The short musical history of the band members?
Ok, let's start with Mister Did, he's the lead guitarist of the band. He fell in love with this music at 13 years old, and has never stopped playing since. Before joining me, he played in France with the Flaming combo, the Blue tears trio and a few others modern Rockabilly bands. Axel is on double bass. He has a solid 40s 50;s culture... He had been playing Blues and Jump Blues bass for a few years, but had never played double bass before joining us..., 2 years later, the least I can say is, that he progressed really fast! I’m Tof, lead singer and acoustic guitar... the first record I bought was an ElvisPresley record...I was 10 years old. But I like all the musical genres from the 40s 50s. I played for a long time in a band : Bluetones strongly inspired by Jump Blues and Rockn Roll. We all live in the north of France, Normandy (Caen and Le Havre) and Brittany (Rennes).

How and when did you cats get together?
I met Did at a festival. I went to his house to play him some of my songs, and we started working together in September 2019. My goal was to write and perform only our own songs... I think he liked the idea, even if, at the very beginning, it seemed a bit "risky.".. There are so many good bands playing brilliantly the classics ... we had to try something else... A few months later ; we were looking for a double bass player to complete the trio. No covers, lol, and no drummer in the great tradition of the drummerless Rockabilly bands ! Axel therefore took the job, and the group was born in May 2020 

Your biggest musical influences?
Nothing new on this side, to name just a few / Elvis Presley, Johnny Horton, Scooty Moore, Willie Dixon, Jerry Lee Lewis, Cliff Gallup, Hank Williams, Grady Martin, Bill Black...Gene ,Eddie And so many others...

What fascinates you in original rockabilly?
This apparent simplicity ! it fascinates me a lot. These three simple chords or four sometimes, for so many masterpieces... not only Rockabilly, but all the 50’s amaze me. The sound, the freshness, 70 years have passed, and I still manage to discover truly incredible artists... it was really a very rich decade.

You write your own songs. Where do you find the ideas for your songs?
The process is often the same... I first hum a melody that I record... I listen to it again the next day, if I still like it I archive it. Otherwise I delete it. when I have several, I start by writing a few words and little by little it becomes a song.
Then, I get to the rehearsal, with the sketch of the song, verse verse chorus etc..., and Axel and Did add their musical parts… Sometimes it works really fast, and sometimes it doesnt. But it's always great to work together.

Do you play covers on your gigs or do you rely completely on your own songs? If you play covers, please name a few?

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it's a bit crazy, but we only play our own songs. As I always say, it will be our strength or our weakness... but you know we didn't create anything new, it''s always the same three chords. Neither flashy, nor excessively technical. Simple, honest songs, with the sole purpose of sharing a moment of happiness with the people who come to see us. We play this music with
passion and love and I think the public can feel that.

Is it hard to keep the beat without a drummer?
Yes definitely, but we chose it! hahahah And we recorded our album live without re-recording, like it was done in the past...Playing 50's music with the beat of the metronome in ears is something unthinkable for me.

How did you get a record deal with Crazy Times Records?
We had recorded a demo of 6 songs, in July 2020. We were lucky enough to be played on Radio Rockin 247 (USA) by an English DJ (thank you very much Ian Strop)...he played 4 of our songs...it reinforced our idea of ​​playing our own
songs...We contacted Crazy times record, who, at first, didn't seem very interested, but the door was open… Few days later, we had two good reviews of this demo, in the magazine Jumping from 6 to 6 (France thanks Fred ) and
slap that bass (thanks Olger) on the internet. We took the decision to go and record in a studio 700 kilometers from our home. A studio with vintage equipment : The Electrophonics recording. based around Lyon. Hervé Bessenay is the boss ;) His brother Rico played drums on the last track of our album. These two guys are awesome and fantastic little humans! A REAL great team that could record us like in the 50s. They really liked what we did, and they sent our recording before mixing to Pierre (Crazy times records) , and we now have the pleasure and honor of being on this great French label.

How is the Rockabilly scene in France?
France is good place to be. There are many good band to sees, and many small events and festivals... There's 2 big festival known by many people, Attignat and Béthune. Yes i can say that the rockabilly scene in France is alive. For musicians, who like us, are not professional, it’s ok, but if you want to be professionnal, you need to play and tour with many bands…

 

Your complete discography? Title, record company, year, format 
The Best Is Yet To Come, Crazy Times Records, 2022, CD
This cd is our first album we are a young band (two years old) but we are heading back to the studio, at the end of this year to record our next album...

Many thanks to you Juha, for taking the time to do this interview. We are proud and happy to be featured in this famous Big beat magazine! We can't wait to meet your readers. And if I can just add something...Thank you Iikku for your invitation to this Festival, to meet MB and the belltones sounds like a dream for me. See you soon...