Devil Doll (rockabilly band)

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Devil Doll (12) .jpg

Devil Doll , roughly translated "Devil Doll" is the stage name of American Rockabilly - Psychobilly - roots rock - and 1940 - Swing -Musikerin Colleen Duffy (* in Cleveland , USA ) and the name of the band, with which they occurs.

Musical career

Biographical information on the band's founder, Colleen Duffy from Cleveland, Ohio , is scarce. In particular, the singer does not give the media any information about her year of birth or age. Raised in Old Brooklyn, Cleveland, Duffy moved to New York City in the mid-1990s . Colleen Duffy currently lives in Los Angeles.

On her website, she said she was heavily influenced by Elvis Presley and old black and white films in her youth . She was very positive about her childhood: “My parents did everything to ensure that I enjoy music and that I keep it. I grew up with Elvis, Hank Williams and Johnny Cash , so to speak . My first instrument was the violin, followed by the piano and guitar. When I was four years old, I had a toy guitar, so I moved around the neighborhood and told everyone I was Elvis's daughter. "

According to the company, I Love Rock 'n' Roll by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts was an important impetus to make music . “It was Joan Jett who suddenly made me take music seriously. A woman in black leather, with a guitar and self-confident lyrics - nothing like this has ever happened before! But that's it for me, that's how I wanted to be. ” After Duffy had played in various punk and ska bands, she started a rockabilly & psychobilly radio show on 91.1 WRUW in the early 1990s . The show, which ran from 1990 to 1995, made Duffy known as the first female rockabilly DJ in the United States. In addition, Colleen Duffy was involved in founding the rockabilly and 1940ies swing label Hep Cat Records .

Colleen Duffy started the band project Devil Doll, also her new stage name, in 2001 in New York , her new home. The name comes from an old song title by Roy Orbison . In the same year the first CD with the name Queen of Pain was released . In addition to original compositions, it contained a version of the old Peggy Lee hit Fever . The second CD, The Return of Eve , was released in 2007. The group was able to profile itself on the one hand through its idiosyncratic mixture of punk, psychobilly, ska, Latin , swing and rockabilly, on the other hand through their live performances. Devil Doll played in well-known clubs such as the House of Blues in Los Angeles and Coney Island High in New York. Devil Doll performed jointly with Reverend Horton Heat , the Cramps , the Detroit Cobras , Royal Crown Revue and the neoburlesque star Dita Von Teese . Colleen Duffy also featured on the covers of Tattoo Art Magazine , Rockabilly Monthly and other magazines, as well as the CD compilation CoolGrrrls Kick Ass!

In 2010 the band made several appearances in Germany .

In 2014, Duffy contracted Ehlers-Danlos syndrome , fibromyalgia , chronic pain syndrome and endometriosis and was temporarily confined to a wheelchair. In September 2017, work began on a new album, in which the singer fell ill with her upper respiratory tract in 2018. The third album was funded by crowdfunding at Indiegogo . It was already available as a download for supporters from April 22, 2020. The regular publication took place on May 1st.

Style and reviews

As with other epigones of the neo-swing wave such as the Cherry Poppin 'Daddies and Brian Setzer or newer acts such as Imelda May and Ingrid Lucia , the mix of older and newer styles is particularly appreciated by the music press. The Stuttgart club Zwölfzehn , in which Devil Doll played in March 2010, classified the sound of Devil Doll on its website as follows: “The attractive American brings sex back to rock'n'roll and rockabilly, the sound of Devil Doll & Her band is very special and varied: Sometimes a wicked 1940s jazz number is lasciviously breathed into the microphone, then again huge rockabilly rhythms are fired into the audience! "

The live performance by Devil Doll was highlighted in a similarly positive manner on the city of Bremerhaven's online site : “The first notes of 'You are the best thing and the worst thing' sound from the loudspeaker system. Then Devil Doll steps on the stage, she smiles auspiciously into the audience, lifts an eyebrow and the devil lets his doll off the roll. There are almost 160 cm of concentrated sex appeal wrapped in black and red lacquer. A mixture of Betty Boo and Dita von Teese, somewhere in the annals between Twin Peaks and a Quentin Tarantino film. "

The singer explains the fact that the music and performance of Devil Doll has so far not received much feedback from the music industry by saying that the major labels mainly use concepts that have already proven themselves in the past. This will then be repeated as long as someone can be found who will buy it. She also told Vail Daily , a newspaper in Vail , Colorado , that she attaches great importance to staying authentic - her music will continue to be "a little naughty, sexy and a little dirty ."

Discography

Albums

  • 2002: Queen of Pain (digital track)
  • 2007: The Return of Eve
  • 2020: Lover & a Fighter

Singles

  • 2017: Olde Soul (Download)
  • 2019: Back Home to Me / Mais Ce N'est Qu'une Illusion (It's Only Make Believe) (7 ")
  • 2020: Purse Whiskey (Download)
  • 2020: Ballad of the Rearview Mirror (feat.Charlie Overbey) (Download)
  • 2020: Lover & a Fighter (Download)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Northeast Ohio Native Devil Doll Launches Campaign to Finance Her First Album in More Than 10 Years (English) , Jeff Niesel on Cleveland Scene , January 22, 2018
  2. ↑ a b Dynamite! Magazine # 55 , Devil Doll: Returning Sex to Rock'n'Roll 4/2008.
  3. ↑ Biographical information on the website of Devil Doll
  4. ↑ Devil Doll Return After More Than a Decade with 'Lover & a Fighter,' New Single “Purse Whiskey” (English) , Tina Benitez-Eves on American Song Writer , March 26, 2020
  5. ↑ Devil Doll - Medical Expenses (English) Fundraiser by the singer on December 7, 2014, accessed April 27, 2020
  6. ↑ New Album Release - May 1, 2020 , Colleen Duffy on Indiegogo : April 21, 2020 update, accessed April 27, 2020
  7. ↑ Sensational start to the European tour: Devil Doll inspires in the full horse stable. Concert report on www.bremerhaven.de ( Memento from February 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Vail Daily website, Nov. 27, 2008

Web links