It’s Sunday night of the Memorial Day weekend 2014 and Studio Seven is hosting the Tenth Annual Psychobilly Brawl, featuring Koffin Kats and lots of great openers.
Koffin Kats have a new guitar player. That being Johnny Kay and he is amazing! The only time he stood still was when he was singing harmony. Otherwise he was leaping from the drum riser or running back and forth across the stage, often trading places with vocalist/upright bass player Vic Victor. At times he seemed to be making love to his guitar. After he left the stage and returned without a shirt on, his playing became somewhat erotic.
Meanwhile the aforementioned Vic Victor and only original member, performed his usual antics with his upright. He stood on it, played it like a guitar, laid on the stage floor and reached around it to play, all without missing a lick. Slamming the skins like a wild man was Eric “E-Ball” Walls.
What was even more amazing was Johnny Kay’s musical ability. Not only was his guitar playing wild and frenzied, he switched instruments with Vic in an almost sleight of hand move and for a couple songs he played bass and Vic played guitar. And . . . as if this weren’t enough, Johnny also took over on drums and played a wild and raucous solo after slamming away in a brief duet with Eric.
They played most their more familiar such as Graveyard Tree, Perfect Suicide and Splatterhouse. Koffin Kats never disappoint and I don’t care that it’s been less than a year since they played Seattle. I’ll see them every time they come.
Preceding Koffin Kats was NOT a psychobilly band and I’m unsure why they were on the bill. Against the Grain, from Detroit are more a thrash metal band than anything else. Besides their grinding, thrashing sound, the main thing I noticed was the sheer volume of hair on this band. Led by Robert Plant look-alike, Chris Nowak, he bellowed the songs with golden curls roaming down his shoulders. There was a lot of energy in this band as if someone poured lighter fluid all over the stage and threw in a match. They’re a tight outfit with a classic rock look and, I might add, a treat to photograph. Besides the aforementioned Chris Nowak, the band consists of Rob Nowak (brother of Chris) on drums, Nick Bellomo on guitar, Bryan Griffin, guitar and vocals. The band describes themselves as speed rock with a combo of Motorhead, MC5, Metallica and some 80s hard core thrown in. That’s as apt a description.
Angie and the Carwrecks performed prior to Against the Grain. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen them and there have been a couple changes. First of all, they didn’t have their washboard player. Stand up bass player Skwerll was in fine form. Sporting a foot-tall paintbrush mohawk, he also looked like he wore some sort of contacts, giving him a demonic stare when he looked into the crowd. While doing this he climbed onto his bass, stoos on it, leaped off, stepped on and off of a light table (while playing shirtless and shoeless, I might add). Meanwhile singer Angie belted out the songs while spewing out loads of charm. Their sound has become a little less hillbilly and more psychobilly, which is NOT a criticism. They’re a totally fun band and are worthy of seeing.
Hot Roddin’ Romeos were on before Angie. Singer Johnny Rocket sings into one of those old fashioned square mics that rests on a stand in the shape of a machine gun and has a silver grenade welded into the middle of the stand. This band may exude a bad boy image, but they also exude charm. The closest I can describe their brand of roots rock psychobilly is a load of gravel with diesel mixed in, but when you investigate deeper you find chunks of fold. They’re always fun to see.
Seattle band Load Levelers played before Hot Roddin Romeos. This is my first time seeing them and I was majorly impressed. This is another band that ignited the stage with their non-stop energy. This six piece band was totally wild– a true powerhouse.
The first band I saw was Post Alley Hoodlums. Another Seattle band, this trio did a great job considering barely anyone was at the club yet. At one point they played a song called American Noir in which they sounded much like NOFX. Great band, but no real audience interaction and not a lot of onstage energy. Still, they’re a good band and I look forward to seeing them again.
The down part is I have to wait another year before the next psychobilly brawl.
Holly has photographed the Koffin Kats many times over the years. Here are the Koffin Kats in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018
