Portsmouth, VA-based, modern retro quartet Lucky 757 would make the founding pioneers of early rockabilly proud, aggressively pushing the genre forward with a combination of chops, passion and innovation.
Feeling their attention sway back to the well-calibrated rockabilly that first got their pistons pumping, the band endeavored to capture the newest embodiment of their evolving sound by heading back to the legendary ‘room’ at Sun Studios. They tracked three new songs, holistically, in raw and raucous live takes, laced with banging piano lines, courtesy of Matt Jordan, the key player for Rev. Horton Heat. The resulting album, Memphis Sun, is a delectable slice of rhythm and ooze. A twangy ode to the long-lost vibes of early rock and roll, distilled into a glowing little EP that begs to be savored, like the sunset over the Mississippi River.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Lucky 757 about their Sun Studios sessions, how Virginia influenced their music, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
How has Virginia influenced your music?
There’s quite a bit of rockabilly history in Virginia, especially in the Hampton Roads area- the 757 area code. Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps, probably one of the most important and influential of the original rockabilly bands, were from Norfolk and there’s also Link Wray, who lived in Portsmouth for many years.
What led you down the path to Memphis?
That’s where it all started- Sun Studio in Memphis. Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison- they all recorded at Sun and we wanted to try and capture that same sound and vibe. We first recorded at Sun for our 2016 release, “Memphis Recording Service: the Sun Session”, and we enjoyed the expirience so much that we decided to go back there to make this new record.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
While our previous album, 2018’s all-instrumental “Lonesome Lagoon”, was a bit of a departure for us, this new release is a return to a more straight-up rockabilly, rock & roll feel.
We had some new songs that had a kind of Jerry Lee Lewis feel to them and we felt like they “needed” some boogie-woogie piano so we called our buddy Matt Jordan (Matt’s Blues) and asked him if he’d like to play on them and luckily he said “yes.”
One of the songs we wanted to record, “Memphis Sun”, was all about our first trip to Memphis and seeing Beale Street and recording at Sun Studio and we started thinking about how cool it would be to record that song AT Sun Studio.
We recorded the whole thing “live”, just like they did in the 50s and Matt used the piano that Jerry Lee Lewis used when he recorded all those hits there back in the 50s and for another song, “She Ain’t Afraid of No Man”, we used an old Hammond B-3 and it sounded incredible!
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
It’s now so cheap and easy to record and release music independently that the challenge now is that there is so much music coming out, that you have to find ways to make yourself heard!
The good side is we have gained a lot more radio play than we would have a few years ago.”
What was the last song you listened to?
“Sunglasses After Dark” – Dwight Pullen
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
They all have there place, but you can’t beat the experience of putting the needle down on the record and listening to an album the whole way through while looking at the cool artwork.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Bandcamp is great. Just keep listening!
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
You can check out our website (www.lucky757.com) or follow us on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/lucky.757.music).
Anything else before we sign off?
Keep on ROCKIN!
