Reverend Horton heats it up punkabilly style

The British science fiction series Dr. Who featured a do-gooder traveling through time, in a machine called a TARDIS, trying to save worlds. The problem was, the TARDIS never went to the precise time the man wanted it to.

The Reverend Horton Heat performed an entertaining set of "punkabilly" music -- that is, music based on the revved-up country style popularized in the '50s, known as rockabilly, diluted with the less-subtly channeled energy of '90s "punk."

The Reverend, and his cohorts, performed a wide array of pseudo-traditional rock 'n' roll songs. Some songs were slow and seductive, one of which ended with a stylish "cha cha cha," which successfully transcended the modern-day temptation to bash a song out rather than challengingly unravel it. Others, however, such as "Five-O-Ford," contained all the intelligence and subtlety of The Dead Milkmen.

But songs such as "Now, Right Now" and "Psychobilly Freakout" reasonably conveyed the rhythmic rockabilly aesthetic without being too adulterated by modern aggressive styles.

For some concert attendees, The Reverend Horton Heat did a good job of taking rock back to its roots.

"I love it," Erin Leathers (freshman-music education) said. "They're wild and crazy. It's that old fashioned music you just don't hear anymore. They're bringing the genre of music to younger people," she said.

Leathers said she is a fan of old country and rockabilly, and listens to modern incarnations of those styles, such as The Stray Cats.

Dave Mudgett, guitarist for local rockabilly band Mike Swavely and the Chrome Magnatones, said he thinks The Reverend Horton Heat is a quality modern-day incarnation of rockabilly sounds.

"I thought he was in pretty good form," Mudgett said. "His band is really good."

Mudgett said he thinks although The Reverend is not the most traditional of rockabilly artists, its music incorporates all the important elements of the sound.

"It's not what I'd call pure rockabilly," he said. "(But) I don't think it's watered down at all. They've managed to synthesize a number of different styles. It's sort of post-punk rockabilly," he said.

Most people think of traditional rockabilly as early Elvis Presley releases, as well as the music of Gene Vincent and Carl Perkins, Mudgett said, adding that there have been many strong resurgences of rockabilly since then.

"The Stray Cats single-handedly brought rockabilly back to the mainstream," Mudgett said. "Look at the resurgence of Johnny Cash on campus. It's amazing," he said, referring to the mainstream success of Cash's 1996 release, Unchained. Carl Perkins also released a new album recently.

Besides The Reverend and The Cramps, Mudgett said that The LeRoi Brothers, The Tail Gators and Robert Gordon are the more prominent rockabilly artists today.

Opening act NY Loose also took a trip back in time, and, like The Reverend, it hit a few pitstops before reaching its destination.

The New York City punk rock band sought to materialize Crowbar in a blossoming New York punk scene, and for the most part, it got the audience there.

Personifying many elements of punk rock pioneers The Stooges, NY Loose presented almost as much of a true '70s rock 'n' roll aesthetic to the Crowbar crowd as Joan Jett and the Blackhearts did last year.

"They just gave people hell and enjoyed it, and it got us all revved up," Leathers said.