Wednesday 2 September 2015

The Terrorsaurs....Dinosurf Schlock & Roll ! By Lee Powell.




We're really being spoilt of late with some great home-grown Surf bands making a splash ! (Sorry about that), What with The Sine Waves down Hastings way, bands springing up left right & coastal....and these guys, The Terrorsaurs from the Midlands !..It would appear that something is a happening ! Although there is a chronic shortage of beachfront in their vicinity, they've taken The Trashmen philosophy 'You don't need no beach to be a Surf band!' and ran with it.....
All round good guy and Alt-Ted, Lee Powell recently had this to say about them...Enjoy !    

The Terrorsaurs
“Well, I don't know about art, but I know what I like
I'll be a-surfin' in a swamp on a Saturday night”

“I Ain't Nuthin' But A Gorehound” – Lux Interior, The Cramps

David Ickes worst nightmare !
Instrumental guitar driven surf as a musical genre has always sat side by side with rock n roll and during its heyday in the early to mid-60s it offered the same air of rebellion that emanated from the rockabilly and rock n roll. The mood was intense, the music fast and furious, danceable and fun, all attributes that helped surf establish itself as a sub-genre of the larger rock n roll scene, and spawned tracks such as Miserlou by Dick Dale which has become a timeless surf classic and a track still covered by many in the “billy”/RnR scenes today.
Fast forward 60 years and much like rockabilly and rock n roll, surf is going strong with a number of bands riding the wave of a surf revival which has rolled in alongside a wider appreciation of rock n roll as a whole.  However modern day surf sits somewhere in the darkened under-belly of the R’n’R genre which is inhabited by the strange, weird misfits of raw and untamed 50’s and 60’s independent rock n roll bands, burlesque/bump and grind soundtracks, 60’s garage punk, early 80’s trash and psychobilly and anything else which slips between the cracks of respectability of conventional rock n roll. And you don’t get any more unconventional than The Terrorsaus, a 3 piece instrumental beast that has limbered in from the Swampland, in the grime 'n' slime of central England or Birmingham as it’s known to most of us.  

Now Dig This !
Combining the primordial beat of early rockabilly and the untamed, raw walls of guitar driven surf instrumentals The Terrorsaurs have become overlords of pure, unadulterated Schlock ‘n’ Roll, Creating tidal waves of interest, intrigue and fear in their wake. So much so that the US’s leading rockabilly label Wild signed the band in 2014 before releasing their debut album ‘the Shlock Singles’ the same year and their follow up, the hotly anticipated monster of a sequel “Atomic Lizard Party" in February 2015. Whilst not exactly fitting into the conventions of the usual Wild roster it goes without saying that the Terrorsaus possess that unbridled passion that resonates from their label mates and deliver in with guitars a blazing across track after track of lowbrow instrumental rock n roll surf and then some.
Origins of the band are somewhat sketchy but rumour has it what a certain “Rumble” guitarist may have accidently created a time warp through a wall of guitar noise and went back in time only to return with 3 souvenir eggs from a chance rendezvous with a devishly frisky female  Komodo Dragon. 
With a salute to instrumental surfs origins The Terrorsaurs strive to expand on the sounds and atmospheres’ that can be created in rock n roll music of this ilk and do so with a smooth, swarve charisma finished with a cheeky wink. Their music is lush, head bobbing, toe-tapping, tail swinging dance music, with a wonderfully sleazy yet somehow almost decedent feel to it. The trio who make up the band obviously have a great passion for the music they play even if it is presented with a tongue firmly in cheek, and why the hell not. Wasn’t rock n roll all about rebellious fun and challenging the pre-conceived? So the band may record under aliases, so they may play with reptile/dinosaur masks on but bloody hell they rock and their music personifies this wonderfully. 
Creating somewhat of a cult following the band have just retuned a mini Japanese tour and showcased their own brand of fuzzed out shlock ‘n’ roll at various venues around the UK throughout the year. They have also just released a fantastically collectable 7” single in green vinyl with a scaled feel cover on Dig The Fuzz records which is limited to just 299 copies. 

Stellar Surf !
Whilst some may not approve of the bands theatrics even if their music more than demonstrates their skill as musicians, I have a feeling that if he were still with us Lux Interior would have whole heartedly approved about what the Terrorsaurs are going and rightly so. Put your reservations to one side, shed those clothes and enjoy what the Terrorsaurs are doing.  Legions of fans already are.  Are you brave enough to join them?

www.terrorsaurs.com


With a new single out shortly and their 1st album still available from various outlets including the Trash Wax store (www.trashwax.com) you really should check them out if you haven't done so already and they're doing a UK (& Dublin) tour in Oct-Nov so catch up with our scaley friends and have yourselves a ball !

Big Thanks to UK Rock 'n' Roll Magazine for giving these guys coverage in the first place.

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