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The
Hel-Gators:
Jama - Guitars
J.Hel-Gator - Vocals & drums
Mika Railo - Slappin' bass
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2010:
THE HEL-GATORS new line up made their debut at ON THE ROCKS March 20th supporting Devil Doll (USA).
The band's updated songlist included, among the old hits from VOODOO & THE CURSE albums,
the brand new songs:
THE BLACK SHEEP,
TRAILER PARK ELVIS,
PSYCHO DADDY,
HOLY WAR,
THE CLOCK TOWER MAN,
THE HIDDEN TOWN,
GOING DOWN TO BABYLON
These seven songs had that night their glorious PREMIERE!
Hel-Gators is also working in studio with new material and ready to get back on the road!!!
www.myspace.com/thehelgators
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Pyros
records presents:
THE HEL-GATORS "THE CURSE"
Ecstatic 21. century rockabilly!
"The
Curse" opens a new page in the history of finnish
rockabilly.
Who would have known that the bastard of country and blues
makes
one of it's most brilliant rebirths in East-Hel-sinki, Finland,
in year 2008!
If Hel-gators -debut Voodoo was a storm warning,
wipes The Curse like a tornado trought the genre -
rewealing a strange world, with the surreal suburbian scenes,
the mad captain holloring frightful layments
full of longing for crazy parties, love and death.
The Hel-gators music been called: psychobilly, punkabilly
garagebilly, avantgardebilly...
But they call it themselves simply rockabilly -
the uncastrated form of rock'n'roll!
"The
point in Hel-gators music is to throw your self
into the pulse - let the spirit lead,
and go where ever it will take you
- in good and in bad."
J.Sydänmäki alias J.Hel-gator, Pyros press 2008
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The
Hel-gators:
J.Hel-gator / vocals & drums
Jama / guitar
Taneli / slappin' bass
Hel-gatorsin
debut Voodoo (2006) was praised by music press and
fans
and hurled the band for tour that included 40 gigs around
Finland.
"All
together the album is in it's virtuoso kind of easiness of
expression,
maybe the finest rockabilly album ever made in Finland."
From Voodoo -review by Jean Ramsay/Rytmi magazine,
12/2006
MAKING
OF "THE CURSE"
By J. Hel-gator 6/2008
The first demo was ready in june 2007. And I gave the cd's to guys
to wonder.
During the spring 2007 I was full of energy. Hel-gators Voodoo
-tours gigs were getting hotter and hotter. And one day I had
an idea: why not to use this mental hype to create material for
the new Hel-gators album. So I just sat down and picked up the guitar.
It took about two weeks. Songs just popped out of my mind and the
demo prosses was like kidding around with explosives - and soon
I realized there were some real good ones cooking: Congo Powers
(Maybe the most strangest lyrics I've ever written), Anything
For Jim, Crazy Night, Virgins On Fire, Vicious Thing, Only Me To
Blame, Crazy For Love - they all were in that first demo.
The second round came along: The Curse of Pharaoh, wich immediately
felt as one of the best songs I*ve ever written. It all started
happening when I was rewriting lyrics for the J.Hearthill Trinity's
song Living Dead, and up came a line: As a pharaoh she ruled
my Egypt for three thousand years - I inherit all, her pyramids
and the curse. That line isprired the whole song. And I actually
had to leave out one verse. Wich means that the delivery was easy.
The riff for guitar intro had been on my mind for ten years, so
I was happy that it founded a great host. And Jama's guitar style
fitted to it perfectly. Jama also brought in sessions Madeleine,
wich sounded in the beginning a little bit too much "Rockpile"
for the gators but came out very nice punkabilly song.
As making the lyrics for "The Curse" -album, there were
two worlds (along the other 3000) in my mind. The surreal teenage
suburbian world - wich raised up from my concence already as making
of "Voodoo" -album: Something Weird and
title song Voodoo as examples. This time from that
dream like scene up came - Virgins On Fire, Miss Right One, Madeleine.
The other driving mood was "the mad captain's (like I'm?) layment's",
songs with some comic elements, bitter but oh so true -ones:
Only Me To Blame and Buried On The Moon. In that category
there was also song called My First Heartattact. But it did
got along the top 13.
Creepy is the oldest song on the album. It was already recorded
at debuts sessions -06. This time we got it right. Actually the
take on the album was founded from the very first Curse -live sessions.
Made in the end of September -07. From those same early sessions
was also found the versions of The Curse of Pharaoh, Vicious Thing
and Buried On The Moon. Those takes really gave for the album
the ecstatic rockin' spirit - madness and badness - we were seaching
for.
Virgins On Fire and Crazy For Love were recorded live at acoustic
sessions, without drums. We had few of them after the band sessions,
just to calm down - chill a little. I jumped out behind the drums
and took the acoustic guitar and the tape was rolling, I mean computer
recorder was on. Crazy For Love -album version was recorded
at the very first session 6.9.07 and Virgins On Fire the
last one, beginning of December.
THE
PLAYGROUND OF THE WILDEST DREAMS
There were two men - Drummer & singer J. Hel-Gator and
Guitarist Jama,
who've been friends for a lifetime. In Summer 2003 - during one
jam session -
they realized they both had a samekinda dream - they hadn't reach:
a raw sounding rockabilly trio. It took one more year of
dreaming,
untill they had their act together. July 2004 - the missing link
was found -
17-year old slappin' bassist Taneli joined the group
and The Hel-Gators was born.
IT'S
TIME TO BANG THE DRUM WITH ROCKIN' BONES
"Our
music is basicly pure Rockabilly. And our main influences
are the 50's rockabilly
giants like Charlie Feathers, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley,
Johnny Burnette, to mention a few -
but the craziest of them were true hillybillies from southern
countryside, from behind the barn.
We come from the suburbania of east Hel-sinki, from the scene
of concrete towers and
asphalt yards. And hey it's 21st century - that's why we sound
the way we do!"
J.Hel-Gator, Pyros press, September 2006
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THE MEN WHO CAPTURED "THE GHOST" ON TAPE
"The
Hel-Gators debut album "Voodoo" is a journey into
the world of rockabilly,
on it's creepy side and the ride is scary - indeed!"
"It's
hard to capture on tape such a supernatural phenomeon
as The Hel-Gators livesound. So we had to create a special
methods
to do so - During the experiment we became a kinda Gator-scientists."
J.Hel-Gator, 2006
2006 The Hel-Gators had sessions for four months -
from April to September.
Recording every minute of their sessions - untill they had
fourteen hours of music on tape:
Takes, retakes, alternative takes, with chancing arrangements.
After that period
they started to seach from the material the essence of The
Hel-Gators.
The Ghost chase was on. And soon they were ready to introduce
the backbone chilling results!
Now the debut album is out and those haunted tracks can
be heard!!!
Voodoo includes 12 songs. There are subterranean
mystery, murder mania, obsessions,
hot women, men burning with desire, love confessions, lust,
horror, betrayal
and crazy party moods.
"VOODOO
is a true "Film noir" -album. From fastforward suburbanian
Garagebilly to urban countryswing. All together, it includes
original sounds from the source, that true rock'n'roll is
made of."
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AN AMAZING LIVE ACT!
The
Hel-Gators liveset includes Sun records 50's classics like:
Shake Around, Drinkin' Wine,
Viberate & Put Your Cat Clothes On. And some strange way
they bring them back in life
to 21st century. In their sound has also blended feelings from the
80's rock'n'roll - that J. & Jama
listened as kids: Cramps and Meteors PsychoBilly,
Pirates Telecaster trashing, early Stray Cats Punkabilly
and Surrealblues of Gun Club. The Hel-Gators live
act is an original mixture of all that. But the true backbone of
the show is in their own classics. Songs they introduced in their
debut album: Voodoo!
Singer, drummer J.Hel-Gator is extraordinary show man, with
original strong voice. His forcing staitbeat and swinging suffle
leaves nobody cold. What a banger! Guitarist Jama - The Gator-scientist
who finds from his Telecasters the violent over tone as well as
bluesy moods. Slappin' bassist Taneli, is the rookie and
gives for the band young energetic boost. He's got style, attitude
and nice nuances in his playing.
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