Go, cat, go! Rockabilly picks up steam on the scene By Bob Gulla

When it comes to local representation, rockabilly seems to be gaining momentum in our humble little state, running slightly behind the blues and punk. Yes, we have a great tradition here, established oh-so-long ago by the venerable Jack Smith and later picked up ably by the most excellent, and most amazing, Royal Crowns. We now have some seriously great and promising bands practicing in that hoary tradition, including the Young Ones and Sasquatch and the Sick-a-Billys, as well as some newer outfits splintering steadily from a few of these core outfits.

One of those is called the Blue Radio, which bills itself as "somewhat rootsy/bluesy/music to drink by." Members include Ian "Lefty" Lacombe on acoustic guitar and vocals, who was formerly the bassist for Sasquatch and the banger of assorted objects with the His Panic Band and Hemp. "Crazy" Bill Reed, formerly of Wavering Shapes, Joe McCarthy’s Ghost, Wayward Industries, and Hemp, is on electric guitar. Jill Palumbo plays bass. She has a Masters degree in fine arts, which should be enough to get her by on the rumble stick. Dan Tessier plays drums, and the Amazing Matt — "a mockingbird of Melody" (hey, they said it, not me) — plays alto sax. You can check out TheBlueRadio.com to hear some audio samples from their first show. They’ll be at the Blackstone in Cumberland on August 28.

Though his band the Young Ones is taking a much-deserved break after a year of relentless gigging, singer Johnny Carlevale has an itch to play that will never be fully scratched. So he put together a star-studded New England rockabilly lineup as a sweet little side project. Singing and playing drums is Racketeers ex-frontman/drummer Dana Stewart, Matt Murphy from the Raging Teens handles doghouse bass, newcomer Jeff Herring slings lead guitar, and Carlevale throttles a mean rhythm guitar. You can check out this brand new all-star quartet on Sunday, August 31 at the Plough and Stars up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It’s Labor Day weekend, so you can make a night of it. The show starts at 10 p.m., there’s no cover, and they love their rockabilly in Beantown almost as much as we like it down here.

BACK IN BLACK. Trumpets, please! M-80 is back from the Warped Tour and, in the words of bassist Christian Blaney, it went pretty damn well. "Warped Tour was absolutely the best experience of our music careers," he writes. "We played in front of anywhere from 1000 to 5000 kids per day on the second stage. We sold just about everything we brought and we made a ton of contacts. Playing alongside bands like Vendetta Red, the All American Rejects, Yellow Card, and Brand New was great. And holding our own was huge for us. I can’t put into words how good this experience was for M-80, or how much fun we had. We met everyone, we partied with everyone, and our only complaint was that we had to come home."

Upon their return, the band was pleased to see that Fox Sports had been using their music heavily over the last few weeks during its 54321 programming. "We signed a licensing deal with them a while back and from what we hear the production crew loves our CD. Check out the show and hear our music!"

Also, the band’s compilation track on a CDin the August issue of Blender magazine has resulted in tons of Web hits and e-mails over that last few weeks. And finally, there’s a huge show announcement coming, which includes a giant festival out in LA that M-80 will be a part of in November. Stay tuned!

Smokin’. There’s another new band hangin’ around town, the bluesy swingers that cal themselves Smokestack Lightnin’. According to founding member Josh Barber, the band is made up of a few veterans from the New England music scene, with one notable exception. Their singer, Nino Paldan, is from Sweden, and is pretty popular there. "I formed the band a short while ago, [and] we’ve been catching on quickly," says Barber. For their first show, they opened at the Call for Young Neal and the Vipers. "They liked us enough to give us our own headliner a few weeks later," Barber says. Their sound is still being shaped; while they’re keeping true to the spirit of the blues, they’re looking for their own rootsy niche. If all goes well, they could be ready to record this fall.

You can catch them on Don Lincoln’s cable access show this week (they did An Hour with Bob on Cox3 last week). If you don’t like channel surfing, the band is playing this Friday (the 22nd) at the Call with Rory and the Blueshounds (which Barber formerly played with), and on September 6 at Sal’s in Johnston, where they’ll be opening for Guitar Shorty. Check www.smokestacklightnin.net more details and audio samples.

WANDERING EYE. Jillian M. Vaitkevicius is busy, busy, busy. She runs an open mic night every Sunday at Cats in Pawtucket, and books full-time at the Safari Lounge, where she put together an every-Thursday package featuring Jiya as the house band. "I’m trying to help local bands network and unite," she said. Unfortunately, Jiya split a couple of weeks ago. The hard-working band, originally from Newport, found the going a little rough, for various reasons. According to Jillian, Ryan Meehan, the band’s outstanding singer/songwriter, has formed a new project, Paperroom, details of which should be rolling in at any time. Jillian, the daughter of an Elvis impersonator, is also putting together "A Tribute to Bob Dylan and the Band" at the 305 Club in East Providence this Friday. Reach her at 724-5266 or lovelygod@yahoo.com

A new pop band outta Boston, Lunar Girl (check out www.lunargirl.org), has been seen around Providence a bit this summer. They will be at the Safari Lounge this Friday, hitting the stage around 9 p.m. The band features the talented and gorgeous Julie Bannerton on vocals, the rhythm section of scene vets Paul Pippitone and Chris Gagnon, and Nils Freiberger on guitar.

It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from Bill Keough, but one day he reappears, just like that! If you haven’t heard, Bill has at last come through on his threat to return to local music stages. While he spent the last couple of years away from the music biz, working at an association that represents long-term care facilities in Rhode Island, he still hasn’t been able to shake his intense love for The Rock. So he’s creeping out of retirement for a show at Jake’s this Saturday (the 23rd) with local heroines Betty Finn. His ensemble is not-so-affectionately-titled Scorching When It Lands, which goes by the handy acronym of S.W.I.L. Better than its name, the group features Dave McCaffrey, currently with Frank Black and the Catholics, on guitar/vocals, Mark Cummins on drums/vocals (formerly of the Neo-’90s Dance Band, et al.), and Keough on bass. "What are we like?" Bill asks rhetorically? "Close your eyes and imagine the first time you plopped down some grade-A vinyl like Wire’s Pink Flag. Now you get the picture."

Also, FYI, there’s a an ultra-edgy show on Tuesday (the 26th) at the Met Café with Athletic Automaton (ex-Arab On Radar), T.K. Webb (from Kansas City), and Saturday Night Palsy.

E-mail me with your new music news at big.daddy1@cox.net