LITTLE BOY ARNOLD AND HIS WESTERN OKIES
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Authentic 50s rockabilly band from Alicante, Spain.Band/artist history
LITTLE BOY ARNOLD & HIS WESTERN OKIES
The band kicks off in Marbella, a nice, touristic city in Southern Spain in February 1994, due to the gigs they arranged for Wildfire Willie & The Ramblers. The former members, Hector Guerrero (aka Little Boy Arnold, singer and accoustic guitar) and Sebastian Palma (double bass), were thinking about the possibility of starting a band. They had in mind the drumless accoustic trio as the possible line up and they took Elvis in Sun, Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton as models. After a few successful gigs they were forced to get a new guitar player and in July '94, Emiliano Vera started playing with them, they three formed the base for "Little Boy Arnold and His Western Okies" for the following three years.
In the period between 1994-1995 they performed covering the whole geography of Spain, they played in big festivals such as "Rockin' Holidays" in Marbella, "Rockin' Cartagonova" in Cartagena (Sept.'94), "Rock-a-Pilar" in Zaragoza (Oct.94) where a videotape of the concert was recorded and sent to the Hemsby organizers, Tom Ingram and Willie Jeffery.
In February 1995 after a year of the beginning of the band, they recorded their first demo-tape, consisting of 8 songs, covers of rockabilly classics such as "I can't lose" (S. Fisher) "The D.J. Blues" (H. Harral) "Pretty Bad Blues" (R. Self) or "Morse Code" (D. Woody). The distribution of this demo is quite helpful for them to get more gigs all over Spain. At the same time they are gaining a solid reputation as an authentic rockabilly band in the rockin' scene. Most of these songs are present in this compilation.
At the beginning of 1996 they are booked for the Hemsby festival in U.K. where they had the chance to play in October with Hardrock Gunter, Ray Campi, The Barnstompers, The Tennessee Rhythm Riders, The Ranch Girls, Crazy Cavan & His Rhythm Rockers...
In July 1996 they cut at a local studio the 4 tracks that will be used for their E.P. on the Sweet 50's label (from Madrid) "You Won't Fool Me Anymore". The whole session is included in this record too. Also in this month they play as a back up band for Junior Marvel (Holland) several gigs in Spain.
In March 1997 they are booked for some gigs in a quite famous jazz club from Almeria (Southern Spain) called Georgia Jazz Club. Where they have had concerts during 22 years without stopping a single week. In July they play supporting Junior Marvel again and as a solo act in the "Scream!" festival, an ancestor festival of the "Screamin'" one, we all know in the North East Coast (Cataluña). This was the last gig of Emiliano Vera playing lead guitar for them.
The following year they are booked again for the Hemsby festival, the October edition. By this time they have new members in the band: Diego Araoz (lead guitar) and Javier Sarmentero (drums) for the first time they have a steady drummer. Both came from The Loneshots, a band from Madrid. (The Milestones, nowadays).
In September they had a gig in Limoges (France) where they play with Junior Marvel, The Barnstompers and The Ranch Girls. On October 13th, they had their highest audience for a show when they play live in CMR (County Music Radio, London) on the Astra Satellite dish for almost 7 million people, from all over Europe. You can hear their live show in this compilation, presented here for the first time.
They had a very succesful concert at Hemsby being acclamed from the critics in magazines, radio... and also they sign the contract for the following year's Rockabilly Rave.
In 1999 they have a new guitar player, Richard Cuenca, and with him they play in June in a gig at Tolouse (France) with Al Willis and at The Rockabilly Rave in the U.K. in November.
In the summer of 1999 Roberto Guerrero (Hector's brother), only 17, is the new guitar player, they return to the drumless trio line up. They had some local gigs in Marbella and now they are working on their first L.P. with songs such as "I gotta go", "Pretty Baby Blues", "Feelin' Kinda Lonesome"...
They are booked for their first concert in the States: Viva Las Vegas #5 in March 2002. Due to his short age, Roberto is not allowed to play in the festival, and Richard takes his place. Mario García, from The Nitemares, is added on drums for the gigs in the States (Fresno, San Francisco, LA and Las Vegas). Another EP is released in the festival , three tracks in it, including the original compositions “I Gotta Go” and “Feelin’ Kinda Lonesome” and a cover of Lonnie Smithson’s “It takes time”. All included in this compilation. They also take part in a CD released for the festival with some of the bands which play in the 5th edition.
Since Héctor, lead singer and original member of the band got married (Las Vegas, March 2002) and moved to Alicante, the current band members are Humberto Corrales (Double bass) and Juan Busquier (lead guitar) all living in the same city , allowing them to rehearse regularly add new self-penned tracks to the repertoire. They plan to get into the JCR studio in September, of Blue Lake Records in Switzerland and cut their first LP, that will be released in the first half of 2005. They have been playing together for 7 months now and the band sounds as hot and tight as ever.
Discography:
- EP "You Won't Fool Me Anymore"(1996) Sweet 50's
- 2 songs in the compilation CD "Historia del Rockabilly Nacional"(1998) Burning G. Productions
- 2 songs in the compilation CD "Ritual Rockabillies" (2001) El Toro Records
- EP “I Gotta Go” (2002) Sleazy Records.
- 2 songs in the compilation CD“Viva Las Vegas 5th”
- CD 10 Years Ridin' This Old Train (2004)Sleazy Records
BOOKING AND INFO
HECTOR GUERRERO
C/DOCTOR JUST 55, 1
03007 ALICANTE
SPAIN
TELF +34 653 53 42 77
EMAIL: littleboyarnold@yahoo.es
WEBSITE: http://www.rockabillyhall.com/LittleBoyArnold.htmlHave you performed in front of an audience?Next Sat Nov 20th in "4 Gatos Jazz Bar" in Alicante, Spain.
Your musical influences
30s, 40s and 50s blues and country, 50s rock & roll and rockabilly.All comments (1)
875 plays
8,757 views
8,757 views
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Hector
@littleboyarnold
I am digging your rockabilly sound, it's nice to hear that for a change. check me out too JOHN PAUL