Plenty of locals still have the memories of nights spent dancing to Psycho Zydeco at the Murrah Hall, where the band would bring the house down with their shows.
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“We had some legendary performances there, some killer gigs,” guitarist Gregg Hatton laughed.
The four original members of the band are returning to the Bega Valley as they are on the line-up for the Cobargo Folk Festival, on later this month.
They play a blend of traditional Cajun, blues and swamp music to produce their own mix of zydeco.
For the uninitiated, zydeco can be “difficult to describe, as there’s so many different versions of it” according to Hatton, but it is blues-based with an intricate saxophone vibe.
The music was Cajun and Creole originally, but evolved with escaping slaves in North America who mixed it with blues.
“It is a bit unique,” Hatton said.
“It’s such a great style of music, it really crosses boundaries.
“We have tiny kids going crazy to it, up to incredibly old jazz people”
He said while there are other bands in Australia that use the essence of zydeco, there are not many that play real zydeco any more.
“Some bands have an accordion, but not a washboard and you need both for the sound,” he said.
He first heard the music after being introduced by Stefan Sernek, accordionist and now band mate, when they were cabinet makers thinking about starting a band.
Hatton was given an one of Buckwheat Zydeco’s albums and the project took off from there.
“I thought it was really good, because it was blues based but had a really high energy about it,” he said.
In 1993, they had combined with Christoper Wilson on sax and Gene Gill on drums and at their second rehearsal recorded their first album on cassette.
“It’s crazy when you think about it,” Hatton said.
“But it was off the factory floor, fresh and loud.
“A lot of people have said it was our best album.”
He said the name of Psycho Zydeco mainly came from both the words going together well.
“But early on we were a bit out of control!” he said.
“Our background was in rock, like Deep Purple.
“Zydeco has a lot of energy, but we kicked it really hard.”
While the band is still active, their touring schedule has calmed down a little since the days when they would play four gigs a week.
While their music is not as fast, it is funkier and still creates happy vibes in crowds.
Cobargo Folk Festival is on February 24-26, visit www.cobargofolkfestival.com.
Albert McKnight
Journalist at Bega District News.
Journalist at Bega District News.
