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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, uniting elements of punk rock with rockabilly.
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 often credited with giving the psychobilly subgenre — which fuses punk rock with rockabilly — its distinctive sound and style.
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The Prisoners were a British garage rock band formed in 1980 in Rochester, Kent, England. Their 1960s garage sound made them a regular live fixture in London's underground "psychedelic revival" and "mod revival" scene of the early 1980s, as well as a linchpin of the Medway scene.
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.
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Big Beat Records is a British record label and import distributor owned by Ace Records, specialising in garage rock.
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"I only joined to stop Oli pestering me, but when we found ourselves supporting the likes of The Futureheads, Art Brut, The Buff Medways, The Dirtbombs, Neil's Children and The 5.6.7.8's, I realised that I'd definitely need more ties".
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The Mystery Trend was an American garage rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1964. The band was among the first wave of San Francisco rock groups to emerge from the city's growing music scene. Exhibiting music prowess leaning toward R&B, the Mystery Trend were set apart from their contemporaries who later developed into psychedelic rock groups. Their recording output was limited, with the group's one single, "Johnny Was a Good Boy", being released in 1967.
The Midnite Sound of the Milky Way is a garage rock compilation available on compact disc put out by Big Beat Records (UK) that consists of songs recorded at the Midnite Sound recording studio in Danville, Illinois during the 1960s. The Midnite Sound studio one of many such venues pushing out obscure garage rock in the mid-1960s. The set was compiled by Alec Palao, who also wrote the liner notes. The compilation features twenty four tracks by different various artists who recorded there, and all except four have not been previously compiled. The Midnite Sound recording were often typified by an echo-laden sound, giving them a characteristically "outer space" vibe. The performers tended to be, even by 1960s garage rock norms, untutored and naively strange and noncommercial racket. The groups and artists who recorded at Midnite Sound tended to be less British Invasion-influenced than most, sometimes displaying rockabilly and pre-Beatles stylistics. The best-known act to record for the label was rockabilly/garage rocker Dean Carter, who is known for the song "Rebel Woman", which has appeared on several other compilations such as his Call of the Wild anthology on Big Beat Records. He does not appear on this set, but two performers here, George Jacks and The 12th Knight, do renditions of the song.
The Oxford Circle was an American garage rock and psychedelic rock band from Davis, California, near Sacramento, who were active from 1964 to 1967. They became a popular garage rock act with a proto-punk sound influenced by Them and other blues-based bands of the British Invasion, that, in addition to heavy guitar feedback, came to encompass psychedelia. The group began to make appearances in San Francisco, where they became a top draw in venues such as the Avalon Ballroom. They taped a show at the Avalon in 1966 and, after lying in the vaults for years, it was rereleased in 1997 on the Nuggets from California: Live at the Avalon 1966 anthology. In 1967, they released the single, "Foolish Woman" b/w "Mind Destruction", which is also included, along with several other studio outtakes, on the Nuggets from California compilation. In 1967, drummer Paul Whaley left to play in pioneering heavy rock act Blue Cheer. Lead vocalist and guitarist Gary Lee Yoder and bassist Dehner Patten left to form Kak, who recorded for Epic Records. Yoder subsequently went on to join Blue Cheer in one of their later configurations.
Uptight Tonight: The Ultimate 1960s Garage Punk Primer is a garage rock compilation put out in 2005 by Big Beat Records. The set consists of twenty-six tracks that, with a few exceptions, focus on the harder and more aggressive side of the genre. Steve Legget, commenting in AllMusic, writes that Uptight Tonight "...rips out the attitude and trash riffs pretty darn well, making it perhaps the ultimate single-disc set of this raggedly endearing rock style." The packaging includes well-researched liner notes written by Alec Palao, which provide helpful biographical information about the artists and their songs, as well as extensive photographs of the bands."
Alejandro "Alec" Palao is a British musician, music historian, writer, and reissue producer. In addition to his musical output with groups like the Sting-Rays, the Sneetches, and Mushroom, his works include hundreds of production credits and liner notes on important compilations of vintage rock and soul from Ace Records, Rhino Records, and others, plus a wide array of music-related print and film credits. Palao is unusual in that he normally supervises each aspect of the projects he compiles, including audio transfers and restoration as well as research and liner notes. Honors include five Grammy Award nominations for historical albums and liner notes.
References
- ↑ David Stubbs, Rob Young Ace Records: Labels Unlimited 2008 p.87 "Another example of the type of group Big Beat worked with was The Stingrays. As Alec Palao, the American-based English expat, one time member of the band and subsequent Ace consultant, recalls: "The band was an amalgam of everything we were into, be it rockabilly, garage punk, 1970s punk, surf, northern soul, folk-rock; we were omnivores." The Stingrays were the classic example of a band who had supersized on Ace's ever-increasing and eclectic output of lost music."
- ↑ Martin Jones Lover, Buggers, and Thieves 1900486415 2005 p.153 "This, and the fact that Big Beat were releasing ... ...played a track by then-current psychobilly band The Stingrays."
- ↑ Marc Masters No Wave 2007 Volumes 287-292 p.267 "as punk rock mutated into psychobilly there was a demand for an outlet for the primordial rock music of such acts as Johnny & The Jammers, The Meteors, The Stingrays and The Cramps - and in 1980 the Big Beat label was born."
- ↑ George Gimarc Post Punk Diary: 1980-1982 1997 031216968X p.275 "The Stingrays are proponents of the "back to Billy Haley" sound that has been lurking in English basements for the last two years."
- ↑ The Virgin Encyclopedia of R&B and Soul 1998 p.369 "...in the UK where his influence on 'trash' guitar groups, notably the Stingrays and Milkshakes, has been considerable."
- ↑ Maximum Rocknroll No.15 1984 "The STINGRAYS look rockabilly, act punk, and sound more 60s than anything else (note their covers ...)"
