THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609120165
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 24 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: 66 lines
SOUTHERN CULTURE On The Skids, the Chapel Hill-based band that has played everywhere from the old Outer Banks Mex-Econo to Jay Leno's ``Tonight Show,'' returns to play Port O' Call on Friday and Saturday.
Guitarist/vocalist Rick Miller, who bears an eerie resemblence to Fred Ziffel of the old ``Green Acres'' television show, leads the band that also includes bassist/vocalist Mary Huff and drummer Dave Hartman.
Whether opening for Glenn Frey or playing on a basketball court at a women's prison, Southern Culture On The Skids sports a blend of roots, blues, psychobilly and rock 'n' roll.
The group spends little time in its hometown, instead touring 10 months out of the year. Germany, Holland, Belgium, Los Angeles, Tuscaloosa, Kill Devil Hills - it doesn't matter to the 12-year-old group.
Despite the hectic road schedule, the band has managed to hole up enough studio time to record several independent albums, as well as the major label (Geffen) release: 1995's ``Dirt Track Date.''
``It's our best album so far,'' Miller says. ``Our music is a lot like a Southern plate lunch. Every item on the menu has been cooking for a while and has its own flavor. But they all run together when you put 'em on the plate and start to eat.''
Southern Culture On The Skids was formed by Miller and a guy named Stan Lewis. Both were in school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They shared a common love of roots music, but wanted to expand the genre's parameters.
Miller, Lewis and another girl bass player cut an EP called ``Voodoo Beach Party'' and an album called ``Southern Culture On The Skids'' in 1985 and 1986, but by 1987 were suffering from a ``lack of direction.'' Then Lewis quit and Miller took over the singing chores.
``Touring was a constant struggle,'' Miller says. ``First Stan quit. Then our bass player left.''
Enter Mary Huff, a Roanoke musician who heard the band needed a bass player.
``We woodshedded for a few months, got some new tunes,'' Miller says. ``We decided on a swamp rock thing. In the meantime, Mary's pal Dave Hartman had graduated from college with a degree in music. On his way to the beach to celebrate, he drives through Chapel Hill, calls Mary to have a drink. We get together. We jam. He joins.''
Expect the unexpected from Southern Culture On The Skids. They write and sing songs about teen-age makeout artists looking for love in all the wrong places, white trash tent revival preachers and go-go dancer wives.
One of the band's best ``love'' songs is ``Fried Chicken and Gasoline.''
``It's part swamp rock,'' Miller says, ``and part hip-shake boogie. It's a tale of being a long way from home, of missing a `woman who don't miss me,' and with nothing but the combined stench of charred poultry and carburetor fumes to keep the highway hypnosis at bay.''
That kind of lyric will bring a tear to your eye. Miller's voice has an easy Southern drawl that pulls you in. Huff and Hartman add loose high lonesome vocals to the mix.
If you you like sly lyrics, bare bones instrumentation and a goofy stage presence, Southern Culture On The Skids is your band.
In the computer raving '90s, the trio is decidedly low-fi. MEMO: WHAT & WHERE
Who: Southern Culture On The Skids
Where: Port O' Call, milepost 7 on the Beach Road
When: Friday and Saturday ILLUSTRATION: Photo courtesy of Geffen Records
Southern Culture On The Skids, the Chapel Hill-based band, released
``Dirt Track Date'' in 1995 on the Geffen label. by CNB