The Royal Hounds

Singer and stand-up bassist Scott Hinds is another Strip musician (understudying as Perkins in Million Dollar Quartet) who moonlights as an underground Vegas rocker. Hinds fronts greaser-punk trio Royal Hounds, which recently played a spate of well-received shows at Gold Spike. Hinds is a consummate instrument-humping, crowd-pleasing showman, and his songs are tight, too. Sax-enhanced, garage-blasting rave-up “Stick’A Dynamite” pops. “D-Bag DJ,” dedicated to girlfriend-robbing EDM assholes, rips and swings. Hinds’ band won’t be a hidden gem for long. - See more at: http://vegasseven.com/2014/07/16/album-reviews-rob-lyons-the-royal-hounds-and-mead-ave/#sthash.YegDEbPj.dpuf - Vegas Seven Magazine

Today on the Blue Plate blog: The Royal Hounds! After their fun filled and energetic show on WDVX I sat down with bassist Scott Hinds, guitarist Brian Lee and drummer Scott “Bramblebush” Billingsley. The Hounds rockabilly sound and colorful stage antics made for an excellent afternoon at WDVX studios.

Scott (Hinds), you were full of energy today, whats behind all that animation on stage?

Scott H: “For me it’s just a love of music, I just go nuts when I play. These guys want me to calm down seriously but I can’t”

So, you guys are about to record your first album together. Tell me about the process of recording an album with a new band.”

Scott B: Well we are gonna kick things off this Friday at my studio, Camelot studio. We’ve already written several songs that we are compiling together and working on new stuff as of this week. It’s kind of a slow process, there’s nothing fast about it. You have the writing process, the recording process and the post production.”

Scott H: “And we are gonna slop it together in a weekend.”

Speaking of original songs, one of the songs you played today was ”I asked for her hand and she gave me the finger.” What was the inspiration behind that song?

Scott H: Secretly that was a song that I co-wrote with someone a long time ago. We have about 3 songs that I co-wrote with someone and then we are probably going to have about 8 songs that we have written as a band. The songs that we have written as a band are very complicated so we have to dedicate a lot of practice time to them.”

Was that song inspired by any personal experience?

Scott H: “Um, yes Red Hickey. I proposed to Red when I was playing with Pistol Creek Catch of the Day on the Blue Plate Special but apparently she’s married and won’t marry me, I dont know. Apologies to her husband, it’s all in good fun.”

How did you guys get your Rockabilly sound?

Scott B: “Brian and I had been playing together for about 12 years, Scott was a guitar student of Brian’s so they already knew each other. I was doing a show with a good friend of ours Michael Essex one night at Irish Times, Scott Showed up with his bass and the next thing I know the three of us plus Michael were onstage together and I just looked around and said this has possibilities.”

Brian: “And Scott and I had played lots of other styles of music together through the years like prog and stuff like that”

Scott H: ”I have pretty much always been a rockabilly and western swing bass player with every band I play with”
- Blue Plate Blog

I was recently sent a CD to review for the Royal Hounds. I had never heard of the band so I thought, why not give it a listen? I did some research online and found out that The Royal Hounds are a trio based out of East Tennessee consisting of Brian Lee on guitar, Scott Hinds on slap bass and Bramblebusch on drums. They are self-described as a mix of traditional rockabilly, psychobilly, swing and lounge. “I'm In Love With A Zombie” is their debut album, but the band has been together for many years.

Once the CD initially came I wasn't sure if I would dig it because of seeing Zombie in the title. I guess I thought maybe it would be psychobilly or something, which is not exactly my cup of tea. I guess you can call me a traditionalist, old-school or a square.

My initial thought when listening to the album was that it reminded me of the Stray Cats, especially the first song "Hillbilly Swing." Not an exact copy or anything, but neo-billy influenced. One song, "The Finger," reminded me of early Hank III just without his familiar and hereditary voice. Another song, "Jake Break," really reminded me of Cadillac Man, which is a cool song that a lot of rockabilly bands do. It seems like it is a prerequisite for a Rockabilly band to have a song like Cadillac Man.

Remember how I was hesitant about the whole “zombie” thing? Well, the song "I'm in Love with a Zombie" turned out to be my favorite because I realized it’s just a novelty song, its not like a whole album of zombie songs. Most importantly, the lyrics are genius. I love well written lyrics! I could totally see this band selling this song to a Tim Burton movie or something. The lyrics on all of the songs are quite clever, which I appreciated. I thought they were specifically clever in "D-Bag DJ," "The Finger," and "Golden Globe Award," the last of which reminded of the sexual innuendo type songs like "Big 10 Inch." These guys are talented musicians as well. Mix well written lyrics with the high quality recording they did and you have an all around good album. It is not the exact style of rockabilly I prefer, and the recording doesn't have that “all done on vintage equipment” sound I like, but I was still able to enjoy this album as a whole. I know I will be adding I'm In Love With A Zombie to my Halloween playlist this year. So if you dig this type of music, or maybe are not sure and want to test the waters, why not consider getting the album for yourself?

They have the album on sale on their website, Reverbnation, or you can contact them though Facebook.

If you get the CD, let me know how you like it. I hear their live shows are pretty crazy, so let me know if you have seen that as well.

XOXO
Dollie - The Rockabilly Socialite

Known best for their dynamic live performances, The Royal Hounds have become a spectacle of the Knoxville music scene within the past few years.

Their new album, most of which they have already tested out on stage, boasts a total of 14 tracks that all revolve around their classic Rockabilly style that mixes country, punk rock, and swing music together into one continuously energetic sound. This trio consists of frontman Scotty Hinds on upright bass, Brian Lee on electric guitar, and Scott Billingsley on drums. A number of guest vocalists and musicians also appear throughout the album such as Ben Dockery on keyboard in "Golden Globe Award" and Mike Spirko on trumpet on "I'm in Love With a Zombie."

I'm in Love With a Zombie opens up with the fitting "Hillbilly Swing," which exemplifies the swing side of their music to the fullest. This one will accurately introduce you to their style if you've never experienced the trio before and will settle you in for what you can expect from the rest of the album.

As suggested by the eccentric album title, this release is filled with quirky lyrics that mix humor with an all around great sound. The extent of unpredictability within their lyrics begins with the title track, which appears third. Lines like, "Her smell it kind of gets to me, and she only has one eye. But all her sexy moaning makes me want to die," will keep you on your toes. The trumpet and melody altogether give the track a Spanish infusion unique to the album.

Though there are tracks that adhere to the customary outlaw tales known to Rockabilly music, the range of subjects tackled within the album is fairly diverse overall. "The Finger," for instance, is a story about a truck driver who proposes to two separate women who both in turn give him the finger instead of agreeing to marriage, saying that they would rather marry a country singer. Two tracks later, on the other hand, comes "When the Camera Fell in Love," a nod to Marilyn Monroe and her short but very prominent acting career.

There are also a few cover tracks, such as "Black Slacks" and "Red Hot" that appear here and there. These are versions that have been altered just enough to give each track that authentic Royal Hounds flair. However, they happen to be enjoyable and catchy whether you are familiar with the originals or not.

A slew of notable songs appear on this album, including "Hillbilly Swing," "Stick'a Dynamite," "The Finger," and "Black Slacks." And if you haven't had the chance to make it out to one of their shows yet, these three guys are quite the entertaining bunch. With all their on-stage antics and moves they are sure to keep you engrossed in their performance. You can be sure that same energy and spunk carries over into this new release as well. You can catch them at Brewfest on June 29th at the Southern Railway Terminal and at various other venues around East Tennessee. - Blank News

Speaking of guys who connect with an older time, The Royal Hounds have honed in on the rockabilly era with joyous aplomb. The line-up is the classic rockabilly trio — guitar (Brian Lee), drums (Scott Billingsley) and stand-up bass (Scotty Hinds). The members are all veteran players and the original songs are wild and lovably goofy. While they stay well inside the genre, songs including “D-Bag DJ,” manage to tackle modern topics. Another song about romantic misadventure has the chorus “I asked for her hand, but she gave me the finger ...”

At 14 tracks, the Hounds give audiences their money’s worth, but, as good as it is, “I’m In Love With a Zombie” might have actually benefitted from restraining itself to the length of 1950s albums. Edited down just a little (maybe leaving out the oft-covered rockabilly classic “Red Hot” and John Hartford’s jokey “Golden Globe Award” and a couple more), “Zombie” might leave you breathless. - The Knoxville News Sentinel

An early November Friday at Springbrook Park in Alcoa as daylight fades to dusk: Scott Hinds, bass player extraordinaire for Pistol Creek Catch of the Day and The Royal Hounds, is thinking about doing something stupid.

On hand with his Royal Hounds bandmates, drummer Scott “Bramblebusch” Billingsley and guitarist Brian Lee, for a photo shoot, he carries his big ol’ doghouse bass with the love and dedication of an infantry squad’s SAW gunner. He’s played it hanging upside down on the monkey bars, and he’s stood atop it while Billingsley and Lee sit on opposite sides of the seesaw.

But Hinds is the kind of guy who’ll push the boundaries of sanity for the sake of music and fun. Fortunately, when he suggests a shot of him in one of the swings, pumping as high as possible and leaping free with bass in hand, the idea is shot down by his mom.

Not a good idea, she says.

Hinds grudgingly acquiesces, but there’s no doubt he would have attempted it. Lee would have rolled his eyes, Billingsley would have grinned with all the mischievous enthusiasm of a best friend who talks his pal into taking on any insane dare that comes down the pike and Hinds’ parents would have cringed, praying for the best but visualizing a landing that would have ended with Hinds on his butt and his shattered bass indistinguishable from the carpet of mulch covering the rest of the playground.

“It’s all about the fun of it,” Lee said, recalling a show at Ray’s ESG in West Knoxville when Hinds managed to hang bat-like from the rafters while plucking the bass. “It’s nuts, but we’re all having a blast. It might look like I’m concentrating, trying to hit a chord or turn a pedal on and off, but a lot of times I’ve got to carry it, because my bass player ran off to stand on the bar!”

Plenty of Blount County music lovers are familiar with Pistol Creek Catch of the Day, and as the youngster of the group, Hinds shines as the barely restrained crazy man who makes his instrument earn its keep. With the Hounds, however, the leash comes off. As crazy as he can get with Pistol Creek, from the Beyoncé butt-slapping during the band’s cover of “Single Ladies” to his full-throated holler of the refrain of “Is That You, Santa Claus” during a Christmas show, he takes it to the next level with The Royal Hounds. Being a part of a rockabilly band has been Hinds’ dream since the first time he saw Brian Setzer on television when he was a teen.

“I think I was a sophomore, and I was watching VH1 one night while the whole family was asleep, when this guy with big blond hair and playing this big Gretsch guitar in front of a band came on,” Hinds remembered. “My jaw just dropped, and I remember thinking it might be the greatest thing I’d ever seen. I ran upstairs and banged on my parents’ bedroom door and yelled, ‘Turn on the TV! Turn to channel 39!’

“He became it for me. Ever since then, he’s been my favorite guitarist. I just remember that night so vividly because it was the night I discovered rockabilly, and the music is just so fun. That’s what I’m all about — creating a fun experience for me and the audience, because if I’m having fun, the audience is probably having fun.”

Ironically, Lee was Hinds’ guitar teacher at the time. The Oak Ridge native had grown up in the 1970s in a musical family (his brother was the first drummer to ever play with composer and double bassist Edgar Meyer), and Lee was influenced by the rock ‘n’ roll his siblings loved and the Big Band jazz and swing music adored by his parents. He played saxophone throughout high school, spent a stint in the U.S. Navy and eventually returned to East Tennessee with a guitar-playing habit.

“I lived in Colorado for a year and a half, and I was playing guitar around that time, but it really didn’t stick until I saw Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan in concert,” Lee said. “Those two guys cut heads on stage, and from that point on, I was like, ‘This is what I want to do.’ I moved back to Oak Ridge and helped take care of my parents, and then from 1996 on, I started living in Knoxville.”

He began teaching in 1998, and he remembers Hinds as a hungry student who wanted to learn Stevie Ray Vaughan licks. As a blues guitarist for the now-defunct local outfit Bad Weather Blues, Lee was more than happy to oblige. After Hinds got to college, he started playing upright bass as well, and when he first saw the rockabilly band The Dempseys, he knew what he wanted to do. Setzer’s rockabilly style as a member of The Stray Cats and his panache as a swing bandleader and guitarist lit the fire; Dempseys bass player “Slick” Joe Fick put the torch in Hinds’s hands.

“The Dempseys taught me about music,” Hinds said. “They taught me what good music is and what showmanship is; how you interact with the crowd that’s coming to see you. They had a real knack of making each individual member (of the audience) feel special; they would make you feel like the greatest fan in Knoxville no matter who you we - The Maryville Daily Times

The Royal Hounds are a finely tuned rockabilly band with a clever sense of humor in their music. While admittedly relying heavily on the classic rockabilly rhythms they find ways to keep them alive, rather than simply rehashed for the ten billionth time since the death of Elvis.

What makes this band wonderful is the lyrics. The tongue-in-cheek humor leaves a smirk on your face as you listen through the album to songs about women who don’t shut up, pants, and how DJ’s have messed with rockabilly, the ability to get a gig, and they take a stab at Kanye West all at once. Somehow they also managed to stick in a tango-esque song “I’m in love with a zombie” as they make it the title track.

The humor fails in the song Golden Globes. Yes it has a nice tune, but the joke (the globes are awesome boobs) gets old fast.

Not every song is about wit. There are some less humorous songs in the mix as well like Hillbilly Swing and Stick A’Dynamite. The country influence is highly noticeable in the band’s work with songs like Jake Brake. The Finger is purely country. The sound, the lyrics, the style. It’s not really a rockabilly song it’s a country song.

Rockabilly is an old genre, so it is hard to come up with something purely new, but The Royal Hounds come close. Notably for the handful of songs that simply aren’t purely rockabilly songs and the creativity in the lyrics. The band keeps a tight formation, knows what they are doing and is doing it well.

Rocks like: The Chop Tops, Hillbilly Casino, Spot the Loony - Underground Music Unites

Just about everybody has that friend that's obsessed with zombies. If you're reading this, alert that friend to this song by Knoxville's own The Royal Hounds so they can make it their ringtone or whatever else they would do with a zombie song. Don't make the same mistake that I did and assume this song is some kind of Weird Al-style parody of T. Pain's "I'm In Love With A Stripper." This song is not that. While it is humorous, this song is 100% original. The Royal Hounds are a really interesting trio. Self described as "East TN's premier high energy rockabilly band," The Royal Hounds bring humor and a sort of off-the-wall creativity to their music. These guys are playing all over town over the next two weeks. You'll get several chances to see them including Preservation Pub on 5/23 and 6/4, Wild Wing Cafe on 5/25, and The Rocky Hill Tin Roof on 5/30. Until then you can check out more of their music on their ReverbNation page. - Knoxville Music Warehouse

Knoxville rockabilly trio the Royal Hounds flaunt blistering chops and an estimable wit and manage to hint at the anarchic showmanship that reigns at their live performances on their debut album, I’m in Love With a Zombie. Led by the perpetual motion dynamism of lead singer/stand-up bassist Scotty Hinds, the Hounds tear through 11 original rockabilly numbers and three folk and rockabilly covers with the kind of bottomless gusto that is usually the exclusive province of small children with loud toys and a sugar buzz, or maybe a gang of speed freaks on a serious amphetamine bender.

Tracks like “Hillbilly Swing,” “Jake Brake,” and “Stick’a Dynamite” sizzle and pop with Hinds’ unruly four-string wizardry and rapid-fire lyrical cannonades. Guitarist Brian Lee, meanwhile, goes tit for tat with Hinds every time he pushes the envelope, driving the songs into redline territory with breakneck grooves, fleet-fingered solo flights that threaten to fly off the rails at any moment.

There are moments when, admittedly, the Hounds’ songs come off as rockabilly by the numbers, and their particular brand of cornpone juvenilia wears thin; a song about a DJ taking over all the gigs their rock band used to play is entitled “D-Bag DJ.” Really?

A cover of John Hartford’s “Golden Globe Award” doesn’t help much; the song is supposed to serve as a clever—or at least chuckle-worthy—double entendre, one would suppose, but in actuality, it comes off as a pretty pointless single entendre—pointless, that is, unless you are a young male still in the throes of puberty.

Mostly, though, I’m in Love With a Zombie is fun, and funny, a well-produced introduction to Knoxville’s swankest and sharpest rockabilly band. Zombie sold separately. - Metropulse

Not many local bands can claim to be bi-coastal, but thanks to the ingenuity of Scott Hinds, The Royal Hounds can.
Hinds — familiar to Blount County music lovers as the former bass-slapper for that merry band of musical goofballs known as Pistol Creek Catch of the Day — left East Tennessee for Las Vegas and a role in the musical “Million Dollar Quartet” a year ago. The Hounds — his other band, a three-piece rockabilly outfit he started with drummer Scott Billingsley and guitarist Brian Lee — were picking up steam at the time, and Hinds didn’t want to let his bandmates down or let the momentum die.
“It’s about keeping the brand alive, really,” he told The Daily Times this week. “When I got the call, I was at the Starbuck’s in Maryville, and the next night we had a show at ‘The Shed,’ and that’s when I broke the news to the guys that I’d be moving to Vegas in two days. I thought at first, ‘Gosh, I’m just leaving them hanging,’ but my philosophy was, if I can build up a West Coast following when I’m gone, then when I come back, we’ll have built up a national presence.”
A former teacher at Ft. Loudoun Middle School, Hinds has been a fan of rockabilly since he first saw former Stray Cats frontman Brian Setzer on television as a teen. Influenced by acts like The Dempseys, he started playing around East Tennessee, first with Pistol Creek, and started The Royal Hounds when he and Billingsley crossed paths at a Christmas party. A Knoxville native who played drums all throughout his school years at Karns, Billingsley has been a member of a number of area bands (including the Knoxville New Wave group Video, the R&B unit High and Lonesome and the jazz ensemble Quartet Rico); he suggested veteran local blues guitarist Lee — who also happened to be Hinds’ first guitar teacher — and The Royal Hounds were born.
The band developed a healthy following around East Tennessee, turning venues like Preservation Pub into sweaty dance parties that usually ended with Hinds, shirtless, on top of the bar with his bass, singing songs like “Jake Brake,” about a broken-down swine trucker who gets picked up by an overly affectionate transvestite, and serving as master of ceremonies. He’d always flirted with a career in music — he was once asked to audition as Hank III’s bass player, which he declined to do — but doing rockabilly in a Vegas show was too good an opportunity to pass up, he said.
“Carl Perkins and Brother Jay — I basically understudy both of those roles, and they use me on both of those,” he said. “I’m also working, and I just got a job at a music management firm out here called UD Factory, and one of the bands I manage is Blues Traveler. I’ll tell you, I’ve gotten a lot of experiences out here I never would have gotten back home, but despite all that, I miss home a whole lot.”
Next week, Hinds will return to East Tennessee, and the Hounds will return to the stage — on Thursday, Nov. 6, at Brackins Blues Club. Billingsley will be on drums, and Hinds is bringing his “West Coast guitarist” to fill in for Lee, whose work with such bands as State Street Rhythm Section and Alien Love Charm keep him otherwise occupied most of the time. Starting up a Vegas version of the Hounds, Hinds added, wasn’t exactly an easy task.
“In Vegas, it’s a little tougher to be honest, because 80 percent of this city changes every three days, so it’s hard to get a local following when everyone’s rotating so much,” he said. “And I think the East Coast just has a better appreciation for roots music because we have 250 years of heritage there. Vegas is less than 100 years old, so people haven’t grown up with the sort of appreciation we have. But then again, I believe it all comes down to presentation. We can sell anyone on this kind of music just because we present it in a fun, wacky, off-the-wall way.”
And the Hounds are going places as well: Next summer, they’ll embark on a three-week European tour of Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands, and Hinds has enough material for a follow-up to the 2013 album “I’m In Love With a Zombie.” In the meantime, next week’s show is a refreshing change of pace, he said.
“Brackins had been wanting us for quite a while, and we’ve always enjoyed it there,” he said. “We’re going back to Preservation Pub in January, but any time I get to come back, it feels like a homecoming, and it’s nice because we can present it as more of an event.” - The Maryville Daily Times