BIOGRAPHY : THE METEORS

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The Meteors are a British psychobilly band formed in 1980. Originally from the United Kingdom, they are often credited with giving the psychobilly subgenre—which fuses punk rock with rockabilly—its distinctive sound and style. Fans of the band (known as the World Wide Wrecking Crew (WWWC)) are known to use the slogan, "Only The Meteors are Pure Psychobilly," (often shortened to "OTMAPP")

The Meteors were started in 1980 by P. Paul Fenech (guitar and Vocals), Nigel Lewis (upright bass/electric bass) - later of The Tallboys, the Escalators, and the Zorchmen - see performance clip in "Trash on The Tube" feature on Youtube), and Mark Robertson (drums). Fenech and Lewis had played in rockabilly bands before, but left their former band, Raw Deal, in order to experiment with a new sound that mixed horror and science fiction lyrics with a punk rock-rockabilly crossover (as distinct from the slower, psychedelic rockabilly sound of the Cramps). This sound would later be called psychobilly.

The Meteors played their first show during Rockabilly Night at The Sparrow Hawk in north London, but after being heckled due to their cross between rockabilly and punk attitudes, decided to begin playing shows beyond just rockabilly clubs. They developed a loyal following known as "the Crazies, or Zorchmen" who invented their own dance style called "going mental," a cross between fighting, dancing and moshing. This would later be renamed "wrecking," and is still a staple of the psychobilly scene to this day. Coupled with Fenech's ritual of spitting (chicken) blood during performances, many clubs believed the band was dangerous and refused to book them. The band began playing at punk rock clubs alongside UK punk bands such as The Clash, The Damned and later Anti-Nowhere League and the UK Subs. However, unlike many punk bands, The Meteors would (and still very much do) insist that their shows be "a politics and religion free zone" in order to focus on having a good time instead of allowing disputes between fans to break out.

Due to their large cult following, The Meteors made a short film in late 1980 with comedian Keith Allen called Meteor Madness. It was released as a double feature with two-tone ska film Dance Craze in March 1981. The movie featured four songs, which made it onto the band's first vinyl single. In August 1981, the band were signed to Island Records and recorded their first full-length, In Heaven.

The Meteors have gone through many line-up changes since, with Fenech being the only original member today. The current line-up includes Simon Linden on bass and Wolfgang Hordemann (who, though not from the original line up, is the longest serving member by far after Fenech) on drums. They have 25 official albums, countless singles, and numerous re-issues and compilation appearances. They continue to record using their own recording studios (Fenech is a fully qualified sound engineer and producer) IN HEAVEN (based in an old church) and also MADDOG STUDIOS (a 58 metre high tower in Germany). These two studios are professional studios used by many bands from around the world. The Meteors have extensively toured Japan, Europe and Scandinavia, South America, and the middle east. At the time of writing, they have completed well over 5500 live shows (occasionally two per night).

P. Paul Fenech has also released six highly regarded solo albums and plays in many side projects including, the Legendary Raw Deal (rockabilly), The Surfing Dead (instrumental), Cherry and The Devil (rockabilly), The Outsiders (rockabilly). He is also a prolific and successful writer of horror film music and has written extensively for television and many other films (using a pseudonym). He is also a keen gardener and writes a weekly column under the pseudonym Percy Lupton. Nigel Lewis and Mark Robertson went on to play together in the Escalators, a psychedelic rock band which had minor success, then the Tallboys, a band best known for recording the song "Take a Walk" for the Return of the Living Dead soundtrack.