In our circles, every second person dreams of dancing wildly from night to morning. Like a charming mentally handicapped cartoon animal, three guys from the Teutonic lands have built three or so albums filled with simple and wild, but cute saiko madness. There are extremely rare, not yet completely extinct Tazmanian Devils in our zoo! Don’t touch it with your hands! They’ll bite off your elbow!
The three psychological instructors appeared in the early noughties. Norman Danks started all this mess, who then continued to do his old-school work in The Rusty Robots. Here, as in the subsequent project, Norman also guitars fervently, wheezes at 8/10 Bogorads and simply remains charming. David Scheuer helps him with the double bass, and the charming Laura Keller is responsible for the drums. The three of them took up the reconstruction of the old cycobilly school so seriously that they even founded a label called Razmataz Records for this purpose, which later released Rusty Robots and other non-billable projects by Norman and the guys.
With their DIY vibrations, Tazmanian Devils are most reminiscent of our modern compatriots SlapClaps: the sound is as raw and aggressive as a live recording from a gig, and the impressions of the material gather into an inseparable lump of underground joy without the possibility of dividing into separate factions. Yes, these little animals produce an Effect with a capital “E”. After listening to it, it’s very difficult to remember exactly what it was, but the feeling is very pleasant.
With such an exhumation of the old school, the Tasmanian Devils reveal to the listener the now rare concept of live music for the movement. No, seriously, even in rockabilly-cycobilly music there’s not much of that right now. Much more often, the performer tries to tell a fascinating story or make an indelible impression. That’s all great, but what about the good old desire to hang out as equals?
Evil Boppin’ (2005)
We’ll start hanging out with the 2005 debut album Evil Boppin’. He cheerfully scratches the spinal cord with the very first chords and does not let go until the very end. Separately, I would like to mention the most flighty Record Machine, followed by a completely different Mary Lou and the opening 12 O’CLOCK Shock, which is perfect for the role of a Monday alarm clock.
Wrecktime! (2007)
The second Wrecktime record! Since 2007, he continues to embroider a wild but pretty canvas of primitivism. In my opinion, this is the most interesting album. Perhaps it was influenced by the fact that it was difficult to find him. As far as I understand, this version existed exclusively on vinyl. This explains the mysterious fact that when the label is officially published, it cannot be found in numbers. Well, it doesn’t matter. Here’s a vinyl rip for you, my dears! And most of all, I advise you to pay attention to the songs of The Spider and Diggin’ my Grave.
Rhythm’n’psycho Jamboree (2009)
Well, let’s look at the third record: Rhythm’n’psycho Jamboree, released in 2009. It is very difficult to distinguish it from previous works.: It’s all the same and it’s all the same. In general, the music of Tasmania is very monolithic. In the sense that no matter which side of the timeline you enter, you will get about the same foolish cheerfulness. I will not consider this a disadvantage, but rather I will highlight the most exciting songs separately. My Granny’s Wild, because you have to respect your elders. Daddy’s Monster, because he shows what happens if elders are not respected. And Coffee Cup Man, as a reminder that you need to be careful with black sludge.
Beware of Those Boppin’ beasts! (2024)
However, that’s not all! Besides the elusive Wrecktime!, the band has another even more ghostly album. It is not listed in any discography, but it is quite officially available on streaming services.
Beware of Those Boppin’ beasts! It is either a compilation of various singles, or a separate session, lost in space and time. This can be assumed, given the even more spartan sound quality. The tracks here are original, they are not early versions of other songs. There are more questions than answers. And why answer them when you can listen to music? Most of all, I liked Hard Livin’ martian, No More, That’s Why I Love You and the unusually lyrical Other Side of Town from this cool album.
The Fancy Dolls – Behind Broken Windows (2013)
This is where the story of the Tasmanian Devils group came to an end, but I don’t want to let go of such charismatic djs at all. Therefore, let’s take a look at another project besides The Rusty Robots mentioned earlier and appearing later, with the participation of two of the wild three.
In 2011, using the same technique, Norman, Laura and Philip Rust, just from Rusty Robots, decided to reconstruct another neighboring genre. The genre has nothing to do with billy music, but it is quite consonant with previous works: new wave punk rock.
The Fancy Dolls have released only one album. In 2013, Behind Broken Windows was released. Curiously, the Mary Perkins song by Rusty Robots, which I liked so much, appeared on this album for the first time. In a different, more direct arrangement, but with Laura’s chilling backing vocals.
At this point, perhaps, we will put an end to the study of the creativity of the German amateur brigade. Norman, of course, has another promisingly named solo project, Laika. & The Space Dogs, but I want to wait until there’s more than one song.
As a result, Tasmanians are curious from two sides. The first one is quite obvious: It’s a saiko gig in your pocket. They convey the atmosphere of such wild events, perhaps even better than these very events in our reality. And you can take this movement anywhere with you! It is most suitable for listening in the car.And the more suitable it is, the older the car and the less obvious the purpose of the trip. Saykobilly-the route is built, so to speak.
The other side is more interesting to avid fans of Internet horror movies. Yes, every second project in our underground is lost media, but here everything is a little more interesting. Rare photos and videos, a slight leapfrog in the discography and a signature sound, in the best traditions of underground radio, add a ton of mystery. And it works in this context because the Tasmanian Devils didn’t want to scare anyone intentionally. This unintentional understatement switches into a very special sense of the world, which the late old man Lynch loved to show us so much.
In general, all this is not particularly important. Norman and his amazing friends hardly care about such questions. The cartoon animal spins like a top because it wants to and can. Humble guys play their favorite music for the same reasons. And none of them is completely extinct.
