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Eve Hell and The Razors sign with Transistor 66
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Transistor 66 is extremely pleased to welcome rock and roll hellions, Eve Hell and the Razors, to ou...Transistor 66 is extremely pleased to welcome rock and roll hellions, Eve Hell and the Razors, to our happily dysfunctional family. Look for a new record and a European tour on the horizon.
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Rockabilly Act Will Raise a Little Hell at Folk fest.
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It was at the Ship & Anchor a couple of months ago during the official lineup announcement for this ...It was at the Ship & Anchor a couple of months ago during the official lineup announcement for this year’s Calgary Folk Music Festival that Eve Hell heard word that she’d be on the same bill as fellow old country and rockabilly aficionado Chris Isaak.
She was, needless to say, pleased.
“Oh, yeah,” Hell says with something like a sigh. “Yeah. I love him.”
She laughs and requests that perhaps it’s information that should be kept from her husband and bandmate Mike Hell, before she says that it’s probably a feeling shared by all of the members of the local trio Eve Hell and the Razors. “I think everybody in the band loves him — in our most heterosexual way possible.”
They’ll get the opportunity to express that amour as well as their own abilities during the course of the fest, where they’ll perform a side stage show and appear in several of the weekend workshops. They’ll also get the entire party started, with a pre-event kickoff party tonight at Sit Interiors.
The trio — which features Eve on upright bass and vocals, Mike on guitar and veteran drummer Richie Ranchero — have certainly earned their place in the event’s local stable of acts, which in 2012 also includes Lorrie Matheson, The Hackamores, Reuben and the Dark, and The Magnetic North. For the past four years, Eve Hell and the Razors been, on their own, been filling Calgary clubs, building an audience and paying their dues, becoming one of the city’s tightest, most exciting live acts.
“Folk fest will actually be our anniversary,” Eve says of the current lineup, before explaining how they got the festival call. “Someone who used to work there they said, ‘You know, have you tried (to get on)?’ And I said, ‘Well, we’re kind of rock ’n’ roll. But I’ll give it a shot,” she says, noting they’d been given an opening at a fest presents show at the Ironwood which the played and impressed with.
“Then Kerry (Clarke, the artistic director) came and saw us at the Blues Can and the next day we got the e-mail: ‘Yup. You guys are in.’ ”
And the fact that the three-piece are as at home and can rip-it-up on either of those two stages, not to mention other diverse venues such as indie rock club Broken City, metal haunt the Distillery, and local roadhouse Mikey’s Juke Joint speaks to their talents as well as the music they make. While steeped in those previously mentioned styles of classic country and rockabilly, the members also seamlessly mix in everything from CBGB’s grit and California surf to Tex-Mex desert twang for a dead-sexy sound that scorches and sizzles and simmers and steams.
“We’ve always tried to appeal to as many people as we can,” she says, citing Wanda Jackson as one of her biggest musical heroes. “We’ve all got the skills and we’ve all got the desire to play and add these extra (styles), be it a little punk rock influence or a softer folk influence a political influence — whatever. We’re a million people in this city, there’s only so many people that like rockabilly, there’s only so many people that like punk, so if we can get ’em all in the same room you’ve got a nice big audience.”
And as for the rockabilly purists out there, many of whom are incredibly protective of their culture, Hell says that the inclusion of those other elements isn’t a slight but rather, not unlike Mr. Isaak, a want and a need to invite a larger audience into the party.
“We’ve been very open from the fact that we come from a small (genre) and we have to appeal. And we said, ‘You guys are just going to have to accept it.’ And they have,” she says of the local hotrods, leather and Brylcreem contingent. “If they want to love one style of music from one decade, more power to them. I, I like everything. And I’m allowed to.”
Eve Hell and the Razors perform at the Calgary Folk Fest Kick-Off at Sit Interiors (820 11th Ave S.W.). The band will also perform at this year’s Calgary Folk Music Festival which runs July 26-29 at Prince’s Island Park. For information go to calgaryfolkfest.com.
- By Mike Bell
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/festival-guide/Rockabilly+will+raise+little+Hell+folk+fest/6977904/story.html#ixzz289aPn5Wu
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When the Lights Go Out
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I've got some flack in the past about my opinions of Canadian bands....
Speaking of hope Eve Hell ...I've got some flack in the past about my opinions of Canadian bands....
Speaking of hope Eve Hell and the Razors are here to save the day, no wait the country.
If Disneyland were to change the format of that Haunted House to a spaghetti western for the undead, Eve Hell and the Razors should be the house band! This CD is chock full of great songs- originals and covers, all done so wellI'll say it loud and proud that I'm a fan of a band from Canada -eh. ...
More to come, but we want people to actually buy the magazine for now.
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Ol Skool Rodz- Del Villarreal
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WAY WAY UP NORTH, IN THE DEEP DARK WOODS OF CANADA (CALGARY, ALBERTA TO BE PRECISE) DWELL THE ROOTS ...WAY WAY UP NORTH, IN THE DEEP DARK WOODS OF CANADA (CALGARY, ALBERTA TO BE PRECISE) DWELL THE ROOTS ‘N PSYCHOBILLY TRIO KNOWN AS EVE HELL AND THE RAZORS, A MONSTROUSLY FUN, SURF-INFLUENCED ROOTS COMBO WITH A LOVE OF HORROR, COUNTRY AND ROCKABILLY MUSIC. LEAD SINGER/UPRIGHT BASS PLAYER EVE HELL’S DESPERATE, YET SWEET N’ SMOKY VOCALS ARE SUPPORTED BY THE ROCK SOLID REVERB AND TWANG OF MIKE HELL’S GUITAR AND THE BOOM-CRASH OF RICHIE RANCHERO’S DRUMS. THIS DISC WAS SELF PRODUCED UP IN CALGARY, BUT GIVEN A PROFESSIONAL NASHVILLE POLISH BY GEOFF FIREBAUGH (HILLBILLY CASINO).
“WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT” IS CHARACTERIZED BY SOMBER DARK AND TWANGY HELLBILLY HYMNS, PUNCTUATED WITH DARK FLIGHTS OF COUNTRY AND RAUCOUS SPOOK HOUSE ANTHEMS. ON THE TITLE TRACK EVE TAUNTS, “COME AND GET ME.... IF YOU WANT IT!” OBVIOUSLY HOPING TO TURN THE TABLES ON HER WOULD BE STALKER/PURSUER. “MY BABE” BECOMES A SEXY AND HYPNOTIC BOPPER, EVE TRANSFIXING THE LISTENER WITH HER GUT GROWLIN’ AND SEXY HOWLIN’ DELIVERY. THE CHANTAY’S “PIPELINE” GETS A [TRIBUTE IN THE SOLO] MIKE HELL MAKE OVER TO RE-”SURF”-ACE FROM BELOW AS THE CREEPY “COFFIN HUNTER.” EVE LETS LOOSE WITH A PSYCHOBILLY GRRROWL ON “LIPSTICK ON MY MICROPHONE (AND BLOOD ON MY BASS).” MIKE EASILY SWERVES HIS [GRETSCH] FROM BASIC LUTHER PERKINS- STYLE CHUGGING ON “BIG RIVER” TO LOW-FI EDDIE COCHRAN E STRING TWANG ON “LOVE AND A 45”
THIS FINE SECOND ALBUM FROM EVE & CO IS RECOMMENDED FOR COWPUNK FANS OF REV. HORTON HEAT AND HEAVY TRASH. - DEL VILLARREAL.
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Eve Hell and The Razors
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EVE HELL AND THE RAZORS
playing their little hearts out
By Craig Sinclair
Eve and Mike Hell hav...EVE HELL AND THE RAZORS
playing their little hearts out
By Craig Sinclair
Eve and Mike Hell have been making music together for more than a decade, and it took the couple most of that time to find themselves in a configuration they called Eve Hell and the Razors. In the early days, they burned through a number of support musicians. It wasn't until drummer Richie Ranchero of Huevos Rancheros fame found his way into the fold in 2008 that things really began clicking. Since then, the band has been making a name for itself in the world of rockabilly by taking the core values of the genre. Yet their songs possess a musical intelligence that many others of their ilk fail to find.
Fast forward to the present and you will find that all the enthusiasm of making great music is still there, tempered by a bit of experience. Ranchero has gone from newcomer to full-fledged member of the family. “Richie is fully represented (on our new CD),” says Eve. “Our first CD was written before we were a band.”
The second release from Eve Hell and the Razors, titled When The Lights Go Out, is 16 tracks long. In addition to the tracks you'd expect to find on their releases, there’s a ‘40s style prohibition song, an undoubtedly Richie Ranchero influenced surf instrumental and even an AC/DC cover. Eve suggests, “People will notice a lot of joy on this CD. This time we were less nervous and had so much fun with Cam Haden (the album’s engineer)! The whole time we were laughing our heads off. I think he captured our humour and personalities really well.”
When asked about the new record, Eve says, “We didn't just try to get something down that sounded decent. We've really gone for gold on this one: 16 hours, 16 tracks, and the boys have just completely come unglued on it! They laid their CD tracks before I put mine down and while I was watching them I was really humbled by their playing and so proud of them. The skill is just, wow, cheeky nods at all their heroes, complex runs and riffs, they have really stretched themselves on this one and so I had to follow their lead. I sang my little heart out on this CD and basically tore the tips off my fingers attempting quadruple slaps and stupid fast melodic runs on the upright bass just to keep up. You gotta love a band that kicks your ass.”
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Hell Heading to Sin City.
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Hell heading to Sin CityRockabillies Eve Hell and the Razors fire it up on the Vegas strip
Publishe...Hell heading to Sin CityRockabillies Eve Hell and the Razors fire it up on the Vegas strip
Published March 4, 2010 by
Christine Leonard in Music Previews
Kenneth Locke
‘It’s amazing to see bluegrass guys rubbing shoulders with punk rockers’ — Eve Hell’s rockabilly is a unifying force.
Some marriages are made in heaven, but according to Albertans Mike and Eve Hell, things are even better south of the border. Legally united in October of 1995, the Hells trace their mutual affection for rockabilly music back to their formative years as music students at Red Deer College. The dynamic duo explored the annals of classical and contemporary forms, but it was in the subculture of Americana that they found their true musical calling. Receiving her first stand-up bass as a gift from her beloved husband, Eve Hell continued the journey she had embarked on as a youngster marvelling at The Stray Cats’ strut, and joined Mike in forming The Razors. Despite a tendency to stay in the background, in the fall of 2006 Eve repurposed her Broadway-style vocal training to become the Razors’ lead singer and hard-pluckin’ centrepiece.....
“I just kind of fell into the role of singer,” Eve confesses with a good-natured chuckle. “When I studied voice techniques, it was originally for stage and theatre. I never imagined I’d be using it to do this instead. Over time, I’ve gotten much more comfortable performing for people and presenting myself onstage. I wish I could be a more normal role model out there for girls to see. The role models that get presented as normal today are all messed up princess types. Growing up, I would have loved to have seen a woman who had brains, talent, a good family and a good life. You can have it all.”....
Seeking to swing a permanent third member for their outfit, Eve and Mike rolled the dice and lost on more than one occasion. Various drummers came and went, until 2008, when they struck gold by landing surf band veteran and hired gun “Richie Ranchero” Lazarowich. A stellar skinsman who has paid his dues with the likes of Huevos Rancheros, Loaded Dice, The Black Coffee Cowboys, the Rowdymen, Hurricane Felix and many more, Lazarowich gelled with the infernal couple immediately.....
“Richie has had a big influence on us,” says Eve. “He has a huge record collection and has been exposing us to everything, including old albums from Chess Records and modern guys like Southern Culture on the Skids. We’ve really come a long way together — the band as a whole has really evolved in terms of knowing each other so well that we can just focus on putting on a great show. You can feel it in the air; we’re so much tighter and the audience is more involved than ever. Everyone loves rockabilly; it’s amazing to see cowboys and blues guys and bluegrass guys rubbing shoulders with punk rockers and greasers in leather jackets.”....
Mining a cross-section of popular ’50s motifs for the contents of their full-length debut, Eve Hell and The Razors released Fire it Up in January of 2009. Recorded with ex-drummer Ed Tiegs, this psychobilly juggernaut landed somewhere between The Cramps and Richie Valens and whetted greaser-rock appetites for the trio’s future conquests. Setting its sights on Sin City, the group is gearing up to rock local audiences in preparation for a jaunt to Nevada for the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend this April.....
“They call it a weekend, but it’s really four days straight of bands and partying at the Orleans hotel off the Las Vegas strip,” Eve says. “It’s really cool; just walking up to the doors, you pass through a parking lot full of awesome vintage cars and bikes, and inside everyone’s dressed in ’50s garb. It’s our second appearance there and we love the atmosphere. We enjoy sticking to the same fun ’50s themes in our songwriting — every genre has songs about love and heartache, but how many also let you sing about girls, cars, aliens andmonsters?”....
