I got to know the band The Hub Caps, as well as many other bands from Sweden, thanks to the Rockabilly Nationals compilation. In particular, I purchased the Full Throttle album back in 2020, but I only managed to shoot the video, after which my focus shifted from the RockThisTown website to somewhere else. And during the time that I was stupid, the turtles of capitalism overtook me and nevertheless released the album of 2006 in digital format some 14 years later, in 2021, on all these your Spotifays, Apple Music and other places. Nevertheless, I don’t want to delete the video, and in any case, it’s worth telling about The Hub Caps team and at least slightly increasing their global fame, since I didn’t just like this particular group, but really liked it.
Before I start, I’ll say a few words about the team itself, since for once the main characters in our article have their own website with a “Biography” section. The same Black Knights do not have their own website, but even an official Facebook group (or any other social network). Anyway, The Hub Caps was founded by Ricky James and Johnny Valentine in the year 2000. Since then, the band has recorded six albums, and specifically Full Throttle is the band’s second CD. The Hub Caps themselves describe their work in this way:
We’ll add a huge shot of rock’n’roll to the rockabilly ladle and splash a couple of times of old-fashioned country. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and serve with a large portion of swing.
And, it seems to me, this is a pretty apt description, which the Full Throttle album demonstrates in practice completely and comprehensively. Let’s get started.
02 Honey Do
03 I Wanna Get Close To You
04 Steady Date (De Angelis, Marcucci)
05 Dreams Of You
06 Blue Ribbon Baby (Dewar, Lampert)
07 Bring Along Your Lovin’ (Unknown author)
08 Bangalore Bop
09 It’s Too Late
10 Feeling Low (Pee Wee Maddux)
11 Sparkplug Betty
12 Deep Down In Love
13 Up In The Morning
14 Don’t Let Go
15 Tennessee Border (J. Work)
16 Real Gone Party (Reed, Bartholomew)
17 That Someone New
18 Waiting On Love To Call
Listen online or download The Hub Caps – Full Throttle 2007 (full album, mp3 320 Kbps, 116 Mb)
This time, I’ll change my traditional approach a bit and start with the most important tracks. The fact is that both the songs that I recommended in the Rockabilly Nationals compilation – Bangalore Bop (Raganroll) and Sparkplug Betty (Tiki-Tiki Timebomb) – are both on the Full Throttle album. In the attached video, they are at 17:11 and 28:17, respectively, and I highly recommend listening to at least these two to all those who do not have time for the whole album. Especially Bangalore Bop, because it’s something. I don’t know if it was done on purpose or just happened to be, but the record represents the spiritual heir of Teddyboy Boogie performed by Crazy Cavan. & The Rhythm Rockers. And at the same time, Bangalore Bop is a completely independent work, with its own text, its own features. To be honest, I would even say that Bangalore Bop is like a representative of a separate subgenre, which has its own specific sound, and which I personally really like. Of such gizmos, you can only recall the song I Wanna Do Bad Things With You, the opening of the series True Blood performed by Jace Everett.
And Sparkplug Betty is, so to speak, the editors’ choice. This track is not nearly as distinctive and original as the previous one, but I really like the words.:
We’re cruisin’ out on a saturday night,
Everybody’s back there feelin’ alright.
Pulln’ in her gear, Powerglide,
This little lady’s gonna give you a ride!Sparkplug Betty, she’s a hot-rod queen,
Fastest little girl that you ever did see,
She needs a little oxygen and gasoline,
She’s a tiki-tiki-tiki-tiki-tiki-tiki-timebomb!
The performance, it seems to me, is also excellent. It’s incendiary, with a great solo, and I really like the effect of the cut-off low frequencies that the guitar gets at the end of the chorus – it gives the whole record a touch of something original and unique. In general, yes, Sparkplug Betty is the best track according to my particular opinion, so I also recommend it to everyone.
Well, now let’s go through the rest of the disc according to the natural order, starting with the first song. Iny-Miny-My is like a standard love song, but it has a very fast and swinging tempo, as well as unusual, to my ears, rhythm-breaking transitions from verses to choruses. Thanks to the latter, it turns out to be a very peculiar track, despite, in general, a very classic sound.
The next one, Honey Do, obviously inspired by the rockabilly standard Honey Don’t by Carl Perkins, sounds much more modern: a drop of neo-rockabilly was clearly mixed into the recording. Extremely strong rock’n’roll with a clear rhythm section and a very beautiful guitar; vocals and lyrics emphasize the rhythm, and the wrecking line “Honey do all the things your momma told you not to” is very corrosive and memorable. Without a twist, but the record itself is very strong.
I Wanna Get Close To You seems to resemble something from the songs of Elvis Presley – and at the same time I Thought The Law performed by Stray Cats. Apart from such an unusual combination of associations, I have nothing more to say about this song: a good performance of classic rock and roll, but nothing more. As well as the Steady Date that follows it – although, of course, hot rod is mentioned in this song, so track number four still gets a little plus from me, as from a car maniac, but nothing more.
Dreams Of You is a mid-tempo romantic ballad set to classic doo-wop harmony. But if you suddenly start to get bored, then don’t: after three relatively standard songs, a track called Blue Ribbon Baby is waiting for us on the Full Throttle album. And, to be honest, it’s hard for me to say exactly what attracted me to this song. It’s about the little things: whether it’s the vocalist’s job, or the small pauses that the instruments take between verses and chorus, or the low notes at the end of a guitar solo – or, most likely, the sum of all these little things. The result is, it seems to me, the very distinctive, creative sound that is missing, for example, in I Wanna Get Close To You.
The number seven song, Bring Along Your Lovin’, is quite unusual, in my opinion. I want to call her a sluggard, but… The pace is pretty fast. However, at the same time, it is very calm and unloaded. Besides, the change of vocalist definitely sets this track apart from all the others, and I really liked the small part of the doo-wop. In general, a good record, a credit.
The eighth track is the already reviewed Bangalore Bop, so we skip it and go straight to It’s Too Late. I would say that here The Hub Caps are slowing down again, although I liked the chorus: the presence of backing vocals and cool country riffs make it very pleasantly loaded. The drumming between verses and choruses also stands out, but it doesn’t have the same effect as the full short pauses in Dreams Of You. In general, It’s Too Late is, according to my ears, a record a little higher than just a strong average guy.
Feeling Low is an authentic country slugger that is memorable for guitar solos played on a Hawaiian pedal steel guitar. In general, I would like to note how much The Hub Caps band uses in this album: inspiration is drawn from literally everywhere, and sometimes very unexpected and interesting motifs slip through the songs, causing the most unusual associations. I would venture to suggest that other listeners may well discover completely different similarities that I did not catch – and it is likely that this will happen in the very tracks that I called unremarkable. However, this is the potential strength of the album: there is a very high chance that everyone will find something like this in the sounds of this disc… It’s personal. And at the same time, it cannot be said that The Hub Caps simply copy certain popular templates – no, Swedish cats definitely forge something of their own… but at the same time, it is definitely rooted in all those records that were recorded before them.
https://thistown.rocks/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/she%20dont%20live%20here%20anymore.mp4
“She don’t live here anymore” from the album “Five by Five” (2019)
However, we go further. Skip Sparkplug Betty and listen to number twelve – Deep Down In Love. Again: it doesn’t seem like anything remarkable, but. Nice vocal work, some background vocals, a little drum solo… Drop by drop, little thing by little thing, and it turns out to be a very creative track with a bit of originality in the sound. The next record, Up In The Morning, also has a very interesting sound. It’s like there’s some minimal surf in the melody, there’s some assertiveness in the vocals, and overall, I’d say it just fits together really well. And it is supported by a good, memorable text, which at the same time seems to be hooligan, but at the same time everything is neat and censored.
Don’t Let Go, which is number fourteen, is not the standard played in Rodriguez‘s Roadracers by the Ramblers commercial band, but an original song by the Swedish trio. And in my opinion, there is a certain amount of sadness in it. There is something in the sound of the guitar under the key phrase “don’t let go”, which is performed by the choir… spaciousness, or something. I don’t know what to call it, but I personally have a feeling of something like this… leaving. It was as if I was… watching the sunset, subconsciously realizing that today was ending and would never return. At the same time, today was a good day, and I would not want him to leave. Some such associations arise. However, if I can still describe Don’t Let Go in any way, then with the next song, Tennessee Border, everything is very difficult. I’m completely lost here. On the one hand, it’s just a nice love song in a fast tempo, but it seems to me that there’s something about it, just barely noticeable, that sets it apart from the general background. In short, I liked the Tennessee Border. I just like this track subjectively, and that’s it. We’re moving on.
In the Real Gone Party, female vocals suddenly appear – which, of course, immediately sets this record apart from all the others. The male vocals are also in place, and I really like the way both voices play with each other. And if that’s not enough, then a little closer to the middle of the song, the piano suddenly enters at the same time, which has not been anywhere before either. In general, a track that stands out very favorably against the general background, which focuses the listener’s attention on the end of the album.
That Someone New is something like Tennessee Border: again, I can’t explain exactly why I liked this track, but I did. Maybe I’m just melting already. Well, that is, in the good sense of the word: when I really like something, I lose the ability to think straight and criticize the object of my adoration – I just sit and enjoy it. I think that’s exactly what happened at the end of the album: The Hub Caps overwhelmed me with good music, and I lost the ability to hear any flaws in their songs. Actually, I warned you at the very beginning that I didn’t just like the Full Throttle album, I really liked it.
So I can only say a lot of good things about the last song, Waiting On Love To Call. Unexpectedly cheerful for the final track, but no less pleasant, Waiting On Love To Call includes a chorus with backing vocals, a lot of dense guitar riffs – does it seem to me, or are there two guitars working at once?.. No, the solo is definitely played by two guitars at once. And after the solo, there is a particularly intense third verse and a double, concluding chorus…
The Hub Caps band is clearly talented, their techniques are extremely diverse, and their approach to each song is essentially unique: on the Full Throttle album, literally every second track includes something that makes it special. There are simply no two identical tracks here. Plus Bangalore Bop, which is just one in a thousand, is an awesome good track. And in general, there is some magic in this CD… Maybe, of course, this kind of voodoo won’t work for everyone, but it definitely hit me. And yes, by the way, The Hub Caps translates as Wheel Caps, so from the very beginning I expected something especially good from this team, and I can honestly say that the guys did not disappoint. Not for a second.
