Powersolo : Tractorpullin' Kicks For Hellraisin' Hicks!

by Jens

After Godless Wicked Creeps psychobilly bubble sadly burst Powersolo was born. The strange entity came crushin' into the Danish scene with odd formular of twangy C&W, rootsy rock'n'roll, rockabilly and a....eh....rather perculiar sense of homegrown child-like humor.
Their "Lemon Half Moon" debut album of 2001 probably suffered a bit from too many infantile in-jokes makin' them look a not too serious novelty act in the eyes of many. They even had a giant donkey on stage! But Powersolo didn't give a damn, they toured on like hell, winning skeptics over by displaying an impressive range of genres and musical abilities and they had that crucial knack for writing catchy tunes. Their brand new "It's Raceday And Your Pussy Is Gut" album is minor masterpiece and vastly superior to their debut, "Lemon Half Moon", the album even has American R&B legend Andre Williams singin' on a track, what a scoop! 2004 seems to be the year Powersolo will break into a much broader audience, so I had a little chat with Kim Kix (lead vocals, guitar, bass) about the upcoming world domination. Other Powersolo hillbillies; Jcbenz (drums) and Atomic Child (guitars, bass).

LC: What are your influences, the press material lists Beck (!?) but I think you come across as a mix of Southern Culture On The Skids and Hasil Adkins?

Kim: Beck is just one of a thousand ways to describe a fracture of PowerSolo's sound and is maybe a name more people can relate to than Hasil Adkins or S.C.O.T.S. But we're are much inspired by the crazy universe of Hasil Adkins, Legendary Stardust Cowboy and even a bit of the S.C.O.T.S. I get in trouble every god damn time I'm asked to explain PowerSolo's sound, ha, ha..People sometime compare our sound with names and bands I've never heard of or never listened to. That's interesting!

LC: I think "Its Raceday..." is a major improvement over your debut album, the music's better and the humor works A LOT better on this one?

Kim: Thank you, so do I. The first album was, like a naked ass in the cold wind, for many people. It was in fact a demo that got released on a label. Ever heard that excuse??? In fact that's the truth. I was touring almost constantly with the Creeps at that time so I thought - Well what the hell, let's get the fucker out and se what happens. Never think that way!!!!! Anyway this little bastard has brought to where we are now and actually got a good handful of good reviews and it's still selling. It's got a distribution deal in France a few months ago and got great reviews. They fuckin' love it??!" MERCI!

LC: Andre Williams sings on "Hillbilly Child", and he did a cover of "Stupid Little Bitch, how did you meet?

Kim: Last time Andre toured in Europe we got to play with him in our hometown Aarhus. I've been a long time fan of his music and I just wanted to meet him and play our songs for him. We got an opening act and a bottle of booze - and after the show he came down and gave Bo and I a big greasy hug and a kiss on the cheek and said. "You two brothers are two hell of some good kickers - I wanna records that "Stupid Little Bitch" song for my next record!"
We couldn't believe it! We hung out and talked about music, fortune records, Ike Turner (He's long time friend at Motown), Detroit and the booze - he'd got soo much to tell.

LC: Helle Hellcat of The Untamed sings backing on "Don't Hate Me Baby", her probably biggest vocal accomplishment yet?

Kim: Yeah! We needed a hysterical woman for that track! Ha, ha…It was fun. She came to the studio with her big belly, she was pregnant in 9th. Month. We were a bit scared that she'd deliver the baby when she sang the last part of the song where she really goes off! The song came out just fine and so did her baby I heard. Bless her.

LC: Your new hit music video, "Juanito", is made by the same guy who did the cover of Godless Wicked Creeps' "Smile" album?

Kim: That's right. He did it in record time for some 150kroners in material and help from good friend and his girlfriend Sarah. Tor Fruergaard is WICKED! He also stars as "Juanito" in the video.

LC: Any major change of being on Crunchy Frog than ESP/Kick Music?

Kim: Major change for us because we finally got a dedicated label. We really feel like part of the family at Crunchy. Hat off for those guys, they deserve all the success they have!

LC: Is Siberian Mad Dogs history?

Kim: No, the Mad Dogs is the playground for my inner psychobilly or rockabilly and I still love to slap my old dawghouse bass, there's some good slapping on "It's Raceday…"too. We play shows now and then. When there's time or somebody asks us to. And playing together with Alex is a fuckin blast!

LC: What do your old psychobilly friends think of Powersolo?

Kim: Some think it's really cool and some don't care to much….

LC: What the craziest thing you've experienced on the road, Spinal Tap-worthy?

Kim: That might have been in 2002 on the PowerSolo tour in Europe. Bo and me had been driving my old Volvo 242 for 11 hours or so, coming from south of France heading for Gent in Belgium. We were late and suddenly the exhaust pipe broke. It broke by the manifold and therefore it was impossible to go on unless it was fixed. So I got under the car and Bo was handing me the tools, a hammer and a screwdriver! I twisted, I hammered for one and a half hour to make the broken piece fit into the what there was left of the exhaust and I took a guitar strap for suspension and a e-string to tighten the rear silencer. The only thing I needed to do was putting a piece of rubber between the pipe and the bottom of the car so it wouldn't bang against it when we rode over a bump. So I took the biggest screwdriver I had and forced in between the bottom of the car and the pipe to make a gap for the rubber piece and the motherfuckin' screwdriver slipped hand hit me right in the forehead and made a deep hole. The blood was pouring out and I was cursing and kickin the car so that a couple of kids who'd been watching the hole thing from afar eating ice cream, started crying and ran over to their parents sitting in their Mercedes Benz. After that I was so tired that Bo had to take the wheel and as we were three hours late with 150 kilometres left he just stepped on it. When we arrived to Gent we couldn't find the damn club and in confusion Bo passed a red light, and thank to the Lord above, two cars coming from each side of the cross road just missed us. It was SO close! After that day and that incident we take it more easy on the road. That WAS a road story, wasn't it!? Ha, ha, ha.

LC: Future plans, anything to add?

Kim: Thank you and I wish you all the best luck in the future. See ya in the contray…..

http://powersolo.dk/