The Rockerati
16 Tons b/w Endless Sea of Stars
Rock and roll never goes out of style. The flavor of the moment might be boy bands or emotionally damaged crooners singing to themselves in their bedrooms. In a few years there will be another flavor in style, but there will still be some kids imitating N’Sync in their bedroom somewhere. Right now, there are greasy longhaired kids somewhere keeping the flame of Black Sabbath alive. In a college town somewhere, there are classically trained folks reinventing prog rock. Somewhere in the UK, three guys calling themselves the Rockerati are keeping faith with ’50s style primal rock and roll. They’re even introducing themselves to the world with the atavistic format, the 45-rpm single.
The Rockerati are David McCarthy and Michael Horsham trading off on guitars, bass and vocals with Justin Welch (Elastica/Suede/Lush) on the drums. The A side, “16 Tons” is a throw back to ’50s rave ups by people like Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Everly Brothers. This is not a cover of the Tennessee Ernie Ford classic “16 Tons”, but an original rocker with nonsensical lyrics with a numerological fixation. The B-side, “Endless Sea of Stars” is an ode to drinking cheap wine and escapism. The Rockerati sound like another UK set of revivalists, Rockpile. That band featured Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds, so not a shabby comparison.
