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(added March 2006)
INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD SCOULDING
( SLAP BASS ARTIST OF SHAKEOUT )
made by Wildhank
Hello Rich, tell us the Shakeout story. How did you guys started?
Marty and I had been doing a few gigs with a couple of other guys under the name of The Muskrats and then Sin City Shakeout. We played one night in Norwich with the Long Tall Texans and at the end of our set our guitarist just walked off stage as we were about to play an encore and said he was leaving. That left us with a problem but Paul was teaching himself guitar so he joined. He was only 15 years old and played his first gig supporting The Radium Cats at the Clay Pigeon in Eastcote. Pretty soon after that our drummer left to join a rock band and after trying out a few other people we found Shane. Although he told us he had played with other bands before we later found out that his audition was the first time he had played! He wasn't into the 'billy scene but he was enthusiastic and easy to get along with. We then shortened the name of the band to Shakeout and that's the line-up we have always had.
What are your main musical influences?
Marty is into stuff like BR5-49, The Caravans and Johnny
Cash. Paul has always been a huge Stray Cats fan. He loves 1950's
Rockabilly
which he plays in his other band The Fat Cat Trio but he will listen to
everything from Elvis to The Kinks to Oasis. I'm really
into The Living End at the moment but I like all sorts of bands - Elvis,
Rancid, Long Tall Texans, Green Day, The Specials, Cramps,
Polecats, The Clash, Rev.Horton Heat, Johnny Burnette,
the Ramones - all sorts. As a band I think we take the Old School style
of bands like Guana Batz and the Ricochets as a starting point and
then add anything that interests us whether it's Punk, Ska, Rock, Country or
Pop.
What is /are your favourite Shakeout song(s)?
My personal favourites are 'Heaven Bound', 'Walking A Fine Line', 'Cranial Breakdown' and 'Beige'. My favourite covers are 'Migraine' and the Green Day song 'In The End'.
I guess its quite unusual to play with two brothers in
the same lineup. What are the pro and cons of working with blood relations in
the
same band?
Some of the best rockabilly bands have had brothers in the line-up. Restless, Blue Cats, Ricochets, Jets, Red Hot & Blue and the Johnny Burnette Trio. And some of the most commercially successful too - Oasis, INXS and The Kinks off the top of my head. Sometimes being brothers we don't shy away from an argument but on the other hand we know each other so well that it's soon forgotten.
What are your next steps? Are there any plans for new releases?
It would be great to get back into the studio. Paul has some songs that he wrote for the Fat Cat Trio but aren't really suitable for them and I'm always coming up with ideas. We will be playing our first couple of UK shows in the Norwich area in June 2006.
I have noticed that you´ve posted some cool gig pics from the 1980´s on the Speedfreaks Ball website. Do you remember when you get in contact with Rockabilly/ Psychobilly for the first time? What was the first Psychobilly album you have ever listened to?
When I saw the Stray Cats playing 'Runaway Boys' on the TV show Top Of The Pops in 1980 I was hooked. I was at school but had a Saturday job and a couple of the guys I worked with played me The Meteors 'Voodoo Rhythm' EP. That was my first exposure to Psychobilly. They took me along to gigs by groups like The Meteors, The Blue Cats and The Stargazers. The first Psychobilly album I bought was The Meteors 'In Heaven' and I remember the next was The Cramps 'Off The Bone'.
And when did you start to play double bass? Do you have any idols? Who is the best slap bass artist in Psychobilly/ Neorockabilly - What´s your opinion about it?
When the Wigsville Spliffs played at the Klub Foot we used to travel up to London with them. When they split up I called Mike Lister and asked if I could buy his bass. I hadn't even touched one before that. I taught myself with help from Paul. My favourite slap-bass players have always been Mark Carew, Steve Whitehouse and Sam Sardi.
What do you think about the current Psychobilly movement in general? What's the main difference between the 80s,90s and now?
Well the 1980's was great here in the UK, the scene was at its peak. The Klub Foot in London was packed week after week. When Shakeout were originally together in the 1990's it was sometimes a struggle to attract people to venues no matter what bands were playing. Things seem to be getting better now though. There seems to be an increase in younger people getting into the music and bands like Rev.Horton Heat, Meteors, Long Tall Texans, Tiger Army, Nekromantix and Horrorpops are getting some airplay on national BBC Radio 1 here in the UK. There is also the growth of the American market to look at now. That's a growing scene that didn't really exist back in the 1980's. We've had some good feedback from the Americans.
Thanx for answering all these questions.
