THE TRIP DADDYS KEEP ROLLIN’ ON!! I’ve been a longtime, even long distance, fan of The Trip Daddys ever since we heard them at Forest Park for the annual Beer Fest back in 2003…They were playing on top of a flatbed trailer, Jamey’s goldtop gleaming in the sun…I had to go in for a closer look. And wow. I still remember those first songs “She’s Got Somethin’ I Gotta Have”, “Teenage Carwashin Girls”, “Maybelline”, “Doublewide”, some Link Wray, some Stray Cats, and even a Misfits tune… and their stage presence…unbelievable…Craig Daddy makes magic look like everyday child’s play, he’s an amazing guitar player with mad skills. At this time, their drummer was Capt. Dave who became a pretty good friend of ours. Through many, many personnel changes a couple drummers before Dave, then Joe (who was also a bud of ours), Brian, then back to Capt Dave …and TODAYtheir best drummer yet, and I hope their LAST, Dennis Williams and new bassist Tracey Morrisey (you may recognize him from Sex Robots, he’s been on the scene for awhile, nowand he’s a SHOW all by himself!) keep the party rollin’. They have never sounded better! Whenever the Daddys play, it’s an all out party. They never disappoint and you can’t help but get swept up in their music and shaken out of whatever funk you’ve been in all week. There was no better place to have their cd release party than at The Way Out Club, which is like our 2nd home, also where their dvd was shot (you can see us in the crowd) and their other cd release parties. We saw lots of familiar faces, “Beatle Bob” was out doing his dance routine. (he’s quite well known for attending shows dressed in a spiffy turleneck/jacket ensemble and dancing right up front lookin’ like he’s conducting an orchestra, then he goes in for his kick flip turn, and right back to his air piano/air drumming/orchestra conductingan amusing sight to watch…oh damn, I missed Craig getting flashed by an overzealous fan…) But, I’m ahead of myself. The opening bands were awesome toothey each had a different soundthe 1st (I forget who they were) were kinda bluegrass, kinda country, not terrible. The second band I was very impressed withTHE CRIPPLERS. I would go see them again on purposehigh energy, high octane punk rawk, growly vocals, I’m awake NOW and payin’ attention…these guys kick some serious ass. Finally, the Trip Daddys came on, the show we struggled to stay awake for (we’re getting old, staying up past 10pm is a strain, these days). The new songs are amazing! There’s a song about a stripjoint on the East Side (perhaps Larry’s Hustler club?) that had us all rollin’ in the floor laughing our fool heads off. It’s a funny story, listen to the words. The club’s owner Bob joined them onstage to sing “ Folsom Prison” and later on 7 Shot Screamer’s singer Mike joined them for a few songs. They play an incredible cover of Greg Kihn’s “Breakup Song”, a really cool surfer sounding instrumental called, I found out later listening to the cd, “Surf Rider” and the most spectacular finale I’ve seen in a long time Dennis coming around to the front of his drum kit, jumping up and down on the thing bashing king hell out of it.
The new cd “Roll On” is beyond words. “Two Roads to Follow” (written by Dennis) is one of my favorites, “Another Day” strikes a chord with me as well. The title track “Roll On” says it all. I’m lovin it. Craig at times sounds kinda like Billy Joel in “Taken” and a little like Eddie Spaghetti (Supersuckers)in “Better Than Dyin’” throw in some Dick Dale and Link Wray and that still doesn’t adequately do the man justice. You’ll just have to go see for yourself. I have a mission for you all: shag your asses to the next Daddys show , buy the entire collection 6 cds –“Doublewide”, “Hot Chicks and Fast Kicks”,” Made Me Do It Live”, “To Hell And Back In A Cadillac”, “Too Much Too Fast” and “Roll On” , garb yourself in Daddys shirts, hats, pantiesand best of all, you can buy all this stuff from Dennis himself at Fifi’s!! Bliss out on your Daddys Fixxx. It’ll take ya all day to listen to all their songs back to back and a few ya gotta play twice! See ya at the next show!