Psychobilly forty years on

Johnny Cash is attributed with having first used the word psychobilly in a 1976 song ‘One Piece at a Time’.

The American group The Cramps later appropriated it to describe their music and so did London’s The Meteors. Formed in 1980, they combined rockabilly and punk with horror and amassed a following, known as ‘the Crazies’, who came up with a style of slam dancing called ‘wrecking’.

There was a hiatus as a live act at the start of the century, but otherwise the band has never ceased to be active. It has gone through numerous personnel changes over the years but with guitarist and vocalist Paul Fenech a constant over the decades. The releases - studio albums, live albums, compilations, singles and EPs - have been many. But this is a band known for its live performances as much as it is for its recorded output.