“60 Years On…” 05-22-25 playlist Hr.2
*The Swaggerts – Shake
Jerry Lee Lewis – Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On
*The Swaggerts – Cost So Much
George Thorogood & the Destroyers – Move It On Over
*The Swaggerts – Push Comes To Shove
Elvis Presley – Hard Headed Woman
*The Swaggerts – Real Good Liar
The Big Fat Combo – Rockabilly Band
*The Swaggerts – Dead Wood
Robert Gordon & Link Wray – Rock Billy Boogie
*The Swaggerts – Drink Her Out Of My Mind
Joe Bennett & The Sparkletones – Black Slacks
*The Swaggerts – Salvation
Imelda May – Tribal
*The Swaggerts – Streams Of Whiskey
Pogues – The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
* IMC ‘Zine #54 Oct. ’03 Feature CD – The Swaggerts “Keepers Of The Quaich”
26.5 years ago on Sept. 1, 1998 I founded IndepenDisc Music Club.
To Celebrate, during hour #2, we will revisit all the IndepenDisc Monthly Feature CDs/Artists from 1998 – 2013.
Issue #54 Oct. ’03
The Swaggerts – Keepers of the Quaich
When last we left The Swaggerts they were saddled up to the bar with Rockabilly smash mouth Rock-n-Roll, pouring the misery through women and alcohol and having a blast doing so…
After their 2002 debut “The Whole Story” (our April 2003 Feature), Bill Collins (guitars, vocals), Nervus Chet Purvis (bass, vocals) and Kerry Miller (drums, vocals) are back with Keepers of the Quaich (The Quaich being a Scottish drinking cup [quite large]). Once you see the cover photo of The Swaggerts living it up around the bar of their local tavern (in this case the infamous “Rudy’s” on Elm St. in the heart of New Haven, CT – a solid hard drinking bar that at any given time can have as many Yalies as all the other cast-off patrons – Rudy’s Rocks!) and have opened the packaging and slipped the CD into the player, you’ve been dragged into the car for another Balls Out, Hell bent for leather, rip-roaring binge, backwoods drinking hole, want love, find love, get love, lose love life that necessitates a bottle of Bourbon and the Honky Tonkin’ Blues guitar, bass, and drums blast that’ll have you feeling more than alright until the morning when you have to get up and do it all again.
The Swaggerts take Keepers of the Quaich and force feed you the entire history of the marriage of C&W, R&B, and R&R that took place in the early and mid-50’s far from the mainstream (referred to as Rockabilly, it blossomed and eventually mutated into straight ahead Rock-n-Roll, but it’s core survived, and still lives to this day in may cities and forms all across America, especially in the south, which makes The Swaggerts a bit of a pioneer in the Northeast – yet, no less viable because the NE does have a creditable appreciation for the southern influence found in this genre), so be prepared…
“Shake” explodes with pulsing guitar notes and a thundering drumbeat, and by the time the bass kicks in to guide ‘em, we know there’s no turning back. Bill Collins offers up a vocal turn that is equal parts Hound Dog Presley and The Killer himself, Jerry Lee Lewis, especially when Bill hits the line “For goodness sake – Won’t nothing break,” where the only thing missing is the pounding of the ivories. In place of the keyboard, it’s the high-strung guitar with the solid bass and drum pound underneath that drives this tale of lust to unfold into a sweat dripping frenzy – And The Swaggerts, once again, have us going 100 mph to the next gin joint of babes and binges…
“Cost So Much” resurrects the solid bass drive found in early Blues/Rockabilly classics. No matter how much you say you’ve heard this before, we can say you ain’t heard it this bad, this intense, in so many years that we can’t think of an adequate comparison. When Bill name checks his guitar and joins Nervus Chet’s bass in a dual lead, and Kerry keeps the drum pedal to the floor, we’re running roadblocks and pushing through to the barstools flying through every dollar in our pocket and not worrying about how we’re going to feel come the morning light.
While some bands try too hard not to be pigeon-holed or stereotyped, and as a result do themselves un-repairable damage in the process, The Swaggerts make no bones about who they are and what they do. They are the Keepers of the Quaich, and that Quaich is not only filled to the brim with the finest Thrice Burned Scotch (aged in a sheep stomach), but also with the finest Thrice Generation Rock (aged in southern C&W/R&B bars). This CD covers all the subjects near and dear to The Swaggerts’ hearts – women and the men who want/try/need to love them (“Innocence Lost,” “Push Comes To Shove,” “Real Good Liar,” “Dead Wood”), alcohol (“Cost So Much,” “Salvation,” “Streams of Whiskey”), and of course women And alcohol (“Drink Her Out of My Mind,” along with the afore mentioned “Salvation”). The Swaggerts also show that their brand of Punk attitude R-n-R does lend itself to other subjects with a couple of Goth centered, Halloween party stompers (“Queen of Hallowe’en,” and “Hoe-Down in Hell” – the later being a non-stop rumble of Deliverance tuned, guitar as the banjo, proportions), a celebration of extreme bowling (“Kingpin”), surf (the instrumental “25”), and an ode to one of the most heartbreaking embarrassing moments in every man/boy’s life (“Walk of Shame” tells a tale inspired by all the junior-high school dances where the girls would stand on one side of the gym, and the boys would stand on the other, how when you finally got the nerve to walk across the floor and ask that one girl you were sweet on if she’d like to dance – her response was a “Drop Dead creep” look, so you had to walk all the way back across the floor alone, rejected, and with everybody looking [or so it feels] at you).
Finally, I’d like to point out a song mentioned briefly before; The Swaggerts cover Shane MacGowan/ The Pogues “Streams of Whiskey,” bringing another element/culture into the arms of American born roots rockabilly, raising the question: Do standard/standard style Irish drinking songs owe a debt to early American blues drenched rapture, or did certain strains of musical influence migrate to these shores along with the immigrates who settled here? Either way, The Swaggerts nail this song with such gusto and conviction that we bounce, jump, dance, and sing along as we hoist our Quaiches high and give thanks for the salvation that The Swaggerts have brought our way once again.
One thing is for sure: when you head out for a night on the town with The Swaggerts, it doesn’t matter where you wake up, or who you wake up with, you’ll know the journey has been one of the wildest ones you’ve ever taken, and if you feel like doing it again there’s no need to worry. The Swaggerts will be waiting with a platter of musical energy and a large goblet of libations – after all, they are the Keepers of the Quaich.
-G.Gone
