was with his other band. Yeah. So then we're in it. Horror Pops? No, they not third third wave. Unlike Ska, the third wave's the best wave. What do you think? Do you guys think the third wave's the best wave? For Psychobili? Yeah. Yeah. Like you cramp the cramps are the cramps, but other than the cramps,
00:33:01
Speaker
Third but all these other bands that we talked about like I love the Reverend who and the Reverend hor but a lot of the second we've bands just like we're big in the third wave and They paint a sound the demented or go mad that and set necroman that sound better after the third wave have kicked off they would just got better in the late 90s 2000s and the band that moved it from this like European and regional thing that just that could not get a hold in the country that it was founded in, is a band that wouldn't exist without AFI. It's a band called Tiger Army. Tiger Army never dies.
00:33:41
Speaker
They're the ones. And they're the more AFI. They took leaned into the Misfits AFI. Huge AFI fans. They must have been. And then Davey and Nick Thirteen became friends. Yeah.
00:33:56
Speaker
These are probably my two favorite psychobilly bands. I mean, I'm like basic as fuck, but like... Tiger Army is awesome. They have more Latinx influence too. Yeah. yeah the knife His voice is also very easy to get
00:34:28
Speaker
So did we have it? I know, right?
00:34:35
Speaker
Psycho! You gotta do it. Gotta do it. And so I think now every band does it. Yeah. You gotta shout psycho, go psycho, you gotta do it. And then you do the big breakdown. Nocturnal's a jam. Tiger Army 1 is a top-down, fantastic record. It still holds up. Fuck the world.
00:34:55
Speaker
Yeah, fuck the world, um like fog surrounds. The opening track, the instrumental intro is fucking so good. I got that shit on vinyl. It's, yeah, taught I love Tiger on it. Tiger be sick. They get more like kind of goth-y. Goth, yeah, as it goes. As it goes, because Ingo starts to pick up after they start. And then, honestly, they're just following AFI's lead. Yeah, true lead.
00:35:19
Speaker
But the Tiger Army 2 and 3 are both good for what they are. Like there's good songs on there. I feel like people that don't like Psycho Billy like Tiger Army. This is the first band you get into. This is the Pantera of Psychobili. They're very good. Very easy to listen to. Yes. You don't have to say, ah, the voice is a little weird, or, ah, they sing about some kind of weird stuff, or they're making a reference to that. Like, it doesn't have a lot. Their lyrics are kind of more like punk lyrics, especially Tiger RB1. Yeah, and it's just about like... They definitely get more like spooky, romantic-y as they go on.
00:35:56
Speaker
But the third wave is here. Tiger Army is doing it. So now let's go to the band that made it a pop sensation. This is maybe my number one song. Where They Wander. This is the Horror Pops. They were a super group. Let's listen to it. 2004 is where we're at. She called me out for my bootleg eBay shirt.
00:36:14
Speaker
When I was 14, I went to the merch booth and said hi to Patricia Day, and she said, where'd you get that shirt? And I said eBay, and she got us gold and we about it. So. That's how to keep friends. Yeah. Denmark. That's where necromatics and whore pops are from. Which makes sense, the passive aggressive, or the, yeah, the being blunt and kind of rude. Just factual.
00:36:40
Speaker
And this is before they got Poppier. And it was on Hellcat. Yeah. It was huge. Yeah. And they had two dancers. They're go-gos. Oh yeah, they did. Which is fun. They were a big band too. They weren't just the three piece. They were a full band. If I'm remembering correctly, weren't they? what's in there a Their visual stick was sort of like a Tim Burton black and white twisty kind of thing was sort of their The album cover is iconic like Patricia Day with her like bass and she's like pointing i I would have if someone let me get tattooed underage. I would have got that tattoo
00:37:26
Speaker
Amazing. ah Yeah. And their logo was really cute. It was like a skull with like cross lolly, like popsicle lolly. The tattoo tattoos are also a big part of the... Tattoo flash. yeah Flash style tattoos. Yeah. They were really bringing the tattoos, but so did stray cats and cramps and stuff. Yeah, they did. bri yeah Yeah, I guess so. I guess there's always been in the... Tattoos. Also, we're into a time period now where tattoos were huge. Like the early 2000s into the 2010s tattoos like exploded in general. That's true. So the next five songs I think are all between 2004 and 2006. Cause we're getting into like, I think but peak this is where a lot of the big bands came. So, but we talked about Hellcat. So Hellcat was instrumental yeah blowing up psychobility. So I know on other in the boots. Yeah. So we were talking about Scott as like a big thing, but that's more like.
00:38:17
Speaker
Give him the boot one and two were really big scar record. It's three and four I think really brought the psychobilly it's where I stopped listening to number four especially was big because that had the dead bodies covered by the necromatics and This band which I thought was a breakout from there. This is Dia de los Muertos by the resurrects speaking of that latin next Yeah, the like kind of Day of the Dead, like the, I don't know why, like was it, oh I guess maybe because like really he's big in Mexico, that Mexican culture. Yeah, maybe. Seeped into it in America. Also like the whole low rider thing is like a Mexican culture thing. That's also tied into the hot rod thing, so it all kind of makes sense together too.
00:39:04
Speaker
It's pretty sick. The lyrics are pretty fun.
00:39:08
Speaker
Pretty straight up.
00:39:26
Speaker
delos muertos It's a fun chorus. Did you sing in the horror pops? This isn't the horror pops, it's the resurrects. That song's awesome. Yeah, that was rips. Yeah, they play fast. yeah So that style of bass playing, I guess we haven't really talked about it, but they're not just, they're not plucking, they're not ah not playing with a ah bow, no they're they're slapping the shit out of that thing. to That whole slap upright bass sound is like iconic for psychobility. You can get away in the rockabilly sound without doing it that way. You can just like kind of walk scales, but you got to play like slap that bass real fast. That's a big part of psychobility. Oh, and it hurts. Those strings are big. You have to like callous up those fingies. If you've ever met someone who like is a professional like Psychobili or rockabili like bass player their hands are fucked They're fretting hands are crazy because they're like they have to hold it down so hard to hold down so hard So calluses are crazy and then they're slapping hand usually these their fingers are all fucking wacky angles from doing so much slapping and it's hitting the body and like I It's kind of fucked. Your hands are fucked. You have to hit the body because that's what makes the slaps the pop sound. Yeah, it's part of the percussive sound like built into the technique. You have to slap the bass. It's wild. It's wild, yeah. So this is not an easy genre to get, you have to be, it's built on the costume. This is the way of life. Yeah, you know the drummer maybe maybe Cramps weren't like amazing musicians. Yeah, and they got away with it. Yeah, but possibly the coolest people on the planet at the time So like they were able to get away with it
00:41:18
Speaker
All right, let's talk about a band that was from Detroit that got all gothy with it. There's a band called The Coffin Cats. Oh yeah, Coffin Cats. And they played a bunch of songs called Graveyard Tree and this is the first one. It's a K, two Ks.
00:41:43
Speaker
right down the middle for me. They're just pretty generic sounding. I never got like hard into them.
00:41:52
Speaker
Like they're good, but it's yeah it's all kind of mid-tempo and the guitar is not blowing my mind and the singing is kind of in the middle too. It's all kind of just... Circubility people are always in the graveyard. They're always in the graveyard. Get them out of the graveyard man. They love the graveyard.
00:42:26
Speaker
There's that bass. The big thing with the third wave too is that they, we're not listening to 77 punk anymore. Yeah. i'm Right. the The skate punk is in there. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. a Big heart. It's like,
00:42:41
Speaker
people who grew up on no effects playing music. Oh, definitely. Yeah. Oh, definitely. Yeah. And I think that's what kind of re-Americanizes the sound, too, but also makes it kind of palatable for like, you know, if you already like punk, you're like, oh, this is like, it's still got whoa-whoas and it's catchy and it plays fast, right? Yeah, totally. Yeah. So it's just like a little addition to it. So we're going to leave the States, though, because I think it's very important to talk about Canada.
00:43:10
Speaker
Yeah. Because we've got to talk about it. can con So we we've done swinging, we've done folk punk, we didn't really do much swing, we didn't really do much folk punk. But by God, did we do a shitload of psychobilling? Oh boy. did Why do you think that resonated with Canada? I honestly couldn't tell you. And the only thing I can think of is that because almost all the bands are on Stomp Records,
00:43:33
Speaker
And Stomp was just so important to sort of the indie punk scene. It was just Matt, it's Matt's fault. Yeah, Matt was partially, and he toured those bands all the time, right? Yeah, all the time. And so they were just fucking flying up and down from like the west to the east, you know, like they were just, you'd always see them in Edmonton, you know what I mean? Constantly. Constantly. Constantly rockability, psychobillion bands here, all the time. And I don't know if they went to the States that much. It was a big scene.
00:44:00
Speaker
So they literally spent her entire high school te career just selling and rockabilly stuff to rockabilly people in Edmonton. Yeah. And they would all, they just had shows here constantly. We had local shows, but I think like just because these bands were always, too we didn't get like Tiger Army and the Necromatics coming here. It wasn't those bands. It was our homegrown bands. Yeah, but also Coffin Cats.
00:44:22
Speaker
Yeah, call out coffee. come Coffee cats are from Detroit. That's that Windsor. they're They're from Canada. Yeah, as far as I'm concerned. True. Let's talk about the band that started it, though. They're called the Gutter Demons. Oh, yeah, Gutter Demons. And they broke it out. It's called Hell Bent on Rockin' from Quebec, I think. Pretty sure.
00:44:44
Speaker
dick
00:44:50
Speaker
A bowl of wine. That's nice. Not whiskey. Not whiskey. Surprising. Yeah, surprising. You don't want to enjoy this one so much. No, it's because one of my friends used to have, like, hooked up with the singer and I might have hooked up with the one of the drummers one time. yeah but So, it's just complicated.
00:45:11
Speaker
ah That's why. It's hard to enjoy the music.
00:45:17
Speaker
What the fuck gets personal. yeah Happens every so often. It's a little too close to home. Okay, guitar playing. They're kind of middle of the road.
00:45:36
Speaker
I'm not sure you're gonna like love all my next few choices. but I'm starting to feel like I, like, I really went down. I really went down the middle on these. That's fine though. It is a primer. It's a primer. We're not deep cutting. We're not doing deep cuts, but this band was so big, um, for so long. Uh, and I, I went with them over the matadors because when they were both, those two bands came up at the same time. We should talk about, we should talk about the matadors and this band. which is a big psychobili, like, figure in Canada. He is huge, and this is his protege's, the Creepshow and ex-wife. Yes. One of the singers, they went through three, I think. And this is from the O.G. We've seen them so much. This is a good, I like the... Zombie Zater Brain. Yeah. This is just kind of fun. I feel like Creepshow doesn't hold up. I feel like I tried to listen to him recently, and I was like, it doesn't hold up as much. It didn't hold up as much. Yeah, which I, like, loved it at the time. I loved him at the time, yeah. And I went back and listened, and I was like, oh, it's okay. Yeah. It's not as good. Like I'd rather listen to the necromatics and truck type army. Yeah.
00:46:49
Speaker
It is fun to have, like, a lady singer, though. Yeah. You know what I mean? They were great. They didn't lie, wasn't they? They were a fun lie. They were a very good lie. Yeah. And the genre is pretty male-dominated. So, yeah. And it's like a fun lady singer. Yeah. Plus, that's a fun way to say someone's stupid. I heard a rumor. said that the zombies ate her brain. Yeah. What's your Matador story there, Joey? There used to be a venue called the Sidetrack here in Edmonton, which was originally in a train car. A train car was in it, but then it moved to a second location, which is where I went there the most, because I just wasn't here early enough for the original great location. But I saw the Matadors play there one time. Was I playing that show? Might have been in an early down the hatch show, perhaps.
00:47:46
Speaker
um But Hooch, at the time, I don't know how long his liver held out, or whether how long they did it, but a bit during their set was, during one of the songs, he would do a guitar solo, and ah earlier in the song, he counts numbers of drinks, and an assistant pours shots of whiskey into a cup, and then into a beer bong, and then during the solo, he beer bongs all the whiskey while he plays the solo. That's crazy. And it was fucking bananas, because like,
00:48:16
Speaker
The song, like there was probably 10 shots of whiskey in there. I mean, that's being an alcoholic. A hundred percent name and hundred percent. But it was one of the wildest stage things I've ever seen happen. Like for sure.
00:48:32
Speaker
I remember they did a show, and I'm sure Celine's got show stories too about Matador's creatures. They would play it together all the time, like yeah at first. ah they I was so drunk all the time. I only have so many stories. They had a show that, like they they had to get downsized at a venue. And so all the, like half the tickets had to get refunded because like they couldn't go to their bigger venue they were supposed to be at.
00:48:54
Speaker
So they played a free show instead, uh, to comp people who couldn't make it. And it was at the studio where you'd see them sometimes. And they did a double headliner because they knew that people are going to go there. We're going to see them. So they would go back and forth okay that where it was like both drummers were on stage and then oh they did like a battle set. That's so fucking sick. And it was really, really fun.
00:49:15
Speaker
um there was like maybe seven people there, so it was like kind of rad, because it was like really sparse. It was like a jam for them. Yeah, but somebody brought their like five-year-old son, and a hooch at one point said like, all right, you better put your son away for this next song, and then he played this song about fucking somebody in a bush, and just whipped his dick out, and just played this song about his dick out. Yeah, sounds about right. Uh, their MySpace page said that they, they're like, well what rockin' sound would... Rock and roll would sound like if the Beatles didn't come along and fuck everything up. That's funny. That's very funny. ah Yeah. The Matadors are awesome. i we didn't Like their records don't really play that great. they no they No, they're definitely alive. They were, sure but they were very important. and I think Hooch is like not a good person.
00:50:09
Speaker
So if the gutter demons were here to like really like, to set the stage for Psychobilly being a thing in Canada. I think the Matadors and the Creep Show touring back and forth for years and years and years really set it as a full scene. Yeah, for sure. And then that's why Canada has a shitload of bands. And that includes this one. That's from right here. This is the Rig un Cowboys. I didn't think I wasn't gonna play them. Let's break these chains.
00:50:42
Speaker
And they have a fun gimmick. Do they? I remember when they... I've seen them, like, against my will so many times, and they still are playing. There's nothing wrong with them. They're good at their instruments. It's fine, but it's so different when you just, like, know ah the people in the band. And then when they're from your hometown, so they open for literally everything yeah all the time. And they're on Stomp? No. yeah now Yeah, they are. so They're on Stomp. Took them a while, but they got there.
00:51:11
Speaker
Yeah, that's their big hook. They got a horn section. Oh, yeah, they have a horn section, right? Their horns are great. Yeah, actually, that is fun. The
00:51:29
Speaker
Again, I know all of I used to know all of their fucking like ex-wives and girlfriends and they all cheated on them on tour. So it's like hard to like This lead singer I know his ex-wife loved them together, but they're all like alcoholics, so they were like super great Maybe bleep names We didn't even say anything yeah you say i didnt get good I've been very close to saying things
00:52:02
Speaker
um But that's actually not bad. Yeah, yeah they're from yeah and they are fine. They are good live like they are just they're very solid yeah they are solid live yeah and Yeah, yeah, they didn't have a horn section their entire time. I remember oh that's a look um um nice a Fairly new edition but like in the last 10 years. Yeah um because when they used to open for well the the B movies and or play with the B movies and like per funda rose and then we used to see those bands all the time and so and Yeah, it was just like a band that was always playing. Always, yeah. um But that that song came out in 2012, believe it or not. That's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah, that's a long time ago, man. Yeah, I heard that song a lot of times. But let's let's skip ahead to the... mo I'd like to end it off with a band that's still doing it. They're from Canada. This is 2024.
00:52:54
Speaker
I'd say they're like the biggest version of this in Canada right now and they are i'm so curious very easy to get into. I don't know where you're talking about. Yeah, me neither. Let's just play it and see if you can cop if you can cop the band name. This is a brand new song though. I don't know where you're talking about.
00:53:15
Speaker
Fade in, okay.
00:53:23
Speaker
Where are they from? Canada. I wanted specifics. Oh, I don't remember. The East, I think. Who is it? Tell me. It's a band called Brains. Oh, right i the Yeah, Brains, yes. Yes. I never got super, I knew had a lot of friends that were really into them. I think they're from Montreal too. Yeah. Very like scape hunky, especially when they get to their chorus is like, listen to this coming up here.
00:53:53
Speaker
This is actually not a bad song at all.
00:54:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's pretty sick. This is good. Yeah. 2024 Psychovilles is not bad. It's not dead. This is good. The brains are this all their songs sound like this. Yeah. It's very like it's like Skate Punky. It's very catchy. Yeah.
00:54:21
Speaker
He's not doing too weird of a thing with his voice. He doesn't have a weird voice. Yeah, he doesn't do the weird voice. That's pretty good. I feel like just listening to that song, though, I'm going to just take a shot in the dark here, though. I feel like that band cares more about what they sound like than what they look like, which is not the case for a lot of the bands. No, no, I know they do have the look. Yeah. But like some of these bands definitely are aesthetic first. Yeah. Yeah, i can see I can see that. I just have to show you their ah Spotify ah picture because it it... Yeah, I was like, they're really like about the look. yeah Yeah, the look is everything. Also, they have like some of the coolest logos. like I see a lot of their stickers and stuff around and they're all... Because they're big and... and I see patches of the brains everywhere. And they have very cool logos.
00:55:16
Speaker
Yeah, and that's, that's Psychobili. I see them live a bunch. That's a good, I'm impressed that they're... They're still good. Yeah. They're still doing it. Salt band, still doing it. Still good. ah What did we miss? Did we miss anything about the Billies? I mean, I'm sure, but... Yeah, but I think that was, that was a good enough for a primer, right? I feel like there's definitely like a film element to Psychobili that we didn't discuss, which is like horror movies and... Yeah. yeah So that's a that is a big part. as but You were saying what we were getting here is it's being movies, universe universal monsters. yes Yeah. Yeah. Movies play a big part. like The monsters. The monsters. The Addams family. The Addams family. Rob Zombie is a little bit rockabilly for sure. Yeah. 100% for sure. He has Billy energy totally. And the video to John Wayne by Lady Gaga has some psychobilly elements. But I think the biggest question that always gets asked whenever somebody
00:56:09
Speaker
Like but whenever I bring it up, they're like, so what's the difference between psychobili and rockabilly? Psychobili is way more punk and golf. Yeah. You were just back to that. Rockabili is less punk and golf. Yeah. ah I would say it's faster. Yeah. um I would say it.
00:56:27
Speaker
pulls a little further away from blues. Because rockabilly is very, is blues, blues, blues, bass. Like R&B, blues, blues, bass. Yes, whereas where I feel psychobilly is more punk and goth, but it loses some of that. Because rockabilly kind of has that Elvis, where Elvis did do some rockabilly songs, but he also just did straight up blues. Yes, yeah, yeah. So I feel like rockabilly is more blues, whereas psychobilly is more into rock.
00:56:55
Speaker
I like it. I like it. Yeah, even i don't know yeah the punk part is like the biggest thing. For sure. Like it's it's punk rock, but with rockability kind of flavors, I guess. Yeah.
00:57:07
Speaker
Yeah. So anyway, that's ah that's the show. We did it. Here's some bands I missed. Big John Bates, the Chop Tops. I didn't talk about the Devil's Brigade. Yeah, Devil's Brigade. Which we mentioned already on a previous episode on the Rancid pre-show. Yeah, we would have talked about the Devil's Brigade. The Fireballs, Guana Bats. Guana Bats. King Kurt, the Phenomenauts to some degree. Yeah, the Matadors I wrote down, the Quakes.
00:57:36
Speaker
But yeah, I skipped The Misfits, I even said Mojo Nixon might be considered Psychobility to some degree, or that band Volbeat, I guess you could throw in there, because they were more of a metal version of that. Yeah, I guess so. Kind of. If you took Rockabilly and made it metal, it would bless. Yeah, I guess so. And again, you said you skipped the scenes.
00:57:54
Speaker
Yeah, and I did not do anything from Japan, and I didn't do anything from Mexico. I'm just not as familiar with that, but I know that they're huge scenes. Yeah. um And that could be a whole other primer. Japanese psychobility. Yeah. Totally. So thanks for listening to Check Your Pass. Get us up on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Blue Sky at CheckYourPassPod, or send us an email at CheckYourPassPod at Gmail dot.com. To support the podcast, you can sign up for the Check Your Head Patreon to get the episodes uncut in both audio or video format. Or you can buy some merch at CheckYourPass.ca.
00:58:23
Speaker
Our trombonuses are engineered and edited by Joey. That's me. And our trombonist theme was provided by Keelan. Next week, it's the Madness March pre-show. Whoa! We're already there. Holy smokes. Until next time, I'm Rob. So Lynn. And Joey. In the mortal words of Tiger Army, we came from nowhere and yeah, we are nothing.