The Quakes

The Quakes

The Quakes are an American psychobilly band from Buffalo, New York, formed in 1986. They emerge from a period when there is no established psychobilly scene in the United States, so the band moves to London to look for an audience and become part of the European circuit.

Early line-up and first years

The band starts with Paul Roman on guitar and vocals, Rob Peltier on upright slap bass, and Dave “The Ace” Hoy on drums. Roman has already tried twice to build a band in London, in 1985 and 1986, before continuing a group called the Quiffs with Hoy. After Peltier joins, the name changes to the Quakes.

At first they play modern rockabilly, but struggle to get shows in Buffalo, where hardcore punk dominates the teenage scene. They speed up their sound and adopt a more typical psychobilly look, replacing peg pants with ripped jeans and combat boots.

London, Belgium and the first recordings

In autumn 1987 the Quakes relocate to London. They contact Nervous Records and are offered a festival slot in Weize, Belgium, after another band drops out. Their first European performance is in front of 4,000 people. On returning to England they are stopped at the border and deported for not having work permits.

They return to Europe as support for the Coffin Nails in Belgium and Germany. Before that tour, Peltier leaves and Chris VanCleve, formerly a drummer in the Quiffs, joins; VanCleve moves to drums and Hoy switches to bass. After the tour, Nervous Records signs the band for its first album. Peltier rejoins, moves to London, and the band lives in a squat while beginning to play around the city. Their London debut takes place at the Klubfoot on 4 June 1988.

Their self-titled debut album appears later in 1988 on Nervous Records. Roy Williams of Nervous pairs the band with producer Paul “Doc” Stewart, who records and mixes the album at Opaz Studio in Hackney, East London. Stewart also co-engineers it and takes the cover photographs under the name Stewart Barker. Peltier and Hoy later leave and return to Buffalo after a planned European tour fails to happen.

Reformations, labels and album releases

After the original lineup breaks up, Roman forms Paul Roman and the Prowlers with Nick Peck of the Rattlers. Hoy is killed in a road accident shortly after returning to Buffalo. The Prowlers play a few London shows and a small psychobilly festival in Belgium. Roman is then deported from the UK again.

The Quakes regroup in Buffalo for a few informal shows with Peltier, VanCleve and another drummer. Roman later returns to England with a work permit and briefly joins Demented Are Go after meeting Ant Thomas and filling in for guitarist Lex on an already booked English tour. By late 1989 Roman and Peltier reform the Quakes in Buffalo, with Brian Doran on drums. They play the first and second Big Rumble festivals in England and tour parts of Europe.

The band releases Voice of America on 1 January 1992, with engineering by Robbie Takac of the Goo Goo Dolls. New Generation is recorded in 1992, released in March 1993, and includes production by Tim Polecat. It leads to a 13-date tour of Japan and strong sales there, but its pop-rockabilly direction receives a poor response from European fans. Quiff Rock follows in 1996 and returns to a more stripped-back psychobilly sound. By 1998 the band chooses to play only one or two festivals each year rather than tour extensively.

Later activity and releases

The Quakes play the American Rumble festival in New Jersey in 2000. In 2001 they release Last of the Human Beings, their first album on Roman’s label Orrexx Records. Through 2002 and 2003 they tour and play festivals across the United States, including headlining the American Nightmare festival in Pomona, California, as well as shows in Germany, Spain and Finland.

Roman moves to Helsinki in 2004 and performs solo as The Paul Roman 3, mainly playing Quakes material. The Quakes continue to tour, including dates in Europe, the United States and Japan. In 2005 they release Psyops on Orrexx Records, an album recorded in Finland, Las Vegas and Phoenix that combines psychobilly with new wave. They mark their 20-year anniversary in 2006 with long tours in the United States, Europe and Russia.

Orrexx reissues Quiff Rock in 2007 with eight extra tracks, seven of them previously unreleased. Kenny Hill joins on slap bass and Juan Carlos, also of The Limit Club, takes over drums in 2008. Negative Charge follows in 2009. The band tours the west coast and east coast of the United States and plays in Germany. In 2010 they headline the Psychobilly Meeting in Spain, the Rock n Roll Jamboree in Finland, and the Bedlam Breakout festival in the UK, and they make their first trip to Brazil, where they appear on television, on radio and in Rolling Stone Brazil.

In 2011 Roman and Hill record a cover of Duran Duran’s “Planet Earth” for a Cleopatra Records compilation. Wes Hinshaw joins on bass in 2012, and the band releases Planet Obscure on Orrexx Records. That year they also play Ink & Iron in Long Beach and the Psychobilly Meeting in Pineda, Spain, and tour 13 countries. They headline Psychobilly Earthquake in Bremen during the tour. Further headline appearances follow at Psychomania in Potsdam in 2013 and Long Beach Psyclone in 2014, when the EP Live By The Sword also appears on Orrexx. In 2015 they are among the headliners at Psychobilly Meeting in Spain.

Recent years

In 2016 the band marks 30 years of activity with shows in Phoenix, San Diego and Los Angeles, and a trip to Northampton, England for Bedlam Breakout. Roman releases a documentary about the band’s early years on YouTube in 2017, along with the digital single “Psycho fest”. “Winter Drag” follows in January 2018, and the band continues with live dates in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, including headlining Mayhem. They also return to the Psychobilly Meeting in Spain and play in St. Petersburg and Moscow in 2019, their first shows in Russia for 13 years.

Style and significance

The Quakes are associated with psychobilly, rockabilly, neo-rockabilly, punk and rock. Across their career they move between a harder psychobilly sound and more rockabilly or pop-rockabilly approaches, while remaining a long-running act on the international psychobilly festival circuit.