Music

Ever the maverick, Weatherall began playing rockabilly and ’50s rock ’n’ roll records in his Sunday club night (The Double Gone Chapel) at east London boozer The Griffin about three years ago, when the rest of Shoreditch was firmly in the grip of retro synth-pop. ‘I suppose I’ve always been perversely minded,’ Weatherall laughs. ‘If I’m surrounded by a sea of something, I tend to go off and play in a rock pool of something else!’ He’s now playing those records (albeit in a very mixed set) at a club night called The Wrong Meeting.

So what’s the pull of rockabilly for the man who’s worked with artists as diverse as Primal Scream (he famously produced ‘Screamadelica’) and Throbbing Gristle? ‘It’s the way it swings. It’s a certain looseness and primitiveness. On some rockabilly records, the drummer literally used a cardboard box, so it was even more raw than punk rock, which is why when The Cramps came along, people took to them. I think rockabilly is the sexiest music going; I recently played a neo old-school rockabilly set at the Lock Tavern and when I looked up, 90 per cent of the dancefloor was women. That’s because it has this sexy swing. My motto for The Wrong Meeting is: “We play music that sounds like the way a woman walks” – whether it’s rockabilly, electro or late ’40s swing.’ Feature continues

Owing less to rockabilly, but still very much on a rudimentary rock ’n’ roll tip, are sharp-dressed Bethnal Green gang Vincent Vincent And The Villains, newly signed to EMI. Their sound blends skiffle and doo-wop with Bo Diddley’s rock ’n’ roll style, but 27-year-old frontman Vincent has no interest in mimicking his heroes. Forthcoming single ‘Johnny Two Bands’ (out in October) is very much a contemporary song, both sonically and lyrically, documenting as it does a split in the Villains camp that led to the forming of The Rumblestrips. As Vincent sees it: ‘I absolutely adore Buddy Holly, but if I just wrote songs like his, it’d be a waste of my time. We’re very conscious of not trying to recreate old recording techniques when we go into the studio. Although I’m taking rock ’n’ roll as my template, the Villains are making music that is totally different.’

Can he explain the sound’s allure? ‘I love the primal quality of it. I love the thumping jungle drums, that Bo Diddley rhythm, and I like Chuck Berry’s lyrical nous – he wrote terrific songs. The Coasters are brilliant because they were quite experimental; they have a song called “Three Cool Cats” where the harmonies are rich and quite conversational plus, in the end, they all look quite foolish because they’ve been done over by three girls! Dion And The Belmonts too – Dion had the strongest, most appealing voice of his era. This music is about a playfulness, combined with a sense of excitement in the song that makes you just want to dance. That’s the effect I want to have on a crowd.’

When it comes to rockabilly and old-school rock ’n’ roll, generation divides clearly count for nothing. Truly, it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got no swing.

‘Mean Son Of A Gun’ (Sunday Best) is out on Monday. The Wrong Meeting is on the third Thursday of each month at the Lock Tavern. Vincent Vincent plays a solo set (sans Villains), supporting the queen of rockabilly herself, Wanda Jackson, at the Luminaire on September 21.