The Matadors – March/April 2005
Who: The Matadors
What: hail to the devil
Where: London, ON
To Contact: Stumble Records, 57 Leaside Dr., St. Catharines, ON L2M 4G1 (905) 934-6901, www.thematadors.net, stumblerecords@yahoo.com.
They describe their rock ‘n’ roll as “the devil’s music,” even title their CD as such. They go into a little tale of how, after toiling in the “Z circuit” for some time, they were approached by The Lucifarian Brotherhood of Baphomet to sell their soul. If vocalist/guitarist Joel “Hooch” Parkins, bassist “Creepin’” Jeff Sheppard and drummer Jay Westman would just incorporate “Lucifarian gospel music” into their rockabilly style, they would be given “super-human” musical skill and preside over their audience. Well, it takes more than guts to play rockabilly in this day of pop, hip-hop and punk, so why not? Entering into the fiery depths of Dark Art Studios in London, ON, with producer Alistair Hay (“who never accepted a half-assed take or weak performance”) and engineer Darren Morrison (who fixed the unfixable), The Matadors emerged with the igniting nine tracks on The Devil’s Music. If Elvis or even Chris Isaak had gone over to the dark side, they may have come up with such gems as the barbarian booty call “Devil’s Mistress” and truly seductive ballad “Burning Desire.”
