Psychobilly is a mix of punk and rockabilly with horror and science fiction related themes. It’s tough to say who really started it, since it is such a mixed genre, but there is no doubt who the reigning kings of psychobilly are, Tiger Army. I had a chance to see them at The Troc in Philadelphia and the show was fantastic. The openers were War Tapes and The Unseen.
War tapes, from Los Angeles, performed first. They sounded great, their music is reminiscent of bands like The Cult and The Cure. Definitely a great addition to a Tiger Army show, who also have a lot of dark subject matter.
The second band to play was The Unseen, their overall subject is far more political then the other bands but their sound is straight ahead old school punk which meshed well with the other bands. The Boston natives played politically charged songs such as “Weapons of Mass Deception” and “Social Security” while lead singer Mark repeatedly jumped down from the stage and sang right in the faces of his fans.
Before Tiger Army stepped on stage a recording of “The Angel of Death” by Hank Williams was played. Then the band came on stage and performed several songs from their latest release Music From Regions Beyond including “Lunatone” and “Pain”. Along with some older tracks like “Cupids Victim” from their 2001 release, Power of Moonlight and “American Nightmare,” a Misfits cover song. They played a good cross section of their catalog rather then just the new material which is always a good thing when the band has been together for over ten years.
