Brian Setzer – ‘Gotta Have The Rumble’ ( Surfdog/Mascot Label Group)

Brian Setzer – ‘Gotta Have The Rumble’ ( Surfdog/Mascot Label Group)

Right folks get on your blue suede shoes, slick back your hair and grease up your quiff as Brian Setzer is going to rock this town with his guitar twanging new album titled “Gotta have the rumble”.

The first cut is titled “Checkered Flag” and it draws the listener in with a killer groove and has Brian’s signature killer guitar playing all over it.

Next up we have “Smash up on highway one” and Brian is in fine voice and with a hypnotic guitar riff this song is a winner.

“Stack my money” and “The wrong side of the tracks” are pure quality and keep the album flowing along with instant foot tapping anthems.

“Drip Drop” is a slower paced number and has a doo wop feel to it with some stunning female backing vocals and is a truly stunning track.

Up next we have “The cat with 9 wives” and the pace is picked back up with Brian telling us the tale of his 9 wives now this would be too much for the average joe but the rock’n’roll legend that is Brian Setzer is more than cool enough to pull it off.

“Rockabilly Riot” is what it says on the tin. The song is filled with hooks that just don’t lodge in your brain; they smash you over the head and if your leg isn’t shaking along to the rhythm Elvis style then get your pulse checked as you might be dead.

“One bad habit” is another effortlessly cool track dripping with attitude and pure energy.

Closing out the album is the track “ Rockabilly Banjo” and what a way to finish this great album off with a killer chorus that immediately gets the listener singing along and yet again Brian is on top guitar slinger form.

Brian Setzer is a living legend who never fails to deliver quality tunes and “Gotta have the rumble” is an album that from start to finish is up there with his best work and will reward the listener with repeated spins.

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Author: Gareth ‘Hotshot’ Hooper

Bat – Bat Music For Bat People (Cleopatra Records)

Bat – Bat Music For Bat People (Cleopatra Records)

If you were to cross members of Nekromantix, The Brains, Stellar Corpses, and Rezurex! You’d get a batty mix of Psychobilly punk rock and roll so it’s a bit of luck that just that has waled into the ether and dropped onto RPM HQ. With special guest slots form the likes of Jyrki 69 of The 69 Eyes and Danny B. Harvey! It’s fair to say I was sitting up waiting for the air to be filled with the sound of some pretty heady rock and roll. It’s fair to say I wasn’t disappointed.

As I scan the cover I notice a few surprises in the choice of covers ranging from The Damned and some pretty famouse pop tunes given a good seeing to. With fifteen original tracks and five psychobilly-infused covers including their renditions of Danzig (“Mother”), the king of surf Dick Dale (“Misirlou”), The Damned (“Love Song”), Gloria Jones (“Tainted Love”), Portugal. The Man (“Feel It Still”), and Panic! At The Disco “Say Amen” (Saturday Night). To be fair ‘Tainted Love’ has previously been given the Psychobilly treatment from Living End and this is a very similar version. also doing Danzig isn’t too much of a stretch either seeing as both vocals are very similar.  The one that really intrigued me was them taking on the mighty Damned and ‘Love Song’ and to be fair it’s such a monumental tune its never going to touch the original but as far as interpretations go this is decent.  Great crunchy guitar with the drums rolling through like a steam train and whilst they remain fairly faithful its a great attempt and Damned fan needn’t look away. As far as ‘Mother’ goes this is cool as I’m not a huge Danzig fan and I guess it would have been too easy to pick a Misfits tune so this is good and once it breaks open I love it.

 

As for the original tunes I love the groove they get into on ‘Graveyard Girl’ and the guest vocalist work of Jyrki is suitably Gothic and dark How cool would it be if he took a bit of this direction back to 69 Eyes? to be fair twenty tracks is a lot of music to work your way through and whilst the heart is always Rockabilly there is enough variety here and with the inclusion of the covers breaks up the record.  Saying that it could have been two albums six months apart but hey what do I know?

If you want a bunch of songs to pick through to try before you buy then look no further than ’50s inspired ‘She Wolf’ or the melodic ‘We Own The Night’ which is like one of the best songs the Misfits never got hold of. ‘Getaway Car’ is poptastic from the acoustic guitars it’s like a modern ‘Leader Of The Pack’ and could easily sell huge in the American alternative market and crossover. ‘The Man’ follows suit I love the dripping reverb on that guitar lick an interesting cover, to say the least.

Fans of the other bands these guys are in will be interested in checking this out as will rockabilly rebels and fans of quality Rock and Roll out looking for a whole lot of music for your money and excellent tunes they are too.  Pick it up!

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Author: Dom Daley