Tucked neatly away in my quiet little hometown of Stanhope, NJ lies a hidden treasure called The Stanhope House. Known as, “The Last Great American Roadhouse”, this venue could tell stories that one could only dream about. These sacred walls have seen the likes of Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Muddy Waters just to name a few. On May 25th, the marquee read “Reverend Horton Heat” who is currently on tour with The Koffin Kats. When I pulled up to the venue, the lot was filled with gorgeous hot rods and a long line of rockabilly diehards.
To be honest, this genre of music was uncharted territory for me and I was quite eager to see what it was all about. The small platform used as a stage was set and fans were all buzzing with excitement. The room erupted with cheers as the Detroit based psychobilly/punk band, The Koffin Kats, walked through the crowd to take their place. Vic Victor (Lead Vocalist / Upright Bass) picked his bass up in the air with one arm getting the crowd fired up before the band launched in to ‘Riding High’. I was immediately captivated by Vic’s voice and bass playing abilities. Tommy Koffin (Guitar) is also a force to be reckoned with as he hit us with riff after riff. ‘Graveyard Tree’, Chainsaw Massacre’, and ‘Witch In The Woods‘ were definitely crowd favorites and the band wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
Eric “E-Ball” Walls (Drums) began pounding away on the kit for a cover of ‘Maneater‘ (Daryl Hall & John Oates), which had the entire room singing along. I was in complete awe of the onstage chemistry shared by this trio. You could tell they absolutely love doing what they do and that feeling was contagious. I remember looking at Tommy and Vic smiling at each other as they wailed away on their instruments and it was exactly what we needed. Vic was an absolute madman as he climbed all over his upright bass. At one point, Tommy began playing the bass and Vic climbed on top of it playing guitar. As someone who had never been to a rockabilly show before, I knew in that moment I’ve been missing out on something special.
The Koffin Kats powered on with ‘The Way of the Road’ and their athematic tune ‘Koffin Kat Rock’, which had the room going wild. ‘For Hire’ closed out the bands’ set and my jaw was on the floor. The Koffin Kats have been melting faces across the globe since 2003 (sorry I’ve been living under a rock guys!) and I’m already looking forward to seeing them play again the next time they’re around!
SETLIST: Intro, Riding High, Graveyard Tree, Splatterhouse, Chaos, Chainsaw Massacre, V8 NIghtmare, Witch In The Woods, Perfect Suicide/One Revived, Maneater (cover), Sleep, The Bottle Called, The Way of the Road, Koffin Kat Rock, For Hire.
Just when you thought the night couldn’t get any better, it was time for the legendary Reverend Horton Heat! This Texas based trio is fronted by Jim Heath, who has been dubbed as the “godfather of modern rockabilly and psychobilly”, alongside founding member Jimbo Wallace (Upright Bass), and newest member, Jonathan Jeter on the drums. This was quite the experience seeing them perform in such an intimate venue! With his iconic custom Gretsch guitar slung over his shoulder, Jim began the night with ‘Big Sky’ and ‘Baddest of the Bad’.
One of my favorite tunes of the night was a slower song called ‘Where in the Hell Did You Go With My Toothbrush’ , which had an old school country breakup vibe. Jim Heath is an absolute fretboard wizard and master of his craft. Each song was played to perfection all while making it look so effortless! Did I mention that Jimbo Wallace also slaps the bass like it’s nobody’s business? One of the most well known songs of the evening was ‘Psychobilly Freakout‘, off their 1990 debut album ‘Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em’. The night was young and the crowd was eager for more. After delivering hit after hit, the band closed out the evening with an amazing cover of ‘Ace of Spades’ by the legendary Motörhead.
The Reverend took us all to church as the crowd danced and sang along. I’ve seen a lot of bands over the years, but honestly this was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to. At the beginning of the night I knew absolutely nothing about rockabilly music. I went out on a whim and bought a ticket to the show just to have a fun night out. Little did I know that I’d be finding two of my new favorite bands all within a five minute drive from my house! There are still plenty of plenty of tour dates coming up, so make sure you follow along on social media so you don’t miss out!
SETLIST: Big Sky, Baddest of the Bad, Big Little Baby, Where in the Hell Did You Go With My Toothbrush, Five-O Ford, Baby You Know Who, Psychobilly Freakout, Big Red Rocket of Love, Jimbo Song, In Your Wildest Dreams, Whole New Life, Let Me Teach You How To Eat, 400 Bucks, Galaxy 500, Bales of Cocaine, Ace of Spades (cover).
