The Quakes

The Quakes started in the fall of 1986 in Buffalo, New York. The original members were Paul Roman on guitar and vocals, Dave “the ace” Hoy on drums and Rob Peltier on upright bass. In the beginning The Quakes were playing neo rockabilly in the vein of The Stray Cats,Rockats and Polecats. Out of frustration with a lack of response locally,The Quakes started to play a lot faster and more aggressive adding punk elements to their music. The look went from pegged pants and bowling shirts to ripped jeans and combat boots. From that point on the band would be know as a psychobilly band. In the fall of 1987, The Quakes sold all their possessions and moved to London England. London was ground zero for the psychobilly scene at that time.The band landed a spot on a psychobilly festival in Weize, Belgium. Upon returning to England, the band was stopped at customs and they were deported because they didn’t have work permits. The Quakes went on to do tour of Belgium and Germany supporting the Coffin Nails in early 1988.It was during this time that The Quakes were signed by Nervous records in London to record a full length album. The band was living in London when their first self titled album was recorded. It was released in June of 1988. The album was very raw and had a style all its own. Popular songs from this album included “Pack our bags and go” and " Psychobilly Jekyll & Mr. Hyde”.During the summer of 1988, The Quakes played around London at places like Dingwalls and the Klubfoot. Upon his return to Buffalo,Dave “the ace”Hoy was killed when he was struck by a car crossing a highway. His death occurred a week before his 18th birthday. In the fall of 1989 the Quakes reformed with Chris Van Cleve on drums. Van Cleve had been a member on and off and was a part of Roman and Hoy's previous bands. The Quakes were invited to play at the first and second Big Rumble festivals in England and did some small tours in Europe before recording another album for Nervous records. ”Voice of America” was released in June of 1990. The Quakes second album was a departure from the hard psychobilly of the first record. On Voice of America, The Quakes blurred the line between psychobilly and rockabilly. Brian Doran had joined as the bands drummer during this time.Popular songs from this album include “Puttin' out the flame” “Stick to your guns” and a cover of The Rolling Stones “Paint it Black”. In 1991, Chris Van Cleve returned to play the drums. More festivals and tours in Europe followed including a full tour of Japan. Planet records in Japan recorded the Tokyo performance and released a live Cd from the show. A representative from Sony/Japan was in the audience and offered The Quakes a recording deal with Sony. “New Generation” was recorded in 1992 and released in the spring of 1993 for Sony/Japan. The Quakes then did a 13 show tour of Japan. New Generation again took The Quakes in a new direction. This time the band fused rockabilly with new wave attempting to cross over into a broader market with more melodic songs and a polished production.The album sold well in Japan. In 1995 ,The Quakes recorded their fourth studio album “Quiff Rock”.The band returned to their roots and stripped down the production.In a strange twist, the one song that had a bit of production “Thrills and sensations” , seemed to be a fan favorite from the album.The Quakes continued to play festivals in Europe during this time. Over the next few years the scene seemed to be dying. The Quakes would continue to play a couple big festivals in Europe each year but not much else. In 2000 There was finally some interest in psychobilly brewing in the United States. The Quakes played at the American Rumble in New Jersey on Halloween weekend. In January 2001 they started work on a new album. “Last of the human beings” was released in October of 2001 on Paul Roman’s new label Orrexx records. This album was a mixture of old Quakes style and some new twists and turns. The album featured p