READ ON www.billybop.be -----Rockin At The Drive-in Barn 16&17-08-2008, Oosteeklo For the third year in a row, Tio tony organized this festival, this year with collaboration of The Polished Pistons, a car club from Bruges. The festival is always held at the same place, namely, like the title would suggest, in a barn. The parking lot in front of the barn was packed with classic cars, hot rods and bikes by the time we got there, and it seemed like there where a lot more then previous years. A lot more vendors aswell. It nice to see this festival grow every year. Just one change this year, the festival was held over a two days period, my compadre Frantic Franky is gone tell you a bit about Saturday night, since I wasn’t able to make it, due to some family related issues. …Saturday evening proceedings were opened by locals Little Kim & The Alley Apple Three, a band I've read about on Billybop but never caught live. They're Rocka-T-Bones Selim Meiresonne (double bass) and Tom De Poorter (guitar) + scarecrow lookalike Pat Cattoir on lap steel and the radiating Kimberly Claeys on vocals. No drums ! Their music is jazzy tinted western swing, with a beautiful soft, almost breakable voice. I was pleasantly surprised by their competence and liked a lot what they did, though I thought it was a little bit quiet. More something to enjoy while sitting on a terrace on a lazy sunny afternoon when you're fighting a hangover, than a band to open up a rock and roll weekender. Half of their setlist were selfwritten songs (always good to see young bands compose their own stuff) alongside Bob Wills style classics like Oakie Boogie, Whoa Babe, Cherokee Shuffle, Ida Red, and Bonaparte's Retreat, with a special tip of the hat to Patsy Cline's Walking Dream and Elvis' Love Me. Tio Tony put on several bands this weekend that I only knew by name, not by reputation. Like $lim $lip & The $liders from London. They will have their debut cd out in september on their own Slip Disk label. To my surprise their frontman was Greg, a guy I've known for I dont know how many years : you always see him partying at Hemsby, the Rave and even D-Day, and I didn't even know he played in a band. Their set was a best of of the Killer Diller comps from the days when records we're still so cheap we bought literally every comp that was released : Bad Bad Boy, Ragin' Sea, Good Show But No Go, Snaggle Tooth Ann, Please Give Me Something and Blue Swinging Mama. They were wild and good and had no trouble getting the crowd on their hand ! Sunday morning there was a cruise with some 25 hot rods and old cars to a tavern in the nearby village of Kaprijke where The Casablanca Carambol Company from Lier (Antwerp) played at 11:30. First time I saw 'em, and they played classic rockabilly in the style of the Million Dollar Quartet jamsession, with tunes like Milk Cow Blues, Shake Rattle And Roll/Flip Flop And Fly, and Down By The Riverside, plus a couple of selfpenned songs which can be found on their 4 track cd Only For A Dime. It's nice to see young guys playing traditional rockabilly in the traditional 4 piece line up. It's what our scene needs to stay alive. First band on sunday afternoon were The Bonneville Barons from the UK, and I was looking forward to see 'em as I have their 2 cds. I play 'em a lot too, cos they're very relaxed, mixing rockabilly with jazz and gypsy music, creating the soundtrack for a sideshow carnival. Most remarkably of all is that the Bonneville Barons are a duo, just 1 guitar, 1 double bass, 2 voices. You might wonder how they manage to keep the public's attention, but that's indeed what they did, by concentrating on their uptempo and rockinest material, and by throwing in a couple of classic favorites like Alabama Jailhouse, Glad All Over, Lonely Wolf, and Cry Cry Cry. Excellent band, and very nice guys too. ... So we only got there on Sunday afternoon, about the time the first band was about to finish their set, I just heard the last 2 songs, but I didn’t really pay any attention to it, since we were busy say hello to all the familiar faces there. Another thing that changed since last year was the fact that in between gigs, music was played. Which always is a good thing, it keeps the mood right. But even if that wasn’t the fact, the second band of the day would have brought back the mood in no time. Mischief, this Dutch trio, did what they do so well. Just to see they joy with which these guys perform their music, makes you wane tap and sing along to their tunes. The only problem I have with these guys, that I can barely understand what the hell they are saying in between songs. A few of the songs on their setlist: “ Hello Bluesâ€, “ Justineâ€. As a final band, the Starshooters took the stage to play some rockabilly and rock’n’roll. It was the very first time I heard of this band and it soon became clear why. They don’t have any cd’s out, they just do gigs. But what a gig it was, you really have to give Tony credit for that, he always manages to book some bands you rarely see on Belgian soil. We had to leave a bit before these guys ended their gig unfortunately, but hopefully some other organizer will book these guys again, cause they are defiantly worth seeing. So let’s see what next years edition will bring.-Bart – Frantic Franky –