Hillbilly Moon Explosion is a

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

band founded in Switzerland 1998. The group is known for a versatile mix of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

jump blues Jump blues is an up-tempo style of blues, usually played by small groups and featuring horn instruments. It was popular in the 1940s and was a precursor of rhythm and blues and rock and roll. Appreciation of jump blues was renewed in the 1990s as ...

, swing,

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roots rock Roots rock is a genre of rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid subgenres from the later 1960s, including blues rock, country rock, Southern rock, ...

and

surf music Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental s ...

elements.

History

Hillbilly Moon Explosion originated in 1998 as part of the Zurich rockabilly scene. The group was founded by the native English and Swiss citizen Oliver Baroni (vocals, bass, guitar) and Italian-Swiss singer Emanuela Hutter. Oliver Baroni was planning to leave his former band, the Hillbilly Headhunters. Emanuela Hutter worked with the singer/songwriter music project MD Moon at that time. The original formation was completed by drummer Aad Hollander and guitarist Pat Matteo, another former member of the Hillbilly Headhunters. The first demo tape was made in the same year. Emanuela Hutter was at the time bound by solo performances and did not enter the band until the following year. In 2006 after the release of ''All Grown Up'', Englishman Duncan James replaced Patrick Gese on guitar and Swiss Luke Weyermann the new drummer. Frenchman Sylvain Petite later took over drums. In addition to touring and performing in Switzerland, the band have performed in other European countries including

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and the UK. In 2010, Hillbilly Moon Explosion appeared as the opening act for

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a focus ...

Paris Olympia The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra G ...

. In both 2018 and 2019, they also toured the west coast of the US. The members of the group live in and around Zurich.

Style and reviews

Although some media outlets rate the band as a very good rockabilly formation from Switzerland, Hillbilly Moon Explosion is still considered an underground band. On the album ''Buy, Beg or Steal'', in the song "My Love for Evermore", Hutter sang a duet with Mark "Sparky" Phillips from the British

psychobilly Psychobilly is a rock music fusion genre that fuses elements of rockabilly and punk rock. It's been defined as "loud frantic rockabilly music", it has also been said that it "takes the traditional countrified rock style known as rockabilly, ram ...

group

Demented Are Go Demented Are Go (DAG aka Demented Are Go!) are a Welsh psychobilly band that was formed around 1982 in Cardiff, Wales. They were one of the earliest in the initial wave of bands to mix punk rock with rockabilly, and as a result, are conside ...

. Further duets with Sparky appeared on the ''Damn Right Honey'' and ''With Monsters and Gods'' albums, and a full album of duets, ''The Sparky Sessions'' appeared in 2019.

Current band members

* Oliver Baroni (vocals/upright bass) * Emanuela Hutter (vocals/rhythm guitar) * Duncan James (lead guitar/vocals) * Sylvain Petite (drums)

Discography

* ''Introducing The Hillbilly Moon Explosion'' (2002, Crazy Love Records) * ''Bourgeois Baby'' (2004) * ''By Popular Demand: The Basement Tapes (1999-2005)'' (2005, Crazy Love Records) * ''All Grown Up'' (2006) * ''Raw Deal'' (2010, The Freed) * ''Buy, Beg or Steal'' (2011, The Freed;

Jungle Records Jungle Records is a British independent record label formed in 1982, specialising in punk rock, post punk, gothic and alternative releases. From 1982 to 1986 they were also active as a record distributor and were associate members of the Car ...

) * ''Damn Right Honey!'' (2013, Goldtop Recordings/

) * ''French Kiss'' avec

Arielle Dombasle Arielle Dombasle (born April 27, 1953)Dombasle's year of birth has been a subject of much debate, and various sources have given dates ranging from 1953 to 1958. is an American-born French singer, actress, director and model. Her breakthrough ro ...

(2015,

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

France) * ''With Monsters and Gods'' (2016,

; The Freed; Cloud Hill) * ''The Sparky Sessions'' feat. Mark “Sparky” Phillips (2019, Freedonia;

)

References

External links

Official website of the band
{{Authority control Rockabilly music groups Swiss rock music groups Musical groups established in 1998