psychobilly

REVIEW: Evil Elvis – Evilest Elvis (2025)

EVIL ELVIS – Evilest Elvis (2025)

Evil Elvis is back in 2026 with his new album Atomic Psycho, but you can get a taste of the new tunes on his new compilation:  Evilest Elvis!  KC Carlisle is a Toronto psychobilly artist who has a reputation for a hot live show, great musicianship, and horror-inspired lyrics.  The tunes range from punky spunk to loungy rock.

 

 

The songs:

“Cat Woman” from 2017’s Undead Or Alive:  The rambunctious chorus of “Here, kitty kitty” will keep you rocking while that bassline keeps things moving!

“Zombified” from 2001’s Evil Elvis:  Now we’re on a slow nocturnal groove, perfect for those spooky nights.  This smooth, smoky tune has an intoxicating quality.

“Evil Love” – new song from 2026’s Atomic Psycho:  The master of the drum, Cleave Anderson from Blue Rodeo, makes his Evil Elvis debut here.  It is incredible to think that this veteran drummer from one of my favourite bands is now burning down the house with Evil Elvis.  On this one, EE channels the original Elvis a bit on the chorus, but in ways the King could never have foreseen.  “I’ll kill your fuckin’ parents and make it look like suicide!” he growls.  “Evil Love” indeed!  Cleave absolutely proves his punk rock mettle here.  A promising song.

“Too Fast For You” – a 2015 single that ended up on Undead Or Alive, is a personal favourite.  There’s an Alice Cooper vibe here, of the Detroit variety.

“Surfin’ To Hell” – from 2011’s Tattoo’d Fuckwit.  This adds surf rock sounds to the repertoire.    The guitar solo is manic panic fun.

That concludes “Side Eh” of the album, and on to “Side B”:

“My Evil” from 2017’s Undead Or Alive:  A jaunty number with organ and a shuffle beat.  This impressive song has lush backing vocals, on a chorus that reminds me a little bit of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.  Possibly the best track on the album and a song which deserved to be a hit somewhere somehow!  “GO!”

“I Wanna Wed (The Undead)” is a funny title, from 2001’s Evil Elvis.  This has the most traditional rock and roll sounds, like something out of a 1950’s graveyard.  Just pure fun, with a Halloween dance party vibe.

“Wolf Woman” – from 2006’s Viva Las Vampire:  If you have a thing for a woman with body hair, you will probably love this ode to werewolf love!

“Heavenly Body (From Outer Space)” is the second of the new songs to come from 2026’s Atomic Psycho.  The bassline plays a bit of the Twilight Zone theme before Cleave rings the band in with a thumping beat.  We’re off to space this time!  The backing vocals provide a the hooks on the chorus.  Once again, the musicianship and singing are really top notch here.  The guitar solo is way fun!

“Let’s Make Sin” from 2011’s Tattoo’d Fuckwit:  “Come on baby, let the sinnin’ begin!”  Vampire love is fun way to end the album.  But wait!!

There’s more!  Two “XXXtra Tracks” bring the total track count to 12.

“Backseat Love” – from 2017’s Undead Or Alive.  A fun duet with one foot in the 1950s and the other in the grave!

“Hey Space Girl!” – from 2001’s Evil Elvis.  The roughest, most garage-y song on the album.  An ode to a woman from Mars that’s here to stay.  “Hey space girl, wanna see my laser gun?”

This album was dedicated to photographer Ron Boudreau, a staple of the Toronto scene who took pictures of many of the bands I loved.  Rest in peace Ron.

4/5 stars

 

VIDEO: Evilest Elvis: Unboxing the new compilation by Toronto Psychobilly star!

20 years is a long time, but not for the undead!  Check out the new XX anniversary compilation, Evilest Elvis, by Evil Elvis!  A review will be coming.

REVIEW: Evil Elvis – Undead Or Alive (2015)

EVIL ELVIS – Undead Or Alive (2015)

This CD, Undead or Alive, is my first exposure to Evil Elvis.  I was aware of singer K.C. since the 90s, from his band Blackglama who were featured on Raw M.E.A.T Vol 1.  Unsure what to expect, I was delighted to find this album is both hard to describe, and excellent!  They call it psychobilly, and I get it.  It has elements of that familiar rockabilly sound, but there’s way more going on here.  It’s hard to distil down into words, but here we go.

Surprise #1:  Lush and vibrant backing vocals.  I expected something way more ragged, but these guys are all singing in complementary harmony.  Really well produced too.

Surprise #2:  Just how flat-out catchy each and every song is.

Surprise #3:  Singer K.C. has only gotten better in the three decades since I first heard him.

Perfect example, I love when he screams “GO!” on opener “The Dead Are Walking”.  This timeless ode to zombies has some nice theremin-like sounds, and a breakneck beat.  Even faster, “My Evil” has tasty organ over a shuffle beat.  If it had horns, it could have been the Bosstones.  K.C. is a commanding singer, throttling through several voices in just the opening verse alone.  Sometimes he’s like Elvis (obviously), but he seamlessly goes to a growl next, and then back again.  Then he’s in a Tom Waits rasp like on “Apocalypse”, one of the catchiest songs about zombies I’ve heard to date.  “Adrenaline pumping fear and lust, we’re hellbound to fight these zombie fucks!”  But the chorus!…top quality.  “Bodies piled to the sky, I want yours next to mine!”  Love it.

Each song has a slightly different direction, but all of them contain hooks galore, fast beats, and great singing from K.C.  Example:  “Backseat Love” is a duet with Sarah Beth for variety.  This album no shortage of variety, even within the confines of its psychobilly direction.  Each song has its own flavour, sometimes drawing from the wells of other genres, such as heavy metal, on bonus track “Sick of this Shit”.

Tremendously fun album, expertly executed for high voltage kicks.  Recommended.

4/5 stars

 

REVIEW: Queens of the Stone Age – “First It Giveth” (single)

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE – “First It Giveth” (2002 single)

I’m on record for being a huge fan of Songs For the Deaf.  Uncle Meat and I disagree on this issue, as he considers Songs For the Deaf as being the beginning of a downturn.  I see it as some kind of peak, on an equal plane with Rated R.  “First It Giveth” is undoubtedly one of the highlights from Songs.  It has a brutally heavy groove on the choruses, coupled with haunted, frantic verses.  Dave Grohl’s best work is to be found on Songs For the Deaf.  That is my belief.   I consider “First It Giveth” to be among the evidence to this.

Track 2 is the groovy spy drama rock of “The Most Exalted Potentate of Love”.  This is apparently a Cramps cover.  Wikipedia says The Cramps are “psychobilly”.  Having heard this song, sure, I’ll go with that.  It’s pretty cool, that’s for sure.

I’ve never hidden my dislike for remixes.  9 times out of 10, the album versions are superior.  I do think a remix has some merit when it completely transforms a song into something new.  This remix of “Song For the Deaf” does that.  Unfortunately I don’t think it’s an improvement in any way.  The original song is a relentless beast.  Waves of guitar wash over Grohl’s stumbling drum rolls, while Josh Homme sings hypnotically.  This remix strips away most (if not all?) of the original instrumentation, isolating Homme’s vocal tracks.  Then it adds electronic beats, piano, guitar squeals and effects.  It’s…interesting?  I’m at a loss for words.  I don’t like remixes OK?

I have said in the past that I think remixers should come up with better, more original titles for their remixes.  At least whoever mixed this (the credits don’t say) came up with an original title:  “The Blind Can Goes Get Fucked Remix” [sic].

Although the technology is kinda dated, there’s also a music video for your computer.  This is for the main track, “First It Giveth”.  This is a cool performance video made up of tour and backstage footage.

Two out of three good tracks?  Pretty easy to rate this one.

3.333~/5 stars