Meteors Interview

The Meteors

Few people throughout the history of the world are single handedly responsible for the inception of a musical genre. Even less of these people who are still alive today. And there are almost none of these people still making music, touring like crazy and stomping your ass to the ground with consistently good releases. The Meteors are the exception to the rule. Frontman P. Paul Fenech started psychobilly almost 30 years ago in England as a reaction to the soft rockabilly that was enjoying a revival at the time. After being ostracized from the rockabilly scene for being too punk rock, The Meteors carved their own niche in the musical world. Dregs of the punk rock and rockabilly scenes (as well as other musical misfits) gravitated toward this newly discovered Frankenstein monster of the underground scene. Nearly 30 years later, little has changed. The band consists of different members, but the idea is the same as is the music.

After a 22 hour trip to get here and a show with more energy than the hydrogen bomb, The Meteors kicked back with SLUG and discussed their history and the future.


On February 12th, The Meteors ripped through Salt Lake City like a hollow tip through a skull. They played Burt’s for a crowd larger than most I’ve seen there. All in all, it was an unparalleled experience. The audience was obviously stoked. The band had a blast here, too. Nobody who was in attendance that night will soon forget it. If you call yourself a Meteors fan and somehow missed it, you are truly a fool.

Fenech mentioned that The Meteors had played Salt Lake City about 12 years ago, but had toured without a promoter and that the turnout was lousy. The band was much more satisfied with this show than their previous SLC date.


Although psychobilly is three decades old, for many fans it is still a very new idea. Unfortunately, these days it is more of a fashion thing than a music thing. According to Fenech, history is repeating itself, as the same thing happened in Europe in the 80s when psychobilly was born. "We call ‘em fashionbillies at home," he said. He remarked that everybody had the same haircut and had skulls everywhere. He did note that since then, it has split between those who are in it for fashion and those who are really into it. "I mean, it’s got fuck all to do with how you look really, the music. It’s nothing to do with the fuckin’ style of it, anyway. It’s rock and roll. And it’s horror, but it’s not fuckin’ makeup and crap. That’s cabaret," he said.

These days, with the line between punk rock and psychobilly becoming blurred, people jump the gun and label a band as psychobilly as soon as they see a quiff or a double bass. "I think there’s a definite definition between punk and psychobilly. A punk rock band with a double bass is not psychobilly. I mean, it’s gotta be billy for a start. Got to have rockabilly in it," Fenech said. Though there are similarities here and there, the differences between the two genres are innumerable. Psychobilly music is about a billion times more technical and difficult to play than that of punk rock. So, before you and your buddy start making "psycho" versions of The Casualties songs in your basement, remember that one half of the equation is rockabilly. Without the rockabilly element, it’s just punk rock.


The people who just can’t seem to understand this always seem to get bored and move on quickly. There is no denying it, psychobilly is hot right now. For many, it’s just another trend to buy into. Fenech put it like this, "…At the moment, it’s a bit fashion here, so everybody’s doin’ it. I’ve seen some fuckin’ awful combinations. Same happened in Europe. After a year or two, they move on to something else and the people that like psychobilly stick around." He also commented on the current wave of U.S. bands that display a heavy European psychobilly sound. He explained that psychobilly was developed to be different, and that imitations of European bands are simply a cop out. To illustrate, he mentioned that he had recently seen a Klingonz tribute band, which he was utterly puzzled by.

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