Psychobilly is a rock music fusion genre that mixes 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." Dark imagery is also central to an offshoot of psychobilly known as gothabilly.
The Meteors are an English psychobilly band formed in 1980. Originally from London, England, they are often credited with giving the psychobilly subgenre — which fuses punk rock with rockabilly — its distinctive sound and style.
The Nekromantix is a Danish-American psychobilly band founded in 1989 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Their lyrics are generally structured around monster and horror themes. A central icon of the band's image is founder and frontman Kim Nekroman's "coffinbass", a custom-built double bass with a body in the shape of a coffin and a headstock the shape of a cross. Nekroman has been the sole constant member of the band. The current lineup consists of guitarist Francisco Mesa and drummer Rene "Delamuerte" Garcia, known as a guitarist and singer of the Canadian band "The Brains".
The Reverend Horton Heat is the stage name of American musician Jim Heath as well as the name of his Dallas, Texas-based psychobilly trio. Heath is a singer, songwriter and guitarist. A Prick magazine reviewer called Heath the "godfather of modern rockabilly and psychobilly".
Scream is an American hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C.; they originally formed in the suburb of Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia, United States. Scream originally formed in 1981 within the vanguard of the Washington Hardcore explosion. In 2009 the band reunited, and as of January 2012 were on tour in Europe. As of 2017, the band was still touring in both America and the United Kingdom.
Def FX was an Australian band created by Sean Lowry (keyboards) in 1990 and included Fiona Horne on lead vocals, Blake Gardiner on guitar and Martyn Basha on bass - the band had no drummer. They released four albums, Light Speed Collision, Baptism, Ritual Eternal, Majick before disbanding in April 1997. For United States releases and touring they used Definition FX as their band name to avoid confusion with similarly named groups.
Demented Are Go are a Welsh psychobilly band that was formed around 1982 in 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.
Sun Dial is a British psychedelic rock band formed in 1990 by Gary Ramon.
Hecate Enthroned is a Welsh Symphonic black metal band formed and based in Wrexham. They formed in 1993 as a blackened death metal act under the name Amethyst, changing their name to Daemonum later on. In 1995 the band changed its name to their current one and embraced a symphonic black metal style that was constantly compared to early Cradle of Filth, although since 1999 their work has strayed from their earlier symphonic black metal style and has incorporated more elements of melodic death metal.
Chixdiggit is a Canadian pop punk band formed in Calgary, Alberta. The band performed internationally, and released a number of studio albums, mainly with light-hearted pop songs, usually about girls and relationships.
Bluebottle Kiss, sometimes seen as BBK, were an Australian guitar-based, indie rock band formed in 1993 by mainstay, Jamie Hutchings, on guitar and vocals. They have issued six albums, Higher Up the Firetrails (1995), Fear of Girls (1996), Patient (1999), Revenge Is Slow (2002), Come Across (2003) and Doubt Seeds (2006).
The Dubrovniks were an Australian rock band which formed in August 1986 as The Adorable Ones. Early in 1987 they changed their name to The Dubrovniks in acknowledgement to the birthplace of two founding members, Roddy Radalj, and Boris Sujdovic. Dubrovnik is a town in Croatia. Both Radalj and fellow founder James Baker had previously founded Hoodoo Gurus in 1981. All three had earlier associations in the Perth punk scene of the late 1970s. The group issued four albums, Dubrovnik Blues, Audio Sonic Love Affair, Chrome, and Medicine Wheel (1994), before disbanding in 1995.
Klingonz are a British psychobilly band formed in 1988. Their original line-up had Titch doing lead vocals, Doyley on guitar, Strangy playing double bass and Mocker on drums. Strangy was replaced by Eddie after their second album, Blurb. Strangy joined Numbskulls. Mick of Phantom Rockers would later replace Doyley on Guitar. In 1998 this line-up recorded an EP entitled The Mad are Sane under the name Looper.
"Strange Kind of Woman" is a song by British rock band Deep Purple that was originally released as a follow-up single after "Black Night" in early 1971. The song also became a hit, peaking at No. 8 on the UK chart and Germany, and No. 1 in Denmark. The 1996 remix by Roger Glover later appeared on the re-release of the band's 1971 album Fireball, while the original version can be found on various Deep Purple compilations. Although not part of the Fireball recording sessions, "Strange Kind of Woman" was included on the US and Canadian editions of the album, in lieu of the track "Demon's Eye" on the UK edition.
Nursery Crimes were a hardcore band from Melbourne. They formed in early 1989 by Phil Rose on lead vocals. They played both locally and around Australia before disbanding in 1994. They released two full length albums, some singles and extended plays. Their debut releases were "All Torn up Inside", No Time for That Crime and Fun Hurts!. They were early pioneers and supporters of "all-ages", no-alcohol gigs, to allow a wider and younger audience to experience live music. Nursery Crimes were a support act on Australian tours by L7, Henry Rollins, Faith No More, Fugazi and All. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described how Nursery Crimes' "sound was built around melodic yet crunching guitar riffs, frenetic arrangements, rapid fire lead vocals and sweet harmonies". The group reunited for a series of gigs in 2006.
The Stetsons are an Australian country and western band formed by members of GANGgajang, Mental As Anything and Flying Emus. They released a self-titled album in 1987. In 1997 some of the original members got back together and released a second album called Their Most Successful Album...Ever. Their single "There's A Train In My Head" from their self-titled debut album was used in Crocodile Dundee II.
Wild Pumpkins at Midnight was an Australian blues/roots rock band which formed in Tasmania in 1984, with Debra Manskey on vocals and guitar, Dan Tuffy on bass guitar and vocals and Michael Turner on guitar and vocals.
Rail were an Australian indie guitar pop group, which formed in 1993 as Sleeper. In 1994 they changed their name, first to Fragment and then to Rail. The initial line-up was Ashley Naylor on guitar and vocals, David Sayer on bass guitar, Dan Vertessy on vocals and guitar, and Ian Williams on drums. They released two albums, Bad Hair Life (1995) and Goodbye Surfing Hello God! (1997). At the ARIA Music Awards of 1996 they were nominated for Best New Talent for Bad Hair Life, while its lead single, "Immune Deficiency", was nominated for ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist – Single. The group disbanded in late 1998. Ian Gregory Williams died, by drowning, in mid-1999, aged 28.
The Bootleg Family Band were an Australian folk, R&B and rock band formed in 1973 by Brian Cadd on lead vocals with Geoff Cox on drums, Penny Dyer on backing vocals, Gus Fenwick on bass guitar, Brian Fitzgerald on keyboards, Angela Jones on lead and backing vocals, Louise Lincoln on backing vocals, Tony Naylor on lead guitar and Russell Smith on trumpet. The group became the in-house band for Cadd's label, Bootleg Records. They also released their own material and had chart success with cover versions of "Your Mama Don't Dance" and "The Shoop Shoop Song ", which both reached the top 10 on Australian singles charts. The group toured the United States and performed on the TV shows, The Midnight Special and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert in 1974. Early in the following year they trimmed back to a five-piece line-up as The Bootleg Band. Late that year, Cadd left to work in the US and the remaining members renamed themselves as Avalanche. That group issued a self-titled album in September 1976 and disbanded in 1978. Cadd reassembled the Bootleg Family Band in 2015 to release a studio album, Bulletproof, which was supported by a short tour.
Blue Ruin were an Australian blues rock band, which started as Scrap Museum in 1984. Their third studio album, I'm Gonna Smile, was nominated for Best Independent Release at the ARIA Music Awards of 1991. The group had released three other studio albums, Such Sweet Thunder, Flame and Tattoo Tears (1993), before disbanding in 1995. Mainstay members were Ian "Quincy" McLean on lead vocals and Mulaim Vela on lead guitar.
