NOVEMBER 2003
|
Downtown LiveA Decade of the Shakesby Jamie Manser
Mr. Foul and his differing crew of Shakes have an animated stage presence, explicable by their love of playing music and partying. It also probably doesn’t hurt knowing that at the end of the night a throng of lovely ladies will share the spotlight. When the band plays “Spank My Ass,” women are invited up to have the Almighty Al lay his hands on their rears – in beat to the 2/4 stomps of the bass and skins. Grinning, beet-red, and sweating, Mr. Foul always ends the shows with a bang. His genre spanning fans are left feeling exhausted but charged from the three-man line-up that normally consists of a standup bass, a snare drum and high hat, with Al on guitar and vocals.
“We probably only played a dozen shows and then I said ‘Fuck it,’ and started the Shakes. “I started that when I was living on Hoff with Texas Trash. It was me and him and Pig Pen on wash tub bass.” The band played “house parties, Downtown Saturday Nights, street corners, etcetera. We never decided on a name but I knew I wanted ‘Al Foul & the something’,” Foul said this May. The name was decided on one day in October of 1993, a day that saw Al suffering the effects from a rough night of drinking. “Pig Pen comes to my house and was banging on the door. I felt terrible with one of those bad hangovers - I was all shaky – and I opened the door and said ‘The Shakes man!’ “And he said, ‘I feel bad too.’ “‘No man, it’s the name of the band!’” The initial line-up lasted less than a year when Texas Trash left and was replaced with Craig Hall. “We were together for probably about five years. We would practice all the time, playing in town, in Phoenix and in Texas. We got pretty tight,” Foul recounted. After Hall moved to Tennessee, “we went through a few different drummers. Lucas Mosley who’s in Pork Torta and AJ from Thunderosa, Perry, who is now in Texas Trash and the Hangovers, then Joel Ford, he played for awhile, and Lucas has done most of the touring.” Beside the aforementioned members, the Shakes have also included Jimmy King, Mr. Tidy Paws, Shannon Morino, Rick Tanner, Doug Smith and Jimmy Foul. Count ‘em—that makes a total of 13 Shakes. If that number freaks you out because of your triskaidekaphobia, it is nothing compared to the darker element of the Shakes’ history—the curse of the bass player. “Everyone who has ever played bass for the Shakes has had physical injuries, real bad ones,” Foul said in May at Che’s Lounge. “Two of them broke their necks, one of them had his leg broken totally sideways from a motorcycle accident. Rick Tanner had his thumb cut off, but they put it back on. It’s just an eight of an inch shorter than it used to be.” Hopefully the same fate won’t befall the recent bass fill-in, Eric Generic from the Last Call Brawlers. Despite the injuries and flux of members, the band has released numerous recordings—inclusive of a 1998 live recording at Congress, “Come Back With My Drink,” a 2000 release, “Spank That Ass,” and a self-titled album that was released this year. The recordings are as energetic and fun as the shows and cover the gamut of typical rockabilly themes that includes cars, drinking, smoking, fighting, and the nonsensical craziness that comes from being in love. After ten years of performing as Al Foul, the man has joined the digital age and recently set up www.AlFoul.com. The site is still under construction, but will soon feature photos, merchandise, music and a schedule of upcoming shows. Foul is also working on a documentary and his 10-year anniversary party this month at Club Congress will be filmed. He is looking for photos and videos of the Shakes for the project. He asks that potential contributors contact him through the website or mail him at P.O. Box 2648, Tucson, AZ, 85702-2648. The ten-year anniversary party for Al Foul & The Shakes is Saturday, November 29 at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St., 622-8848. The musical extravaganza ensues at 9:00pm with Texas Trash and the Hangovers, the Last Call Brawlers take the stage at 10:00pm, and the honored Al Foul & the Shakes (featuring Lucas Mosely on bass, Shannon Morino on drums, plus guests) will rock from 11:00pm-1:00am. Heather Rae & the Moonshine Boys, Tom Walbank will play in the lobby between main stage sets. Hear ye, Hear ye: The Carnivaleros step up with a fun new CD.by Jamie Manser
The recent release by The Carnivaleros, “Step Right up,” shows what you get when you combine the old-world styling of Eastern European waltzes and polkas and Jewish klezmer music with new world Zydeco and Tex-Mex: a carney fueled recording that swings with the energy of a fun fair.
The line-up rotates and Mackender said he feels “honored and fortunate to have the likes of Teddy Morgan, Hurricane Carla Brownlee, Steve Grams, Richard Medek, Catherine Zavala, Chris Giambelluca, Sid George and Earl Edmondson contribute their incredible talents.” Mackender is no slouch himself. He played piano and drums before strapping on the accordion in 1996, enticed to learn while touring with Irish folk/rock outfit The Mollys as their drummer. “Starting around 1995, The Mollys began playing summer festivals across the U.S. and Canada. I saw music groups from all over the world that incorporated the instrument in various ways that inspired me.” He learned the instrument while on the road by, “slipping away late at night, after the gigs.” The strategy worked for a while, until Mackender’s accordion fix disturbed the parents of a friend while the band was staying at their house. “One night, I really needed to play, so after everyone was asleep, I went out to our van and started up. I guess the van wasn’t very well insulated ‘cause Kevin came out after about 15 minutes and said the noise woke up his folks. “Oops.” In the end, it worked out for the musician. This year, he won a TAMMIE for best accordionist as a write in and will be celebrating the CD release at Vaudeville on Friday, November 21. Log on to www.carnivaleros.com for more info. |
|
|
|
NEXT | |
| Return to www.downtowntucson.org | ||
f the raucous rockabilly performances of Al Foul and the Shakes were a drink, it would be a combination of Schlitz and whiskey – shaken and stirred – then subsequently doused on a rabid crowd of revelers. 
Foul started the band two years after he moved to Tucson from Boston. His first Tucson band was with Lenny Mellow in Rodeo Jesus, back in 1991.
ucson hosts a conglomeration of cultures, a multitudinous fare of peps that embrace, remember and celebrate their old-world traditions. These same people meld the old with the new to create a melting pot that is uniquely American. 
Gary Mackender, accordionist, musical composer and founder said he created the band “from a desire to hear the music I’ve been writing played by an ensemble.”