Imelda May - Psycho (new single)

I know some of the guys on the Shakin’ All Over forum have been getting all hot and steamy under the collar with the new Imelda May video. Yeah, Darrel looks so dreamy doesn’t he!

She’s filmed a new, official video for Psycho, the forthcoming single, due to be released on the 28th June. The song is also on her brand new album Mayhem, coming in September 2010.

The video is great fun and seems to have cameo roles from Breathless Dan and Rufus Thomas! In honour of the songs title, Al Gare seems to have visited the barber.

Below are a couple of live clips where both Imelda and Darrel shine like beacons. Dh is smoking on Pat Cupp's Don't Do Me No Wrong.

Don't Do Me No Wrong - Boardwalk - 2.12.08

Walking After Midnight - Boardwalk - 12.2.08

Imelda May - Don't You Do Me No Wrong

Imelda may continues to make strides towards a successful career on a broader stage than most rockabilly acts have had the fortune to. And while Johnny Got A Boom Boom may not be bona-fida rockabilly in the style of Charlie Feathers, it has the feel and will hopefully lead kids to check out some more rocking stuff. To prove that she can rock with the best, here's a cracking version of Pat Cupp's rockabilly classic, Don't You Do Me No Wrong. Recorded live at The Boardwalk last December, her hot band includes husband Darrel Higham on guitar, Steve Rushton on drums and good ol Al Gare on double bass.

The following clip is a neat little promo that hints at the talent that is Imelda May and will hopefully give some youngsters their first taste of rockabilly. It's shame this clip didn't run for five minutes or so and show a little bit more behind the scenes.

Rockabilly Pride

I was driving home earlier listening to the BBC Radio 2 documentary from a couple of years ago, When Rockabilly Ruled The Waves, OK. I've played it a few times before, but there was something this time that made me feel different. Normally I wonder when, or if, rockabilly will ever become this popular again, and lament it's apparent slow death. This time though, I didn't worry about the future, I just felt proud that I was into rockabilly. I write this site because I love the music and want to do my bit to keep it alive. I admire the record label owners and promoters who put their money where their mouth is, and I marvel at the musicians who play for little reward. I haven't got the dosh or the location to run a label and I can't play an instrument, so all I can do is write about the music I love. About a hundred odd people visit the page everyday, and while that isn't exactly going to cause a musical revolution, I enjoy it and if anyone reads a review that leads to them buying a CD or going to see a band live, then great. As Darrel Higham says in the documentary, you feel so passionately for the music, you just want it to stay alive.

Imelda May - ready for take off

There's been a lot of talk lately about the potential crossover success for Imelda May. She has signed with Universal Records who have re-released her Love Tattoo and the single Johnny Got A Boom Boom is getting airplay on the national BBC Radio station. Things took an turn last year after she appeared on Jools Holland TV show and she's since then she's done Radio 2 sessions for Holland, Johnnie Walker and Paul Jones. Jeff Beck has asked Imelda and her band (which includes her husband and rockabilly singer Darrel Higham) to support him on his upcoming tour, which will include a date at London`s Royal Albert Hall.

It's been three decades since someone from the rockabilly scene made any impression on the charts, so it would be a great boost to the scene if Imelda can break that duck. I'm not sure just how big she can make it though, as I don't think there's a video or anything to get ther to the attention of the younger, MTV type of listener. Whatever she achieves, it's great news for her and Darrel. All the best, the whole rockin' scene is behind you.

The Barnshakers

There must be something in the frozen waters of Scandinavia that keeps producing these razor-sharp rockabilly bands. The list is seemingly endless with bands like Jack Baymoore & the Bandits, Wildfire Willie, Hal Peters and one of the best, The Barnshakers. The first time I came across them was as the backing band on Darrel Higham's High Class Baby album. By the time I'd listened to the first few beats on Five Minutes To Live I was well and truly hooked.

The band sort of formed by accident when Goofin' Records president, Pete Hakonen booked the legendary rocker Johnny Carroll for a gig in Finalnd in 1992. And while filling the venue wasn't a problem for Hakonen, fulfilling the date was - he didn't have a band. He talked four musicians from various bands like The Whistle Bait and Hal Peters String Busters to form a band to do the honour. And so the Barnshakers were born with Vesa Haaja on vocals and guitar, Jussi Huhtakangas a.k.a. Lester Peabody on lead guitar, Mika Liikari on double bass and Mike Salminen on drums. The band hit it off straight away and it wasn't too long (1993) before they were in the studio cutting a 10" album, Cool Enough, for Goofin'. Later that year they cut a single She Done Quit Me, again for Goofin' and one (Big Sandy) the following year for Willie Lewis' Rockabilly Records out of Colorado.

The next EP, Complicated Fool came out in '94, followed by their first CD, A Honky Tonk Session for Goofin'. They toured Europe for the next couple of years and they backed High Noon's Shaun Young on his Scandinavian tour. They also backed him for his solo Goofin' album, Red Hot Daddy. In '96 they scored a record hop favourite with the Wiggle Like a Worm 45. That year also saw them undertake their first US tour on the back of their latest Goofin' release, String-O-Rama.

Now a seasoned band, the Barnshakers have backed mant Finnish visitors, old and new, among them Hank Thompson, Narvel Felts, Hayden Thompson, Alvis Wayne, Johnny Carroll, Sanford Clark, Huelyn Duvall, Sid and Billy King, Martí Brom, Shaun Young, Johnny Carroll, Darrel Higham, Kim Lenz and Mack Stevens. Some of these dates led to session dates and they cut the Hocus Pocus single in 1997 when Mack Stevens was struggling with a sore throat. In the same year they cut the Goofin' EP, Pretty Little Devil with Darrel Higham, followed a year by the High Class Baby CD.

A lot of their early singles, the 10" LP and other odds and sods were complied by On The Hill Records for the 1998 release Barnyard Stomp. In 1999 they backed the smouldering Marti Brom for a Scandinavian tour, and ended up recording the Maybe I Do EP with her in Sweden, at Jo-Allans legendary vintage studio. They rejoined her for her Snake Ranch album, along with Texan T. Jarrod Bonta on piano. It was a fantastic effort from both the Barnshakers and Brom, with the likes of Blue Tattoo and Eat My Words being particularly grand.

2001 saw the release of the brilliant mini album North of Juarez on Goofin', recorded with the bands newest addition, Harri Saanio on piano. A highlight of the year for the band was a tour in France backing the one and only Hank Thompson. Their sound, always authentic and always tight, must have been ideal for the great man.

In 2002 a 300 copy limited addition 45 coupling Boppin' In Roswell and Raining in My Heart was released to critical acclaim, followed shortly after by their finest album to date, Five Minutes to Live.

Recommended listening:
NORTH OF JUAREZ - Goofin' RecordsIf ever there was a case for less is more, then this is it. Only eight tracks, but it's a stunning stab of rockabilly that leaves you breathless. If nothing else it serves as a delicious appetiser for the Five Minutes To Live CD. The original '50s songs we love so much were packaged as hit-em-between-the-eyes singles - two and a half minutes of pounding, that left the listener stunned, reflecting on what he'd just heard. That doesn't happen these days when we get fed our music in 30 track compilations, where songs can sort of drift from one to another. This eight tracker is more like the singles and works really well because of it - you don't have time to get bored with it. The pace is unrelenting, from the opening strains of Heartbreak Train to the manic Killer Diller. Watchdog and Did You Tell Me do full justice to the originals, whilst their own compositions like the western bopper Mail Man and the latino Jaurez.... Life Long Bound is done like ala Johnny Cash's Sun period and is stunning.
A HONKY TONK SESSION WITH - Goofin' RecordsA really pleasant album with tasty hillbilly feel, but without any nasal moments!! Two absolute beauties are the easybilly numbers, Who's Gonna Be The Next One Honey and the oh-so catchy, Kissin' In The Carwash. Fast Jivin' kicks in ala Eddie baby, before turning into a piano instrumental with the Chuck Berry backbeat. Choo Choo Train sounds like Bo Diddley in Nashville, while I Couldn't Care Less and She Likes To Bop are straight ahead rockabilly. The band are so tasteful, concentrating more on the melody and rhythm that just tearing the guts out of each note. Another I eally rate is When I Take My Sugar to Tea, a fun little ditty not unlike some of Gene Vincent's '56 cuts.
FIVE MINUTES TO LIVE - Goofin' RecordsI don't think it's taking things too far to say that this is one of the top 5 rockabilly albums of the last twenty years. Again featuring a well balanced mixture of covers and originals, the sound is pure rockabilly augmented with some tasty steel guitar. The album kicks off with three boppers in Nature's Goodness, Too Tired Today (superb drumming here) and another crack at the marvellous Boppin' In Roswell. Add this thunderous rocker to the distinguished list of flying saucers rock 'n' roll that has been running as long as them little green men. Two-Gun Daddy is another flat-outer whilst Arizona Express and Don't Worry About Me have a beautiful western feel about them. They have really nailed this cactus and sand-storm sound and you have to pinch yourself to remember these guys are from Finland not El Paso. Which brings along nicely to Marty Robbins who is remembered with a pleasing version of his You Don't Owe Me A Thing - a commendable choice. Their acoustic heavy rhythm is ideal for Billy Lee Riley's Trouble Bound and George Jones' Maybe Little Baby. Gene McKown's 1964 Brass single Ghost Memories is given a mysterious sound and is superb, as is their cover of Ronnie Self's Black Night Blues. The album is rounded off in fine style with the title track, from the little known Johnny Cash flick of the same name. It's a brilliant way to finish (excuse the pun!).

Pop Goes The Rockabilly

1. Union Avenue - White Wedding Rockabilly quintet Union Avenue hail from Scotland and have found a niche in the market by covering pop songs in the style of Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two. Some songs work better than others but the ones that do work are great. They make the songs like they were always Cash songs, in no small part to the vocals of Andrew Cardno and the Luther picking of guitarist Paul Paterson. They recently had the Radio 1 record of the week for their cover of Motorhead's Ace Of Spades and have been support acts for The Stranglers and Lee Rocker among others. Billy Idol's White Wedding was a frantic slice of pop in the early 80's, with a full blown production. Union Avenue stripped the song to the bare bones and even recorded it on vintage equipment for an authentic Sun sound. They pulled a master stroke in slowing the tempo and letting the song breath the way JC's best songs did. A classic version that makes Billy Idol's redundant. 2. Paul Ansell's Number Nine - Red Light A highlight of Number Nine's live set, Red Light does indeed spell danger when the wrong version is played. Billy Ocean is as shite as Paul Ansell is great, and their versions show the difference. Ocean's is just drab pop music whereas Paul Ansell and Number Nine give a menacing rocked up performance. Not rockabilly per say but that isn't what they're about. It's high energy with a rocking emphasis but not restrained by the narrow parameters of pure rockabilly. 3. Big 6 - Tiger Feet The Dream Team of the rocking scene, band members include Mike Sanchez and ? among its ranks. They play with a smile on their face and the music ranges from Bill Haley style rock to ska. They are particularly adept at converting glam-rock songs into rock 'n' roll with the likes of Slade and T-Rex being given the sax and slap-bass treatment. Their version of Mud's Tiger Feet is a romp, heavy on the sax and drums. Like the original it's a dance-floor cert. 4. Dave Phillips - Tainted Love If ever you needed to explain to someone why a guitar is better than a synthesiser just take a listen to Soft Cell's version then take in Dave Phillips. I first heard this on Radio 1 on a school trip to see the Severn Boar and tried to convince everyone on the bus that this was better than Soft Cell's limp version. I'm not sure what percentage of John Beddoes School was bent, but no-one agreed with me. 5. Darrel Higham - Kingston Town I know it wasn't the original but it was the UB40 version that I first heard back in the 80's. I never liked them and thought Red Red Wine was abysmal. Darrel's version of Kingston Town is a different animal all together. There isn't a lot of difference between reggae and rockabilly, the hypnotic, incessant beat being the embodiment of both styles. 6. Demented Are Go - Crazy Horses There couldn't be a bigger contrast between the squeaky clean Osmonds and psychobilly trio Demented Are Go. The two versions of the song echo the differences with the toothy Mormon family sounded contrived and controlled as they reach for an orgasm of excitement. The Cardiff stompers, by contrast are totally convincing as they rape the song and bring it to a crazy level that would make Donny and Marie blush. 7. Doug Church - Graceland Elvis impersonators aren't my favourite people in the world but where Doug Church manages to avoid my hatred is that he doesn't copy Elvis songs. Instead he gives modern songs the Elvis styled vocals, and it works well. There's the saying that riding a moped and shagging a fat girl are both fun to ride as long as your mates don't find out. I think listening to Doug Church is a bit like that as well. It's surreal hearing what sounds like Elvis singing about "going to Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee". 8. Stray Cats - You Can't Hurry Love Not the Stray Cats' greatest moment but still a lot better than either Phil Collins or Diana Ross. Much like the Dave Phillips selection at number 4 it was good to hear a pop song with a double bass and therefore given a bit of balls. 9. Jets - Yes Tonight Josephine I didn't even realise this wasn't a Jets original when I first heard this back in the day. It seemed such a straight ahead rockabilly song that it was impossible to imagine it was just a run of the mill pop song. This was the break out song for the Cotton brothers and for a couple of years they were on tv everytime you turned it on. Oh how we wish those days would return. 10. Meteors - These Boots Were Made For Walkin' Apparantly Frank Sinatra hated Tommy Sands as a son in law so much that he used his Mafia influence to make sure that Sands couldn't get work. If Nancy had of married Meteors front-man Paul Fenech instead I reckon Ol Blue Eyes would have arranged for Fenech to take a trip down the Hudson in a body bag. Whatever, the Meteors version of These Boots Were Made For Walkin' is a miles from Nancy, just like a good psycho should be.