Album Notes

Second volume of this great US/Aussie/Europe bands sampler with car songs. Ride On !

HOT CARS! HOT MUSIC!

Popular "Hot Rod Music" saw its heyday during the late 1950's and early-mid 1960's. The most well known songs were penned and performed mainly by a small group of young Southern California musicians and part-time hot rodders in '63 - '64. But most of us real rockers know that as soon as the first automobile wheels began rolling off the assembly lines of Detroit, real "hot rod" records began rolling onto jukeboxes and DJ's turntables. "Hot Rod Boogies" waved the starting flag for many a car enthusiast's imagination and sparked the beginning of a musical genre all it's own. Authentic mid 1950's rockabilly music can trace much of it's early inspiration and fast rhythms to a teenager's love of driving fast cars and owning hopped-up rods.


Today's rockabilly musicians are working wonders with the sounds that popular culture has long since forgotten or cast onto the scrap heap. Using the 'spare parts' of vintage 50's sounds, classic instrumentation & some garage honed talent -and then inspired by the "kustom" kings of old, modern rockabilly acts have crafted some truly killer recordings, driving that original spirit blazing back onto the modern hepcat scene. Much like the original hot rodders who were often limited by materials, time and money, these 21st century rockers have fashioned streamlined, stripped down and scorching retro roots rock music with all the same fire, flash and fury as their original 1950's heroes.

Like the curves in a Von Dutch pinstripe that bend and blend into the perfect work of kustom art, so too does this record combine that original kustomizing spirit of the "old rat rodders" and the vintage car sounds that we love (Hillbilly, Rhythm N' Blues, Novelty & Rockabilly!), welding them into something cooler, faster and BETTER! And that's what we have here today, race fans: a real souped up gow job of a hot rod platter! Rhythm Bomb's own musical mechanics (and a few hand selected mercenaries) have chopped, channeled and 'hopped' up 22 instant car classics for your driving and listening pleasure! Remarkably, most are all NEW original tracks, with just a scant 5 retreads (covers) under the hood. What you have here in your greasy hands is the perfect soundtrack for an afternoon wrenching in the garage, an evening cruise or a late night drag on the outskirts of town.

That same rebellious fever and need for something "just a bit faster and a lot cooler" is what fuels these tracks here, so please... take it easy 'round them curves!

-Del Villarreal

P.S. All of the amazing hot rod pictures used in this booklet were taken by Axel Bienert, a real ol' skool rod fan and a talented photographer from Berlin. More of his eye-popping work can be found in his fantastic book "V8 Boogie".


Del Villarreal is a disc jockey in the Detroit, MI area who hosts his own weekly radio program called "Go Kat, GO! The Rock-A-Billy Show!" and has recently launched his own 24/7 all rockabilly radio station called "MOTORBILLY" on live365.com. You can find him emceeing or DJing at many of the worlds biggest rockin' festivals or daydreaming about building the perfect hot rod with his son, Caleb.