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BIOGRAPHY
Being gifted with the ability to anticipate trends
before they happen can be a blessing or a curse,
depending who you ask. For Rudi Protrudi, whose
Fuzztones were the fore-runners of the Garage
Movement, this ability has made him a legendary cult
figure,which, of course is a bittersweet claim to
fame, but one he is proud of nonetheless. Trendsetting
is nothing new to Protrudi, whose instrumental
side-project, Link Protrudi & The Jaymen revived
guitar-based instrumental music, and Link Wray in
particular, back in '86, anticipating the "Surf
Revival" which followed shortly after. Still not
content, they went on to record the "Slow Grind" LP,
becoming the first instrumental Rock 'n' Roll group to
strip Burlesque music down to a 3 piece Wray attack.
In 1994 Protrudi's Jaymen recorded "Seduction," an
album of psychedelic middle-eastern exotica,
pre-dating the Lounge Revival and the burgeoning
interest in middle-eastern pop music soon credited to
Madonna and Plant & Page. In 1995, Protrudi went back
to his Pennsyltucky roots, and recorded "(It's A)
White Trash Thing," a daring move considering that
Country, even vintage County with a subtle psychedelic
approach, was far removed from the garage raunch he
was known for. White Trash Thing was a collection of
warped Country tunes reminiscent of his childhood
spent in the Keystone state. "I would rush home from
school just in time to catch this great 60's Rock 'n'
Roll show called "Where The Action Is," and this
really corny hillbilly show - The Porter Wagoner Show
- would come on after it. I used to watch it because
it was funny, but I soon found myself digging the
music." Protrudi began playing professionally in '66
and by '67 was playing Elks Lodges and bars with his
band Rigor Mortis. "These places would be filled with
rednecks who would give you the option of playing
Country music or die," Protrudi says. Thanks to the
band picking up some Johnny Cash and Buck Owens tunes,
Rudi enjoyed a long career playing in cover bands, and
further encouraged his fascination for White Trash
culture. Rudi's last Pennsylvania band was a
full-blown hillbilly outfit called The Dognappers. The
Dognappers were welfare musicians salaried by the
state to play charity gigs: mental hospitals, nursing
homes, prisons, and parks. Their repertoire consisted
of standards, hillbilly and Velvet Underground covers.
An elder wheel chair ridden nursing home resident died
at one of their gigs, while they were playing "You Are
My Sunshine." It probably killed her. One thing for
sure, stagnating in Pennsylvania was killing Rudi,
whose aspirations included fronting his own Rock 'n'
Roll band and moving to NYC. By 1976, Rudi formed
Tina Peel, the first (and maybe only)Bubblegum Punk
band, and with both their sound and attire, pre-dated
the New Wave movement that was to follow 4 years
later. Tina Peel did relocate to NYC in 1977, but by
1980 Rudi's mission had changed, and he formed The
Fuzztones, whose career is well documented elswhere.
After The Fuzztones finally disbanded in 1992, Rudi's
interest reverted back to the Country music he'd known
as a teenager. He recorded his first solo album,
"(It's A) White Trash Thing," in 1993 with his band,
the Midnight Plowboys, who promptly broke up after
playing only three shows. Probably for the best, as
there was no real interest in "alternative" country in
L.A., where he now resided. By 1997, Hillbilly fever
set in once again and Rudi formed the Tujunga
Killbillies, their moniker a tribute to the town
Protrudi was now calling home. Tujunga, a small
southern California town made up of hippies, misfits,
bikers and speed freaks, was nicknamed "The Rock," by
local residents, due to it's reputation as the
meth-amphetamine capital of California. An
ever-changing line-up of the Killbillies stuck it out
for four long years, playing bars and the annual
Tujunga Street Fair and Watermelon Festival, replacing
musicians along the way who had succumbed to the sort
of White Line Fever that Tujunga was famous for. They
recorded the follow-up to White Trash Thing, entitled
"Ladykiller," in 1999 but label interest eluded them,
so it stayed on the shelf until 2003 when Protrudi
released it on his own Sin label. It's almost 2008
now, and Country music, Rudi's kind of Country music,
is enjoying a well-deserved revival. Thanks to Twist
Records, you can now enjoy the music that helped to
spearhead that revival.
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