Hot
Rods & Pin Ups
Ceklin Music Hot Rod Cat –
Teenage Queen –
Proud Hawk –
Chatanooga Choo Choo
– Lost Generation
– Bloodhouse Worms
– Behind The 8 Ball
Man – Hot Rods &
Pin Ups – Shakin All
Over – Devil Woman
– Atomic Boogie
– Honey Hush –
Train In Vain – High
Octane Gal – Rock
That Galaxy
Formed in 2003 by slap
bass extraordinaire
Djordje Stijepovic (also
lead singer), guitarist
Drazen Skaric (both from
Havana Whisper) and
drummer Sinisa Jovic,
Atomic Sunset is a wild
modern rockabilly band.
Let be honest, if you’re
stuck in the 50’s
this one has every
chances to disappoint
you, but if you’re
open minded you’ll
enjoy it a lot. The album
kicks off with 2 Setzer/Stray
Cats like tunes. “Hot
Rod Cat” wouldn’t
be out of place on Setzer’s
Ignition and Teenage
Queen sounds like Buddy
Holly once given the
Stray Cats treatment (think
“Gina”). “Proud
Hawk”, with a bowed
bass intro, is a solid
surf instrumental on
which Skaric’s skill
shines. Chattanooga Choo
Choo, though good, is a
little less convincing
partly due to Skaric who
doesn’t seem totally
at ease as a lead singer.
With “Lost
Generation” they
harden their sound with
good backing vocals and
made me think a bit about
The Quakes. I really
enjoyed “Bloodhouse
Worms”, a
threatening song with a
jungle beat played on the
toms and a jazzy dialog
between the bass and the
drums in the middle. With
a title like “Hot
Rod & Pin Ups”
you’d expect a neo-rockabilly
tune, but this is more a
hardcore tune with
syncopated drums, effects
on the voice and heavy
distorted guitar. To my
surprise I liked it a lot.
“Devil Woman”
is a heavy psychobilly
song with a Balkan feel.
“Atomic Boogie”
is Stijepovic “tour
de force”. It’s
a jazzy instrumental with
a fantastic double bass
solo in the middle. If
you haven’t seen the
video, make yourself a
favour and go to Youtube.
Skaric plays bottleneck
guitar on the boogie
blues “High Octane
Girl”. This fine
album ends on “Rock
That Galaxy” a more
traditional rockabilly.
They also play a couple
of covers. “Honey
Hush” and “Shakin’
All Over” are
modernized and customized
to their sound while The
Clash’s Train In
Vain brings a touch of
funky glam pop but
finally this cover gives
the key to this album. If
you'd have to compare
Atomic Sunset to a band
you'd compare them to The
Clash. I mean they are to
Rockabilly what the Clash
are to Punk music. They
try to push the
boundaries and dont want
to limit themselves to
just one type of music. A
good and refreshing state
of mind. www.atomicsunset.net www.myspace.com/theatomicsunset
Fred "Virgil"
Turgis
