SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS >>  LIVE AT EL SOL.  TVT 2002.

In 1997, I started writing these music review columns as an intern for ESM. That summer, I got the pleasure of covering an EP by North Carolina’s pseudo-country act, Southern Culture on the Skids. Five years and three major releases later, both the Kentucky-fried surf guitar act and I are in exactly the same place: they are fusing trailer park sensibilities with scorching riffs and I’m still writing for free (well, damn near it).

As a gift to their lasting fan base and as a prelude to their much-awaited early-2003 release Live at El Sol accomplishes much more than chalking up one more achievement to a discography that runs longer than your grandfather’s Viagra prescription. It solidifies the band’s legendary reputation for live performance. Forget every other time these words have been spoken until now: it’s like no other concert you’ve ever seen. The biggest beats are banged from a rockabilly-era drum kit by Dave Hartman; a beehive-headed Mary Huff cranks out basslines that could make a Missouri mule dance; lead guitarist Ricky Miller, an avid surfdog, twangs harder than Dick Dale and the Ventures combined; and Cuzin Crispy Best, the cuddliest 250+ pounder you ever saw in overalls makes his way through every back-up instrument from trumpets to triangles. Throw in some projectile chicken parts, a Mexican wrestler, and some taste for banana pudding, and you’ve got the mayhem that ensued one night when Southern Culture took the stage in Spain and stomped the crap out of such SCOTS hits as “Chickenshit Farmer”, “Biscuit Eater”, “Greenback Fly”, “Shotgun”, and “New Couter Boogie.”

Compared to the plethora of shitbag live CD’s that flood the market every year, El Sol is an alligator-skin purse. Despite the intimate club setting and the limited technical budget, every note is as clear as a glass of Keystone Light... but as filling as a Tater Tot dinner. El Sol is available only at SCOTS shows or through www.scots.com. - By Eric Seeger