Angel In Disguise
Los Straitjackets Guitarist Unmasked!
By Kevin Wierzbicki

Veteran instrumental rockers Los Straitjackets offer the full audio-visual package: twangy ’50s and early ‘60s rock delivered by a quartet of gentlemen in dapper suits and Mexican wrestling masks. The group’s latest CD, Supersonic Guitars in 3-D (Yep Roc), is another return to their pure instro sound of their early releases and comes with--you guessed it--a pair of 3D glasses. It’s all just a little visual fun to add to the band’s special mix of surf and turf, a collage of innocent beach bunnies and dangerous let’s-rumblers.

On the eve of their annual Christmas tour, I spoke with Straitjackets’ front man Eddie Angel, on the Straitjackets’ past, present and future, and their new touring companions, the originators of Go-Go-Robics, the Pontani Sisters.

Kevin Wierzbicki: So is your suitcase full of masks and ready to go?

Eddie: (laughs) Not quite! I do it all last minute.

Kevin: You’ll have the Pontani Sisters on the tour with you this time, right? What are they all about?

Eddie: The Pontani Sisters are three sisters from Brooklyn who are part of this whole new burlesque thing. But that doesn’t quite do justice--they’re more like vintage dancers and they’re sort of kindred spirits with us in that they take something old and make it new again. We met three years ago at Windows on the World, the bar that was at the top of the World Trade Center, where they danced every Friday night. It was like a Friday night ‘60s go-go party there and it was really one of the most memorable gigs we ever did. It was a wild scene. It looked like The Jetsons or something. The crowd was an eclectic mix of Wall Street people and tourists and local hipsters. It was a lot of fun. So we stayed in touch and started doing tours together, like festivals. Then we did this Christmas record last year (2002’s Tis the Season For) and it seemed like a natural to have them work up some routines. That’s what they do very well, and their costume changes and their routine is very entertaining. Anybody who reads this should really check out their Web site (www.pontanisisters.com), because it’s hard to describe. They’ve been doing it for a long time, really all their lives; they’re not jumping on any bandwagon of burlesque dancing. They’re at the forefront of it.

Kevin: How do you come up with your song titles, since there are no words? I listen to songs like “Squid” and “Giggle Water” and “Tarantula” from 3-D and the titles seem like perfect fits. Do you name the songs while you’re writing the music, or does it come after a few listens?

Eddie: There’s no set way, really. Sometimes we have a title—“Giggle Water” was a saying of the lead singer of the Fleshtones, Peter Zaremba. He’s done some things with us, singing. He’s kind of this funny New York hipster guy, and he calls booze giggle water. So we thought that was a pretty funny title. “Squid” just came to me as I wrote the song and like you said, it just seemed to fit. I have three little kids and my one son is like into any kind of little plastic animals, and I knew kids were going to love a title like “Squid.” (laughs) I always use kids as a perfect sounding board for rock’n’roll. The cultures are very closely intertwined I think…

Kevin: Uninhibited…

Eddie: Uninhibited, kind of like juvenile fun.

Kevin: When you’re writing songs, do you ever hear words and then go, “Naaah?”

Eddie: No, that doesn’t happen. Well, there’s actually one song on the new CD that was a song with lyrics, “Isn’t Love Grand.” It’s kind of a ridiculous title for it. But that’s a song I had written years ago when I was in a band with a singer, and I had words to it. The thing is, we feel totally, in writing instrumentals, I mean everyone thinks that somehow it’s limiting or something. We feel just the opposite: we’re totally free to do whatever we want. We can do a rock’n’roll song or we can think in terms of like being a jazz group, you know? A jazz combo or ensemble. We’re free to do whatever we want. I think having a singer is more limiting because you have to work within what the singer can do.

Kevin: And it makes it easier to focus on your vintage sound.

Eddie: We’re all students of guitar sound and of early rock’n’roll styles. We just kind of listen to stuff and…we call it creative plagiarism. It’s basically stealing stuff. But it’s like a cook coming up with a new recipe--you borrow from here and there, you throw different things together and come up with something a little different. I have no qualms about saying we borrow from the past. We’re big fans of rock’n’roll, of all pop music of the 20^th century, up to a certain point. Up until about 1966, then we kind of lose interest, I would say.

Kevin: Tell me your favorite memories of Ronnie Dawson (the legendary “Blonde Bomber” was one of rockabilly’s most energetic and creative singers and guitarists in the ‘50s, with hits including “Action-Packed” and “Rockin’ Bones”; after spending most of the subsequent decades writing commercial jingles and playing on various sessions, his career was revived in the mid-‘90s with a string of critically acclaimed records, two of which featured songs and guitar by Eddie. Dawson passed away in September of 2003—pg).

Eddie: Wow. I remember the very first time I met him was in London in 1990. We did a show together at the Town & Country club. Then on the same trip, we went in the studio and recorded two or three songs with him that wound up on Rockinitis (1989, Crystal Clear). It was this little, cold studio in south London. Then we went to a pub and had a few beers. A few years after that, I put together a tour with Ronnie. We did a tour out to the West Coast. It was the first time, I think, that either one of us had been to places like Santa Cruz, and I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, this is great, I’d love to live here.” Some of the stories I really can’t repeat, you know? (laughs) Nothing to do with girls, just things I wouldn’t want other people to be mad at me about.

Kevin: What was it like working with “The Chief?” (Eddy Clearwater, Chicago blues guitarist with a penchant for donning Native American headgear on stage; Los Straitjackets backed him for the 2003 Rounder CD Rock’n’Roll City—pg)

Eddie: Eddy Clearwater? Oh, man, he is such a fun guy to work with. He was totally open. It’s funny because there’s a real similarity between him and Ronnie Dawson. The similarity being they both obviously came from the same generation--they were first generation rock’n’roll guys. They were doing at it the same time as Chuck Berry. But the difference was they never had that big success. I think in a way that worked to their advantage in the long run. Success kind of like stamps you in that place and time where you can never leave. Chuck Berry can never leave 1957, whereas Ronnie and Eddy Clearwater were able to go on and keep making music and grow. They were both very open, and that’s a rare thing to find with older guys. Usually they’re very opinionated and set in there ways and they don’t want to change, they don’t want to listen to the younger guys. Ronnie and Eddy weren’t like that. I think that’s a sign of an artistic personality or something. But Eddy Clearwater was a real gas--a total surprise in the studio how he just went with the flow. I think that’s why the record came out as well as it did, just a real nice combination of his style and our style. We look forward to working with him again. We did some dates with him recently and that was great as well. He’s just got it. He’s still vital.

Kevin: This great list of singers you have as guests on Sing Along With Los Straitjackets (2001, Yep Roc) how did that come about? Did you just sit down one night with your phonebook and make some calls?

Eddie: That kind of happened gradually, over time. It was kind of ad hoc. It was all people we either knew personally or we had some kind of connection to. We knew Big Sandy; we’d done stuff with him in the past, and Dave Alvin. But some of the people like Raul (Malo) and Leigh Nash were just people who lived in Nashville who we had heard through the grapevine that were fans of ours. And Nick Lowe, our manager manages him, so that was the connection there. The Trashmen, we’re big fans of ‘60s garage music, and actually my wife and I were promoters of this festival called Las Vegas Grind a few years ago, and she booked the Trashmen on the show. So we knew how nice they were to deal with. We didn’t have like a dream list. Well, actually we did. Some of the people we asked were going to do it, then for one reason or another it didn’t happen. Joey Ramone was going to be on it, we cut a track and everything. But he got too sick. And Brian Wilson, he kind of flip-flopped back and forth, so finally we just had to finish it and put it out. We couldn’t wait. Nancy Sinatra, the same thing happened.

Kevin: I was really surprised to see Mark Lindsay on the record. Not only to see his name, but also to hear how strong the cut is.

Eddie: Oh, yeah man, he did a great job! That was a lot of fun. We did that live in the studio. So were cutting the track and he’s over there singing it and I’m listening to it on the headphones while we’re cutting it and it’s like, “Wow, that’s the voice, man. That’s the voice I grew up listening to on the radio, and here he is.” I don’t remember how we got connected with him. He was so good that we were going to try and do a whole record with him, but that never happened.

Kevin: How did you decide who sang what?

Eddie: Some times we had the idea; some times the artist had an idea. (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist) Mike Campbell wanted to do “Bumble Bee.” Sometimes the producer had the idea. It was a case-by-case thing.

Kevin: If you do a follow-up, what vocalists would you like to work with?

Eddie: Ringo Starr and Lisa Marie Presley would be the top two on my list, and Brian Wilson once again. I’ll give you my reason too. To me, they’re connected to the holy trinity of rock’n’roll, Elvis, the Beatles and the Beach Boys. I’d be really thrilled to make that connection in my lifetime.

Kevin: What else have you been doing besides making Supersonic Guitars in 3-D?

Eddie: I just produced a record for Robert Gordon (rockabilly revivalist and author, best known for ‘70s-era collaborations with Link Wray). That was a lot of fun. It’s going to come out on a label in Finland called Jungle Records. I also have a ‘60s garage band called the Neanderthals that I have a lot of fun with. We dress up like cavemen and get to act really stupid on stage. I’m a big fan of stupidity in rock’n’roll, but a fun kind of stupidity, you know? A tongue-in-cheek kind of stupidity. Anyway, we just put a CD out with all hot-rod songs. It’s called Shutdown 2002 B.C. (Spinout). Then I have the rock group I call the Planet Rockers. We do festivals in Europe. That’s the band that I recorded with Ronnie Dawson with originally. That’s how I met Ronnie, really, because the Planet Rockers and Ronnie were on the same record label in England.

Kevin: And when you’re not wearing a caveman get-up, you’ve got on the Mexican wrestling mask. Anything funny ever happen when you’re in that costume?

Eddie: In the early days when we would go to do radio interviews, we’d put the mask on and go in. So one time it was in an office building on the top floor. So we get out of the elevator and the people there would see all these guys with masks on and they called the security police on us. People are a little jumpy when they see a bunch of guys in masks.

Kevin: Do you think any of your kids will one day wear the mask?

Eddie: That’s my biggest worry. I’m hoping they’ll all become scientists.

www.straitjackets.com  /  www.yeproc.com