1.
The Cramps
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The Cramps were an American rockabilly band, formed in 1976 and active until 2009. The band split after the death of lead singer Lux Interior and their line-up rotated much over their existence, with the husband and wife duo of Interior and lead guitarist and occasional bass guitarist Poison Ivy the only permanent members. The addition of guitarist Bryan Gregory and drummer Pam Ballam resulted in the first complete lineup in April 1976 and they were part of the early CBGB punk rock movement that had emerged in New York. The Cramps are noted as influencing a number of styles, not only were they one of the first punk bands. Their music is mostly in form, played at varying tempos. An integral part of the early Cramps sound was dual guitars, the focus of their songs lyrical content and their image was camp humor, sexual double-entendre, and retro horror/sci-fi b-movie iconography. They also were influenced to a degree by the Ramones and Screamin Jay Hawkins, in turn, The Cramps have influenced countless subsequent bands in the garage, punk and revival rockabilly styles, and helped create the psychobilly genre. Psychobilly was a term coined1 by The Cramps, although Lux Interior maintained that the term did not describe their own style, Lux Interior and Poison Ivy met in Sacramento, California in 1972. In light of their artistic interests and shared devotion to record collecting. Lux took his name from a car ad, and Ivy claimed to have received hers in a dream. In 1973, they moved to Akron, Ohio, and then to New York in 1975, soon entering into CBGBs early punk scene with other emerging acts like the Ramones, Patti Smith, Television, and Mink DeVille. The lineup in 1976 was Poison Ivy Rorschach, Lux Interior, Bryan Gregory, in a short period of time, the Cramps changed drummers twice, Miriam Linna replaced Pam Ballam, and Nick Knox replaced Linna in September 1977. R. S. Their first tour of Great Britain was as supporting act to The Police on that bands first UK tour promoting Outlandos dAmour, once back to the east coast, they played the revamped 40s swing club The Meadowbrook in New Jersey, which had a huge stage and dance floor. The Cramps were the act, with opening set by Nozon. The Cramps relocated to Los Angeles in 1980 and hired guitarist Kid Congo Powers of The Gun Club, while recording their second LP, Psychedelic Jungle, the band and Miles Copeland began to dispute royalties and creative rights. The ensuing court case prevented them from releasing anything until 1983, mike Metoff of The Pagans was the final second guitarist – albeit only live – of the Cramps pre-bass era. He accompanied them on an extensive European tour in 1984 which included four sold out nights at the Hammersmith Palais and they also recorded performances of Thee Most Exalted Potentate of Love and You Got Good Taste which were broadcast on The Midsummer Nights Tube 1984. Smell of Female peaked at No.74 in the UK Albums Chart, the band appears in the 1982 film Urgh
2.
Psychobilly
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Psychobilly is a fusion genre of rock music that mixes elements of punk rock, rock and roll, rockabilly, and rhythm and blues. It is one of several subgenres of rockabilly which also include thrashabilly, punkabilly, surfabilly and gothabilly, merriam-Webster defines it as music that blends punk rock and rockabilly, another dictionary defines it as loud frantic rockabilly music. Psychobilly, while rooted in the twang of rockabilly, owes just as much to the sound of straight up three-chord punk, Psychobilly bands and lyrics usually take an apolitical stance, a reaction to the right- and left-wing political attitudes which divided other British youth cultures. Many psychobilly bands are trios of guitar, upright bass and drums. Psychobilly gained underground popularity in Europe beginning in the early 1980s, with the UK band The Meteors, the second wave of psychobilly began with the 1986 release of British band Demented Are Gos debut album In Sickness & In Health. The genre soon spread throughout Europe, inspiring a number of new such as Mad Sin and the Nekromantix. The evolution of psychobilly as a genre is described as having occurred in waves. In the mid- to late 1970s, as punk rock became popular, several rockabilly and garage rock bands appeared who would influence the development of psychobilly. The term psychobilly was first used in the lyrics to the country song One Piece at a Time, written by Wayne Kemp for Johnny Cash, the lyrics describe the construction of a psychobilly Cadillac using stolen auto parts. It wasnt meant as a style of music, nevertheless, The Cramps, along with artists such as Screamin Jay Hawkins, are considered important precursors to psychobilly. Their 1979 album Songs the Lord Taught Us is considered influential to the formation of the psychobilly genre, about. com calls The Meteors the first true psychobilly band and notes their blend of the themes of horror, punk and rockabilly. They were the first band to use the term Psychobilly as a description of their music, formed in South London in 1980, they are considered the first verifiable psychobilly band. Their albums In Heaven and Wreckin Crew are recognized as landmarks of the years of the genre. Starting in the scene, the Meteors were quickly shunned for being too different. Excuses for exclusion from rockabilly concerts varied from the band having too extreme of a sound to their drummer having green hair, the Meteors blended elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and horror film themes in their music. Another commentator argues that The Misfits American Nightmare may have been the first psychobilly song, the Meteors also articulated psychobillys apolitical stance, a reaction to the right- and left-wing political attitudes which divided other British youth cultures. Fans of The Meteors, known as the Crazies, are attributed with inventing the style of slam dancing known as wrecking. The short-lived Sharks, formed in Bristol in 1980, followed closely behind The Meteors with their influential album Phantom Rockers, Demented Are Go are a Welsh psychobilly band that was formed around 1982 in Cardiff
3.
Illegal Records
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Illegal Records was an independent record label, founded by Miles Copeland III with his younger brother Stewart Copeland and the manager of The Police, Paul Mulligan in 1977. The label released The Polices debut single, Fall Out, Copeland went on to sign more artists and start several other indie sublabels including Deptford Fun City Records, Step-Forward Records and Total Noise Records. He also launched the divisions, France & Netherlands, that released some of the same titles with different catalogue numbers. In 1979, after Copeland started I. R. S, Records, Illegal became its distributor in UK and Europe. It continued its operations until 1988, when it merged its operations with I. R. S, Deptford Fun City Records - Outlet for Deptford bands such as Alternative TV and Squeeze. Step-Forward Records - Sublabel for Punk bands such as Chelsea, The Fall & The Cortinas, list of record labels, I–Q Discogs page
4.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
5.
Alex Chilton
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William Alexander Alex Chilton was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star. He is frequently cited as an influence by influential rock artists and bands, some of whose testimonials appeared in the 2012 documentary Big Star. Chilton grew up in a family, his father, Sidney Chilton, was a jazz musician. The new group recorded with Chips Moman and producer/songwriter Dan Penn at American Sound Studio, as lead singer for The Box Tops, Chilton enjoyed at the age of 16 a number-one international hit, The Letter. The Box Tops went on to have several other major hits, including Neon Rainbow, Cry Like a Baby, Sweet Cream Ladies, Forward March. By late 1969, only Chilton and guitarist Gary Talley remained from the original group, the group decided to disband and pursue independent careers in February 1970. After deciding against pursuing an education at Memphis State University, Chilton began performing as a solo artist. His 1970 recordings and productions from that time frame were released later in the 1980s and 1990s on albums like Lost Decade and 1970. During this era, Chilton was considered as a replacement vocalist for Al Kooper in Blood, Chilton and Bell co-wrote In The Street for Big Stars first album #1 Record, a track later covered by Cheap Trick and used as the theme song of That 70s Show. Rosebrough would occasionally work with Chilton on later recordings, including Big Stars Third album, there he made the acquaintance of The Cramps, a formative psychobilly ensemble. He brought them to Memphis, to which he had moved back to by April 1978, in 1979, Chilton released, in a limited edition of 500 copies, the album Like Flies on Sherbert. Produced by Chilton with Jim Dickinson at Phillips Recording and Ardent Studios it features his own interpretations of songs by artists as disparate as the Carter Family, newman, Ernest Tubb, and KC and the Sunshine Band, along with several originals. While criticized by some as a mess, this album is considered by many to be a lo-fi masterpiece. The second show, at the Camden club Dingwalls, was recorded and he also continued to work with Tav Falcos Panther Burns on stage and in the studio during this period. The group played a string of shows in the fall in Chicago, philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey, this would be Chiltons last tour for three years. He resumed playing with Panther Burns in 1983 and he stopped playing regular gigs with Panther Burns and formed a trio with the groups bassist, Coman, and drummer Joey Torres to play his out-of-town bookings. Chiltons business relationship with Mathé would last the rest of his life, in the U. S. Chiltons solo releases were released by the Big Time, Razor & Tie, Ardent, and Bar/None record labels. In 1985, Chilton began working with Memphis jazz drummer Doug Garrison, six songs were recorded at Ardent Studios for the 1985 EP Feudalist Tarts, three originals joined by songs from the catalogs of Carla Thomas, Slim Harpo, and Willie Tee
6.
Smell of Female
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Smell of Female is the first live album by the American garage punk band the Cramps. It was also released by New Rose as a box set, with an additional track. It was later expanded to album length with three bonus tracks, all tracks written by Lux Interior and Poison Ivy Rorschach except where indicated. The Cramps Lux Interior - vocals, harmonica, percussion Poison Ivy Rorschach - lead guitar, bass Kid Congo Powers - guitar Nick Knox - drums Technical Paul McKenna - engineer Da Lux - cover
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