MUSIC

Metal icon ready to rock this town

Creator of fledgling rockabilly fest captures Motorhead bassist for this weekend's revival

By Joe Gross
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, May 07, 2009

A sharp snare, a hiccupping vocal, a slapped, stand-up bass and a twanging guitar will always be welcome in Texas, especially when those sounds are played by one of the most important names in heavy metal history.

Orlando Rios understands.

The 25-year-old Kingsville native launched the Austin-based Rockabilly Magazine when he was 19 years old. 'I got into the Brian Setzer Orchestra in high school and saw him at the Backyard when I was visiting my brother and sister in Austin,' Rios says. 'I just fell in love with swing, the original rock 'n' roll.'

For this year's Texas Rockabilly Revival (the second annual) out at the Nutty Brown Cafe, Rios managed to score not only a set from O.R. (originally rockabilly) gal Wanda Jackson, but a set from a rockabilly band fronted by THE Lemmy.

You read that right: Headliner the Head Cat is a band fronted by Motorhead bassist Lemmy Kilmister.

Turns out, like many British rockers his age, Kilmister is a huge rockabilly fan. Head Cat sees Lemmy teaming up with former Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom and Lonesome Spurs/Rockats guitarist Danny B. Harvey.

'All of us were working on this Elvis tribute ('Swing Cats, A Special Tribute to Elvis'),' Kilmister says by phone from his home in Los Angeles. It's 3:30 in the afternoon his time, but you get the impression that, as is appropriate, the man who bridged the divide between punk and metal before there even was one had just woken up.

'We were just (expletive) around in the studio, and we realized we could do all these songs.' Their first album, 'Fool's Paradise,' appeared in 2006. 'We cut that thing in two weeks, start to mixing,' Kilmister says.

So who did Lemmy like as a lad in extreme northern Wales?

'I loved Carl Perkins. We loved Bill Haley. Well, until we saw Elvis.' He laughs.

What about Gene Vincent, the American rockabilly pioneer who moved to England in '63, four years after a game-changing visit to England and three years after he survived the car accident that killed Eddie Cochran?

'Honestly, I was not a big fan of his records,' Kilmister says. 'I didn't like all that echo. But I went to see him live a couple of times, and he was really good on stage. My favorite recording of his is 'I'm Going Home to See My Baby' with (noted, sax-heavy British band) Sounds Incorporated backing him up.'

Also like a lot of baby boom Brits, Kilmister loved Buddy Holly.

Though Holly's post-death popularity waned in the States, '(Buddy Holly compilations) came out for years in Britain,' Kilmister says. 'I won't analyze why, 'cause once you start to analyze something, it kills the (expletive) thing. I just think we appreciated beauty more than USA, ha ha.'

'It was amazing to land them,' Rios says of Head Cat. Rios' own rockabilly band, Lowdown Shakey Chill, is playing a set, but it tough to top Kilmister for sheer rockness.

'They were booked for the revival last year, and some Motorhead stuff came up. This time, Slim Jim Phantom is playing drums for Wanda Jackson and he called and said, 'Hey, Lemmy wants to do some Head Cat shows in May. Is there an opening?'

'I said 'Yeah, there's an opening!'