Southern Culture on the Skids

Southern Culture on the Skids, also sometimes known as SCOTS, is an American rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Originally a straightforward roots rock band, they became known as a tongue-in-cheek "party band" with an exaggerated "white trash" image and humourous lyrics inspired by the culture of the Southern United States.

The band released their debut EP ''Voodoo Beach Party'' in 1984, followed by their self-titled debut album the following year, influenced by blues, psychobilly and rock and roll. After these early releases, the band's line-up shifted due to a perceived lack in direction, and the band reemerged with a new, hard to classify sound, which encompassed Southern rock, swamp rock and surf music. Later, they added pedal steel guitar and accordion to their instrumentation and shifted their sound to country music.

Biography

Guitarist and founding member Rick Miller grew up dividing his time between his father's home and business in Henderson, North Carolina and his mother's home in southern California. Miller completed an art degree at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The first incarnation of Southern Culture on the Skids formed in 1983 and featured Miller on guitar, with Stan Lewis (vocals), Leslie Land (bass) and Chip Shelby (drums). Of the band's name, Miller later said "(We wanted) some kind of name that would get us some attention, ya know? We were listening to the UNC radio (station) there and they were playing an REM song. I like REM fine, but at the end of it, the DJ says, 'Ya that was REM, the sound of the new South.' I looked at my roommate and we said, 'Gawd, if that's the sound of the 'new South' I preferred it when it was on the skids.' That's how we got the name." This line-up released the EP ''Voodoo Beach Party'', followed later in 1985 by a full length album entitled ''Southern Culture on the Skids'' on local indie label Lloyd Street.

After these releases, the band felt that they lacked direction. This led to Lewis leaving in 1987, soon followed by Land. Miller took over on lead vocals, with Mary Huff joining on bass and vocals. Huff suggested Dave Hartman as new drummer, whom she'd played with in another band previously. Both Huff and Hartman were from Roanoke, Virginia. The band explored different styles before deciding on a "swamp rock thing". Eventually the three-piece SCOTS released ''Too Much Pork for Just One Fork'' on Moist Records in 1991, with SCOTS' evolving signature sound, and humorous lyrical tales concerning southern US culture, particularly food ('Eight Piece Box'). The rockier, rawer-sounding album ''For Lovers Only'' followed in 1992 on Safe House Records, featuring Huff on lead vocals for 'Daddy Was a Preacher But Mama Was a Go-Go Girl'. SCOTS released two EPS in 1993, the half-studio half-live ''Peckin' Party'' (Feedbag Records) and ''Girlfight'' for Sympathy for the Record Industry. 1994 saw the release of the more country-flavoured album ''Ditch Diggin, again on Safe House, with cleaner production and slightly shorter, tighter songs. The album also featured covers of the Louvin Brothers ('The Great Atomic Power') and Link Wray ('Jack the Ripper Pts. 1 & 2') which had been part of live shows.

SCOTS' increasing popularity created major label interest and they signed to Geffen subsidiary DGC in 1995. The following year saw SCOTS' first DGC album, ''Dirt Track Date'' which featured re-recorded versions of popular songs from previous releases ('Eight Piece Box'; 'Voodoo Cadillac'; 'Firefly') amongst new material, including 'Soul City' and 'Camel Walk'. The album was a critical and commercial success, selling over a quarter-million copies. 'Camel Walk' and 'Red Beans 'n' Reverb' featured on the soundtrack to the 1996 movie '' Flirting with Disaster'', while the band appeared in the 1997 movie ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'', playing 'My Baby's Got The Strangest Ways' in the opening beach party scene. SCOTS added keyboard player Chris 'Cousin Crispy' Bess to the line-up for the 1997 album ''Plastic Seat Sweat'', creating a fuller, richer sound. ''Plastic Seat Sweat'' was also well-reviewed but Geffen were disappointed by sales, and they parted ways with SCOTS. Miller later commented that the record recouped its' costs, but Geffen wanted 'hits' and offered contract renewal conditional on production of a radio-friendly song within the next 3 months, plus touring with ska-punk bands popular at the time. SCOTS declined.

Without a label, SCOTS toured steadily for a few years. ''Zombified'' (1998) was a limited, independent release themed around horror movies from drive-ins and late-night TV. SCOTS' next widely-released album appeared in 2000, ''Liquored Up and Lacquered Down'', on TVT Records. The multiple alcohol-themed songs reflected the band's previous two years, said Miller. The deal with TVT was short-lived and it took another four years for the next SCOTS record to appear. During this period Bess departed and Miller oversaw development of the bands' own recording studio, named The Kudzu Ranch. SCOTS next album, a 2004 release by North Carolina's Yep Roc Records, was entitled '' Mojo Box'' and was recorded and produced by Miller at the Kudzu Ranch.

Performance style

Southern Culture on the Skids' music is difficult to classify singularly, as they incorporate several different musical styles into their own unique sound, which the ''Shepherd Express'' said was classified under "genre labels a country mile long", including rockabilly, R&B and surf. ''WNRN'' described the band's style as "Dixie-fried Southern rock". ''The Newtown Bee'' described their music as "surfin' southern fried psychobilly". ''AllMusic'' said that they started as a straightforward roots rock group before morphing into "a raucous, tongue-in-cheek party band obsessed with sex and fried chicken in the early '90s". According to the ''Lexington Herald Leader'', "The trio has so persistently masked its obviously schooled swamp-rock gumbo sound with enough onstage trailer-park shtick to make many dismiss — or embrace, depending on your entertainment vantage point — the group as a novelty act. What is really going on is a band with roots-rock chops to spare zeroing on material and performance perspectives that keep its music fun." ''Charleston Grit'' says that the band makes "white trash fashion and Southern twang an art form." The band is known for their live shows, which often include throwing fried chicken and banana pudding into the audience, and audience members invited to dance and eat onstage.

''Elmore'' magazine wrote that the band's musical style encompasses "an eclectic range of Americana including rockabilly, surf rock, country and R&B, with a punk edge and heaps of humor". ''AllMusic'' described the band's sound as a "wild, careening brand of rock & roll ..a quintessentially Southern-fried amalgam of rockabilly, boogie, country, blues, swamp pop, and vintage R&B, plus a liberal dose of California surf guitar, a hint of punk attitude, and the occasional mariachi horns". ''Stomp and Stammer'' described the band's mix of country, garage rock, surf, rockabilly and soul as "'' Green Acres'' meets Green Onions". According to the ''Virginian-Pilot'', the band fuses blues, psychobilly and rock and roll. Later, they introduced pedal steel guitar and accordion and shifted to a country music sound.

The band's influences include the Cramps, International Submarine Band, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, the Byrds, the Seeds and the Chocolate Watchband. Guitarist and vocalist Rick Miller says that the band's 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."

Band members

Current members

* Rick Miller (vocals, guitar)
* Dave Hartman (percussion)
* Mary Huff (vocals, bass)

Former members

* Stan Lewis
* Leslie Land
* Chip Shelby
* Chris Bess
* Tim Barnes
* Michael Kelsh

Discography

Albums

EPs/singles/demos

Guest appearances

References

External links

Official Website
*

"69 El Camino" from the TV Show ''Corporate Country Sucks''.

Southern Culture on the Skids collection
at the Internet Archive's live music archive

Rick Miller
Interview and music from the CD Zombiefied

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1983 establishments in North Carolina
American comedy musical groups
American psychobilly musical groups
American southern rock musical groups
Country music groups from North Carolina
Musical groups from Chapel Hill-Carrboro, North Carolina
Rock music groups from North Carolina
Roots rock music groups
Surf music groups
Swamp rock groups
Sympathy for the Record Industry artists
Telstar Records (U.S. label) artists
TVT Records artists