Punk Outlaw

THIS is Rockabilly…Viva Las Vegas 2012

// April 10th, 2012 // 3 Comments » // Events, Photos

Woke up late on Saturday, packed up my camera and I and my painfully chapped lips and headed over to the Viva Las Vegas Car Show at the Orleans Hotel. Other than my  aforementioned  chapped lips, I love the desert air in April and it was an almost picture perfect day for any outside activity. It’s been five years since I’ve attended VLV and as if further evidence of it’s tremendous growth and popularity over the years were needed, I present Exhibit #1… The Car Show, which this year in addition to the classic cars and hot-rods, featured dozens of vendors on site and a large festival stage with bands playing all day until sundown.

I finally hooked up with my buddy Alex Blue, from the Los Angeles band Normandie Blue who was hanging with our mutual pals at the Spitfire Interiors (Whittier, CA) booth. I’ve known the crew from Spitfire for years and they have some of the most unique punk, rockabilly and psychobilly type of merch I’ve ever seen and they were doing a brisk bit of business at VLV. When I arrived, their booth was so crowded I couldn’t fit inside and shoot at the same time. The guys were preoccupied just trying to provide change for the cash being shoved in front of their faces.

Most of the vendors, like Spitfire, were mom and pop entrepreneurs and artists plying their wares for an appreciative client base. Booth prices are relatively affordable so vendors have a good shot of not only promoting themselves but making a nice profit at events like VLV. As well they should, exhibiting at these events is a lot of work but for most, well worth it (not to mention, a more than little fun is had in addition to raking in all the cold, hard cash).

The cars were insane as always. My favorites are the ridiculously low riding cars with the narrow front windshields and the old timey, two-seater hot rods. Many cars are towed in from around the country on the backs of trailers but I saw more than a few driving in the slow/truck lane on the drive to and from Los Angeles on the way in and out.

One of the great things about VLV in general and the car show specifically is the diversity of unique fashion that’s on display. The ladies had their  Sunbrellas out in force to fight against the high desert sun and most of the fashion reflected the tattooed lifestyle of rockabilly or psychobilly fanatics. But there were also plenty of punk and other types of fashion influences mixed in amongst the crowd of strolling pin up queens and retro enthusiast.

The live musical acts on the huge outdoor stage was a great addition to the event from when I attended 5 years ago. There were great acts throughout the day but one of the highlights for me was catching a performance by the legendary British band “The Polecats“, who are a great, high energy rockabilly band dancing and playing on the edges of the genre where it melds with punk and psychobilly.

The Polecats

After the Polecats gig and the car show wound down, I made my way back inside the Orleans. If for some ungodly reason the car show wasn’t your scene, then there was STILL plenty going on… VLV is like Rockabilly amusement park where only your body’s need for sleep (or your tolerance for loads of alcohol) can prevent you from feeling entertained every second of the entire 4 day affair.

In addition to another pool party going full blast, I discovered a couple MORE music venues I had somehow missed PLUS  a whole separate vendor area featuring retro clothing and old remastered classic rockabilly CDs and band posters. Yep, VLV has gotten huge.. but unlike so many things that see this kind of success, it has only gotten better in the process of growing.  Everywhere you went, PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon) was on tap for a measly $3.

Finally, burlesque.. that oh so popular retro and relatively recently revived art form that, at VLV at least, often meant braving snakingly long lines to secure a pass to the sold out shows. You may know how I feel about lines, basically I don’t do them. So I felt pretty smug when I was able to waltz into Burlesque Bingo without standing in so much as a 2 person deep line.

Now I’m not a big bingo fan exactly, but the fact that I could roll right in armed only with my VLV armband and press pass, well then bingo was a great excuse to get up close and personal to some burlesque dancing. Ah dear reader.. the sacrifices I make to bring you the pics and the story. I sure hope you appreciate it!

I’m not going to explain how Burlesque Bingo works but lets just it’s not your typical church bingo, of that you can be pretty certain. The highlight of the event for me was the chance to see the reigning 2011 Miss Viva Las Vegas Burlesque Champ, Miss Inga Ingenue (AKA Little Blonde Bomb) perform… wow! ,

And for any of you with delicate gender political sensibilities, you should know this was not a room full of dudes ogling scantily clad performers, far from it. It was at least 50/50 male-female ratio with some of the most raucous applause coming from the ladies in the bunch, many of whom were there with their man.

Inga Ingenue .

Lets see… burlesque, bingo, bowling… fashion, art and hot-rods… tattoos, leather jackets and rolled up jeans, sun-brellas, tight dresses and high heels..

Pool Parties with Tiki Bars, Hawaiian Shirts & Hula girls… Pachucos with Zoot Suits,

Guys with Mohawks, Quiffs and Pompadours..Girls channeling Sophia Loren and Bettie Page…

Mexibilly and Hillbilly Billy music with sliding guitars!

Drinking PBR out of a bowling pin or a plastic cowboy boot…

Elvis in with a pink cadillac scouting couples for the wedding chapel…

Chuck Berry and Richi Valens blasting from hot rods…

Greasers and Car Clubs…Sophia Loren and Bettie Page lookalikes..

Torn Suicidal Tendancies T-Shirt guy next to a Johnny Cash look a like..

Fans from Japan, Romania, Scotland, England…

Guys in overalls looking straight up from the movie “Brother Where Art Though?” and I saw a tough looking dude in combat boots and a kilt!

ahhh.. silly, ridiculous Las Vegas… oh and lest forget…

great live music from all over the world.

This is Rockabilly… this was Viva Las Vegas 2012.

 WANT MORE VLV? 

For the complete set of photos from Viva Las Vegas 2012 visit our Flikr Page HERE!

and stay tuned for some video clips from Burlesque Bingo and the Polecats coming soon!  

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We’re Heading to Viva Las Vegas Baby!

// April 4th, 2012 // No Comments » // Events, Photos, Videos

In 2006 I happened to be in Las Vegas for some business reason or another when Viva Las Vegas was in town. I stumbled upon the pool party by accident and saw a guy named “Pachuco Jose y Los Diamantes” playing his brand of boogie woogie out by the pool and all these tattooed and retro looking people in a variety of dress swinging and dancing to the music and generally having a good old time.

The music was in Spanish… the crowd was at least 50% Latino and this was as entertaining of a scene as my NYC jaded eyes had seen in a long, long time.  I decided then and there that I’d be back the following year with cameras to feature the event on my syndicated TV show I was producing at the time, American Latino TV & LatiNation.

In 2007 we returned and did just that. We spent a couple days there gathering footage and interviews, checking out the car shows, talking to pin up queens and rockabilly cats from as far away as Japan. We interviewed the founder Tom Ingram and gathered enough material to produce a few segments on the phenomena.

Following my gut instinct that this type of content would play well in our biggest TV market (For a Latin targeted show that is Los Angeles, NOT New York City) and in markets throughout the west and southwest, we started weaving rockabilly and punk content into the shows. When covering music, fashion or other cultural stories instead of just focusing on the latest salsa or reggaetone artists or Latin celebrity, we also included this very underground culture that rarely received any mainstream national media attention.

It worked. Our ratings and awareness increased and I can honestly say of all the smart and stupid things I did in the 8 years I produced the shows, this was one of the smarter moves. It was a marketing home run.

Possibly in part because I was personally fascinated with the culture and people and genuinely interested in this lifestyle, not only from a Latin point of view, but overall.

This my friends, is how Punk Outlaw initially began. Despite the success of the ratings, American Latino & LatiNation couldn’t be all rockabilly, punk and psychobilly all the time. Our mission was much, much broader than that and the vast majority of viewers, while intrigued enough to watch some segments, would never watch entire programs dedicated to the culture. Not to mention our 100+ local affiliates and our dozen or so advertisers didn’t sign up for this type of show.

So walah.. Punk Outlaw was born. First as a simple site with some videos on You Tube then later the current version you see now, which incorporates my world travels as I work on the documentary “Punktology… the worldwide influence of punk”… to most recently, the launch of Punk Outlaw Records.. which is still feeling it’s way around finding and promoting various genres of underground music from around the world so that everyone can enjoy.

Well, now, in 2012, a good 5 years after we first covered VLV and provided some unique, never before seen coverage that I’m still very proud of to this day, we are heading back.

We’re driving this time from Los Angeles and beginning tomorrow will be there through Sunday where we’ll provide daily updates on the blog as well as video segments.

So if you can’t make it VLV this year, never fear dear reader, we got you. Stay tuned for daily updates and pics right here and we’ll do our best to bring it to you in all it’s glory. Should be a rollicking good time.

Enjoy some videos and pics from 2007.

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Psychobilly Band – Italy’s Evil Devil Returns to LA

// February 11th, 2012 // No Comments » // Events, Photos, Videos

Evil Devil at the Meet & Greet Friday Night in Reseda, CA

Our good buddies from Italy, psychobilly band, Evil Devil are back in Los Angeles to play the Valentine’s Ball on Sunday night at the Mayan Theater.

Evil Devil will be performing with Frantic Flintstones and Left Alone.  We caught up with our buddies from Italy at the Pre-Valentines Ball meet-n-greet in Reseda, CA last night, where we caught a performance of LA’s “Dr. Bizarro’s Victims” . We bolted thereafter but we heard the “Howlers” played as well as “Evil Devil” performed a few songs in a preview of whats to come Sunday night.

Dr. Bizarro's Victims @ the PreValentine's Ball Show on Friday

If you missed the Friday night event, well no worries, because the big event is this Sunday at the Mayan Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Punk Outlaw will be there with our table with stickers, CDs from Punk Outlaw Records, and of course, the Punk Outlaw tanks and tees. Be the first cat to come up to the table and say “I want my free Punk Outlaw Tee” and we’ll get you a shirt along with your choice of a Dorado’s Rockabilly Trio or “Punktology Vol. 1″ CD.

Look For Punk Outlaw's Booth @ The Valentine's Day Ball on Sunday Night @ the Mayan in LA

And of course, we’ll have some in depth coverage including photos and videos after the event next week, so stay tuned.

More information about the event can be found HERE.

Be the first to hit the Punk Outlaw Booth on Sunday and get a free Dorados Rockabilly Trio CD

Enjoy a short clip from Dr. Bizarro’s Victims below as well as our feature on “Evil Devil” from 2010.

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Video Interview with the Legendary Quakes

// February 6th, 2012 // No Comments » // Videos

Our buddy, cameraman Francisco Mora with Juan Carlos (former member - drums) & Paul Roman (founder/vocals/guitar) of The Quakes

It took a little longer than we anticipated, having interrupted our work flow by traveling to Latin America and all for a year, but we did finally get interview edited from our good buddies The Quakes.

They had just played a gig in Los Angeles and we were able to catch up with them the next day. We get the scoop from the original, U.S. psychobilly band that helped pioneer the genre in the U.S. and are still going strong (even if they aren’t crazy about the genre’s name).

These guys are really respected at home and abroad and are my personal favorite psychobilly band of all time bar none. Grab one of their CDs and I think you’ll understand why.

Special thanks to Francisco Mora (camera) and Camilo Mendoza (editor).

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Normandie Blue Rocks Whittier, CA

// December 16th, 2011 // No Comments » // Events, Photos, Videos

If you’ve followed us for a while, you may remember waaaayyyy back in 2006 or 07 we were covering a somewhat legendary band called “Calavera” who had been one of the first Latino Psychobilly bands around, usually splitting their time between LA and Mexico City.

In case you forgot or very likely never saw it, below is a video we did on the band back in those days.

Shortly after this interview aired on the national TV show I was producing back then “American Latino TV” the band went on hiatus and I had largely lost touch with them. But from time to time I’d catch up with Alex Blue, the guitarist for the band, who sent an encouraging email when I had gotten robbed in Buenos Aires in 2010 and was pretty down about the whole thing.

Well, now I’m spending some time in LA and taking the opportunity to hit up the psychobilly/punk events going on and one such event went on last Sunday night out in Whittier, CA a suburb of Los Angeles. Punk Outlaw was a presenting sponsor… but you’d never know it from the limited exposure we got (long story I won’t bore you with…at least not now), but it didn’t really matter as the crowd was super light.

But the good thing about a light crowd is you at least get to interact one on one with the people and we met some super cool cats who I sure hope to run into down the road and some other events. A few fine folks bought the Punktology Vol. 1 – Free Cuba Now! CD and Punk Outlaw Tanks.

Mucho appreciated guys.. hope you enjoy.

The other good thing about the evening was the bands were pretty tight, at least the ones we saw. It opened with Psycho Madbatz playing some old school psychobilly fronted by a petite but but bad ass female on the vocals who let it rip.

Then to my pleasant surprise, next up was Alex Blue’s new band “Normandie Blue”. Normandie Blue is more straight ahead punk music with three guitars blaring over Alex’s vocals. It’s loud, it’s raucous and I loved it. You can tell Alex has had some time under his belt on stage, because he performed like a pro despite the low turnout.

The band seemed to give it their all and they ended the night with some cool spin on a couple of covers after cranking through some kick ass original material. Alex has promised me a CD and I can’t wait to hear these guys with some good sound mixing where I can make out the vocals and lyrics better but I’m expecting big things. And I think you might be hearing big things from Normandie Blue in the future.

And who knows? A possible Calavera reunion maybe? Well, we can all hope. That band really rocked man.. Spanish or English didn’t matter, I dug them a lot and you can be sure if they do reunite, I’ll be doing my best to cover it for you guys.

Enjoy the pics from the Sage Nightclub in Whittier last weekend below.

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Punk Outlaw Plays Psychobilly Santa @ Xmas Party in Cali (fornia)

// November 29th, 2011 // No Comments » // Events, Videos

HOLD EVERYTHING: Here is an email I got from the promoter, Black Cat, today. I’ll try to keep you updated as I get information:

We are sorry to inform you that our Evil Devil show on Dec 10th,11th has been rescheduled until February 10th & 11th 2012 Valentines Weekend
We are very sorry to have to announce that, because of an unforeseen delay
in the passport issue, and getting a travel visa returned to them in time,enabling to travel to the US for Dec 10,11th weekend. As a result, we have had to reschedule the show at the Glasshouse in Pomona,Sage Uptown Whittier to another Venue to be Named for Valentines Ball 2012

Tickets for
the rescheduled shows will be valid on the new dates. If you prefer to get a
refund for your ticket, please contact the outlet where you bought your
ticket for Full Refund

Sunday Dec 11th Show is still on without Evil Devil and Tickets Purchases at our Black Cat Ent.Xmas Party for that show will be valid for a Free Entry Pass to our next Valentines Ball 2012

Thank you for your understanding.

Black Cat Entertainment

Black Cat Ent.Xmas Party Event Page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/257363520981381/

It’s Psychobilly time again in LA with our good buddies Evil Devil hopping across the pond from Italy to deliver another kick ass concert for California’s contingent of psychobilly crazies, of which there are plenty. The concert is taking place on Saturday, December 10th at the Glasshouse in Pamono, CA and features locals like Rezurex, The Grims and Switchblade 77. It’s put on by Black Cat Entertainment and if you have a magnifying glass or can zoom your viewer in to the really, really tiny logos on the bottom of the flyer, you’ll see that Punk Outlaw is involved.

Don’t let the little logos on the flyer fool you, we’re going to have a big presence at the aforementioned event. We’ll be screening some videos for the crowd in between sets including music videos from our Punk Outlaw Records’ artist Los Suziox, Rudos Wild and more.

And we’ll have a booth there, with T-Shirts & CDs for sale, stickers for giveaway and more. PLUS we’re casting for a video vixens and maybe even a dude or two for our upcoming music video shoot for the kick as song “Betty Page” from our good buddies, Colombian rockabilly mainstays “Dorados Rockabilly Trio” due out in January.

So if you always dreamed of being in a rockabilly video (and lets face it, who hasn’t?), well now is your chance! So don’t let the little logos fool you, we’ll be at the event in a big way.. or so we hope. So look for us and the first 3 people that come up to me at the booth and say “hey man, I know you, your Punk Outlaw”, will get their paws on a Punk Outlaw Punkaholic Prize Package which includes a shirt, CD, stickers and despite the name of the package, no booze but if your 21 and above (it’s an all ages show) and show me proof of ID, I’ll probably buy you a beer too.

Now what’s better than that? Maybe a 2nd event with bigger logo?!

You got it! on the 11th it’s a doubleshot event @ the Sage in Whittier California where we’ll do it all over again with some different bands. Two Psychobilly events, back to back..You gotta love California!

More information on the event at Black Cat’s Facebook Even Page HERE

And below is a little segment we did on Evil Devil… so you can get a preview of what you can expect from our good Italian amigos.. which turns out has a kick as psychobilly scene as well I hear.

Enjoy and hope to see you there!

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Exclusive Video Interview – Dorados Rockabilly Trio

// August 23rd, 2011 // No Comments » // Videos

You may have seen that we’ve written a little about the emerging rockabilly and psychobilly scenes in Colombia.

Salidos de la Cripta (Bogota Psychobilly)

We’ve featured interviews with bands like Los Chiclosos Desmembrados (Dismembered or Chewed Up Gum) and Salidos de la Cripta (Leaving the Crypt) who are representing some emerging psychobilly music from Bogota (more from those bands coming later in the fall btw). If you missed it you can read that archived article HERE.

Earlier we had interviewed the Dorados Rockabilly Trio from Medellin.

Well we finally got the video interview/feature from the Dorados edited for your enjoyment so here ya go! The guys spill their knowledge and opinions on what it’s like to be carrying the torch for the rockabilly scene in a legendary punk & metal city like Medellin.

Punk Outlaw Records' "Dorados Rockabilly Trio"

Oh and a bit of exciting news, the guys have a 5 song CD coming out soon. It’s being mixed and put out in the U.S. & beyond by none other than your good buddies right here at Punk Outlaw Records.

So look for news on that this fall as well and congrats to the Dorados Rockabilly Trio, the newest member of our small, but growing family of artists which includes Uruguay’s rowdy punkabilly Rudos Wild and fellow Medellin, Colombianos, the headed for legendary status, Los Suziox.

More exciting news to come soon on this front. We’re just getting started.

Oh and thanks to K’milo Rio from Medellin for editing this little bit of rockabilly gold for us. K’milo had to do some double duty translating and subtitling to English for us non Spanish speakers. His English, like my Spanish, is less than perfect, but as in all things punk, we got it done in good old fashioned DIY Style. Gracias K’milo and bien hecho amigo.

Enjoy!

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Behold – Pomona Psychobilly

// July 12th, 2011 // No Comments » // Videos

Los Angeles is hands down the psychobilly capitol of the U.S. And no self respecting psychobilly fan would visit the west coast without taking in a concert.

Luckily for me, my good buddy Rich from Black Cat Entertainment is about as plugged into the scene as you can be and told me about a big Rezurex CD release party and show going down in Pomona, CA.

Pomona? Heard of it, never been there and let me tell you for a NYC guy, it’s FAR! but by LA standards, its just down the road (about 50 minutes), on the outskirts of LA.

Now the thing about downtown Pomona, is it has quiet a history of punk and psychobilly music. In fact, to me it seemed sort of a miniature version of what visiting downtown Nashville must be like for country music fans. Now ROOTS country / rock and roll and psychobilly have more in common than you might think; Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and now Nick 13 (Tiger Army)!

Dead Enderz

In Pomona, there’s the famous “Glass House” and Fox Theatre where the Ramones once performed all kinds of punk and “billy” bands still perform.

All surrounded by cool underground clothing stores, tattoo parlors, burlesque shops and most importantly of course, on this Friday night at least, it was teeming with young street punks. And in front of Angelo’s Italian Cafe, there was a mini-cavalcade of Psychobilly freaks and freakettes of the 1st degree waiting to see The Dead Enderz, Cold Blue Rebels and of course The Rezurex.

Cold Blue Rebels

Yes, Pomona is impressive to say the least and definitely worth the drive, at least on this night.

It started with a band called the Dead Enderz and you and you can catch a clip of one of their performances below.

Next up was a band I had heard of plenty but had never seen, the Cold Blue Rebels. I had heard their shows were high energy but man, as soon as they began their set, and before I could get my trusty little flip cam even rolling, the stand up bass player had fallen off the stage  and snapped his stand up bass into 3 parts!

Never to fear, the guy had an electric bass standing by and 2 minutes later the band was back at it for the enthusiastic crowd. I had a feeling this guy, based on his preparation, had snapped a few bass necks before and after the show, he confirmed this was indeed at least his 3rd fall off a stage. Catch a clip of CBR (after the stage fall) below:

The final act of the night was the Rezurex, a staple on the Los Angeles psychobilly scene and who were releasing a new CD. A clip of the Rezurex is below:

Rezurex

Next stop the other LA.. Latin America!

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Yes Billy, There is a Psychobilly Scene in Bogota.

// June 24th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // Photos

Nicolas from "Los Chiclosos Desmembrados"

So the last time I wrote about one of the the “Billys” in Colombia I focused on an authentic rockabilly band, the Dorados Rockabilly Trio in Medellin (READ IT HERE).

I guess the headline or a line I wrote was a bit provocative and a small avalanche of emails and comments from people involved in the psychobilly scene in Bogota soon followed.  They staunchly pointed to the fact that there was an emerging scene in Bogota and invited me to see for myself.

Los Chiclosos Desmembrados

Now I’ve been to Bogota on several occasions covering the “muy fuerte” (very strong) punk scene there.

My first was the Casualties concert in December of 09 (READ ABOUT IT HERE). Then last year I hit the huge Rock en el Parque concert and took some time to see a smaller but much more chaotic punk show in Chapinero (or as I like to say “champinones” which means mushrooms). You can READ ABOUT THAT SHOW HERE.

Los Chiclosos Desmembrados

But I had never really covered the rockabilly or psychobilly scene. I knew if so many folks were reaching out to me because of the article on the Dorados, that there must be something going on in Bogota so I vowed to check it out.

One of those cats in Bogota who had reached out to me on Facebook, Nicolas, offered to hook me up with a couple of Psychobilly bands for an interview next time I was in town.

Los Chiclosos Desmembrados

I was in Bogota very briefly last week on some other business, so I took Nicolas up on his offer. We met at the Rockstar Studios in the northern part of the city where Nicolas had arranged for me to interview and take in a rehearsal of a couple of the psychobilly bands holding down the Bogota scene.

The first interview was with Nicolas’ own band called “Los Chiclosos Desmembrados” whose name in English they informed me, can roughly be translated as something like “chewed up bubble gum”. Their music is a bit easier to describe as a bit of a fusion of psychobilly, surf and punk.

They play both covers and originals and Nicolas alternates lead vocals with the female guitar player Leidy on occasion.

Los Chiclosos Desmembrados

I saw the Cramps in NYC at the infamous Limelight club a few years back in one of their last performances and at the “Chiclosos Desmembrados” rehearsal I felt I could see and hear an obvious influence.

In the U.S. I think the Cramps’ are not given enough credit and are too often disconnected with the current psychobilly scene, especially given their pioneering work in the genre, so it was refreshing to see their musical influence alive and well in Bogota.

Salidos de la Cripta

The other band I interviewed was “Salidos de la Cripta” (Gone from the Crypt), a classic psychobilly trio in the vein of the Koffin Kats, Nekromantix or Tiger Army, complete with a stand up bass.

Mauricio, (lead vocals/guitar)  and the rest of the gang were very charismatic and I could envision these guys playing one of the psychobilly festivals in the U.S. or U.K. in the coming years. They were that good and they are currently laying down a CD so you’ll soon be able to judge for yourself.

Salidos de la Cripta

Members of both bands have been involved in the Bogota psychobilly scene since way back in the early days… 2006! When they listed their influences they rattled off bands ranging from Motorhead to the Meteors and Koffin Kats to the previously mentioned Cramps.

Mauricio of Salidos de la Cripta

Both bands pretty much agreed that while the scene is small, (the biggest event being on Halloween when a few bands play a local festival) it is growing rapidly with more and more bands forming and playing every year.

When I asked about the reaction from the considerably larger and much more well established punk scene, I think it was Mauricio from “Salidos de la Cripta” who stated it seemed the punks first hear the music, they don’t really know whether to throw bottles at them or start dancing. He said, that thankfully, they usually start dancing.

I predict bands like Chiclosos Desmembrados and Salidos de Cripta will continue to make converts out of the punk community in Bogota.

Punk and the psychobilly & rockabilly scenes need not be mutually exclusive.

Indeed in Bogota, due to it’s small size, there seems to be a bit of a fusion of rockabilly, punkabilly and psychobilly in Bogota and I think that’s cool. Hopefully the bands in Bogota can team up with bands like the Dorados in Medellin to help all the “billys” thrive.

I hope to have some video from the bands’ rehearsals up soon as well as a little update on a couple of cool surf bands we’ve been following over the past year, so stay tuned! In the meantime you can sample the bands’ music on their myspace pages (links provided in the bands’ names above)

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New Music – From Psychobilly to Pop Punk

// January 11th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // Videos

Social Distortion

Not sure what’s in the water these days but there is a lot of new music on the horizon. I mean Social Distortion has a new CD out in a matter of days and that happens less often than a presidential election (The last Social D. full release was in 2004).

But a healthy music scene isn’t just judged by the legends touring and putting out new music, but new bands bursting onto the scene.

For me 2010 was a great year of discovering new music from many, many diverse places. Off the top of my head my new music discoveries that are still sticking with me include the “Cobra Skulls” which I saw the Knitting Factory in NYC and wrote about HERE.

Other cool punk bands I discovered in 2010 were from Chicago (I gotta get there soon) called “Juicehead” which I heard on Sirius radio and another one called “Pegboy” which a friend recommended.

On the international front, new music I discovered in 2010 included my boys “Rudos Wild” a punkabilly band from Uruguay and “Los Suziox” a talented punk band from Colombia after visits there for the documentary Punktology.

2011 is off to a quick start as a couple of new bands have hit me up recently telling me about their new releases and while I normally only write or share about bands I’ve actually seen, I thought I’d share the info with you guys, because why should I keep all the goodies to myself.

Tucson's "Moovalya"

The first is an indie pop punk band called Moovalya from Tucson, Arizona. Their sound is very radio friendly and you could definitely imagine them on the Warped Tour some day.And while my taste run a little more narrow and a lot more hard core, there is no arguing the guys are good musicians. You can check out their video below and judge for yourself.

On the complete other end of the spectrum and next up on my radar is a new LA psychobilly band called “Cold Blue Rebels” who have a debut CD coming out as well.  Now eventually, when I’m finished with my South American tour of duty sometime in 2011, we’ll be heading to Los Angeles to live, work and generally soak up the punk, psychobilly and rockabilly scenes. Cold Blue Rebels give me a chance to get a nice head start.

Below is a little Q&A I had with CBR, followed by their music video from their forthcoming CD! Check em out and let me know what you think.

Here is hoping 2011 brings just as much good new punk music as 2010! We’re off to a good start.

Cold Blue Rebels

1) HOW LONG HAS COLD BLUE REBELS BEEN AROUND?

CBR has been around just over a year now. Things have happened incredibly fast for us. The timing for this band has been perfect. We’ve gone from formation, rehearsals, gigs to record deal and release in one year. Dreams really DO come true!

2) HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC?

Rockin’ Horror Psychobilly, heavy on the ‘billy! A cross between the Stray Cats and Alice Cooper, with tongue firmly planted in The Munstermobile.

3) WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR MUSICAL INFLUENCES?

Ramones, Gene Vincent, Elvis, Nekromantix, The Clash, Stray Cats, Herman Munster, Johnny Cash, KISS.
4) TELL ME ABOUT THE NEW CD? IS THIS YOUR FIRST? WHERE CAN PEOPLE BUY IT?

Yeah, this is our debut CD and it’s called “Blood, Guts n’ Rock & Roll” It is distributed worldwide by Horror High Records and is also available online at AMAZON & iTUNES:

Our CD has 12 tracks on it including a psycho cover of Wanda Jackson’s “Riot In Cell Block #9” , and every song on it is definitely going to stick in your zombie fucking heads! There is some neo-rockabilly, some punk, and even some doo wop on there! We wanted to make an album that stands out from the rest of the psychobilly bands out there, and I think we’ve done it!!  It was important to us to not just be another “punk band with an upright bassplayer”… We’ve got some chops in this band, and when you got it baby, flaunt it!

5) WHATS GOING ON WITH THE PSYCHOBILLY SCENE IN LA RIGHT NOW? IS IT GATHERING STEAM?

It depends who you ask really. I’ve been to gigs that are just slammin’, many events by Black Cat Entertainment and Tiger Mask and other promoters around town. Some of the bands are legendary! Guana Bats, The Polecats, Mad Sin… But what I love are the crowds… when it’s an all ages event, they are just tops!

6) ANY PLANS TO TOUR? WHERE?

Yes, definitely A LOT of touring in 2011!  We’re doing a Northwest run with The Rocketz during March, and expect to hit the mid-west and Great Lakes shortly after that. Meanwhile we are constantly touring the Southwest all year long because we are conveniently based in Los Angeles.

7) WHY DO YOU THINK PSYCHOBILLY IS SO POPULAR ON THE WEST COAST?

I think it’s partly because there are many great bands from here, or at least based here. Bands like Tiger Army, Nekromantix, The Rocketz, The Chop Tops. We’ve also got great festivals here that support the genre like Viva Las Vegas, Ink & Iron, and a long list of Car Shows and car clubs.

California is the perfect place to live if you are into rat-rods and old cars, too, which many psychos and ‘billys are into… (I oughta know, I drive a ’56 Ford that I call “Ratty!”) Cool cars and rock n roll music have always gone together. Mix in a little old time California surf music and culture and some classic Hollywood horror film imagery… it’s really the perfect place for all these ingredients to come together.

ANY PARTING THOUGHTS?
Yes, thanks for helping us get the word out there. People, buy our CD and come out to see us when we are playing in your area. We love to hang out with and meet our fans. Don’t be shy. We’re hoping to be around for many more years to come, so come on out and cultivate a relationship with us! Cheers!

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