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 The
rockabilly - rockin' blues years
The Krewmen were formed in 1982
by Tony Mc Millan and, at that
time, played rockabilly. (according
to some sources the band went
under the name of The Starlites
until 1984). This early formation
starts to build a name and a
following and in 1985 they are
hired to play Elvis' band in
"Elvis the musical"
which brings them to the USA and
Canada. Back to Europe, Lost
Moment offers them a record deal
but the other two decide to leave
to pursue personal projects.
Mc Millan on double bass soon
recruits Jimmy Fahy on drums and
Carl "Sonny" Leyland on
piano, guitar, harmonica and
vocals which changes the sound,
to play more blues influenced
material but still with a heavy
rockabilly flavour in it. The
band releases two singles on Lost
Moment (both excellent) now very
rare but available on the compact
disc Klassic Tracks Fom 1985 ! (still
on Lost Moment) and some other
unissued recordings are available
on Carl Sonny Leyland’s
album “I Like Boogie Woogie”
(On The Hill OTHRCD 001).
Among their best songs you find
“Ramblin’” a great
“delta-blues meets Chicago
blues” tune. The electricity
is here but you still have a big
country flavour. It also shows
what a great slide guitarist is
Carl Leyland, too bad he doesn’t
play it anymore. The b-side,
“I’m gonna get it”
is a Jazz Gillum song. Listening
to this version shows that the
Krewmen were more than a “cover
band”. They play this song
and make it their own. The song,
the voice and the harp are
clearly bluesy, but the way
McMillan slaps his bass and the
scorchy guitar look toward
rockabilly. Let’s call it
rockabilly blues.
In late 1985, tired of playing
covers and with the will to play
a more modern music, Mc Millan
thinks it’s time for a
change of direction. This leads
Leyland and Fahy to leave.
Leyland joined various bands
before moving to the USA where he
built a solid reputation as a
boogie-woogie, jazz and blues
pianist, Fahy later teamed with
Get Smart, a band which described
itself as Jazzabilly.
Introducing
Mark Cole - The Krewmen goes
psychobilly
The brand new line-up (pictured
above) consists of Mc Millan on
guitar (his former instrument),
Mark Cole on vocals (sometimes
close to Guana Batz's singer, Pip),
Dominic Parr on drums and Jason
Thornton back on double bass (he
played with The Starlites). They
play fast rockabilly /
psychobilly and original material
Their first album, in 1986,
"The Adventure Of..."
entirely written by Cole and
McMillan became highly
influential on the psychobilly
scene, for good reasons. The
rhythm section is tight, Cole is
one of the best vocalist of the
era and the songs are really well
crafted and original, still
anchored in the rockabilly idiom.
The band doesn’t try to put
as many songs as possible and
with 10 songs there’s no
filler.
“Sweat Dreams” follows
in 1987 and is based on the same
recipe. It’s even better.
The band is tighter, the songs
are too, and McMillan adds a bit
of metal to his guitar style.
Once again the songs alternate
fast and slow parts, with well
played breaks. Another unusual
thing, three songs out of ten are
more then 6 minute long,
including the fake live version
of the Isley Brother’s Shout.
Next is “Into The Tomb”
still in 1987. And it proves they
manage to record three classics
in a row. But this time, the
sound hardens a bit and it
features more covers : The Clash’s
Should I Stay Or Should I Go (a
song which proved to be very
popular on the psychobilly scene),
T-Rex's Solid Gold Easy Action
and the traditional Hava Nagila .
For the rest Mc Millan takes the
lion’s share on the
songwriting and Cole just
collaborates on one song (Curse
Of The Pharaohs).
Exit Cole
and a step toward metal...
Cause all good things comes to an
end and Cole leaves the band in
1987.
McMillan takes over the vocal
duties, but in 1988 Cole is
followed by Parr and Thornton. It
was time for a new line-up with
Steve Piper on drums and various
bass player Mark Burke then
Graham Grant.
The sound changes with the line-up
too, getting harder and harder
with elements of metal, punk,
glam rock. "Plague Of The
Dead" in 1988 combines all
those influences. The choice of
the covers reveals this
orientation and McMillan’s
varied tastes. From Eddie Cochran’s
Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie to Gary
Glitter’s Do You Wanna Touch
via The Who’s My Generation
and Steppin’ Stone (Paul
Revere, The Monkees but also
covered by The Sex Pistols). Tony
quotes Chuck Berry, Alice
Cooper, Elvis, The Rolling
Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jimmi
Hendrix and Sex Pistols.
If not unforgettable, it suffers
the comparison with the “Cole
period”, “Plague Of The
Dead” has some good moments
like “Legend Of The Piper”,
“Take A Little More”
and the previously mentioned
cover. Despite the credit, it
seems that McMillan plays the
bass parts on this album, not
satisfied with their bassist. It
was before he finds Paul Oxley.
After his stint with The Krewmen,
Burke formed The Phantom Rockers
in 1988.
1988 and 1989 are busy years for
the band and they tour a lot in
the USA. The band enters the 90’s
with the release of "Power"
(a perfectly suited title) which
goes further in the direction
announced by “Plague…”.
“Knight Moves” is
clearly metal, “Devil’s
Lair” mixes hard-rock
guitars with slap bass and a good
part of the rest is hard-core
influenced. What a long way since
the rockin’ blues days. But
all in all “Power” is
better than the previous. More
coherent, entirely self-written
and very well produced. Cherry
Red has issued a live DVD with
the "Power" line-up (Mc
Millan, Hoxley, Piper).
The
final adventure? Maybe not...
The following year with “The
Final Adventure...” The
Krewmen return to a more "classical"
sound. Something like the missing
link between “Into The Tomb”
and “Plague…”. The
single issued from this album is
good too. Forbidden Planet is one
of the best song written by
McMillan. The b-side features a
country song (but with The
Krewmen treatment) and a cover of
the Rolling Stones' Paint It
Black with electronic drums (!).
If you can’t find the
original single, these songs are
available on the cd “Single
Out” that gathers the
singles recording since McMillan
took over the vocals.
In 1992, Steve Piper left the
drums to play rhythm guitar and
Tony Gallagher replaced him on
the drummer's seat. On the
recording front everything has
been very quiet since then, but
Lost Moment reissued the classic
trilogy on CD.
In 2007 McMillan has joined the
blues rock band “Headsmith
Band” as a drummer, and the
rumors says he’s working on
a new Krewmen album.
Discography
Albums
The
Adventures Of- Lost
Moment LM08
Sweet Dreams - Lost
Moment LM10
Into The Tomb- Lost
Moment LM14
Plague Of The Dead-
Lost Moment LM20
Power - Lost Moment LM21
The Final Adventure Of- Lost
Moment LM23
Singles
Ramblin'-
Lost Moment LM024
What Are You Today- Lost
Moment LM12034
My Generation- Lost
Moment
Do You Wanna Touch-
Lost Moment LM045
Forbidden Planet- Lost
Moment LM050
Compilations
Klassic
Tracks From 1985- Lost
Moment LMCD054
Singled Out - Lost
Moment LMCD024
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