WMRE Executive Staff - Campus Life

ARE YOU ROCKABILLY?
Conversations with a Rockabilly Hero
“Have you accepted rock and roll as your personal lord and savior? Have you let rock and roll into your heart and
have you been redeemed by the holy fucking spirit of rhythm and blues?”
No. I hadn’t.
Not yet at least. But as he leveled this question at me—leaning over the table, peering at me with fi ery bloodshot
eyes, and pointing at me with his burning cigarette—I couldn’t help but begin to question everything I had ever known
about music, God, and rock and roll.
We were in his hotel room, a Friday night following an Atlanta show. The ashtray was by this point over-fl owing,
and the beer all but gone. He sat in a wrinkled crimson suit, tie undone and pompadour disheveled. He doesn’t tell me his
name, but only says to call him “The Rock & Roll Hero.”
He is a rockabilly; a rare and endangered breed of musician savagely protecting a seemingly archaic tradition of
rock and roll forged in post-WWII America. He and his rockin’ brethren proudly uphold the traditions of Elvis Presley, Jerry
Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. Armed with an acoustic bass, a rhythm guitar, and some drums, these noble
warriors stave off the onslaught of hip-hop, rap, indie-rock, and pop.
“Its not that we don’t like other music,” says The Rock & Roll Hero (who later admitted to being a huge fan of
Outkast), “its just that rockabilly speaks to us in ways that other music can’t. You simply will never get a sound more raw,
more powerful, more emotional, and more energized then this rockabilly sound.”
I asked him if he really thought that nothing was more raw, powerful, energized, and emotional then Elvis.
“Well, to be sure,” replied our Hero, sipping on his can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, “Elvis was in another time and place.
And anyway, he just ripped off what the black rhythm and blues musicians had been doing for years and rode the fucking
rocket of other people’s talent to stardom. Elvis was a fuck. But that sound he used was essential. You got to remember
that in 1955 [rock and roll] was like a fucking revolution. The rock and roll menace took over the country while everyone
over thirty-fi ve stayed in doors waiting for the storm to pass. Dig? Well that stuff now seems tame, but as times have
changed so has the music. What we do now is a lot harder, it’s called psychobilly.”
He paused to light another cigarette, and I asked him to elaborate about psychobilly.
“Well, you see it’s like the angry cousin of rockabilly. It was once described to me as what happened when punk
and rockabilly got drunk, fell in love, had a kid at a truck-stop, and left it to be raised by murderous mechanics.” He
laughed and I noticed for the fi rst time that two of his teeth were missing. Important ones. Ones he needed. “Psychobilly
is all about love and murder and gasoline. It’s about giving people the fucking creeps; making them fall in love, shit their
pants, and want to dance all at the same time.”
Given the isolated nature of this specifi c subgenre of music, I assumed the audience would be somewhat limited.
But the Hero explained to me otherwise,
“Rockabillys are among us. They could be your neighbors, your friends, even your family. There are many more
then you would expect. Besides, it’s huge in Japan. Like, every fucking Japanese person is a rockabilly I hear.”
I asked if him if he’s ever been to Japan. He said no.
“The point is,” he continued, “is that if you love rock and roll—you’re a rockabilly at heart. ‘Cause everything rock,
from the Rolling Stones and the Beatles to AC/DC or Metallica, they owe it all to those fi rst few originators, those fi rst few
rockabillys.”
There it is, in a nutshell. If you love rock and roll—you’re a rockabilly at heart. So next time you go “jam out” to
your latest Hootie and the Blowfi sh or Maroon 5 CD, remember our Hero: valiantly spreading the gospel of rock and roll,
selfl essly championing the back-beat, and nobly defending a musically endangered way of life.
–Nicholas Justice
The Rock & Roll Hero is a drummer for the Atlanta based Screamin’ Demons. They will be playing Captain Skiff’s Shrimp
and Boogie Club in Memphis on June 3rd , the Springwater Supper Club and Lounge in Nashville on June 4th , and will be
back here in Atlanta on June 12th at Mulligan’s. Mulligan’s
WMRE 2004-2005 DJ Awards
Best Show: The Quiet Storm (Cecillia Kelley, Tiana Patterson, Daniel Spivack)
Best Rookie Show: Craig and Drew Show (Craig Newman, Drew Bury)
Best Personality: Craig Newman (check the spelling)
Lifetime Achievement Award: Noah Gold
WMRE Bonecrusher Award: Mark Cullip