On my blog site recently there's been a conversation beginning about the " guidelines" of being a contemporary rockabilly band. In among my posts I confessed that when I first began playing in a rockabilly band years earlier, I didn't even understand sufficient about rockabilly to understand that my bass guitar wasn't " genuine" rockabilly gear. All I knew is that I loved the sound of the music and I wished to play it. Because I wasn't playing slap bass on an upright bass fiddle, I quickly discovered out that there were a lot of fans who felt that we could not be a real rockabilly band. A reader in the UK relates a similar experience since he does not play the "right" guitar for rockabilly. This all raises an old sore area with me and opens the conversation as soon as again about what's crucial: The music or the look ?
Going for the look
Naturally, it's fun to dress like the initial rockabilly cats and chicks from the mid to late 1950s when rockabilly was fresh and brand-new and Elvis was taking the world by storm along with all of the other artists he motivated. And by and large, it doesn't cost a entire lot of loan to achieve the rockabilly look. You can find all sort of excellent clothes at garage and yard sale in addition to pre-owned shops. Simply gunning through the far back of your moms and dads' (or grandparents'!) closets can enjoy wonderful benefits for rockabilly clothing.
However things get more made complex when you're in the band. Now it's not simply the clothes that make the rockabilly look. It's the instruments. And it's a lot more pricey to set yourself up with a vintage instrument from the 50s era. And brand-new instruments made to look like the old ones are not exactly inexpensive either. What's a new hopeful rockabilly act to do? If they do not include a standup bass and a Gretsch 6120 hollow-body guitar (like the one Eddie Cochran played), they're not taken seriously. They're deemed imposters, not genuine "rockabillies".
The initial rockabilly club was not unique
Nothing might be further from the spirit of original rockabilly! Rockabilly was not an special club that was open just to those kids that came from wealthy families that might afford the "right" instruments. No chance! By and big, our heroes were dirt bad. These men were vibrant, young players who took whatever they took place to have at hand and made music with it! And as modern-day rockabilly fans, we've all gained the banquet of incredible music that these artists made on those instruments.
Now, it just so occurs that hollow-body stand-up basses and electrical guitars are the instruments that a lot of these guys owned at that time. Those were the very same instruments utilized by nation artists of the day and because rockabilly was so strongly rooted in nation, it made sense that rockabilly artists-- many of whom started out playing nation first-- used those very same instruments. Not all of them followed that mold.
For example, as far as guitarists go, they utilized several guitars to make their music And they weren't all hollow-body guitars. No one thinks less of Carl Perkins because his blockbuster "Blue Suede Shoes" was taped with a solid-body Les Paul guitar. Buddy Holly played a solid-body Fender Stratocaster on his wonderful early rockabilly and no one at the time discounted him. Cliff Gallup, who bet Gene Vincent's Blue Caps used a solid Gretsch DuoJet guitar and most rockabilly fans consider his guitar work as some of the outright best rockabilly playing of all time.
It's not the look, it's the music.
In other words, it wasn't about the "look" back then. It had to do with the sound and it had to do with the energy. It's enjoyable to have the "look" these days and most bands try to put their own spin on the classic look. Ultimately when I go to a rockabilly show, I'm far less concerned with what the band looks like as I am with what they sound like. If they rock and their music makes me move and smile the way rockabilly does, well then, that's excellent enough for me! The rockabilly neighborhood might actually use with less issue about the look and more issue about releasing and delighting in the sounds. After all, that's what it's actually everything about anyway.
If you're a group of kids and you do not have tons of dough, however you desire to begin a rockabilly band, you'll most likely face the self-appointed "authentic-look" here police eventually. Do not let them stop you. Get the instruments you have and crash into those very first pressures of a terrific rockabilly tune. If they can't see previous your aim to listen to and enjoy the music, it's their loss ... not yours!
In one of my posts I admitted that when I initially started playing in a rockabilly band years earlier, I didn't even understand enough about rockabilly to recognize that my bass guitar wasn't " genuine" rockabilly gear. Cliff Gallup, who played for Gene Vincent's Blue Caps utilized a solid Gretsch DuoJet guitar and most rockabilly fans consider his guitar work as some of the outright best rockabilly playing of all time.
Robert Gordon was doing straight-out rockabilly and having a bit of success while bands like The Blasters were utilizing rockabilly influence heavily to form a new "roots rock" sound.
These fans do not just buy rockabilly records and go to rockabilly programs. The rockabillies use the features of 1950s fashion to reveal their love for rockabilly music and the excellent parts of the rockabilly lifestyle.