Billy Zoom Appreciation post
The_Hook_Up
8,182 Posts
every year I get on an X kick...one of those bands folks either love or hate, but this AM I watched the X documentary "The Unheard Music", and Ill be damned if that didnt start up my geekdom again...Billy has always been my favorite part of the band...first scene with Billy by himself in the documentary is Billy knocking out Frickin' dixieland riffs on a clarinet!...a true musician, a rare thing in punk rock...dude is the shit...even played with Gene Vincent, might be one of the last true connections to the birth of rock(until Jerry lee Lewis keels over)...played with Gene Vincent, was in one of the great first wave punk bands and still doin it...Billy is that dude
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I know you're no big rockabilly lover, but I thought I'd throw that out there. My friend John has had the Alligators' disc (which didn't come out till the '90s) for some time now, but I have yet to find a copy.
all four members were crucial to me, it wasnt like "exene, john doe and friends"
When I saw the OG band a year or so back in DC, it was a great experience. They all looked and sounded super energized and seemed really proud of the work they had done, which is as it should be. Billy mugged for every photo people took of him, even in the middle of blazing solos. It was a great show with all the classic material. I was bummed that they didn't do "Burning House of Love", which was the one of maybe 2 or 3 good songs off their last Billy Zoom LP, but IMO one of their best efforts, songwriting-wise. I was priveleged enough to get to chat with Billy for a couple minutes, and he is a super nice, if a little weird, dude. Just way into the fans and you could tell he was just thrilled to be there. Actually, that's how I would describe most of the rest of X, too, they are all super gracious and almost grateful to fans for keeping them going. And as a fan, you can tell when bands have that going on and it's reciprocal.
Fave Billy Zoom moment (almost impossible to pick just one):
The brief fury of Rockabilly riffing meets clean surf guitar soloing that is 'Year One' on the end of their second LP, 'Wild Gift'
I am sure I can find more that I love tomorrow!
Anyway, VIVA BILLY ZOOM!
X almost turned into an LA punk-roots Rolling Thunder Revue for a while there, between Dave Alvin playing guitar on record, plus The Knitters, and then Tony Gilkyson (who is a gifted guitarist, IMO) doing the live duty, they still were better than 90% of the younger crop of so-called 'punk' combos that toured in the early to mid-90s. I saw them at least 3 times with Gilkyson, and was always a satisfied X fan coming away from their shows. John Doe solo always left me a bit cold, but I know other folks who swear by it, they maybe enjoy the more stripped down, more formulaic singer-songwriter angle that he ran with in that band.
I certainly understand the 'It's not really X' argument, but at the same time, I have to give credit where it's due. They pulled of the shift better than most and kept the fires burning until Billy came home, and still managed to be interesting, if not strictly 'relevant' to the times.
On that LA Roots note, any Blasters/dave Alvin/Phil Alvin fan appreciation up in here?
In the nineties, I used to DJ a roots-rock show on a college radio station, and the Blasters'"American Music" was my theme song. Around 1995, a version of the Blasters played Chicago (Phil Alvin was still around, his brother Dave was gone). I somehow managed to meet Phil backstage, told him all about how I'd been a huge fan ever since I'd seen 'em on American Bandstand in '82 as a teenager, had a radio show where I used a Blasters song as theme music, the whole nine. Phil was so impressed he let me go up on stage and introduce the band! Easily a highlight.
Dave Alvin's solo albums haven't really moved me all that much, but I've always respected him as a songwriter. Phil Alvin had two really good solo albums himself.
The whole roots thing is a part of the 1980's L.A. punk scene that doesn't get played up as much in retrospect, but at the time, the Blasters and the Gun Club seemed just as much a big deal as Black Flag.
I just saw them for the first time, maybe a month or two ago - same story. I now understand why half the photos of Billy taken onstage have him flashing that 100-watt grin (also see: Phil Alvin from the Blasters).
Yeah, I was way into the Blasters from the first time I heard their live EP at a friend's house in the mid 80s. I was a bit young when to be in on it from the jump, but it connected with me immediately when I heard 'Border Radio' and 'American Music'. I immediately sought out anything Blasters-related, so I was into Los Lobos and even Dwight Yoakam (still enjoy Dwight, one of the most consistent roots musicians of the last 20 years, clown away) as a result.
Probably caught the same Blasters line-up you introduced, and was thrilled to shake hands with the man then too! I went solo on my 21st birthday and had a ball. IMO, Phil Alvin's solo record 'Un-Sung Stories' is an unheralded weirdo classic. Back then it wasn't hip to play with Sun Ra's Arkestra and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, so it fell to complete obscurity, but I still play that LP regularly. I heartily recommend tracking it down for anybody who likes good roots music but with a off-center flair. Classic.
And as for brother Dave, I am on the fence with many of his solo offerings as well, with the exception of 'King of California', which I revisit regularly recently. Moody, expansive and lovely. Just a pleasure.
i only filed one of his solo releases
but
would go out of my way to catch him live
my friends from Springfield backed him for a few years &
2 of them continue to tour & record with him (morells/skeletons related)
Lou!!!
Skeletons were a lot of fun live. No hipsters need apply.
Does regional rock still exist?
When rock critics talked about a rockabilly revival back then, the Blasters were #2 only to the Stray Cats. You could tell the Blasters were being groomed to make it, because they appeared on TV fairly often and were always featured in rock magazines, but they never really made it past the second tier. (Later, Dave Alvin told the Chicago Tribune that he's semi-glad the Blasters didn't blow up, because he'd hate to have to see some TV ad for 1980's one-hit wonders and find out he's on it...)
The Stray Cats, on the other hand, were boring as all hell. I loved "Rock This Town" when it came on the radio - remember, the arena rock acts like Asia and Journey were still going strong, so a song like that had the impact of a fist going through the wall. But the album it came from was
Hey, a few years ago I received a promo copy of Dwight's Blame The Vain, and was shocked at how good it was! I hadn't listened to him in a long time (I just had a greatest-hits album), and after a decade of half-assed alt-country acts, do you know how refreshing this man sounds? I definitely wouldn't write him off.
Un-Sung Heroes used to be a staple in the cutout bins. As soon as the industry moved from vinyl to CD's, copies of this LP were turning up for $1.99 all over the place, and that's where I got mine. Haven't spun this in a while, but I remember my fave track was the country blues "Next Week Sometime" (but no, not now).
If you liked that, you should track down Phil's other solo record, 1995's County Fair 2000, a bizarre concept album which featured cameos from several artists, including Chicago bluesman Billy Boy Arnold.
The one that sticks out for me is the first one, Romeo's Escape. You could tell he wasn't used to singing yet, but he still got his message across fine. Not consistently good, but when it's on it's on. I also have Interchords, this promo-only interview album that Epic released to coincide with Romeo. It's got an acoustic blues tune ("One Way Gal") that didn't show up on the actual album.
Ah, the Skeletons. They were like NRBQ minus the avant-garde jazz! I thought they were cool live, as well.
The Morells were real good, too, although I liked their first album from '82 (Shake & Push) a lot more than the recent reunion records. However, the last time I saw Bo Diddley, he had the Morells backing him up, and damn if that wasn't the best I'd seen Bo in years! Probably the most sympathetic backing band I'd seen him with in a while.
Back to the Morells, I still pull out Shake & Push to hear "Red's", the ode to the greasepit diner shown on the cover. The local adult-alternative station used to play this! "I get a hamburger, cheeseburger, lettuce and tomato..."
back in 82-3 i use to work next door to Reds
(one night a week at the liquor store)
& got to know Red Cheney
he had tales about the heyday of route 66 & being on an early wave of D-Day beach landing, etc
the song just begins to uncover the mysteries that were "Red's"
Bobby Lloyd Hicks & Joe Terry still tour & record as part of Dave's guilty men
& to keep it soulstrut related,
the Skeletons were rehearsing to back Arthur Alexander
on his comeback tour when he died,
that would have been a show
I was never a huge Blasters fan, I tried but they just didn't do it for me back in the day. Maybe I should give them another listen now. As far as rootsy 80's bands go, I will make a case for the early Jason & The Scorchers records though, before they gave in to the record company pressure and went too far to the hard rock side.