Album Review- The Chop Tops- Fabrikate

The Music Industry has changed so much in the last couple of decades. While undoubtedly it’s been bad for some, I am also impressed by some of the changes that could be seen as positive. 

One of those is that it is probably easier in general for bands to get heard. Getting the sound of your garage (or these days, bedroom) to a listener who could be located anywhere on the planet. On Pandora (or any number of similar sites) you can make a radio station based on your favorite artists. Or genre. Or mood. There are infinite variations of discovering new music. Websites spit out “similar artists”. Algorithms churn out streaming radio on stuff you like. Lest we forget, albums are more available than ever before. 

A recent news item said there’s more albums released in one day now than in the whole year of 1989. I don’t know if the Chop Tops has any of this in mind when they reunited and decided to release album number seven Fabrikate after 15 years since their last new studio album. 

 The Chop Tops are proudly sponsored by Murray’s Pomade- the only other band to win that endorsement was the Stray Cats. The Strays are a good starting place but the band throws in some horror and surf influences. Fabrikate shows some unusual detours- there’s a cover of the classic (made famous by Led Zeppelin) “Gallows Pole” and maybe the only Rockabilly song to be based on Nick Cave’s “Stagger Lee” (called “Bucket of Blood”). Surf, blues and horror punk inform the proceedings when it strays from Rockabilly. 

 Here’s a band who recorded their debut in 1997, recorded their second album with Adele Dickerson in 1999 and played on a Brian Setzer album in 2001. Now recording and touring again, may they find additional audiences.