King Memphis

Featured in Arts & Entertainment, New London, CT
By Rick Koster
Day Staff Columnist
Published on 9/25/03

It's true that not much changes about rockabilly, from the reverb-treated vocals and stand up bass to the bowling shirts and pompadours. But for rockabilly to remain cool, it must remain locked in it's own time. You can't be adding moog synthesizers or hip-hop to rockabilly and expect to maintain it's pristine facade.

King Memphis, The Portland, Maine quartet playing at New London's Bank Street Cafe Friday, know's and adhere's to this principal-which is why they are such a great rockabilly band. Whether roaring about beer, cars and women on cd's like "Action! Action! Action!" and songs like "Shark Bait" and "Bloody Nose", or proudly serving as the back-up band for the genius of Ronnie Dawson (or Sleepy LaBeef), King Memphis absolutely rock. Er, a-billy. Well you know what I mean.

See King Memphis perform 9pm Friday at the Bank Street Cafe, 639 Bank St., New London - The Day Publishing

October 23, 1998
By Dale McGarrigle of the NEWS staff

King Memphis, which will be playing starting around 9 tonight at the New Moon Cafe in Bangor, had it's roots at open-jam nights in the Portland area. Matt Robbins, the groups leader found rockabilly "a style I enjoyed doing, it was a style no one was doing around town. It wasa chance to have fun and fill a void at the same time."

The foursomewas originally known as the Memphis Mafia, named after three Elvis Presley bodyguards. But that changed one night in Pittsburgh. The band was playing at a club while the original Memphis Mafia
was in the Pennsylvania city on a lecture tour. Ads for both events ended up in the same days entertainment pages.

"It turns out they had copyrighted the name just a year before." Robbins recalled. "Their lawyers, who are also the Brown & Williamson tobacco lawyers, contacted us, so we decided to change our name."

King Memphis has played all over the United States. They play a mix of original and rockabilly tunes in concert. "There's a lot of rockabilly music people don't know about." Robbins said. "We';ve tried to avoid the Top 40 rockabilly hits. We try to do the more obscure covers. (Rockabilly's) getting more popular, especially with the swing thing happening. You can do the same dances to both types of music."

Because of it's role in music history, rockabilly will endure, Robbins said. "It has an infectious sound and is very danceable. Rockabilly and R&B are the roots of rock 'n' roll.

King Memphis plays the New Moon Cafe this weekend. - Bangor Daily News

Thursday, November 23, 1995
Night Notes by Ben Monaghan

One thing about Elvis Presley's legacy is that it's worth a fortune. You would think this is stating the obvious, but Mainers have come to learn the hard way just how big this fortune is and how far Elvis associates will go to defend their piece of the King.

The Memphis Mafia , a local band named after Presley's former bodyguards. (They) were served a cease-and-desist order for infringing on Elvis trademarks. The Memphis Mafia with a lot at stake will change their name.

"It was a real blow," Melissa Mencher, Memphis' manager, said recently. "The guys were down in Pittsburgh and had heard that the real Memphis Mafia was also in town on the lecture circuit. They didn't even think there was a problem."

Evidently, the real Memphis Mafia had also heard their brethren were in town, only they weren't as excited. "Prehaps," Mencher mused, "If they were actually able to meet them...If they weren't so pressed for time. Maybe things would be different."

The name change couldn't come at a more inoportune time. The Memphis Mafia, after stealing the Hemsby Festival in England, bookers in France, England, Germany, Spain and Italy have been quick to call. And if that weren't enough, the boys just signed a deal with Nervous Records, which will be putting out their debut album this spring when the guys plan a continental tour. - Guy Gannett Communications-Portland Press Herald

KING MEMPHIS

"All Hail the King"

By: Matthew Morris


Most modern bands don't have a clue where their real roots are. The tribute paid usually only goes back one or two decades and then becomes lost. Many musicians list contemporaries as primary influences and don't bother to trace the musicology back to where rock and roll started. It wasn't always screaming tube amplifiers and leather pants. Before there were leather pants, there were cuffed jeans. Before there was Aqua Net hairspray, there was pomade. And why the hell would you paint yourself up like a corpse? You'll never land any chicks like that -- except perhaps in Bizzarro-world 2005 A.D., when fashion victims wander Newbury Comics like the living dead.

Before we travel too far back into the good-old-days-that-never-were, let us appreciate the present for a moment. Enter: King Memphis, a fifteen year old rockabilly juggernaut, and arguably the longest standing Maine rock and roll band in existence. And yes, while there is another Maine band that has held together for fifteen years, I won't mention Twisted Roots in this article.


I was able to catch up with the band at Granny's Burritos. Well, most of the band, anyway. Kris Day (upright bass) and Matthew Robbins (guitar, vocals) bought me a PBR pounder and graciously spared some of their time, so two out of three ain't bad. Missing was Gary Burton (drums). With the departure of Kris Eckhardt (guitar, vocals), King Memphis carries on as a three piece.

Robbins offers some back story on King Memphis. "I met Kris Eckhardt at Raoul's open mic night, which was a great open mic night. ...We just kind of hit it off and we liked the same kind of music. ...I met Kris [Day] at Moose County Music... he got an upright bass, and I said 'You've got to learn how to play this stuff, and you can join our band.' And he did.

King Memphis has two official CD releases to date, being: The Astonishing King Memphis (Nervous Records) and Action! Action! Action! (Brokenwhite Records). For samples and purchasing info, visit www.kingmemphis.com (be sure to click on the 'ART' link). While there are no current plans for a new full length release from King Memphis, they recently went into the studio to cover the song "Chopper" by Portland's own Eldimur Krimm. The track will be part of an upcoming compilation of Maine bands covering other Maine bands.

"We are legends, really," says Robbins, followed by a round of laughter that quickly dismisses his pretentiousness as a joke. "We still enjoy it. We don't tour as much. We don't drive twelve hours for fifty dollars as much as we used to. Ummm, as a matter of fact we don't do that at all, if we can help it. (Laughter) We might as well keep it going as long as people want to come out and check it out. ...What I love is that other musicians come out and watch us play, because we really are dinosaurs, and they probably think 'Wow, how do they do that?' ...We're not ready to hop in the van and hit the road. It's really hard to make money as a roots musician, and probably for a rock band, too."

However, this is not to imply that King Memphis have been stuck in the Southern Maine circuit for fifteen years. Quite the contrary, they have played from coast to coast and many places in between, as well as over seas. Tattoo and 1950's Americana conventions are among the best places to recruit fans outside of Maine.

"We liked the music," comments Robbins. "We had no idea about the style, the nineteen-fifties clothing, or anything like that. We learned. We had to learn. Whenever you go to these rockabilly festivals people are dressed to nines."

"I remember the first time we went to England," says Day. "We had only been together about four years and it was just a trip going over there and seeing people that took it real serious... from all over the world like Japan, Russia, dressed like fifties Americans."

"Well they take it so seriously that it impairs their judgment," says Robbins. "Really, because if you don't sound exactly like the record, if you don't dress exactly like they did in nineteen-fifty-eight, a lot of these people will not give you the time of day. You're shit, or "shite" as they say."

Fortunately for normal people, a King Memphis show is pretty much a good time waiting to happen. The fun comes frothing out like the bubbles in a fresh can of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Day's slap bass lines and Burton's solid drumming create a head bobbing, jump-jiving experience at a dance floor near you. The catchy and classic rockabilly guitar work of Robbins make the sound authentic, complete with mandatory lyrics about cars and women. What else do you want to hear about? Don't try and fight it, Mr. Hardcore. I see you dancing, too.

So what makes King Memphis a member of Maine music royalty? Well, fair subjects of IT Magazine, let's say that King Memphis just won't quit. They refuse to relinquish their rule since they are in love with the music they create and people have been giving a positive reaction for years. Why would you let a good thing like that go? There is no need to excuse an outdated sound, because that is the exact gimmick of rockabilly; a nod to the past of yesteryear. It's a refresher course in the basic elements of rock and roll through jazz, blues, and a little chicken pickin' on the guitar. Centered in a happy medium styles, rockabilly becomes the crossroads of several genres, not an exclusive genre onto itself. In a town where 99% of rock bands want to sound like their contemporaries, King Memphis should be commended on their dedication to the roots of rock and roll music. Fifteen years might seem like a long time to be stuck in the past, but without bands like King Memphis fighting to keep the flame alive, we might not remember the past at all. - It Magazine - January 2005

October 1999-Roy Clark/Junior Brown Issue

"SPOTLIGHT" by Jim Hilmar

Matt Robbins &
The Astonishing King Memphis Get Up & Go

The subject of this month's "SPOTLIGHT" is an interesting player who has explored a lot of different musical styles. For now, at least, he's settled on a rockabilly-influenced sound that shows flashes of many of his influences. He's a singer,songwriter,bandleader and is becoming quite a recording engineer. But we'll get to that in a bit.

Matt Robbins is originally from Massachusetts, south of Boston. He comes from a family that isn't particularly musical. He was a trumpet player for a while but at the age of 10 decided that guitar was the instrument for him. Some of his earliest influences include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, and Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore was a particular favorite.

In high school he played in a number of bands. His first serious band covered tunes by The Doors, AC/DC, and Deep Purple. He gravitated toward the blusier side of things. In particular those of AC/DC and Dee Purple. "Highway Star" was a favorite of the group. In college, he joined an oldies band. The lead-singer in the band was a big-time Elvis fan and pointed him in the direction of classic rockabilly, rythm and blues, and hillbilly music. During his stint in this band, Matt's serious musical education began. And that's quite a statement from a Berklee College of Music attendee (he studied there for four years). He began to assimilate the sound of Gene Vincent (and Clif Gallup), Eddie Cochran, and Scotty Moore, and added their vibe to his fondness for the blues-based sounds of AC/DC and the early Rolling Stones. Voila! His guitar style (rockabilly with a bluesy, slightly aggressive edge) was born.

In the mid '80's (after his Berklee stint) Matt considered making a living playing music. He almost ended up in Austin but instead moved to Maine, where he frequented open mic nights and jammed with whoever would show up. The Portland scene was small but had a cadre of players (the area has an interesting musical history; Al Hawkes' Event Records was an important regional label, guitar legend Lenny Breau and his parents lived there, as did Dick Curless and RCA recording artist Hal"Lone Pine"Breau and Betty Cody). Matt found himself jamming regularly with singer/guitarist Kris Eckhardt and drummer Gary Burton.

In the early '90's, Matt, Kris, Gary and bassist Kris Day formed a band (the Memphis Mafia) and began gigging in the area. In Pittsburgh in October of '95, the band indirectly crossed paths with Elvis' former bodyguards (nicknamed the Memphis Mafia), who happened to be on a book promo tour. The bodyguards saw the Memphis Mafia’s name on a club marquee and presented the band with a cease and desist order, claiming they’d copyrighted the name. Rather than fight things out in court the band changed their name to King Memphis, and they’re still going strong today.

King Memphis recorded it’s first full-length CD in just 12 hours on Valentine’s Day 1996. The Astonishing King Memphis is 16 tracks of action-packed, toe-tappin’ rockabilly, with a couple of fine rockabilly ballads thrown in for good measure. Production duties were very capably handled by former High Noon picker Sean Mencher (a superb thumb-style player currently with Wayne Hancock, “SPOTLIGHT” March ’97).

The King Memphis lineup is Matt on lead guitar and vocals, Kris Eckhardt (Lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Gary Burton (drums and vocals) and Kris Day (doghouse bass and vocals). “Crazy Alien Chick” (a Frettin’ Fingers Favorite) leads off this project and it’s a solid attention grabbing mover. Kris Eckhardt’s vocal and Matt’s guitar push things along with the help of nutty lyrics like “……afraid my friends wouldn’t like her ‘cuz she does look a little bit weird……” “Little Joe From Chicago” is another movin’ number with a nice little solo from Matt. “Lone Star” showcases the bands ballad skills. There’s acoustic combined with tasty electric backing. Matt’s solo is sparse and tasty – enhanced by a judicious amount of reverb. “Mr. Clean” is another tune taken at a more sedate pace. It’s a ‘slice of life’ tune with a catchy backing riff and a nifty double-stop/bluesy blend on Matt’s solo.

“Baby, Baby” (co-written by Al Hawkes) is a bouncy, boppin’ number with a rollicking, thumpin’ bass line. There’s plenty of 6th chords in this one and a perfect solo from Matt. “Red Hot & Ready” (a fine mover) features some steel guitar from special guest Cartwright Thompson. Cartwright’s solo is in the Speedy West vein and adds an interesting twist to King Memphis’ sound. Matt revs it up on this one and quotes Cliff Gallup’s octaves from Cliff’s legendary “Race With The Devil” solo. “Let It Go” is a solid click-clack tempo number with Jordanaires style backing vocals. Matt’s solo combines blues, country and rockabilly elements for a cool sound.

The upcoming King Memphis project is tentatively titled Get Up & Go!! And hopefully will be available shortly after you read this. Matt’s sound is a bit more ‘edgy’ than heard on the Astonishing King Memphis. His tone, in particular, is closer to overdriven on this project and the country side of his playing surfaces from time to time. “Shark Bait” is an instrumental with a thumping bass line (not unlike that of The Stray Cats “Runaway Boys”) and a gnarly (and appropriately aggressive) guitar line from Matt. This one has a definite surf vibe to it. “Back Off Flat Top” has a cool drums/bass click-clack style backing with Matt employing a cleaner guitar tone while he comps. “Girls Go Wild” is an extended track (it runs over five minutes) with a hypnotic guitar backing. It’s a slower tempo tune that combines blues and rockabilly elements – rockabluesy or bluesabilly. The song is about a car and at the 2:40 mark Matt picks a cool solo with great tone.

“Flat Black Cadillac” is framed by crunchy riffing with guitars panned left and right. There’s some cool lyrics (“…….the 501’s got it’s very own zip code……” and “….front to back it’s a different time zone…”) and outtro has a slightly overdriven Bakersfield country sound (with neato behind–the-nut bends a la James Burton). “Jackrabbit Joe” is straight ahead rockabilly with cleaner comping and soloing from Matt. “That Ain’t It” is a rippin’ number with plenty of bluesy/overdriven tone. “Don’t Sweet Talk Me No More” is a catchy moderate tempo number. Matt’s solo blends double-stops and more country-like bends. The short (and humorous) “Bloody Nose” has acoustic guitar backing, a driving bass line and a “Hot Rod Lincoln” style riff that really drives things along. Matt uses the old Joe Maphis trick of sliding a bass note with his thumb and then picking single notes (referred to as “slurping” by Maphis aficionados.) to good effect on this one.

Matt used to be a ‘gear guy’ (he’d buy and try out a lot of stuff) but these days he’s got a steady line-up of equipment. His main guitar is a Tele’ style Stephen’s extended cutaway custom built for him by Seattle-based Stephen’s five years ago. He had W.L. VanZandt pickups (out of Texas) specially installed by Stephen’s. His main amp is a ’53 Fender Deluxe (Matt loves it). He’s also got a reissue ’59 style Fender Bassman. He uses a very specific signal chain/setup to get his sound: he plugs his Stehpen’s into a reissue Fender Reverb unit which then goes in to a vintage Maestro Echoplex. The Echoplex functions as a preamp and from the high-output jack of the Echoplex, is plugged into the Bassman, which is then slaved with the Deluxe. Matt has a few other guitars including a 1954 Gibson SJ flattop acoustic, and a 1955 Guild X-175.

Matt has listened to a lot of guitar players through the years. Some of his current favorites include T.K. Smith (a killer player currently leading Smith’s Ranch Boys and previously with Big Sandy), Sean Mencher, Brian Hoefeldt (of The Derailers), Dave Biller (“SPOTLIGHT” February ’99) and Deke Dickerson (“SPOTLIGHT” March ’99).

Like Multi-talented Deke Dickerson Matt has branched out into recording. He started the Track Farm recording studios in 1997. He’s recorded/engineered/mixed projects by legendary rockabilly “The Blonde Bomber” Ronnie Dawson (including Ronnie’s latest CD called More Bad Habits on YEP ROC Records CD YEP2012), The Raging Teens, and Boston-based group The Bourbonaires.

*The Astonishing King Memphis is available on Nervous Records CD NERCD 086.

*Get Up & Go!! Will be available soon. Check out the bands web site at www.kingmemphis.com for the latest info on availability.

Editor’s note: The title “Get Up & Go!!” was changed to Action!Action!Action! after the realease of this magazine and was released in 2000 to rave reviews and can now be found on www.amazon.com
- Vintage Guitar Magazine

Bit of Portland in NYC
Beer good, commute bad
BY JOSH ROGERS

It was 5:12 p.m. on Friday, and I was learning that it takes a long time to get anywhere around here. It should have been a short, 10-minute car trip from my job to the train station down the street from my house. Instead I was snarled in an unbreakable knot of traffic somewhere in the interminable sprawl of suburbs directly north of New York City.

My head was tight and throbbing and I was breaking out in a sweat. I can’t fault my drinking habits up to that point: I’d consumed about four glasses of water, one pot of green tea, and a glass of orange juice, so I was well-hydrated and relatively free of corn syrup, artificial colors, and caffeine.

Still, things got better once brain-cell-killing, speech-slurring alcohol became involved.

So, car, park, walk, train, walk, and I was relaxing in Harlem with a cold Modelo Negro at my friend Corey’s apartment. Our plan was to catch King Memphis, at the Rodeo Bar in Manhattan, and Cerberus Shoal, at Trash in Brooklyn. The long haul, I realized was just starting.

A 45-minute walk/subway ride later and we were at the Rodeo Bar, on the corner of 27th and 3rd. The labyrinthine interior is a cross between Bubba’s Sulky Lounge and TGI Friday’s. Placing one hand on the counter as a sort of placeholder, I turned my head and casually scanned the crowded room. Two feet in front of me was King Memphis’ Matt Robbins doing the same thing. After getting our beer (mine another Modelo Negro, Matt’s a Lone Star: "I gotta drink the cheap stuff down here"), Matt caught me up on the Portland music scene. He seemed pretty jazzed about the new Eldemur Krimm album he’s recording.

The boys in the band soon took the stage and proceeded to rip it up, getting a particularly warm response when they cranked up the reverb. After another Modelo, I was one of a handful of people bellowing in response as Matt gave a shout out to "Portland, Maine." Some dudes standing behind us later shouted out "Geary’s!" and a few songs later I’m sure I heard them yell "Old Orchard Beach!"

After another beer — a Brooklyn Lager, I think, with its Save-A-Lot-style label — Corey and I hit the restroom and headed out into the rain.

It would be nice here to orient readers familiar with the New York City subway system with a bit of detail about the next stage of our journey, set the scene with some sort of expressive description about a particular station platform or street corner. But things were getting a bit fuzzy.

I do remember vividly the odd feeling I got after getting into the subway car heading to Brooklyn. Something was different. What was it? And then I realized that every single person on the train car, except for a tired-looking Chinese man, was a twentysomething hipster. We exited the car en masse in Williamsburg, and Corey and I walked along Grand Street looking for Trash, stopping only once to illicitly relieve ourselves behind a mailbox.

At Trash, Corey bought me a Guinness, my first in years, and we waited for the Shoal to start.

"I really like these guys," I had told Corey before he came out with me that night, "but you might think it’s pretentious art rock." I felt the need to warn him that the band might be a bit "difficult."

But from the first unified splatter of stand-up bass, guitar, trumpet, accordion, and drums, I was rooted to my spot. Swaying, a little tipsy — but rooted.

They were fantastic, the best I’ve ever seen them during the seven plus years I’ve been going to their shows.

Now, that’s not just the beer talking. I’ve been just as intoxicated at Cerberus Shoal shows before and enjoyed myself about as much as if I were drunk at 11 a.m. in the morning and sitting in a college-level geology class, trying desperately to pay attention.

Corey handed me another Guinness, and I nursed it through an entire set of songs I didn’t really recognize. Chriss Sutherland’s yodeling barks and incantations in what I can only assume is an undiscovered dead language (South Portlandese?) were the most familiar sounds that night, and that’s not saying much. Maybe these were mostly songs from their newly released Bastion of Itchy Preeves (I haven’t heard it yet), but I don’t think so. Bastion is supposed to be a record of older, transitional songs, and their set sounded more Here We Are than Where We’ve Been.

Descriptors floated through my hazy brain that I don’t usually associate with Cerberus Shoal’s music. Words like "catchy," "pop," and "songs." I feel the need to keep those words separated and in quotes, though, lest anyone get the wrong idea.

They gelled musically in a way I don’t think they had before. Particularly, I felt that poet/auxiliary instrumentalist Karl Greenwald had finally, fully found his place in the band. Actually, I think he’s become the front man, a position Chriss Sutherland has seemed to want to pass on since the band started. I remember collaring Karl Greenwald after their set and drunkenly telling him so. Sorry, Karl.

I sagged into my seat on the subway car as the train lurched for what seemed like hours back to 125th Street.

That’s the odd thing about the New York City area: I live about 25 miles from both clubs, but it takes hours to get anyplace down here. We didn’t get back until 4 a.m.

My only consolation is that King Memphis were still on the road back to Maine when I passed out on the couch. They wouldn’t pull in to Portland till about 7 a.m. Suckers.

Issue Date: April 30 - May 6, 2004
- The Portland Phoenix

Saturday Night
By Amy Martin

With the charisma of Johnny Depp in Cry Baby, Matt Robbins of King Memphis has all the girls squealin’. And let’s not forget about the impeccable boys of rhythm, Kris Day on upright bass and Gary Burton on drums, who have all the asses shakin’. King Memphis are the rockabilliest rockabilly who will have you begging for more . . . all night long. Once you hear these boys, you may not even care that Mystic Vibes, the Brilliant Mistakes, the Coming Grass, Cindy Bullens, and Lisa Loeb are also playing at Baystock. This year the benefit is at the Maine State Pier on Commercial Street in Portland. Proceeds from the $20 tickets go to the Jessie B-C Fund, Cancer Community Fund, and United Way of Greater Portland. From 1 to 10 p.m. you can drink Budweiser, enjoy some tasty festival foods, and dance your ass all over the pier while contributing to charity. For instructions on how to style a pompadour, call (207) 523-7510.

Issue Date: August 13 - 19, 2004 - Phoenix Media Communications