Rock, rock, rockabilly boogie

Three years ago Ed Fleming (bass and vocals), Gary Brewer (guitar and vocals) and Mike Fanti (guitar and vocals) decided to start a country/rockabilly band. Bill Ferarini of Tewksbury answered their ad for a drummer, and Apache was born.

Apache ran into Cocorochio at Rich's in Malden about one year ago. He is the Boston Rock-A-Billy Music Conspiracy manager, and Apache members had gone to see BRMC.

"The first time I hear Apache I loved 'em," says Al. "We're going into the studio with all intentions of making an album."

by BILL BROTHERTON
Item Lifestyle Editor

Lynn - The kid in the white Jerry Lee Lewis "Killer" t-shirt grabs Suzie Q by the arm and drags her onto the dance floor. Be-bop-a-lula she's his baby. And you can bet they're gonna bop till they drop this night, because the Boston Rockabilly Music Conspiracy is making this jook joint jump.

Elvis, Jerry Lee, Carl Perkins, Sweet Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly, The Burnett brothers. Rock-a-billy was a gorgeous girlfriend, souped up car and bottle of Knickerbocker all in one. Rockabilly. The purest of all rock 'n' roll genres, with its nervously uptempo guitar blasts, accented by drums on the offbeat, and propelled by a distinctively slapping bass.

Perkins, whose "Blue Suede Shoes" helped define the sound.

Elvis was Presley, not Costello.
Rockabilly is gaining momentum these days. The Stray Cats recently rocked their way to the top of the charts. Creedence Clearwater Revival was the most popular band in America in 1969 and '70, and John Fogerty's songs are now being recorded by artists as diverse as Dave Edmunds, Emmylou Harris and Tina Turner.

The Lynn-area is fast becoming a rockabilly hotbed. And no band is gaining momentum quicker than the Boston Rockabilly Music Conspiracy (BRMC), a Revere-based band whose cover songs of the '50s sound remarkably close to the actual recordings.

This night, Club Dallas on the Lynnway is wall-to-wall with folks who are hungry to bop the blues and reel the rock.

An ad was placed in the Phoenix and Vic discovered there were many talented musicians who shared his love for rockabilly.

John Tate, a 35 year old commercial artist from Arlington, was the first to join. He shares lead singing duties with Vic, and contributes the solid bass base to the BRMC sound.

Eric Wells (30, computer operator at Digital, used to play guitar with "Zachariah") and John Jules (28, technician and student, former drummer with "The Peytons" and "Foxpass") signed up last Fall.

"Before I joined the band I was never into this music," says Jules.

 "It's an incredible education," adds Eric. "The first time I heard rockabilly was The Beatles' 'Dizzy Miss Lizzy.' I've learned more about rock and roll and music since I joined, than I ever learned studying Jimi Hendrix and all the '60s and '70s guitarists. I'm back to my roots."

Al Cocorochio of Saugus, band manager and president of Black Rose Records, is running through the crowd clapping his hands. He first heard of BRMC at a Christmas party three years ago.

"I don't know how to sing or play an instrument," says Al, as the band kicks into Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody." "But I know what I lilke and I love the rock and blues of the '50s. I'm 41. I grew up with this music."

He brought BRMC to Dimension Sound in Jamaica Plain, where they recorded an album that has been getting airplay on many radio stations, especially WCGY-FM. The Cambridge-based Rounder Records distributes the Black Rose catalogue, and Al is ready to go into the studio with Apache, a Lynn band that also specializes in rockabilly and country.

But the crowd is here to hear and dance to BRMC, and the band is really hot.

By day, Vic Lospennato is a sixth-grade teacher in Revere. Has been for 16 years. But every Friday and Saturday night he becomes Vic Lane, band leader. He straps on a guitar or sits at a piano, shouts "Rock, rock, rock-a-billy boogie," and toes start tappin' all over the place. Black suit, white shirt. Black tie, white shoes, spiffy.

Bob "Rink" Gallant, a pipe-smoking 42-year-old teddy bear from Saugus, the "grandpa" of the group, is a financial analyst at Honeywell during the week. In the late '50s, his band (The Empires) backed Freddie Cannon at Lynn-area gigs. Now, he plays his Fender Stratocaster for the fun of it. "This is a great vehicle to vent the frustrations of work." he says, smiling. "My wife is good enough to stay with the kids while I go clubbing."

"What's rockabilly? It's happy, danceable music from the heart. It has no message. It's a white man's blues, a fusion of country and rythm and blues," says Vic. What does his wife think of her hubby playing in a rock and roll band at age 41? "That's her, Marite, sitting right over there," he grins.

Chuck Berry's rave-up "Little Queenie," with Vic pounding away on the keyboard, gets everyone moving toward the dance floor, with the out-of-place disco ball hovering overhead. "Blueberry Hill" by Fats Domino. "I Don't Care id the Sun Don't Shine" by Elvis. "Rave On" by Buddy Holly. "Honey Don't" by Carl Perkins. "Party Doll" by Buddy Knox. "Lucille" by Little Richard.

Whole lotta shakin' goin' on!

The band has its regulars, rock-a-billy devotees who have migrated to The Grog in Newburyport and traveled to The Tam in Brookline to hear their boys. A group of Lynners - Bob and Linda Anderson, Joe and Paula Marchio, and Jim Gibbs, with help from Rockport's Jim Rich - who call themselves the Andytones, have been known to entertain the crowd with scapella song stylings between sets.

 "We do it more or less for fun," says Bob Anderson ("He's Andy. We're the tones.") It started in the Anderson living room and gradually progressed to public places, depending on the amount of Lite beer that flowed on a given night. "It's nothing fantastic," says Bob. "We think we're great," chips in wife Linda, laughing.

"The Andytones are great," says Vic. "They are very supportive ... super people. They come to placed we play and liven the joint up right away. They're a great group of people."

Vic and Rink have been buddies since their college days at Salem State. Four years ago Vic decided he wanted to form a rockabilly band; it took Rink about three seconds to join up. "Vic always had it in his heart to do this thing. To be honest, I'm thrilled to be a part of it all."

What does Vic think of The Stray Cats and other modern-day rockabilly revivalists? "You can tell they've done a lot of listening to the early material ... They are a bit more punkish, but their intent is noble."

They'll be shakin', rattlin' and rollin' in Lynn Saturday night when BRMC rocks Club Dallas again. Nashville rockabilly star Hank Mizell, who hit the charts with "Jungle Rock" in 1959, is also on the bill.

Item photos by Walter Hoey