The tattooed and pompadoured corpse of rockabilly is regularly exhumed by kids young enough to be its great-grandchildren. Few of them have the guts to treat it irreverently and take a whiz on its grave, angering it enough to rise from the dead for an hour. Former Madder Rose bassist Matt Verta-Ray and Blues Explosion frontman Jon Spencer are willing to take a shot, resulting in Heavy Trash, a rockabilly band for everyone who doesn't own a bowling shirt.
Yes, "The Hump" -- as well as some of the medium-fi rave-ups -- owes an uncredited debt to West Virginia's late, great wild man, Hasil Adkins. But fun is fun, and Heavy Trash's Yep Roc debut has it in spades, channeling the lighter side of Gene Vincent and Johnny Cash in a twangy, twisted free-for-all. For maximum trash appeal, there's even a song ("Gatorade") that adds new terminology to pop music's oral-sex lexicon.
