Southern Culture On The Skids
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Mary Huff
SCOTS News
Be sure to check out the latest Tour Dates!

We've got the Spring and Summer 2013 dates up y'all. Wax up your surfboards, get the wax outta yer ears, and come on out and get good and greasy with us!

SCOTS Tour Dates!


Celebrate "Dirt Track Summer" with SCOTS' "Power Slide" tee.

Be a trend-setter! This shirt is NOW AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY AT LIVE SHOWS AND ONLINE IN THE SKIDMART.

The motorcycle drawing was done by Rick when he was 13 while on summer vacation!

Rick adds "when I was living in California I used to go to Corona and Elsinore Raceway every chance I could to watch the 1/2 mile and TT events. I loved the summer nights under the lights with the bikes! I can still smell the wet dirt and hi-perfromance exhaust fumes! I remember watching the riders throw the bikes down into the turns and hit the throttle to accelerate - rider and bike twisting, bucking sideways, their metal "hot shoes" skimming and bouncing off the ground throwing off sparks. Everybody moving at speeds well over the legal limits on the interstate we drove on in our cars!

"From 12 to 14 or so all I did was draw motorcycles - My mom and dad got some framed and I still have them. I drew the one on this Tee-shirt from a photograph in Cycle World."

100% soft cool cotton perfect for some hot summer fun! Unisex tee - fits a bit tighter than a Beefy-T.


Hey Skidders — Check It Out — SCOTS Is Sponsoring A Dirt Track Racer!

We got a dirt track date, y'all! Get your darlin' by your side and head on out to that dirt track oval, son of a gun. SCOTS is sponsoring motorcyclist Kayl Kolkman this season. Check out his website, kaylkolkman.com, for his schedule and more info.

 

Check out Mary (as Loretta) & Dave (as Conway Twitty) doing "As Soon As I Hang Up The Phone" in the "Hey Loretta Hillbilly Hoedown & Pie Social" at the Continental Club in April 2012 in Austin TX (benefiting the SIMS Foundation). The show featured pretty much every honky tonk gal in Austin singin' Loretta songs and bringin' pie! Mary & Dave got up and did "As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone", then Mary did "Blue Kentucky Girl". And Mary won Marti Brom's incredible cherry pie in the pie auction! SCOTS followed this Monday night with a week of shows at the Continental Club. Wow, Austin knows how to throw a shindig!

Y'all check out the tour dates and catch us on the road!


Check out what Guest Editor Rick's talking about at Magnet
Hey Y'all, Magnet magazine invited Rick to be guest editor on their web magazine the week of Nov 7-13th 2011. He's expositing on his fave horror movies. Don't miss the Q&A with Rick, too!

Attention! Attention! All Boils and Ghouls!!! We have a winner in first annual SCOTS Halloween Film Festival!!
Thanks to everyone who took the time and effort to create some magnificently macabre masterpieces! It was a very difficult decision, but after eyeballin' and cogitating on all the creepy concoctions, we have selected the head honcho of the Zombified video house of horrors!!! Drumroll please.....the winner is Kevin Larson and his neice Lennyn. Let's give 'em a hand!!!

If you've got an iPhone, iPad, Android, etc, VEVO's got a free app for that! If you're an international fan you can check the video out here.

Here's the inside scoop from Kevin himself:

Lennyn lives in Santa Cruz, CA. (She's my niece) she is 8 yrs old & loves music. She can sometimes be found at various clubs in the area waiting (with cookies) for the band at load in .. seeking autographs & pictures. After doing this vid I'm sure she will likely be hanging at Moe's next time SCOTS are in town...but I'm not sure if she will be asking for your autographs or offering you hers. She has already informed me that next time we do a video her rate is going up!! She liked doing the video & she likes the song...but she doesn't like watching the video...the finished vid freaks her out!

As for me...I live in Southern, CA. I am a video editor for a local News station...its really boring, often depressing (mostly bad news) & there is no creativity to it whatsoever. To remain somewhat sane & creative I shoot & edit live video for any band (I like) that will let me & I also do short film type projects & aviation vids from time to time.

There were two big challenges with the Zombified vid:

The 1st was not really having a plan for the video other than the live stuff!! I made Lenny up like a Zombie & we shot about 30 minutes of her walking around chewing on $5 dollar Halloween props filled with gummie worms & Strawberry jam. The idea to insinuate that she had eaten the band / the fans was last minute & required another make-up session the next day & shooting in the rain (might be one reason why Lenny's rate is gonna increase).

The 2nd was syncing the live video with the studio audio...(for any curious techno geeks... I had to slow the vid down by 18% to come close to matching the studio audio).

My sister & I have been SCOTS fans for a long time & I often schedule my visits to NorCal to see the Fam based on tour dates!! lol This last visit was great because we got to see your show...I got to shoot some live vid & do a project with Lenny & combine all that into something that people are watching, apparently liking, sharing & commenting on. Good times!

I really like the new album. Some of my faves besides Zombie are "Undertaker", "She's my Witch" & "Primitive"

Thanks again for all the years of great tunes & for having this contest.
Kevin



Zombified!! Zombified, Southern Culture On The Skids’ tribute to the horror and exploitation movies that populated Southern theaters and drive-ins during the 60s and 70s, is being released this fall 2011. Originally released in Australia as an eight song EP in 1998, the Zombified Extended Release is now a full LP with the addition of five new tunes, and will receive its first U.S. release September 27. It's available for pre-order now at SCOTS.com.

The new and improved Zombified has been re-mastered and re-packaged with cover art by Sean Starwars and design by Yee Haw industries. Rick Miller, guitarist and singer for the band said, “you know, the Zombified EP never had a proper U.S. release and the band is excited about it happening now as a full album.” The album is available in all formats, CD, digital download and LP. The LP is a limited edition of 1000 on blood red vinyl complete with CD inside! Zombified will be for sale this September in record stores, web stores and at scots.com.

Download the title track from Zombified for FREE!

Here's the complete track listing and keep reading below for a blow by blow description of each song.
  1. ZOMBIFIED
  2. UNDERTAKER
  3. SWAMP THANG
  4. SHE’S MY WITCH
  5. BLOODSUCKER
  6. SINISTER PURPOSE
  7. TORTURE
  8. DEVIL’S STOMPING GROUND
  9. BAT’S ARE SLEEPING
  10. IDOL WITH THE GLOWING EYES
  11. THE CREEPER
  12. EYEBALL YOU LATER
  13. PRIMITIVE

"I was always attracted to low budget DIY films," said Miller. "Maybe it was the lurid posters and newspaper ads that sucked me in as a kid. Later, I got into the directors, like Mario Bava, Hershell Gordon Lewis and George Romero, to name just a few. They made some entertaining and pretty disturbing movies from way outside the mainstream. A big influence on my approach to making music!"

The band’s music is no stranger to horror/exploitation films. Previous SCOTS songs can be found in soundtracks like the Spanish psycho classic "Perdita Durango," directed by Alex de la Iglesia and starring future Academy Award winner Javier Bardem. In the teen screamer "I Know What You Did Last Summer" the band makes an on screen appearance playing "My Baby's Got The Strangest Ways." SCOTS also supplied the soundtrack to "Blood Feast II, Buffet of Blood," the sequel to HGL's original gore epic.

Click below for a song-by-song preview of the coming attractions.

Be sure to check out the TOUR DATES page and catch SCOTS on the road!

SCOTS gets Zombified!

 


Attention!!! Attention!!! All you pencil neck geeks the digitized Santo is Here!!!
The 1992 SCOTS tribute EP to the Masked Mexican Super Hero/Champion Wrestler/Secret Agent/ Movie Star/Fashion Icon and Sex Symbol is now available as a digital download. All 6 slabs of the poundin' sound are here for your digital takedown!
 
Track Listing
  1. Viva del Santo!
  2. Walleyed
  3. Meximelt
  4. Camel Walk
  5. Double Shot
  6. Scratch My Back

Get it now at SCOTS.com And be sure to check out Santo in the "Camel Walk" video at the SCOTS.com music and movies page - He's hanging at a party goin' on at Drummer Dave's swank mobile home, escorting the ladies around the dance floor and drinking Tabasco from a jug like Mezcal! Poor Dave lost his party pad in a hurricane not long after shooting the video but Santo will live on forever!

¡Atención Atención! Llamando a todos los nerdos raquíticos - ¡¡¡Ya llega El Santo digital!! El EP del 1992 de SCOTS homenajeando al Enmascarado Mexicano, Súper Héroe/Campeón de Lucha/Agente Secreto/Estrella de Cine/Icono de la Última Moda y Símbolo Sexual está ahora disponible como descarga digital. Los 6 bloques de sonido retumbante ya están aquí pare que los aplastes digitalmente.

Obtenlo ahora en SCOTS.com. Y asegúrate de chequear a El Santo en el video de "Camel Walk" en la página de música y videos de SCOTS.com - El Santo está en una fiesta en la lujosa casa móvil del Baterista Dave. El Santo acompaña a varias damas en la pista de baile y toma salsa de Tabasco, ¡en una botella de Mezcal! El pobre Dave perdió el salón de fiestas en un huracán unos días después de que se tomó el video. ¡Pero El Santo vivirá para siempre!

Translation by Roberto Cofresi



We Have a LUCHE LIBRE Winner!!
SCOTS fan "Porckchop" entered our Luche Libre Mask giveaway and had his/her email selected at random as the winner on the 4th of July!! If you see masked figures strolling down the sidewalk in your neighborhood give your fellow SCOTS fan, Porkchop and crew a holler!


Original "Santo Sings" on Zontar

For all you SCOTS archivists here is the original cover from the 1992 EP "SANTO SINGS". This EP was released on the ill-fated Zontar label. When Zontar folded the band added two more songs and released it as "SANTO SWINGS" on Estrus. These "SANTO SINGS" extended play EP's were pressed in limited quantities in both traditional black and clear yellow vinyl. The yellow pressings are quite rare.

 



The Hillbilly Wolf Spotted Hangin' Out at Cultural Hot Spot

Check it out — The Virginia Museum in Richmond VA has an awesome exhibit right now called Virginia Rocks. Virginia Rocks is an in-depth study of all things Rockabilly in the Commonwealth, 50s to present (mostly 50s and early 60s). The show includes lots of great photos, and videos among other things. The exhibit's high point for me was a video of Link Wray playing his hit instro "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" on some teen show from the early 60s. He is looking pretty swank in a suit and tie, playing hilariously out of sync at one point in the song. The Raymen are no where in sight — must have been deemed a bad influence on the teenyboppers by the producers!!! Link was playing his Longhorn guitar in the video — just like the one I'm standin' next to (in the photo at right) — which just happens to be mine. The curator borrowed it for this leg of the show. Link's real one had a date at the Smithsonian in D.C. The plaque behind me told Link's story. Check the Link Wray t-shirt I wore for the photo op!! The Hillbilly Wolf lives on!



HOLD ON...... IT'S COMING......... IT'S COMING ..... IT'S COMING........ IT'S.........HERE!

The new SCOTS album "THE KUDZU RANCH", a collection of 12 new tunes recorded at the one and only Kudzu Ranch Recorders in Alamance Co. NC. Out now and available in the SCOTSSkidmart!!!

Track listing:
  1. Bone Dry Dirt
  2. It's the Music that Makes Me
  3. Pig Pickin'
  4. Highlife
  5. Slinky Spring Milt
  6. Montague's Mystery Theme
  7. Are You Ready for the Country
  8. My Neighbor Burns Trash
  9. Bad Boys
  10. Come As You Are/Lucifer Sam
  11. Busy Road
  12. Jack's Tune
"The Kudzu Ranch is collection of 10 originals and a couple covers," Rick says, "songs about people, places and things — like good friends and crazy neighbors, dry dirt and pompadoured flirts, busy roads and horny toads — all of them motivatin', salivatin' and procreatin' to their own crazy beat!" Look for it now available in all formats - download, CD and LP!!!




 
Come On By And Check Out The Ranch

Kudzu Ranch Recorders is an affordable full service recording studio located in Central NC. To take a look and inquire about rates, and availability click here: www.kudzuranchrecorders.com.


 



Too Much Pork For Just One Fork

The Pig is Back!!!

Kudzu Records is proud to announce the reissue of Too Much Pork For Just One Fork (TMP). The long out of print album by Southern Culture on the Skids has been re-mastered and is now available as a download and a CD. The CD has original artwork by Rick and photos by D. Kent Thompson.

Here are a few words from Rick about the record and some of the folks who helped make it happen...

 



News and Reviews...

Check out what folks are saying about SCOTS!

From AL.com:
Serious fun: Southern Culture on the Skids returns to Birmingham for Bottletree anniversary (video)
By Mary Colurso

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Rick Miller doesn’t promise a baby pool filled with banana pudding on Friday, when Southern Culture on the Skids plays at Bottletree Cafe.

But it’s been known to happen. That creamy Southern dessert -- so perfect for food fights -- has become part of the band’s iconography over the past 30 years, along with fried chicken, snack crackers, dirt tracks, trashy wigs, bear wrestling and other redneck delights.

...

Miller can talk about the merits of 2-inch tape or Pro Tools with the best of ‘em. He enjoys scavenging for odd treasures at pawn shops and thrift stores, and says the clerks definitely know his face at RadioShack.

One of his recent infatuations: a 1980s Moog synthesizer. “It’s got the most flatulent sounds I’ve ever heard in my life,” Miller says...

(read the rest of the interview)

 

From Post & Courier's Charleston Scene:
Southern Culture on the Skids: Come hungry for fried chicken and banana pudding
By Stratton Lawrence

Old Faithful trumps everything. Unlike interview times set by a publicist or sound check time at a show, Yellowstone National Park’s famous geyser always stays on schedule.

It’s hard to fault Southern Culture on the Skids’ founder, guitarist and singer Rick Miller for not answering his phone when Charleston Scene came calling. After all, he had geysers to admire.

"The cool thing about Yellowstone is that you can drive around in a car and pull off and walk to these hot springs and geysers," Miller said on the phone last week before the band played a gig just outside the park in Montana.

"They’re sulfuric, so they smell pretty bad. When the wind blows in your direction, the kids are all like, 'Ugh! Ugh! It's toilet water! We got sprayed with toilet water!' "

After nearly 30 years of touring its unique blend of rockabilly, country and surf music around the world, Southern Culture on the Skids, commonly known as SCOTS, knows how to make use of its free time during the day before a gig.

And Miller's songwriting reflects his keen cultural observations during his travels, as well as his Southern upbringing.

Southern celebration
Miller was born and raised in the country near Chapel Hill, N.C., and his father owned a mobile home factory. His family moved to the outskirts of San Diego for a few years, where he developed an affinity for dirt bike racing, before moving back to North Carolina, where he still lives today.

"My take on the South is that it's the most unique place in the country for a number of reasons..."

(read the rest of the interview)

 

From Peajay Music Blog:
Southern Culture: The Continental Cookout

AUSTIN, TX — It's the 11th Annual Rod & Kustom Lonestar Round Up with Southern Culture On The Skids' week long gig at the legendary Continental Club! For the last few years, Stomberg '97 Products has sponsored Southern Culture's week long Continental Club gig during Austin's annual custom hot rod convention. That means "it's party time on South Congress Austin!" Several blocks on South Congress are closed to thru traffic as the custom hot rod party and parade is carried out (ala SXSW's 6th Street). At the epicenter of this fine mess is the Continental Club. The host band is Southern Culture on the Skids with different musical acts each night!

Tonight is Friday the 13th --- and the bill is Rockabilly Heaven - Texas BBQ Style with opening act Rosie Flores & Marti Brom, followed by the Rockabilly Queen herself, Wanda Jackson, and closing the show from North Carolina is "White-trash Royalty- Dave, Rick & Mary aka Southern Culture On The Skids!

6:00PM — As I made my way through the blocked South Congress section; amongst the crowd, the colorful spectacle of customized hot rods, stretched chrome choppers, pelvis-pounding music...

(read the rest with lots of pictures, too!)

 

From RedandBlack.com:
WAY DOWN SOUTH: Southern Culture on the Skids keeps promise of ranged rockabilly, Americana alive
By CASEY ECHOLS on December 1, 2011

Nothing is more Southern than Southern Culture on the Skids.

Formed in 1983, the Chapel Hill, N.C.-based hillbilly surf-rockers formed their image on the concept of everything so wonderfully south of the Mason-Dixon — with songs like, “Banana Pudding.”

“We just started writing about things we grew up with and Southern things,” guitarist Rick Miller said. “It really evolved around food and geography — and we indulged our sense of humor and licked some musical inspiration from the ’50s and ’60s. Anything from classic country to rockabilly to swamp pop. Southern forms of music is a very rich field to mine, so we’ve made own brand and we do our own thing.”

Within this musical mine-field, the band has concocted a melting pot of blended Americana.

“We used to just call it ‘toe-sucking geek rock.’ It’s kinda weird but once you try it, you probably like it … it’s pure Americana from the other side of the tracks,” Miller said. “It’s not your typical Americana band, but everything we do is so American. It’s all about growing up and living in the South, but it’s kind on of the wrong side of the tracks.”

(read the rest of the interview)

 

From Tampa Bay Online:
Rockabilly vets bring humor, music to Skipper's
By ED CONDRAN | Tribune correspondent
When Kevin Smith saw the film 'Slackers,' he had an epiphany. "I said to myself, 'If that's a movie, I could make a movie and I did make movies."

Southern Culture on the Skids vocalist-guitarist Rick Miller had a similar experience when he saw quirky psychobilly artists The Cramps back in the early 1980s.

"When I saw the Cramps, I thought, 'I can do this,' " Miller said. "I can be in a band and make it work."

Miller formed the amusing and idiosyncratic Southern Culture on the Skids in 1985 and the group rolls on. The trio, which also includes bassist Mary Huff and drummer Dave Hartman, doesn't just parody white trash culture. Southern Culture on the Skids, which will perform Saturday at Skipper's Smokehouse, crafts well-constructed roots/rockabilly tunes.

"We're not just some novelty act," Miller said while calling from his rural home in the Raleigh area. "Just because you might have some funny lyrics doesn't mean you're just some kind of off-the-wall act. We're a solid group."

But the band, which has written such amusing but rockin' tunes as "Too Much Pork For Just One Fork" and "Daddy Was a Preacher But Mama Was a Go-Go Girl," stands out in a world of serious rock bands.

"I don't mean to sound like I'm slamming that Americana scene, but I call the people involved in that world, 'Beardos," Miller said. "It seems like everyone in an Americana band has a beard and is so, ah, not funny.

"Whatever happened to the humor in rock? What happened to all the funny punk and new wave bands? The Beatles even had some humorous songs. Man, what would Ringo do today if the Beatles were a young band?"

(read the rest of the interview)

 

From Magnet:
Q&A With Southern Culture On The Skids’ Rick Miller

Anyone have any idea how long Southern Culture On The Skids has been around? Would you believe since 1983? Time flies. (Clever response: You cannot, they’re too erratic.) The current lineup of SCOTS features Rick Miller (the one constant since its inception) on guitar and vocals, bassist Mary Huff and drummer Dave Hartman. If you haven’t heard what they sound like, an educated guess that included Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Cramps, Tav Falco’s Panther Burns and Man Or Astro-Man? might be pretty close to the bone. The trio’s most recent album, Zombified (Kudzu), came out just in time for graves to open so the dead can have one last stagger around the countryside. Miller dialed MAGNET from behind a weed-choked crypt somewhere in the deep South. He will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week.

MAGNET: What I hear when I play your stuff is, obviously, the Cramps, Tav Falco’s Panther Burns and an old country guy called Jumpin’ Bill Carlisle.
Miller: The first two I can say yes. All the country stuff I just kind of absorbed from my dad. Lots of Roger Miller from when I was a kid. “Kansas City Star,” I think, is my favorite.

I actually saw Roger Miller play with Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, a very long time ago.
Gosh, that must have been awesome. Those are two of my favorite artists. Have you every heard of a guy named Billy Strange?

Sure, he had the first hit with the James Bond theme back in ’64. And the guy I work for at Sundazed Records, Bob Irwin, has an instrumental band called the Pluto Walkers whose two main influences are Billy Strange and Al Caiola.
I just found all the Billy Strange stuff on Amazon. They’ve reissued all his GNP/Crescendo albums. I got his album of Mexican hits and Billy Strange Plays The Hits Of Roger Miller. I love the guy. He’s got the best icepick kinda guitar tone. It sounds so good. George Barnes is great, too, the album called Guitar Galaxies. You used to be able to find all that easy-listening stuff for nothin’ at the thrift stores. Ferrante & Teicher albums, for example.

Yeah, I like a lot of that stuff some misguided hipsters might consider crap. I will go out and pick up some Billy Strange now, because I’ve only got about 20 thousand records here, and that just ain’t enough.
I don’t usually consider myself a completist, but I do for guys like Buddy Merrill, who used to be the guitar player for Lawrence Welk, and Billy Strange and Al Caiola. I love listening to that stuff. The arrangements are killer. You can learn a lot.

Tell me about playing with Loretta Lynn.
Oh, we’re playing with her this Saturday. We play The 9:30 Club up in D.C. a lot; they’re good friends of ours. When they got the offer for Loretta Lynn, they just thought we should get Southern Culture on the bill. Mary can look a lot like a coalminer’s daughter. I’m sure she’ll bring the dresses and the wigs and look like her redheaded stepchild. That’s gonna be fun, man. I think those old-timers will dig us. They’ll know what surf music is, they’ll know the garage stuff. Just give ‘em a double-barrel of everything we’ve got.

(read the rest of the interview)

 

From Blurt:
HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM... Southern Culture on the Skids
Rick Miller & Co. are getting Zombiefied all over again: Miller examines his life-long horror fetish, with a cameo from The Editor.

BY RANDY HARWARD Rick Miller's sittin' in his Kudzu Ranch studio trying to fix a fuzz pedal that, when it's workin', "sounds like a 60-pound bee." The reference betrays Miller's fascination with old horror films, an affinity well-known by fans of eclectic hillbilly-rockers Southern Culture on the Skids.

"I always loved Halloween because I could just watch endless streams of horror films," he recalls. "Every Saturday morning there was a double feature of Roger Corman films, some sort of indie 50's sci-fi, or Universal horror films from the 30's. I used to just live for that stuff."

That's one reason SCOTS often draws from the horror/sci-fi well, as on Zombified, a limited-edition horror-themed collection the band self-released in 1998. The eight-song EP featured songs about vampires, zombie babes, the devil, undertakers and more, and fans lusted after it like the shufflin' undead crave guts. It quickly went out of print and was fetchin' big bones on eBay and Amazon until now.

...

BLURT: It's good to see you're reissuing Zombified. I remember picking up the original release in Salt Lake City, like 12 years ago. RICK MILLER: Oh my gosh. Salt Lake City. What a crazy place, man. We always had fights at Salt Lake City, we - and things got stolen. Go figure, the city of Mormons. [laughs]

(read the rest of the interview)

From Forces of Geek:
SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS: ZOMBIFIED RISES FROM THE VAULT!

The title track "Zombified" kicks off the album with this instant high watermark of garage rock spookarama and is a track that will take its longtime place as an instant crowd pleaser. When I recently performed as Robert Jaz, DJ From The Black Lagoon, playing all sorts of monster and horror themed songs, I added the pre-release of this song to my set list, and the creeps and ghouls in attendance went wild.

From there it's a melding of more really great original tracks like "Undertaker," Idol With The Glowin' Eyes" (an outtake from the Blood Feast II sessions) and "Eyeball You Later."

The band has chosen some fantastic cover song choices for Zombified, such as Kip Tyler's underground classic "She's My Witch," and J.D. Loudermilk's sorrowfully smitten, lovelorn ballad "Torture" (sung woefully tortured by bassist Mary Huff), and a peppering of inspired instrumentals, "Swamp Thing," Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Sinister Purpose," and "The Creeper."

(read the rest of the review)

From LexGo
Critic's pick: Southern Culture on the Skids, 'Zombified'
By Walter Tunis Contributing Music Writer
A love of low-rent horror flicks — the kind where sex and gore are almost necessary by-products as long as they don't make the movie come in over budget — fits right in with the SCOTS' rural roots music vision. The title track rolls on guitar hooks deep fried in reverb from Miller and a fat, high-carb backbeat courtesy of Hartman. The resulting music is a little surf, a little bit psychobilly and a whole lot of fun when the lyrics sink in ("my girl's more dead than alive"). (Read the rest of the review)


From PopMatters:
Southern Culture on the Skids: Zombified
By Kevin Curtin 14 October 2011 Zombified
Southern Culture on the Skids latest tells of zombies, witches, bats and swamp things, but never stoops to the novelty silliness of the Monster Mash. Instead, it comes off like Link Wray and his Wraymen recording in a haunted house. The title track has the wretched strut of the Stooges and repeats the word “Zombified” until it infects your vocabulary. Vampires catch a shout out too with “Bloodsucker”, an adversarial rant that crosses the dark world of Dracula with a happy-go-lucky island beat.
(go to rest of review)


From Consequence of Sound
Festival Review: CoS at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2011
(pg 2) Southern Culture on the Skids — Arrow Stage
Scrupulous in their live performance, Southern Culture on the Skids has labored long over streamlining every aspect of their set. It’s what rock and roll should be — calculated yet improvisational, evidencing clear skill and creativity, while also being rigorous and animated. Band members Rick Miller, Dave Hartman, and Mary Huff resonated and glowed with effortless style during the entirety of their performance. All husky seduction, Miller wailed and moaned into the microphone, picking fiercely at his electric guitar. His counterpart, Huff, is a red-haired raven who knows how to keep up with the boys; she seduced eardrums during her performance of “You’re a Star”. The band’s music live embodies southern soul mixed with touches of naughty fun; their rendition of “The Wet Spot” — which sounded like Middle Eastern music accentuated with a touch of The Beach Boys’ surfer sound — featured a barely clothed belly dancer. With calls to clap, sing, and dance, their live performance at HSB turned out to be one of the most rallying shows of Friday afternoon. (click to pg 2 for a great picture of Mary on stage)


From The Aquarian
Southern Culture On The Skids Zombified
Witches cackle in the darkness of “She’s My Witch,” brewing a melting pot of what this album is about: Funny bone blues with a dash of salty surf rock and slow-cookin’ rockabilly. Songs like “Zombified,” “Undertaker,” “Swamp Thang,” “Bloodsucker” and “Idol With The Glowing Eyes” will get your guests up to boogie on down for a bewitchin’ good time.
(Read the rest of the review)


From Country Standard Time:
Southern Culture on the Skids Zombified2011 (Kudzu)
Reviewed by John Walker
Southern Culture On The Skids is a countrified version of ZZ Top meets Junior Brown. This North Carolina based band reached cult status since it began making its own brand of Americana music in 1983. Their unique sound is a lethal combination of early rock and roll, surf, country western and mountain music. This fun musical hybrid is perfect for their latest release "Zombified". The 13-song collection of songs is dedicated to the horror and exploitation movies across the U.S. in the '60s and '70s.
(read the rest of the review)


From The Charlotte Observer
Ghouls, witches, and zombies populate Southern Culture's pumped up reissue
by Courtney Devores
“Zombified” is surprisingly diversified given its subject matter. There’s the early `80s country rock of “Eyeball You Later,” the timeless girl group softness of “Torture,” the horror movie/rockabilly marriage of the title track and “Primitive," and the sad, retro feel of “Undertaker.” It makes me think about the possibilities if Hank Williams, Alice Cooper, and Buddy Holly hung out together.
(read the rest of the review)


From Twangville
Southern Culture On the Skids – Zombified
by Shawn Underwood in Americana, Reviews, Rock, Roots
The disc starts off with the title cut that’s a double entendre about a girlfriend being an actual zombie and just being in that state of mind, “she’s more dead than alive, she’s got no spark in her eyes.” Next up is Undertaker with a bubbling cauldron intro ala Monster Mash. Then comes Swamp Thang that’s full of Dick Dale and LInk Wray riffs. By this point in the project you remembers that SCOTS has been around 25+ years and they can drop a groove on just about any kind of roots music. The roots review continues with Bloodsucker, a Rastafarian beat to vampire lyrics. One of the most fun songs is Torture, which starts with a woman’s scream, then puts a Shirelles style 50′s spin on the sadistic side of relationships.
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