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Elvis Presley Biography

Elvis Presley may be the single most important figure in American 20th century popular music. Not necessarily the best, and certainly not the most consistent. But no one could argue with the fact that he was the musician most responsible for popularizing rock & roll on an international level. Viewed in cold sales figures, his impact was phenomenal. Dozens upon dozens of international smashes from the mid-'50s to the mid-'70s, as well as the steady sales of his catalog and reissues since his death in 1977, may make him the single highest-selling performer in history.

More important from a music lover's perspective, however, are his remarkable artistic achievements. Presley was not the very first white man to sing rhythm & blues; Bill Haley predated him in that regard, and there may have been others as well. Elvis was certainly the first, however, to assertively fuse country and blues music into the style known as rockabilly. While rockabilly arrangements were the foundations of his first (and possibly best) recordings, Presley could not have become a mainstream superstar without a much more varied palette that also incorporated pop, gospel, and even some bits of bluegrass and operatic schmaltz here and there. His 1950s recordings established the basic language of rock & roll; his explosive and sexual stage presence set standards for the music's visual image; his vocals were incredibly powerful and versatile.

Whirlwind Biography

Whirlwind was a rockabilly revival band from the U.K. during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Composed of members Nigel Dixon, Chris Emo, Phil Hardy, and Mike Lewis. They helped establish a link between the roots rock community and the punk rock community during this time, opening for the likes of The Clash, Elvis Costello, and Ian Dury. After the band called it quits after two albums, Nigel Dixon went on to form Havana 3 a.m. with Paul Simonon, formerly of The Clash.

The Chop Tops ''On Tour'' Biography

Their Story-
Sinner began The Chop Tops back in 1995, he had tried a range of other musical styles, only to return to what came naturally to him…rockabilly music! Sinner had played guitar, bass, and piano while performing as lead vocalist for his group. But it wasn’t until he went back to his child-hood favorite the drums (standing no less) that he had found his true call, still soulfully covering his ground as lead vocalist. Sinner next teamed up with grestch guitar extraordinaire Shelby after seeing one of his blistering guitar performances. Shelby shared Sinner’s passion for a frantic rock’n’roll beat and was quickly welcomed as the bands guitarist. Last, but not least, came the search for an upright bassist that would glue The Chop Tops stompin’ vocalist/drummer and live-wire guitar slinger together into one red-hot rockin’ act. And their prayers were answered when Brett joined adding the finishing touch to the ‘Revved-Up Rockabilly’ trio - The Chop Tops. Brett had perfected his wild stage shows while performing upright slap bass with tons of LA groups! A few years later, the band really began to make a name for themselves playing supporting sets for rock’n’roll legends, but with all the showmanship and excitement of the evenings headliner! The Chop Tops continue to tour their ‘Revved-Up’ breed of rockabilly music through the entire United States.

The BossHoss 'On Tour' Biography

The BossHoss are seven people from Berlin, Germany.
Alec „Boss Burns“ Völkel, Sascha „Hoss Power“ Vollmer, Ansgar „Frank Doe“ Freyberg, Malcolm „Hank Williamson“ Arison, André „Guss Brooks“ Neumann, Stefan „Russ T. Rocket“ Buehler and Tobias „Ernesto Escobar de Tijuana“ Fischer specialise in covering pop, rock and hip hop songs in country style.

The band was founded in Berlin 2004 by Boss and Hoss, named after the well known song “Boss Hoss” by The Sonics.

With their cover version of “Like Ice in the Sunshine” they became famous with the Langnese (the famous “heart-brand” ice cream) TV and cinema advertisements in 2005. Their first album “Internashville Urban Hymns” sold over 100,000 copies.

Rusty and the Dragstrip Trio Biography

From the wild west… comes Rusty & the Dragstrip trio!

Forming in Perth, Western Australia, in 2001, this four piece rockabilly outfit geared itself towards a traditional 50s look and sound. With energetic live performances Rusty and the boys never fail to deliver the goods. You’ll surely be boppin’ and a-hollerin’ for more.

These cats will take you back to the cool and dangerous sounds of the 1950s, playing songs from the vaults of the Sun Studio with early Elvis, to those rockabilly obscurities that you can’t hear anywhere else. They will also pull back with spooky ballads and real gone blues. But this is not just a 50s cover band…

Rusty & the Dragstrip Trio have no shortage of originals, as proven on their debut album “Playing for you” recorded live at The Satellite Studio, Perth, W.A., and their second release, “I ain’t ready” recorded live at Revolver Sound Studio, Perth, W.A., released on the “Wild Records” label, Hollywood, C.A. Due to popular world-wide demand, both CDs have been re-released in Australia, USA, and Europe. If you don’t have one …get one and see what all the fuss is about!

Over the years, Rusty & the Dragstrip Trio have played at many incredible places across the world. Locally, The Mustang bar in Perth had Rusty and the boys playing every week from 2001 to 2007. The international Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Festival hosted the band on their main stage, twice (both times the band received raving reviews). In Los Angeles at many Wild Record Shows in L.A., the boys played alongside other great rockabilly acts. Back in Australia, Queensland’s Wintersun Festival and Melbourne have also seen the Dragstrip Trio. They have done festivals all around their home town as well as played in many local bars and clubs.

They have had the pleasure of supporting Chris Isaak twice. Chris accidentally discovered the Dragstrip Trio when he walked past The Mustang Bar where they were playing at the time. He jumped on stage, jammed with the band, and invited Rusty to sing with him and his band at the Burswood Casino.

In 2007 the Dragstrip Trio took a break. Now in 2009, demand for the band has pulled them out of retirement. During the two year break, Rusty started the Rusty Pinto Combo, specialising in 40s and 50s rhythm and blues. These days both bands play regularly, each having their own sound and style.

Rusty & the Dragstrip Trio reformed with the original members Rusty (vocals), Richie (bass), Matt (guitar), and welcome their new drummer Matt.

Restless Biography

Restless was formed in 1978 by Mark Harman (g/v), Paul Harman (b) and Ben Cooper (d). The band name was borrowed from a Carl Perkins song. In 1981 “The Restless” EP was issued-limited to 400 copies. Once ‘Why Don’t You Just Rock!’ was out, the boys were pretty much doing the regular Rock ‘n’ Roll circuit throughout England. Restless played their own style of Rock ‘n’ Roll and are arguably one of the most influential British Neo-Rockabilly bands. One time they played a 50´s Rockabilly standard just to follow with a pure Psychobilly song.

Jeff Bayly replaced Paul in 1984 and Restless hit the UK Independent Charts with “Mr. Blues”. In 1986 Restless optioned for a second guitar and added Mick Malone. After the departure of Bayly & Cooper, Restless wanted to quit. But the addition of ex-Frenzy/ ex-Shark Steve Whitehouse (b) brought them back in business. In 1989 Rob Tyler (d) ,one of the better known Rockabilly drummers, also joined his old fellow Mark Harman.

1998 Restless played their “last” show in London just to be back in 2002 with the original lineup, that has split in 1984.

Ray Campi Biography

Ray Campi (b. 1934 in Yonkers, New York) is a distinguished musician often called The King of Rockabilly. Campi’s trademark is his white double bass, which he often jumps on top of and “rides” while playing.

After his family moved to Austin, Texas in 1944, Campi began a lifetime of performing and recording music in numerous American genres, including folk, country, and rock and roll as well as rockabilly. He rarely concentrated on his musical career exclusively, working a wide variety of jobs, notably twenty-five years spent as a high-school teacher in Glendale, California.

Campi worked with many of the most prominent pioneers of rock and roll music, including Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, and Gene Vincent. He has fiercely criticized the mainstream music industry, in particular its connections with drug culture.

Ray Campi is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

The Hillbilly Moon Explosion Biography

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work up a plausible old-school sound these days—a few twangy guitars, a pile of echo, a sneering lead vocal on top, and presto, you’re ready to rumble. There’s a difference, however, between a true vintage-tinged update and another in a series of Eddie Cochran copycats. Which brings us to Hillbilly Moon Explosion, Zurich-based rock revivalists who’ve spent the past few years touring Europe, issuing a pair of acclaimed releases (2002’s Introducing The Hillbilly Moon Explosion, 2004’s Bourgeois Baby) while watching their fan base grow by leaps and bounds. Mind you, this is no quaint Sun Records send-up; at their best, HME— bassist/vocalist Oliver Baroni; rhythm guitarist/vocalist Emanuela Hutter; guitarist Duncan James and drummer Luke Weyermann—come across like a Sam Phillips-produced soundtrack to a Sam Raimi shock flick, a furious bed of slap bass and pounding snare underpinning layers of menacing guitar lines, wailing background vocals, and eerie keyboard flourishes, with front-woman Hutter providing the perfect aural/visual focal point, fishnet stockings and all.

When it came time to lay tracks for a third independent effort, head Hillbillies Baroni and Hutter eventually headed for the US and wound up at the door of producer-engineer Mark Neill, owner of San Diego’s Soil of the South Studios, where it’s all-analog, all the time. One could not imagine a better match-up: Neill, a rockabilly bred Southerner whose client list includes The Paladins, Los Straitjackets and Old 97s, is a rock archeologist of the highest order and vast collector of choice old-school audio tools, who knows how to nail it down in just a few takes using as few tracks possible (the way it was before we all had too much time and tracks on our hands). In order to provide Baroni and Hutter with the proper instrumental framework, Neill enlisted the support of cohorts like guitarist Eddie Angel (of Los Straitjackets fame), sax man Archie Thompson and drummer Craig ‘Flash’ Packham, with Neill himself overlaying lead and rhythm guitars. The result is All Grown Up, a faithfully prepared (and mainly mono-mixed) amalgam of unbridled rock tracks that clock in at a Ramones-like two-and-a-half minutes apiece, featuring Baroni’s saxes-with-axes classic “Live the Life,” Hutter’s sensually exotic take on “House of Bamboo,” not to mention a tour-de-force rendering of Mel Larson’s “Little Lil,” with Baroni’s lead vocals authentically distorting like a Little Richard 45. And in case anyone’s forgotten what real country is supposed to sound like, there’s the Baroni-penned “Brown Eyed Boy,” a lilting Loretta Lynn pastiche that belies the murderous intent described within.

Hi-Voltage Biography

Featuring a classic rockabilly sound, Hi-Voltage hails from Edinburgh, Scotland. Formed in 1999, the band tours internationally, playing at music festivals such as Rhythm Riot in the U.K. and Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender in the U.S. The band’s latest release is I Gotta Gun from Rollin Records, 2008.

Band members:
Keith Turner - Vocals
Paul Paterson - Lead Guitar
Matt Curtis - Doghouse Bass
Ian Morris - Drums/Vocals
Kenny Tomlinson - Sax

Guana Batz Biography

The Guana Batz were formed in 1983 in Feltham, Middlesex.

The groups initial line up consisted of Pip Hancox (vocals), Stuart Osbourne (guitar), Dave ‘Diddle’ Turner (drums) Mick Wigfall (Double Bass). This line up didn’t relase any material and so Stuart told Mick he favoured an electric bass at that time and that’s how Mick White replaced him. Then in 1984, the Guana Batz opted for a double bass player again, which was Sam Sardi.

In May 1987, Diddle decided to quit the band as he had decided by then that the hectic touring schedule was beyond him, and elected to dedicate his life to the pursuit of ‘love and money’ (his building job and his girlfriend). He was replaced by former Get Smart sticksman, Johnny Bowler, who now plays Slap Bass for the band, with John Buck on drums.

Diddle sadly died in the summer of 2001 from a stroke, he is sadly missed by all his friends and family.

Johnny Bowler now plays bass for the band, having started out as their drummer. He too lives in San Diego

MEMBERS

Pip: Voice
Stuart Osbourne: Guitar
Johnny Bowler: Drums
John Buck: Drums

Foggy Mountain Rockers Biography

Foggy Mountain Rockers is a German rockabilly band that has been active since 1992.

It all started in a little yard shed in the year 1992 where five Rock `n´ Roll maniacs out of the area around Bonn, Germany got together to start a band. They tried a lot of different things, discussed back and forth trying to find their style. They didn’t just want to cover but were determined to create their own music, incorporating each musician’s favorite feel in order to produce their own compositions based on motives of the British Teddyboy Rock `n´ Roll with influences of Skiffle and Country music.

The small yard shed was only a temporary “new home”. When Jörg “Paul” Webber joined the band as second guitarist, he offered his parents’ basement as a new place to jam. At around the same time the drummer was replaced by an ideal alternative: Sven Schürmann.

At this point in time the members of the band were as follows: Heiko Piecha (vocals), Mario Oehlmann (guitar), Jörg “Paul” Webber (guitar), Frank “Jummi” Jungbluth (bass), Sven Schürmann (drums) and Domenico “Duck” Todaro (percussion).

In this set-up the band performed their first concerts in the Cologne/Bonn area. In the year 1993, through the achievement of a 3rd place at the Rock `n´ Roll-Newcomer-Festival in Bielefeld, the band became known in regions beyond their home base as well. The five musicians now released their first sample recordings.

El Rio Trio Biography

El Rio Trio is a Dutch Rockabilly, Riobilly band, formed in 2001 in Amsterdam, Netherlands and currently recording for Tombstone Records.

Current members

* Bopper – Contrabass, vocals (2001–present)
* Hans – Drums, backing vocals (2001–present)
* Richard – Rhythm Guitar, Blues Harp, vocals (2001–present)
* Wouter - Lead Guitar, vocals (2006-present)

Past members

* Alex – Lead Guitar, vocals (2001–2006)

Darrel Higham Biography

Darrel Higham (born January 5, 1970) is an English rockabilly guitarist.

Higham started playing lead guitar with British rockabilly bands in the late 1980s. By the mid-1990s, he had created the band that would become his main gigging and recording project: Darrel Higham & The Enforcers. Although The Enforcers would go on to become one of the most popular UK Rockabilly bands of their time, it was Higham’s solo projects that would get him far greater recognition, including session work as guitarist with the likes of Chrissie Hynde[1], Jeff Beck, Rocky Burnette, Billy Lee Riley, Shakin’ Stevens (on the 1999 UK tour). Eddie Cochran’s last road band - The Kelly Four - employed Higham as their front man for a 6 month period in 1992 for gigs and recordings in the US.

In 1996, he also appeared in London’s Prince Of Wales Theatre playing the role of Scotty Moore and Eddie Cochran for 8 months in a revival of Jack Good’s Elvis: The Musical.[1] This would lead to further roles as Eddie Cochran in touring theatre shows around the UK for a couple of years afterwards.

He is currently playing guitar for Imelda May

Cave Catt Sammy Biography

Hailing from San Antonio, TX since forming in high school in 1997, Cave Catt Sammy exhibit maturation and a darker lyrical content with their self penned material. They also conjure up learned covers by greats such as Jerry Reed (“Your Money Makes You Purty”) and Roy Orbison (“Cast Iron Arm”, originally recorded for Decca by Peanuts Wilson). No doubt their youthful enthusiasm has been tempered by 5 years of hard national touring and international festival appearances.

Cave Catt Sammy’s previous release, Love Me Like Crazy (their Rubric Records debut) perked the ears of national publications. Articles appeared in Guitar Player, No Depression, Goldmine, Atomic and Country Standard Time. The core band of leader Beau Sample on vocal & upright bass, Steve Scott on guitar, Dustin Hutchinson on Acoustic Guitar and Paul Ward on drums have added tenor sax player Ruben Lara. This adds a bit more raunch and authenticity to the proceedings.