ROCKET TO MEMPHIS

Showing there’s power enough in many an old swamp to suck you down, come this quaking quartet from Perth, Australia. Pleasingly forgoing the temptation of glib Stray Cats or Cramps going-overs, Betty Bombhell and her rocketeers tread an altogether more seductive path to lure you into their uncertain but marvelously murky depths of lizard slink.

For starters they actually DO creak out Creole mambas and tiki twirls, with Betty’s vocals deceptively demure and Jack’s crooked knee angular guitar suggestive of Marc Ribot’s best work with Tom Waits on Rain Dogs helping them to stand out by several strides - and when they both come to a head they take the already impossibly sexy "She's My Witch" and "No Kissin' At The Hop" to near ridiculous stakes of enticing wildness!

"Hip Shakin' Voodoo" is a sultry, shimmery sway through fog-laden nights and sinister death-glam discos, that stand as eerily inviting detours from the overflowing drive-ins of run of the mill rockabilly, of little or no regard.
Stu Gibson - Sleazegrinder Blogspot

"...swampy, voodoo rock n roll at it’s best - crazy, stylish & every tune's a killer. " (Hep! magazine)

“Betty Bombshell’s voice is incredible - husky, sexy - she leads the band with style.” (Rave Magazine)

“You can’t buy this kind of class... you either have it, or you don’t.” (Xpress)

"If you're looking for a darker, slutter version of Imelda May - Rocket to Memphis will hit your spot!" (ROCKABILLYVILLE blogspot)

"Hip Shakin’ Voodoo" is a sexy, dirty stompin’ swampabilly album that would sound perfect cruisin’ late at night on a lonesome highway searching for UFO’s. 
(BIG BEAT OF THE 50s Magazine June 2009)

"...they creak out Creole mambas and tiki twirls, with Betty’s vocals deceptively demure and Jack’s crooked knee angular guitar suggestive of Marc Ribot’s best work with Tom Waits on Rain Dogs" (SLEAZEGRINDER Blogspot May 2009)

The crew keep it dirty, driving their way through 13 tracks of hip shakin', ass bakin', gator stompin' groovy goodness. The subject matter is what you'd expect from any classic gutter walkin' outfit - bad girls,cars, swamps, voodoo and werewolves. The production is great, with the guitars reverberating back to the 50s and the use of electric bass gives the record a more skuzzy garage quality. Where the Rocket really soars is on tracks like "Gator Stomp" and "She's My Witch" where the crew stray into something a little slower and sexier, and the subtleties of Betty's voice are really allowed to shine. (DEADBEAT Hotrod Magazine June 2009)

From the opening track Bad Girl, I was hooked by the vocals of Betty Bombshell - her reading of Kip Tyler’s She’s My Witch is sexy as hell! .... with it's hip-grinding rhythms, tremolo-laden guitar and infectious tunes, this is pure class.
(UNMUZZLED fanzine June 2009)

Gator Stomp drips with coy flirtatiousness and underplayed lasciviousness... it saunters along like a long-legged vixen, hips shaking with every step! No matter which side of themselves they show off, Rocket to Memphis have an absolute knack for coming off elegant and stylish.
(XPRESS April 2009)

This is a really tight album... there is zero filler, it has direction, a narrative and when you listen all the way through, you can hear the effort put into the song writing and production.... Merging rockabilly, cowabunga surf and rhythm n blues, Hip Shakin' Voodoo is a really enjoyable record.
(INPRESS magazine April 2009)

“...these guys know what swamp is supposed to sound like, effortlessly blending rockabilly, surf and rhythm and blues with the cat-like snarl and sex appeal of frontwoman Betty Bombshell.... they also know how to write some damn catchy songs!” (DRUM MEDIA July 2008)

- various

Perth based outfit Rocket To Memphis may have only been around for a few years, but the musical pairing of vocalist ‘Betty Bombshell’ (aka Coo Bennett) and guitarist ‘Razor Jack Memphis’ (aka Andy Jarvis) is one that many followers of the Australian independent music scene would be familiar with. The pair first worked together in the 80s as part of the influential Sydney based post-punk outfit, Toys Went Berserk, then moved to London where they formed both Feast and Houdini.

In Rocket To Memphis, Bennett and Jarvis have produce a 6 track debut that is dark and bluesy, yet sassy and rockin’ enough to get hips shakin’ and feet a-tappin’.

The CD opens with the dark and dirty ‘Catwoman’, the tale of a woman out on the prowl. The jungle rhythms on the track really draw the listener in. The lyrical theme of bad women features throughout the EP (continuing a tradition that goes back to the old blues days of Bessie Smith and her ‘Downhearted Blues’) and it’s a torch that Bennett carries with both skill and gusto. But RTM address the gender imbalance with ‘The Jazz Butcher’, a song about a very bad man – in the best sense of the term (“He’s something to be seen, the man’s a mincing machine”). It’s a slow and languid jazzy number with Bennett’s cheeky and suggestive delivery taking the listener along for the ride.

On the title track ‘Swampwater Shuffle’, RTM really hit their rock n’ roll stride. What starts off as a chugging, bluesy, dirge quickly turns into an up-tempo number.

On their Myspace, the band describe their sound as ‘hip shakin’ voodoo rock n’roll’, but after listening to the track ‘Voodoo Twist, with it’s hypnotic bass and percussive section, coupled with Bennett’s cheeky snarl and slightly sleazy (but fun) lyrics, it’s so damn sexy that hip grindin’ rock n’ roll would be a more befitting description. A strong and enjoyable debut that has stood up to many listens.

- Hep! magazine