Preview
BIG JOHN BATES AND THE VOODOO DOLLZ
Saturday, March 8
The Night Gallery
"The Cramps are the best rock band in the world, ever," declares John Bates, the quiet and well-behaved alter-ego of Big John Bates.
"They’re where psychobilly started, I say. Some people will tell you it’s The Meteors, but I’m not that big a fan of The Meteors. I say it was The Cramps."
Psychobilly is arguably the latest last stand of rock ’n’ roll. Every time the genre’s declared dead on its feet, something comes along to give a few more volts to the ticker. After Bowie’s glam rock days, after the days of good ol’ punk, a void was left in the "attitude for attitude’s sake" department. The void was filled with the likes of The Cramps, forerunners to some of the world’s most entertaining psychobilly bands – like Big John Bates.
That void continues to be filled, from that day to this, with the super-charged hootenanny craziness of psychobilly music – which, as the name suggests, is one part rockabilly and many parts psychosis.
"I started out writing for a speed metal band, but when I first heard psychobilly, it changed my life," says Bates. "And although I love punk music, I just get tired of all these bands showing up and hashing out their tired version of punk rock.
But even in the world of psychobilly – especially in the world of psychobilly – you gotta have a gimmick and a stage show to get along. In Bates’s case, he’s got the Voodoo Dollz, Bombshell Betty and L’il Baby Chaos, who became part of his act in 1991. After the core three-piece had been playing awhile, Bates realized that their music was good, but that others had a similar style.\
"I wanted something a bit different, so we came up with the idea of a burlesque show," he says.
Wackiness ensued. Recently, Bates and the Dollz were banned from The House of Blues in Las Vegas. One wonders, naturally, what a rock band would have to do to get banned in Vegas.
"Oh, it was an all-ages show, some people showed up with their 10-year-old kids. And, you know, it’s a burlesque show, and sometimes pasties fall off, man. So the girls lit their pasties on fire, and one of ‘em fell off, and the security guys just went off the deep end.
"I mean, we’ve been traveling through Interior B.C. for the last few days doing the same damn show. One guy came up to us afterwards and asked if we’d toned it down for them. And when I said ‘no,’ he asked, ‘so what’d you get banned for in Vegas, man?’
"Honestly, (the Dollz) were doing this Mexican wrestler kind of schtick. That’s all. In leather. And pasties. And I guess they might have been carrying whips," Bates says, chuckling a bit sheepishly.
Big John Bates is, surprisingly, a good Canadian boy. If you’re wondering why you’ve never heard of him before, it’s because he and the band spent the majority of their career developing a reputation elsewhere.
"In the past, we’ve had an easier road in the U.S. The States has got a good strong psychobilly scene. We just went down and capitalized on a scene that already existed, rather than having to try and create it up here.
"And, you know how Canada is. Crowds don’t want anything that isn’t already popular somewhere else. And clubs are brutal here – they all want something for nothing. The bigger the city, the worse the problem.
"You talk to these big-name rooms in Toronto, and they want you to feel so honoured that they’ll even consider you, that you’ll play for $100. Fuck that. We’ve got $10,000 in costumes – we’ve invested something in this band. We don’t show up and just play for nothing. We’re better than that.
"So when a club owner says to me, ‘Can you just play a couple of sets?’ I say ‘no.’ You get the full-meal deal, or you get nothing. And in the end, they love us."
You can picture the evil smile on the other end of the phone.
"I think we may have changed some people’s lives in Kimberly and Slocan Valley. And when L’il Baby Chaos gets going, the shit she can talk people into doing – let’s just say I’ve got more footage of club owners dancing naked than I’ve got any need for." |
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