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The Troubadours / The Cocktail Preachers / The Volcanos
My wife and I drove over to Chicago to catch this show. The Surf show was
part of a larger series of Exotica 2003 events. We didn't attend any of
these events, but wow, wow, wow, what a great show!
First of all it was really great meeting a lot of other list members plus
the band members. I got to chat briefly with Moon Dawg from St. Louis, Mike
& Sandy from Ninth Wave (what a surprise to see you guys!!), Ivan from The
Space Cossacks / Troubadours, Rick Mills from The Volcanos, plus Steve and
(??? - sorry I forgot your name!) from The Cocktail Preachers. All of these
people are super nice and great. Thanks guys! I regret not being able to
hang around after the show and chat more with you. Was there anyone else
from the lists present?
The Phyllis Musical Inn is pretty small, and the place was packed! The
capacity of the club was 50, but it was easily way more than this...I'd say
70-80, maybe 100 at one point. I bet lots of folks from the Exotica events
came over who really didn't know what surf was, but they got a great lesson.
In between acts was a "burlesque" performer...I dunno, it was kind of oddly
out of place and left a lot of people scratching their heads. Maybe I'm just
a square. Enough said.
First up was The Troubadours, Ivan's Shadows tribute band. I have now seen
these guys 3 times and have worn out my superlatives. That night they seemed
to be in very good spirits and having a great time. They sounded and played
even better than the last time I saw them in Indianapolis last month.
Complete with matching black and white guitars (tele, strat, p-bass) and
white shirt & black ties, these guys ripped into the gems from The Shadows
catalog. Ivan Sr continues to astound me with his utter mastery of Bruce
Welch's rhythm guitar parts. I cannot believe how fast the guy can strum and
do all those chord changes. Jim is a fantastic bass player, and was really
having a great time. He sounded great too, with big booming bass lines. Ivan
announced it was Jim's second to last show and that he would be missed.
Indeed. I hope they can find a replacement. Ivan Jr again nailed the Hank
Marvin trademark sound and licks. I thought he really sounded great that
night, I could hear everything very well and his tone was spot on with the
Vox AC30 and echo effect. Very cool! And again, Dane kicked major ass on the
"Little B" drum solo. The exuberance that these guys had was radiating in
full force, the crowd really appreciated them even if they were not familiar
with The Shadows. I brought along an old friend of mine who was completely
unfamiliar with the material and he was very impressed. My only complaint
was there were too many slow songs. Don't get me wrong, they were played
beautifully, but the crowd that night was really eager to rock. I think Ivan
Jr recognized this when he said "Okay, enough of this slow shit" and
proceeded to tear into the faster material. Great job guys!! Next time play
Gonzales!!! :) It was a very memorable performance. I loved it.
Next up were The Cocktail Preachers. I have never seen them, and only have
one of their CDs. To be honest I hadn't listened to it that much. These guys
really surprised me at how good they were! Steve is a maniac on guitar,
jumping around and screaming. He bashes out chords one second and then leaps
into some cool leads the next. I believe it was their first show with a new
rhythm guitar player, who also does a little slide guitar too. (I really
enjoyed talking to this guy before the show, if you see this, please email
me!) The rhythm guitar player really added a lot to their sound and he
played great. All in all, these guys really rocked!!! An awesome surprise! I
will definitely be buying their stuff now. They have very cool originals,
and did some really great covers. Satan's Pilgrims "Vampiro" was very
appreciated by me. Another great cover was Los Straitjacket's "Kawanga".
Steve was playing a very interesting guitar: green Jazzmaster body,
Jazzmaster pickups, *strat* trem, and a maple (non-Fender?) neck. The new
rhythm guitar player had a very cool Inca silver Jazzmaster (American
reissue?). Sweet. Steve was playing through a Deluxe Reverb and I didn't
catch the rhythm guitar players amp. Fender something. Bass player Phil had
a very cool telecaster style P-Bass (51 reissue?). (Sorry I didn't say hi to
you Phil...I didn't realize who you were until your set started and then
didn't catch you afterwards). Adding to the eye candy were two go-go
dancers, including the aforementioned burlesque gal (she was fine here).
Again, Steve, thanks for being such a great guy and setting up this show.
Another great job!!
Oh crap, how could I forget?!! Ivan Jr jumped up on stage with the Cocktail
Preachers and reprised his performance of The Space Cossack's "Red Sunrise"
(performed last month with The Nebulas). Ivan later told me that he wanted
me to know he doesn't go around asking bands if he can play Red Sunrise with
them. They asked him. Ha-ha. Incredible!!! And then, get this, they all
played Baja followed by Pipeline. With three guitars on stage it was very
impressive. Fun, fun, fun. Red Sunrise especially sounded tremendously
powerful. The guys on stage were all smiles.
Wow, if that wasn't enough, then came The Volcanos. THE FREAKING VOLCANOS!!
In my opinion, these guys don't get mentioned enough on the lists. I think
they are one of the greatest 90's surf bands, not to mention their Spaghetti
Western alter-egos, The Hellbenders. I saw them last year in Indianapolis,
and they were fantastic then. This time, they played with even more energy
and gusto if that's possible. The crowd size must have been a factor (at
Indy, there was only 20 of us in attendance when they came on...sad). At one
point, the bass player was sweating so much under the lights he had to play
an entire song with his eyes closed to keep it from streaming into his eyes.
The Volcanos can be called a trad surf band. However, lots of trad bands
just play a melody, move it up or down an octave, and then throw in a chorus
and call it done at a little over two minutes. The Volcanos carefully
construct 3-6 minute songs that often contain 4 or 5 guitar themes, just
plain brilliant. BUY THEIR STUFF NOW!!! Guitar players Rick and Chris trade
leads in mid-song, the bass player is jumping around, and the drummer Bill
has an encyclopedia of goofy faces and gestures he makes while playing. The
drummer is really amazing, he has this really unusual playing style with one
arm fully extended off to the side, sitting bolt upright, arms moving a
million miles an hour. These guys have been playing together for years, are
apparently the best of friends, and are an extremely tight well-oiled
machine. They had it down. Wow. Rick Mills jumps around like a maniac and
just viciously attacks his Jazzmaster; he also makes full use of the
Jazzmaster's many knobs and switches in mid song. When he sings, he
furiously strums his guitar and gets all bug-eyed. Funny! These guys were
having a great time! My only complaint, and it was probably just me, was
there were too many vocals. Both of their CD's are 100% instro, so it's
surprising to me how many vocals they did. I would have much rather heard
"Whirlpool", "Beatnik Bandit" or a few other of their great instros. The
crowd seemed to eat them up however. I can't complain too much because they
played a huge set list, I think it was over an hour. And they played my
favorite "Kilauea". And a great cover of Sandy Nelson's "Casbah". Wow.
Astounding....a very impressive display. They are going to Las Vegas for the
Rockaround event. Hmmmm...
The Volcanos must have got some new gear. Chris was playing a beautiful blue
Mosrite (last year I think he had a red one). Rick still had his Olympic
White Japanese buzz-stop enabled Jazzmaster. Last year I think they both had
Twin Reverbs. This time Chris had a Pro Reverb and Rick had a Super Reverb.
Reverb units were present, of course. Dave had his cool sunburst P-Bass with
anodized aluminum pick guard.
My wife took about 40 or so pictures. I'll try to post them somewhere, give
me a few days. Stay tuned for that.
So again, wow. A truly, truly fantastic show. My wife and I were so glad we
made the very long drive. Thanks everyone!
BN
Brian,
> Steve was playing a very interesting guitar: green Jazzmaster body,
> Jazzmaster pickups, *strat* trem, and a maple (non-Fender?) neck.
Steve can tell you more, but Yes, definitely a custom-built
instrument.
>The new rhythm guitar player had a very cool Inca silver Jazzmaster
A '62 RI about two years old. Stock except for a Mustang bridge.
Color is Ice Metallic Blue.
My amp is a Fender Pro Reverb silverface that had some adventures
going down the stairs before I got it. One transformer was barely
hanging on, the baffle board is screwed on from the front through the
cloth, etc.
It was great to meet everyone there. If this stuff gets 'too'
popular in Chicago, we'll all sit around and talk about the good old
days when the scene was smaller!
BruceB
Bruce!
Way cool of you to show up! Or were you already lurking? Again, I
can't say enough about the show and your guys' performance. Your
Jazzmaster is really something else. Under the lights it changed
colors many times, I couldn't tell if it was Inca Silver or Ice Blue
Metallic.
BN
--- In , "BruceB" <ebbindem@a...> wrote:
> Brian,
>
> > Steve was playing a very interesting guitar: green Jazzmaster
body,
> > Jazzmaster pickups, *strat* trem, and a maple (non-Fender?)
neck.
>
> Steve can tell you more, but Yes, definitely a custom-built
> instrument.
>
> >The new rhythm guitar player had a very cool Inca silver
Jazzmaster
>
> A '62 RI about two years old. Stock except for a Mustang bridge.
> Color is Ice Metallic Blue.
>
> My amp is a Fender Pro Reverb silverface that had some adventures
> going down the stairs before I got it. One transformer was barely
> hanging on, the baffle board is screwed on from the front through
the
> cloth, etc.
>
> It was great to meet everyone there. If this stuff gets 'too'
> popular in Chicago, we'll all sit around and talk about the good
old
> days when the scene was smaller!
>
> BruceB
