Batmobile | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Netherlands |
| Genres | Psychobilly, rockabilly |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Labels | Count Orlok/Butler/Music on Vinyl |
| Members | Jeroen Haamers Eric Haamers Johnny Zuidhof |
| Website | batmobileforever |
Batmobile is a Dutch psychobilly band from Rotterdam and Breda, formed in 1983. They were the first band not from the United Kingdom to perform at the influential psychobilly club, Klub Foot and are considered the seminal Dutch psychobilly band.
Batmobile was formed as a hobby in 1983. The band continues today with the founding lineup of Jeroen Haamers on vocals and guitar, Eric Haamers on bass, and Johnny Zuidhof on drums. [1] The band played only covers of early rockabilly and rock and roll by Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry, and Johnny Burnette. [2] The band is named after the Batmobile, the car driven by Batman. The name was suggested by Zuidhof who presented the idea for the name during band practice. [3] The band began playing various gigs at bars and one time, while playing a bar in a rural area, the band received a bad response from farmers who were at the bar. The band began playing covers extra fast, in a punk rock style to get everyone's attention. Bar staff and some patrons enjoyed the music and the band started playing psychobilly shows. [2] Their debut self-titled EP was released in 1985 on Rockhouse/Kix4U. [4]
The band's first major gig outside of the Netherlands was at Klub Foot in London in 1986. [1] They were the first band not from the United Kingdom to play at the club. [2] They played with Demented Are Go and Torment. [1] That same year, Zuidhof and the band's sound engineer, Eddie, created Count Orlok records after a lawsuit with their then current label, Rockhouse/Kix4U. That label failed to pay the band royalties and Batmobile ended up suing the label. They won in court and their contract ended, hence the founding of Court Orlok. [2] Count Orlok released the band's first full-length album, Bambooland in 1987. The band toured Switzerland, West Germany, England and Austria. [4]
In 1988, Batmobile released Buried Alive!, a collection of concert and demo recordings. That same year, they released Bail Was Set at $6,000,000 on Nervous Records. The album featured a cover of "Ace of Spades" by Motörhead. They returned to their own label, Count Orlok, to release Amazons from Outer Space in 1989. In 1990, they released an EP, Batmobile is Dynamite!, and the following year, their sixth full-length album, Sex Starved . The band went on hiatus in 1993 and re-emerged in 1995 for a tour of Japan. They released a live album from the tour in 1996. The following year, they released Welcome to Planet Cheese, in which the band abandoned their signature psychobilly style to perform songs in a style influenced by B movies. This is the only album where Eric Haamers does not play an upright bass. [4]
In 2000, the band went on a hiatus for personal reasons. [2] Their last concert, before their hiatus, was in New York City. [4] A tribute album for the band was produced in Japan. [1] The tribute featured 33 international bands and a song contributed by Batmobile, titled "Baby Go Back Home." [4] They performed live again in 2003 after an invitation to play the Satanic Stomp festival in Speyer, Germany. [3] They performed at the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles, California, in 2005. In 2007, a second tribute to Batmobile was released in Japan. [4] In 2008, Batmobile did a split album with Peter Pan Speedrock, in which Speedrock covered Batmobile songs and Batmobile covered Speedrock songs. The idea of the album was spawned at a party by the band and Speedrock. The band no longer does major tours, but, continues to perform at least once a few times a month and at special events. [2] On October 2, 2020 "Big Bat" was released. In 2023 the band celebrated its 40th anniversary with a new album called Brace for Impact and a club tour.
During the band's hiatus in the early 2000s, bassist Eric Haamers continued to perform. He played in The Gecko Brothers, The Cactus Cowboys and Tio Gringo. In 2004, Jeroen Haamers started an Elvis Presley cover band called Triple Dynamite and in 2020 he, his brother Eric and Mark Eeftens started a Alt Country band called JJ's Country. Jeroen also plays in Speedmobile, a loud rock 'n roll band together with the Barts from PPSR [4]
"We didn't get into psychobilly, but that got into us." – Jeroen Haamers, Batmobile lead singer and guitar [2]
The band originally started out playing covers of early American rockabilly and rock and roll, and were initially disinterested in playing psychobilly, because of the bands that were performing this style in the Netherlands in the 1980s, which Batmobile deemed to be "boring and corny". Later, the band took their love for early American rockabilly and blended with punk after experimenting at a concert. [2]
Singer and guitarist Jeroen Haamers is the lead songwriter. It takes him between "two minutes..to two days," to write a song, and that "Inspiration comes at the weirdest times..in bed, on the toilet, or in the shower." [3] The band attempts to bring a new sound to each album they record. They often produce their own albums, with each band member producing a certain number of songs on each record.
The Cramps were an American rock band formed in 1976 and active until 2009. Their lineup rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy the only ever-present members. The band are credited as progenitors of the psychobilly subgenre, fusing elements of punk rock with rockabilly. The addition of guitarist Bryan Gregory and drummer Pam Balam resulted in the first complete lineup in April 1976. They released their debut album Songs the Lord Taught Us in 1980. The band split after the death of lead singer Interior in 2009.
Psychobilly is a rock music fusion genre that fuses elements of rockabilly and punk rock. It's been defined as "loud frantic rockabilly music", it has also been said that it "takes the traditional countrified rock style known as rockabilly, ramp[ing] up its speed to a sweaty pace, and combin[ing] it with punk rock and imagery lifted from horror films and late-night sci-fi schlock,... [creating a] gritty honky tonk punk rock."
The Meteors are an English psychobilly band formed in 1980. Originally from London, England, they are one of the pioneers of the psychobilly subgenre — which fuses punk rock with rockabilly — its distinctive sound and style. "Starting in the neo-rockabilly scene, the Meteors were initially shunned for being too spooky and mean. Excuses for exclusion from rockabilly concerts varied from the band having too extreme of a sound to their drummer having green hair." The Meteors blended elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and horror film themes in their music and are thought to be one of the first bands to use the label 'Psychobilly' after bands The Misfits and The Cramps distanced themselves from the genre label due to the genre's rising popularity.
Demented Are Go are a Welsh psychobilly band that was formed around 1982 near Cardiff, Wales. They were one of the earliest in the initial wave of bands to mix punk rock with rockabilly, and as a result, are considered to be highly influential to the psychobilly scene. The band often claims their name originated from the phrase "Demon teds are go!" as an adaptation of the phrase "Thunderbirds are go!" from the Thunderbirds TV series. Psychobilly is often associated with horror.
The Quakes are an American psychobilly band from Buffalo, New York, United States. They were formed in 1986. When the band began in the late 1980s, there was no psychobilly scene to speak of in the United States. The Quakes moved to London to try to find an audience.
Southern Culture on the Skids, also sometimes known as SCOTS, is an American rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
"Blue Moon of Kentucky" is a waltz written in 1945 by bluegrass musician Bill Monroe and recorded by his band, the Blue Grass Boys. Some think the origins may trace back to "Roll Along, Kentucky Moon", a similar waltz recorded 20 years prior by Jimmie Rodgers. The song has since been recorded by many artists, including Elvis Presley and Paul McCartney. The song is the official bluegrass song of Kentucky.
"Motorhead" is a song written by Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister while he was a member of the English space rock band Hawkwind. It was later recorded by Motörhead, as he called it this instead of Bastard on his then manager's advice.
Lee Rocker is an American musician. He is a member of the rockabilly revival band Stray Cats.
The Creepshow is a Canadian rock band from Burlington, Ontario. The band formed in 2005 when the four original members got together with the purpose of starting a psychobilly band. The Creepshow writes the majority of their songs about horror films.
Peter Pan Speedrock is a Dutch rock band from Eindhoven, Netherlands.
Rick Saucedo is a musician, songwriter, actor, and Elvis tribute artist.
Klub Foot was a London nightclub in the psychobilly scene of the early and mid-1980s. It started in the heyday of the psychobilly scene in 1982.
Nitkie is a psychobilly band from Republic of Belarus, now based in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. The band is first and only psychobilly band in Republic of Belarus, and it is one of the most known psychobilly bands of the post-Soviet space.
Raucous Records is a British record label focusing on rockabilly, psychobilly, rock and roll, and surf music. The label has released albums such as "Between The Polecats" by The Polecats, "Rock 'n' Roll Fever" by Jay Chance, "Rockabilly Express" by Gary Setzer and Barry Ryan, "The Lost Album" by The Meteors, "Real Gone Katz" by The Go-Katz, "Reeferbilly Blowout" by The Shakin' Pyramids, "My Ol' Guitar" by Gary Bennett ex-BR5-49, and "This is Rockabilly Clash" by various Rockabilly bands performing the songs of The Clash.
Calamitiez is a Spanish psychobilly band from Barcelona, Spain.
Sex Starved is the 7th album by Dutch psychobilly band Batmobile. It was recorded August–September 1990 at the Commodore Studio, Zelhem, the Netherlands and released in 1991 on Count Orlock Records.
The Go-Katz are a British psychobilly band formed in Loughborough in 1986. The original members were Howard Raucous on vocals, Beaker on guitar, Andy Young (guitar), Moff on Double Bass, and Wolf on drums. The band members have formerly made up Loughborough bands The Exorcists and The Go-Go Dakotas.
The Sting-rays were a British rock band from Greater London which recorded on Ace Records' garage and psychedelic subsidiary Big Beat and Joe Foster's Kaleidoscope Sound in the 1980s.
Restless is a British rockabilly band formed in 1978. The group got their name from the song "Restless" by Carl Perkins. The band performed their first gig in Sudbury in 1980, with Mark Harman as front-man on guitar and vocals, and Ben Cooper on drums; the two shared songwriting duties. After the second album was released in 1984, the band re-organised, dropping Mark's brother Paul on bass to be replaced by Jeff Bayly. The band are credited with being pioneers of neo-rockabilly.
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