Psychobilly

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The Meteors are known as the first band in this genre

Psychobilly is a style of music that originated in England in the early 1980s as a reaction to the rockabilly wave. Psychobilly mixes the rhythm and melody of rockabilly with the aggressiveness and energy of punk music . At the beginning of the 1980s, bands such as The Cramps , Polecats , Blue Cats, Stray Cats , The Deltas, Restless and The Ricochets had a particular influence on this style of music, in addition to The Meteors , who were regarded as the official founders of the genre .

description

The word Psychobilly comes for the first time from the song "One Piece at a Time" by Johnny Cash , in which an automobile consisting of individual parts that were stolen from the factory and that did not belong together is called "Psychobilly Cadillac". The use of the word psycho also shows where most Psychobilly bands get their inspiration from: horror films, B-movies, stories about psychopaths and monsters.

Psychobilly is traditionally played with a guitar , bass (usually, but not necessarily, a double bass , slap bass, or an electric bass ) and drums . Variations with saxophone and / or piano / organ are quite common.

History 1980s

The Cramps have had a lasting influence on the genre of music
Mad Sin have set standards as a German band

The band The Meteors , who inspired other bands , is considered to be the founder of Psychobilly, as it established itself over the next few years . At the beginning, most of the Psychobilly bands were released on the English music label Nervous Records.

More bands from the first wave of Psychobilly:

In addition to these psychobilly bands (although many of them did not see themselves as psychobilly bands, but rather as neo-rockabilly bands, a term that is very closely linked to psychobilly and is sometimes even used synonymously) there were also a lot of other bands , especially from the garage punk scene that was very active in Great Britain at the time. These played again and again with Psychobilly bands and received a lot of encouragement from the Psychobilly audience at the time. Some of them were:

There were also the first signs of a psychobilly subculture on the mainland, mostly in Holland, Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland. Some of the first bands that appeared here were z. B .:

On the mainland, too, there were bands from adjacent fringe areas who, due to their identical musical roots and their performance, were counted on the borderline of the psychobilly scene of that time, such as:

  • The Raymen (D), who at that time played a rather dark country-trash-rockabilly with a lot of Cramps influences and
  • The Waltons (D), with their wild and happy cow-punk and live performances, which always had a lot of party character.

ID

Sparky from Demented Are Go

A youth or subculture emerged that identified itself through the following points:

  • more or less uniform outfit, especially the hairstyle, called flat top or just flat. The hair on the sides and mostly on the back of the head is shaved off. The hair on the top of the head is cut from the back to the front, rising flat. When they are turned up (top), they form a plane that slopes down from the forehead to the back of the head (flat). With the use of hairspray and hair wax, they are deliberately styled into a great great or upwards and forwards. The clothes usually resembles a mixture of the clothing styles of punks (studded belts, leather jacket with studs and lettering), Teddy Boys (Creeper shoes, drape jacket, coat applications), rockers (denim or leather jacket, leather pants, biker boots) and mods ( Harringtonjacke , Donkey jacket ) and skinheads (trousers bleached with chlorine cleaners, bomber jacket, DocMartens boots , Fred Perry shirt )
  • Symbolism, the double bass is very popular and appears again and again in all possible forms and contexts (posters, websites, T-shirts, record covers). Otherwise a mixture of the symbolism of the occult / horror (skulls, bones, coffins, crosses, ...) and the 50s rock 'n' roll (dice, pin-ups, flames, billiard ball (8-ball), hot rods, ...)
  • Leisure time behavior, going to concerts and festivals, although it is not uncommon for French supporters of this youth culture to be found at a festival in Dresden or Danish supporters in Bavaria. A lot of alcohol is usually consumed at these concerts and a form of pogo is danced, the so-called " wrecking " (sometimes with flour thrown from the stage into the mosh pit or wrecking pit, which sticks to the sweaty bodies of the dancers) .
  • Preferences for certain forms of media such as B-movies, horror films and books , comics
  • The music as the main feature.
  • The subculture is traditionally “ non-political ” and protects itself against being appropriated by political groups, which does not exclude that concerts are also attended by supporters of the right and left-wing extremist spectrum. The followers of this subculture call themselves Psychobillys or psychos for short.

History 1990s

Nekromantix at a concert in 2011
Tiger Army is one of the most famous American psychobilly bands

In the early 1990s, the center of the scene shifted from Great Britain to the mainland. The number of fans, bands and events on the island decreased rapidly - at the same time their number increased on the mainland. Holland and Germany emerged as the center. With the appearance of the band Skitzo in the late 1980s, a new style came into psychobilly music. Some bands played very fast and distorted and the vocals became more aggressive. Bands of this second big wave were for example:

In other countries, especially in the USA, psychobilly bands were, with a few exceptions (Monsters (CH), Quakes (USA), Happy Drivers (F), Brioles (E)), a fringe phenomenon and a scene like in Germany or Holland did not exist.

Japan is an exception. There was already an active psychobilly scene here at the end of the 80s, which, with a few exceptions ( The Falcons ), was hardly noticed by Europeans.

That all changed very quickly in the late 1990s. Psychobilly was suddenly a subculture with bands and active scenes in Australia (e.g. Fireballs), Brazil (e.g. Os Catalepticos), France (e.g. Banana Metallik), Ukraine (e.g. Mad Heads) , Russia (e.g. Meantraitors) and other countries. In the USA in particular, there has been a real psychobilly boom in recent years (a prominent example is Tiger Army ).

It goes so far that the really big annual top festivals, which originally took place in England and then in Germany, are now taking place in the USA. The largest psychobilly festival in the world, the Satanic Stomp , still takes place every year in Germany at the beginning of April. In 2006 the filmmakers David Kornowski and Halloweenmike worked on the topic Psychobilly and published it in a comprehensive film documentary entitled: The Story of Psychobillies Part 1/3. It is the first documentary about the psychobilly subculture.

Discography

Samplers that give an overview of Psychobilly are e.g. B .:

  • Rockabilly Psychosis and the Garage Disease: The Beginnings of Psychobilly and Its Roots
  • Blood on the cats: The first attempt at a Psychobilly compilation
  • Stomping at the Klub Foot (series): Live recordings from the legendary Klub Foot, which was the center of the Psychobilly in the 80s
  • Psycho attack over Europe (series): International compilation series from the 80s

Important albums

The bass player from Demented Are Go

Subgenres

Web links

Commons : Psychobilly  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence