On his first improvised passage, he twisted, inverted and generally reinvented rock licks with a mad scientist’s maniacal skill. His solo during one hard-rocking tune was a two-stage launch. Still, Setzer must have bargained with the devil to acquire the extra chops he brought to the Sound FX gig. Ironically, he had to play with Robert Plant and the Honeydrippers and later front his own self-named band to demonstrate a six-string prowess that had been lost in the video haze of his first Stray Cats tenure. ![]() Setzer, it must be said, has always been a terrific, underappreciated guitarist. ![]() Thursday’s show, which was consistent with reports of a tour begun seven weeks ago, saw the band restaking its turf with a vengeance. But the hype aspect of the mid-'80s, roots-rockabilly revival flared up and burned out years ago, chasing the pretenders and leaving only the genuinely committed, as well as a leadership void caused by the Cats’ defection.Īfter Setzer, Rocker and Phantom jammed at Setzer’s New York home one day in 1988, the group realized, first, that it still had the chemistry, and, second, that it had left some business unfinished. Too often in pop’s cruel history, the next part of such a story has some unknown band come along to reap the harvest painstakingly sewn by a defunct group. The Cats took several extended hiatuses, then officially disbanded in 1985. The Stray Cats became MTV dolls-the antithesis of rock ‘n’ roll-and front man Setzer felt increasingly trapped in a cartoonish concept run amok. Unfortunately, the band’s stateside ascendance had less to do with its rocket-fueled ‘50s sound than with the media puffery surrounding the musicians’ retro-freakazoid style: Setzer’s Old Faithful coiffure and tattoos, Rocker’s whirling-dervish bass playing and Phantom’s wild-man drumming on a Spartan, stand-up kit. By the time its British records were compiled into 1982’s debut American release, “Built for Speed” (which included the hits “Stray Cat Strut” and “Rock This Town”), the Stray Cats was a phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1980, the New York-based threesome ventured to England to mine that country’s deep vein of early-rock fanaticism. On its first go-round 10 years ago, the Stray Cats epitomized the axiom about being careful what you ask for. Which, in a very real sense, is the case. The neo-rockabilly trio-once disparaged by skeptics as a garish, midway gimmick-smoked through an 80-minute set of new and old tunes with the fervor of a band trying to reclaim some forsaken legitimacy. That’s because there was something even hotter in the joint: the Stray Cats, with the original configuration of guitarist Brian Setzer, stand-up bassist Lee Rocker and drummer Slim Jim Phantom. The Stray Cats’ first split came in 1984, but they have reformed periodically to record and tour.It was so stiflingly hot inside a people-packed Sound FX on Thursday night that the club’s open side doors were like steam vents.īut, if the damp bodies clogging the venue’s interior testified to the sweltering humidity, the patrons didn’t seem to mind. In 1983, “(She’s) Sexy + 17” and the doo wop-styled ballad “I Won’t Stand in Your Way” landed them back in the Top 40. Soon, the Stray Cats were racking up number one singles on the Billboard charts (“Rock This Town” and “Stray Cat Strut”) and bringing their exaggerated pompadours and colorful tattoos to the MTV generation. The band signed with EMI America and, in 1982, released Built for Speed, a combination of their first two British albums. The hits came immediately: “Runaway Boys,” “Rock This Town,” and “Stray Cat Strut.” And then it was time to return home. The legendary Dave Edmunds discovered the young band and produced their self-titled English debut album in 1981. The band struggled to get a break locally and moved to England, where it took off as part of a major rockabilly revival. The group’s style was based on the sounds of the mighty Sun Records artists of the 1950s-Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash-with a nod to the late swing era style of Bill Haley & His Comets. ![]() ![]() In 1979, guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer, a Massapequa native, along with friends Lee Rocker (born Leon Drucker) and Slim Jim Phantom (born James McDonnell), formed the Stray Cats.
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