Enjoy the story of Charlie Chester:
We got there on Friday night to find that the Bed & Breakfast had forgotten about our booking! Luckily we got a room somewhere else. Most of the B & Bs were full of French and English psychobillies. The owners must have wondered what was going on.
There was already a good crowd at the Charlotte when we arrived and we were soon chatting to lots of old friends. We watched a few minutes of Empress of Fur but they were so bad we went back upstairs to the other bar. This was a cool place to hang out because it was quite quiet with cheap food on sale (we lived on chilli dogs all weekend) and the t-shirt & record stalls.
Of course we had to rush downstairs again for Demented. Those guys are still on top form and played all the usual favourites as well as some new songs. The venue was very full and there was a lot of wrecking going on. Demented were probably the best band of the weekend.
The next day (after a full English breakfast - the French guys wouldn't get out of bed for theirs) we had a look round town and so we missed the first two bands, Shakeout & the Hangmen. I'm not a big fan of these bands so it didn't matter. Next up were the Blue Devils who are a really great live band, playing rockabilly and rockin blues and putting a lot of energy into their show.
After them came the Lost Souls. If you've seen the Souls before then you know what to expect - very fast, very loud psychobilly. They have a new (well kinda new, I think he played for them a few years ago) guitarist who jumps around a lot so they were fun to watch.
The Long Tall Texans were good as always. I still don't like their new sound as much as the old days with Mark Denman but they seem to have found a good balance between the sax and the guitar. The headline band for Saturday was the Highliners, with special guest Doyley of the Klingonz on guitar. Once again, everybody was wrecking and I had drunk enough to go wrecking myself. If you like your rock n roll with a lot of humour and fun then go see the Highliners. They were a very good way to end the day.
Sunday had more of a rockabilly feel. The Hicksville Bombers played a wild set and showed why they are very popular on the rockin' scene. The Deltas played their usual mix of laid back blues and crazed rockabilly. I really like their style but I guess it's not to every psychobilly's tastes. Next up were Cat Scratch Fever (Howard Raucous' favourite). They play a mix of country & Stray Cats style rockabilly and are an exceptionally good live band with a lot of showmanship in their act. Some of their music gets a little too close to heavy rock for me so I skipped half their set to chill out upstairs.
The Caravans (with Gaz Day on bass) went down really well with the crowd, everybody seemed to know the words to More Whiskey. I think they have some of the best songs of any rockabilly band around at the moment and I could watch them all night but they had to make way for the Wigsville Spliffs. This reunion gig had some help from Boz Boorer on guitar & Woodie (Meteors/Escalators) on drums. They really rocked it up & the crowd got favourites like Lonely Boy, Al Capone & High Class Power. They recreated that old Klubfoot sound and the only problem was that they didn't play long enough, just 30-40 minutes.
The Sharks finished the weekend with a good mix of old and new songs. Steve Whitehouse may have a very bad haircut but boy can he still slap. Once again the beer took over & I had to go wreckin', how could I stay out for all those great songs from Phantom Rockers? Look out here comes Charlie :-)
All in all it was a great weekend.