To Helldorado and Back with Colin Winski

Stinky sez: Any rockabilly fan that isn’t acquainted with Colin Winski’s music is living like a tick on a leaf.  Drop down and drink deep, cats!

Colin Winski was an Elvis-obsessed teenager when he met Rollin’ Rock fanzine publisher Rockin’ Ronny Weiser at an Elvis concert in 1970.  Weiser decided to expand his enterprise to include a record label.  Winski & Weiser tracked down cult-rockabilly artist Ray Campi teaching high school in Los Angeles—where The Runaways’ Cherie Currie was one of his students—and convinced Campi to record for Rollin’ Rock Records.

With rhythm guitarist/singer Winski’s teenage friend Jerry Sikorski on guitar, they joined the original line up of Ray Campi & His Rockabilly Rebels and recorded the band’s first album Born To Rock in 1977 (the same year fellow rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon released his first long-player).  In addition to playing the LA clubs (McCabe’s, The Palomino), the band were treated like royalty in the UK, where they opened for The Clash and The Cramps.

By their second album, the band also included Jimmie Lee Maslon and Rip Masters.  Over the years, Jackie Lee Cochran, Ronnie Mack, a pre-X Billy Zoom, and shit-hot guitarist/record producer Richard Bennett passed through the ranks of Campi's Rockabilly Rebels.

Winski and Sikorski left The Rockabilly Rebels after Campi nixed having Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe produce the band’s third LP.  Winski and Sikorski formed The Rebels, who opened for The Clash and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.  

In 1980 (a year before The Stray Cats’ first LP) Winski released his solo album Rock Therapy on the Chrysalis label—which unfortunately didn’t sell.  Winski moved to Arizona and worked a collection of odd jobs ranging from ditch-digger to security guard.  In 1993 the U.K.’s Fury label released Helldorado, which saw Colin backed by his incredible Helldorado Band.  

It was clear Winski learned a lot in the thirteen years between releases.  While he always drew on an impressive assortment of growls, grunts, hiccups, and breathy “a-huhs” that he propelled past his curled upper lip—by the second album he’s the living embodiment of a rockabilly cat.  Colin wrote or co-wrote five songs on the album—including Cool Love, which tells the tale of a man whose girlfriend has crossed over to the ethereal plane—but still returns nightly to satisfy his earthly needs.  The song, and the album, are under appreciated classics.

Rockin’ Ronny Weiser also tracked down, befriended, and recorded rockabilly legend Gene Vincent during Vincent’s decline into alcoholism after having his best friend, Eddie Cochran, die in his arms after a traffic accident.  According to legend, the squeaky sound effect on the final track of The Best of Colin Winski (Dig Them Squeaky Shoes) was made by manipulating Gene Vincent’s leather jacket—which Gene had given to Ronny Weiser on his deathbed.