To celebrate the launch of the new Ace compilation "A Rocket In My Pocket" the soundtrack to Max Decharne's new book, there will a special launch party at the Boogaloo in Highgate on Thursday 5th August from 7pm Til 10pm.

FREE ENTRY, live music and a selection of London's finest Rockabilly DJs.

launch flyer (343Kb PDF)
www.serpentstail.com
www.theboogaloo.co.uk

The story of rockabilly is largely one of individual recordings, rather than stars. Many great performances were laid down by unknowns whose careers were over almost before the ink dried on their record contracts. Yet the first pure rockabilly record ever made launched its teenage singer on the biggest and most successful career trajectory the music world has ever known. The five singles that Elvis, Scotty and Bill cut in Sam Phillips’ Sun Studios in 1954 and 1955 laid down the blueprint for the worldwide rock explosion of the 1950s, but also defined rockabilly for all time. What you have on this collection is Elvis and a selection of those who were chasing his shadow.

The music came in various styles, from the largely acoustic-flavoured hillbilly strain to the flat-out screamers knocking hell out of any instruments within reach, but the focus with this particular selection is mostly on the wilder cuts. Youthful enthusiasm, urgent rhythms, and stripped-down arrangements driven along by a slapping upright double bass; these were songs sung mostly by teenagers which dealt with all the essentials of the hepcat lifestyle: girls, cars, booze, dancing. Just like the punk explosion twenty years later, 50s rockabilly was a spontaneous outburst of spirited three-chord songs, in which the major companies had a stake, but there was still plenty of room for tiny record labels, primitive studios, fiercely partisan audiences and wild-eyed, driven performers who weren’t planning much farther ahead than the following week. They were chasing something you couldn’t ever quite catch up with, nail down or explain to your parents.

Lightning in a bottle, a tiger by the tail, a rocket in your pocket...