Si metiesemos a Link Wray, The Cramps
y The Reverend Horton heat tendriamos como resultado a Big Joh Bates.
Este canadiense es un espectacular guitarrista que a las influencias
ya dichas añade un gran sentido del humor con corrosivos textos
y una puesta en escena impresionante.
The following excerpt is taken from a recent cover story interview
in the 50th issue of Seattle's "BackFire" Magazine and a
review of Flamethrower from Toronto's "Exclaim" Magazine
. . .
"With all of the wickedness of a sucker punch, Big John Bates'
debut Flamethrower, has all the earmarks of a minor psychobilly classic
- a gonad-rattlin' rhythm section behind booming sing-along lyrics,
and a flame topped Gretsch that alternately emits Wray-like rumbles
and demonic screams. Aptly named, '30ish Big John Bates is a phenomenal
guitar player, with a spectacular live show - - - sweaty, primitive,
raunchy and horny. And good for that, because this album's as fun
as a midnight drag race fueled by a fifth of bourbon. With close references
to The Reverend Horton Heat and the Cramps, Big John Bates is proudly
old school in his approach to making music and the lifestyle around
it. The psychobilly experience can't be complete without a sense of
humor, however, and BJB has that in spades."
Big
John has received numerous accolades for his guitar abilities, including
an endorsement from GHS Strings, but his band, known intimately
as "the Furies", outright rocks. It features the wicked
sCaroline on upright & electric bass - she's a tattooed belly
dancer who wiggles like a librarian gone real bad - and on drums
is Kermit - a hep cat who throws 4-foot flames from his vintage
kit. No one who experiences a BJB show can forget the pair of 6-foot
dancers flanking the stage, the Voodoo Dollz, choreographed and
outfitted by Bombshell Betty - they're a pair of bad girls who love
to play with fire.
Big John and the Furies have toured throughout
the US and Canada, doing shows with renowned musicians such as the
Guana Bats, Slim Jim Phantom and Johnny Legend, while the likes
of the Reverend Horton Heat and Los Infernos have made a point in
checking out the touring show. And Big John didn't come out of nowhere
- he co-wrote for Annihilator (Alison Hell / Never, Neverland) on
Roadrunner Records - his songs selling over 500,000 copies worldwide.
- 1st release: 2000's 4-song, bloody red 7"
Vibro-Psychotic (Raucous Music - England / On the Hill Records -
Japan) 6 straight months on the top 20 on Canadian campus radio
2 songs featured on episodes of Core Culture and Extreme 16 on the
USA Network and FOX TV.
- 2nd release: 2001's full-length CD Flamethrower (Hullabaloo /
El Toro Records - Barcelona, Spain)
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