Hotter Than Hell
An Injection of Psychobilly Madness (Hairball8)
by Jon Sarre
Psychobilly: A catch-all term for “Rockabilly recast for a sicker age,” to quote Jon Savage in his England’s Dreaming history of early punk. Basically ya got Gene Vincent growin’ up in a suburban no man’s land with a room fulla Ramones records, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and speed. That’s still only a generalization, cuz it’s a big ol’ banner that could possibly encompass the Cramps, Horton Heat, Elvis Hitler, Portugal’s Tedio Boys, maybe even Social Distortion or the Gun Club or hell, any other buncha greasers with aspirations to be the punkrockingest Stray Cat on the planet. A metal band with a stand-up bass and a horror flick fixation could be psychobilly. Ditto for anybody this side of the Dead Milkmen stylin’ themselves “Country Punk” or a buncha true-to-life Charlie Feathers freaks who kept the faith regardless of reality (sure that term’s relative here).
Hairball 8’s comp, Hotter Than Hell, doesn’t claim to set the record straight, but it does give ya 27 numbers of the beast and that oughtta shed some light on the monster. Highlights to name-drop include The Hellbillys‘ “Demons,” sorta Roky Erickson-type paranoia, and Los Infernos‘ “Lucky Few,” which outweighs even fat Elvis, heavy man. Speaking of the King, Helvis And The Helvettes do his Vegas-era “C.C. Rider” with all the love you’d expect. The guys in the Hillbilly Hellcats spout threats and imitate Johnny Cash on a number called “Hillbilly Cats on Speed.” For Reverend imitations, look in the direction of the Hooligans who do “if I had a heart” lament solved on “Junkyard Heart,” but Bad Luck Streak outdoes ’em in the Horton Heatisms with a better song called “I’m Not Sick.”
Curse Of The Pink Hearse sound like overamped Mexican Stray Cats and Three Blue Teardrops do Dwight Yoakam straight-faced and Ray Stevens too (yipes!) in their alien comedy-drama “Major Trouble (From Ursa Minor).” Speaking of comedy, but actually funny, ya got Deadbolt‘s Mexican-jail torture laugh riot, “The Interview.” Even funnier, if ya find hiccupping amusing, is the Mutilators nutso head-kickin’ “Sweet Little Jenny.” Bea Pickles‘ whoops-forgot-to-take-the-vocals-up “Frazzled” is real cool, and (gasp) fronted by a gurl! Pat C. Kline‘s just-woke-up-and-recorded-the-damn-thing “The Devil’s Got Your Soul” is about as mellow as it gets, but ya can’t say that ’bout Los Gatos Locos‘ “Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight.” 100% aggro, Jack, so if ya see any of these guys, make friends fast, or stay the fuck away.
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