Mike and Tammy Myles converted their old band Rude Toys into the rockabilly hit Raising Scarlet just three years ago. Now, the couple and their rhythm section are bringing Raising Scarlett and its driving take on American roots rock all over greater-Boston.
Raising Scarlet has been riding the wave of resurgent interest in Rockabilly, hitting the scene at just the right time. “The new term that it falls under is Americana or roots rock,” guitarist Mike Myles said. “It’s essentially music that’s based on late 40s/early 50s, early rock and roll, R&B, a mix of influences. Certainly, there’s a lot of blues influence. There’s a swing era jazz influence, but there’s a big portion of country in it as well, Elvis and Carl Perkins, all the early innovators of this style. They were inventing rock and roll at the moment, so they were grabbing onto what came before them. It’s really an amalgamation of all that.”
Mike Myles also said that the performing and recording style back in the day was more live with less production, going for a more roots feel. When the Myles starting getting into this genre more intently a few years back, they became more aware of other artists who were playing it, JD McPherson, Imelda May, and Paul Pigat.
“My guess is it is probably through the 90s and even through the 2000’s era, there was a lot production, a lot of high polish, your general radio rock and roll. My guess is it’s somewhat of a reaction to that to go to a more basic and traditional band arrangements,” he said.
Raising Scarlet has lately been playing out far and wide. Their newfound popularity may be attributable to word of mouth and, of course, the internet. “We’ve got a lot of people saying ‘We heard of you, so we came out to see you,’” lead vocalist Tammy Myles said. “There’s definitely some sort of a curiosity going on.”
“The radio stations The Hawk FM and Frank FM, they’ve been pretty good about mentioning us when we’re playing in the area and playing some of our stuff on the radio,” Mike Myles said. “I’m sure that helped. A friend of mine who’s down in Massachusetts called me on his cell phone yesterday and he said, ‘They’re talking about you on Frank FM.’ So that certainly can’t hurt.”
Mike Myles also pointed out that some people are saying that they heard Raising Scarlet is a new band. “We’ve been doing this for a good solid three years, but it takes that long before you show up on people’s radar,” he said. Their rhythm section includes bassist Mike “Papa” Solis who has been with the Myles in Raising Scarlet for four years. “He goes to that festival every year in Manchester where all the Elvises congregate,” Tammy said. “And he proposed to his wife in the Jungle Room at Elvis’s place in Graceland,” Mike added.
Drummer Bill Fitzpatrick, who goes by the handle “Fitz,” joined the band a year ago after having metMike Myles at their mutual place of employment.
Raising Scarlet plays the Red Rock Bistro in Swampscott, Massachusetts every two to three months and they have played a gig at The Back Page in Lowell. “I haven’t got a re-booking there yet, but that’s a place we’d like to get into,” Mike Myles said.
“Yeah, we’re bugging them,” Tammy Myles said. “That’s a really nice room,” The couple know that to get into the bigger venues they really have to deliver a following.
“People down there want to see us, but is it enough people to get the gig and get invited back? That’s the hard balancing act,” Mike added.
Raising Scarlet evolved from Tammy Myles’ original roots music band Rude Toys that Mike Myles joined. Yet, the original music made it difficult to get bookings. Wanting to play out more, the converted into a cover band that threw in some originals.
“It was helpful to have a direction,” Mike said. “We both draw from a lot of musical styles and right out of the gate we were mixing a lot of things up. The audiences and the club owners found it difficult. They wanted to know are you a blues band, are you funk band, are you hard rock band? They wanted to have a nice wrapper for it.” So, they wrapped it up in rockabilly.
Fortunately, the couple already have some original songs. They have a six song sample available, and they’re completing work on a full length soon. Mike Myles had written a song called “Sweet As My Baby” that has a swing-rockabilly feel. It always went over well in their live shows. The song always appealed to fans of blues, jazz, country, and people who liked to dance, and the Myles too like to go out dancing to local music.
“It was a combination of a style that we thought would appeal to folks but also would appeal to us to play,” he said. “We had had bits of rockabilly and swing stuff in there from the very beginning. But after about two years into it we said, ‘You know, all the other stuff, let’s drop it and go completely in that style. It seemed to be what was working for us.”
“And I got to wear great costumes,” Tammy Myles exclaimed. Tammy dons a bright, fire engine red, forming fitting dress that can’t be missed.
Aside from the genre’s shifting tempos, rockabilly presents another challenge. “It has aspects of rock and blues in it, but it’s a precursor to classic rock. To me, it’s a lot of what you leave out,” Mike Myles said. “When I played classic rock or blues, they’re very minor scale oriented. Rockabilly and those Americana genres tend to be more wrapped around country approaches which tend to be more major scale oriented. It’s just a different way to address the instrument.”
Mike Myles also pointed out that most rockabilly lineups tended to have only three or four players. Yet, the precursor bands were more dance bands that featured horn sections. “The early rockabilly guitar players, most of their solo work, tended to be emulating what horns would have been doing in bands before them,” he said. “Later on, when Hendrix came around using Marshall stacks and distortion and could really sustain notes, it opened up a whole new avenue for things.”
So, to try to capture the more retro sound, Myles has to think in terms of which modern gear to leave out of his arsenal. Yet, the Myles still try to put a fresh interpretation of that retro sound. They don’t want to be an oldies act that recreates material from the 1950s. They want to bring back the energy that rockabilly had when it was new and reinterpret it for modern audiences.
“It was scandalous when it first came out,” Tammy Myles said. “It was what the parents hated.
At their Raising Scarlet gigs, the Myles play straight rockabilly by Eddie Cochran, Wanda Jackson, and Elvis Presley. Yet, they throw in some blues like “Born Under A Bad Sign” and some Rolling Stones that they push toward country and honky tonk and some Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline tunes. They may even pull out some 1990s swing bands like Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and the Stray Cats. “It’s a pretty large envelop,” Mike Myles said.
Rockabilly was a genre Mike Myles was always aware of, yet it was a bit of mystery to him as a guitarist. The genre is quite grounded in country and western guitar playing, which Myles was not really into. “I had to crack that nut,” he said. “I knew that it would be a challenge to get the sound we were after.”
Now, Raising Scarlet have their own original rockabilly songs. Their tune “Sweet As My Baby,” which Mike wrote about Tammy back in their Rude Toys days, came out kind of swing sounding, and now it fits.
“Billy” is another of their originals, co-written by Mike’s friend Bill Blumenthal, and played in three different bands, the number has changed personalities until it ended up hillbilly.
“Turn My Music On” is a song that came to Tammy Myles when she was driving her car. Rooted in blues, it was inspired by Tammy’s frequent appearances at blues jams. She wrote it about Mike.
The long term goal of Raising Scarlet is to keep getting better at what they do. “For me, more than anything else, it’s about fulfillment as a musician,” Mike Myles said. “I guess part of that for me is I like to have the audience’s validation. It’s not enough for me to get better playing and not play live. I do like to be able to play out and hopefully connect with people. It’s very rewarding to play some material, especially an original song, and have someone come up and say ‘That was really great’ to connect with somebody and feel you made them a little happier for three to four minutes.”
“Four hours,” Tammy interjected, chuckling. “That would be better.”
Raising Scarlet would like to step up to playing Rockabilly festivals while keeping their six gigs monthly. “We would certainly like to be able to get better and better rooms that we play at or the occasional festivals that are tailored for the style,” Mike Myles added.
Raising Scarlet will have a six song CD available before the Barnful Of Blues festival in New Boston, New Hampshire on August 4th. They will a full length holiday CD in time for Christmas.
www.raisingscarlet.com
