A Bit Of An 80's Roots Rock thread feat. various Dels, Scorchers, Ryders, Johnnys, Farmers etc

Shiney impossibly brought up the Beat Farmers in "That Thread" (As It Is Now Known), and i thought maybe there should be a thread on that great band......but when you think about the Beat Farmers it's impossible not to think about the Del Lords, Del Fuegos, Jason And The Scorchers, The Johnnys, Long Ryders etc etc etc.

It seemed like all these bands were unruly "Sons Of The Dolls" and Thunders but swapped lipstick and hooker slap for rawhide and spurs, ranging from the Wild West of the US to the Far East of Australia. Equal parts Jerry Lee Lewis, AC/DC, Marty Robbins, The Heartbreakers, Gram Parsons, The Sex Pistols, Hank Williams, The Ramones, Duane Eddy, Slade, Elvis, Nuggets, Creedence and Gene And Eddie.

Even through the of it's time production that was afforded them when major labels came a knockin' they were still ass kickin', boots stompin', roots rockin' motherf*ckers.

So yeah strap yourself in.......



Long Ryders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0saf-DKQoM8



The Johnnys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNXj_8jVb_w



Del Fuegos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urd60ot_5R8

Glad something good came out of "That thread"

I love Del Lords..
Two of their members, Scott Kempner and Frankie Funaro have been playing with one of my all time favourite musician/songwriter David Kincaid, in The Brandos.
I also have Scott Kempner`s solo album..

Man, I have almost all these bands. I went through a major "cowpunk" phase back in the 80s. I still love Jason and the Scorchers, Del Fuegos, Del Lords, Long Ryders, etc.

I have The Brandos too.

What about Webb Wilder?

I'm realizing how soft I am on 80's roots rock compared to other eras. I was way off into being a Baseball fan at that time and missed a lot.
You guys need to make me some comps of some of the harder sounding songs so I can get my bearings.

Some one seriously need to put out TEX & THE HORSEHEADS on cd....

Other great bands of this ilk, that RP neglected to mention...


THE BLASTERS....(It may well have started here!)

GEORGIA SATELLITES....they brushed the mainstream but were considered a novelty act...sadly. Killer band!!

THE JONESES....SODA POP KIDS....THE REDUCERS....THE HANGMEN...LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH.....early FIELDS OF NEPHILIM....KINGS OF THE SUN....


Now I realize alot of what and whom I mentioned flirt with the sleaze/glam sounds and have reared mention in other threads...but they have a tentacle in the roots rock sound, in my opinion.

Lords of the New Church is roots rock????

Rank And File

I have a Jason and the Scorchers disc that I picked up a few years ago for a buck. It was somewhat of a blind buy. I heard of them and had an idea of what they about, but never actually heard a note. It was a dollar well spent.

I saw them live right before they signed a major label deal. They blew the roof off. I also saw them jam with Georgia Satellites right after GS was signed. Tiny bar in Mufreesboro, TN. Hot, sweaty and loud. Great show!

LOTNC are'nt really I guess...Hell, I don't even know what roots rock is......

I just know what I dig.

I always call LOTNC "gothic punk".

Would you call the Four Horsemen roots rock? I really liked the first album by them.

One of my all-time favorites. A great drunken sing-a-long song.


Another roots rock band that I like a lot is Lucero.

Good call J......Green On Red are a great band......countrydelic!

Shiney wrote:

LOTNC are'nt really I guess...Hell, I don't even know what roots rock is......

Shiney i get were your coming from with regard to the Lords.......there is that twangy spaghetti western Duane Eddy guitar and stray rockabilly to them......plus they play up that whole Gothic Western Cowboy Outlaw image.

Such a wonderfully f*cked up band that blurred the lines between disco, garage rock, new wave, punk, roots rock, goth, sleaze, heavy metal, glam etc etc etc.

I don't hear roots rock in The Lords at all.

I understand the inclusion of Fields of the Nephalim because of their penchant for spaghetti western instrumentation but I don't hear that at all in the Lords.

But I will agree that The Lords thoroughly blurred genres in their music. They are practically unclassifiable in my book.

Brian James' guitars had a definate rootsy Duane Eddy/Shadows/Surf/Rockabilly/Chuck Berry thing going on, particularly on the first record.

rattpoison wrote:

Brian James' guitars had a definate rootsy Duane Eddy/Shadows/Surf/Rockabilly/Chuck Berry thing going on, particularly on the first record.

If you say so.

Roots rock to me is Long Ryders, The Scorchers, even Hootie and the Blowfish. None of whom have anything remotely in common with Lords Of the New Church to my ears.

I'm willing to make all kinds of concessions to the genre game because it's so subjective but this one just crosses my line.

I'm not afraid to kick my VP's arse!!! :

It's just one of the many elements that make up the Lords sound......it's a roots rock sound more akin to the Cramps and Gun Club then say the Scorchers or Long Ryders (Who share the Lords penchant/obsession for 60's punk/garage/psych).......two bands that are top of the Roots Rock heap for me, but are in a different league to the one's mentioned in this thread.

What about DRIVIN' N' CRYIN'?

They are often labeled southern hard rock or something but there is alot of nodding to older country backwoodsy sounds there....

And I implore both of you to check out the following bands...sort of rootsy....in a strained through a still, backwoodsy sorta way

DEVIL IN A WOODPILE
WOODBOX GANG



and the almighty 16 HORSEPOWER!!! I think they'd be considered rootsy!

Shiney wrote:

and the almighty 16 HORSEPOWER!!! I think they'd be considered rootsy!

Most definately.....so rootsy i can hear the metal rusting and the wood rotting!

Thanks to this thread I have now discovered Jason and the Scorchers great band at least from the one song rattpoison throw on here, Shiney introduced to Beat Farmers another cool band, and I had forgotten how good Hoodoo Gurus were, it has been years since I have heard them.

I'm surprised you don't know of the Scorchers......but they don't call them the one the greatest lost bands of the 80's for nothing.

Here's them doing Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie", one of thee best Dylan covers ever.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-cF40OWeak

You shouldn't be surprised I missed them, I live in Florida, and bands like this got zero attention where I lived, no radio play, no major magazine coverage, and I am sure they all blew thru town but during the 80's I was big in my metal/punk phase, even if in reality these guys were alot more in common with punk ethics than some of bands I listened to were.

BTW very cool cover of a Dylan classic.