American

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

musician, and author, Chris Giorgio aka Jackslacks adapted his stage name from the Sparkletones 1957 hit song " Black Slacks" and is originally from Valley Stream,

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

and resides in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, United States. After a brief musical flirtation with both the accordion and guitar, Jackslacks started playing drums in high school, heavily influenced by 1950's rockers

DJ Fontana Dominic Joseph Fontana (March 15, 1931 – June 13, 2018) was an American musician best known as the drummer for Elvis Presley for 14 years. In 1955, he was hired to play drums for Presley, which marked the beginning of a 15-year relationshi ...

and

Jerry Allison Jerry Ivan Allison (August 31, 1939 – August 22, 2022) was an American musician. He was best known as the drummer for the Crickets and co-writer of their hits "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue", recorded with Buddy Holly. His only solo cha ...

, and British Invasion timekeepers

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

and

Charlie Watts Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who was the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021. Originally trained as a Graphic designer, graphic artist, Watts developed an interest i ...

. Perhaps more than any of the above-mentioned, Jackslacks has tried to emulate Fontana, who explained his drumming style by saying (paraphrase), "I learned the value of simplicity (at the Hayride), that's why I always play what I feel. If that won't work, I just won't do it again. I think the simple approach comes from my hearing so much big band music. I mixed it with rockabilly." After graduating from college, Jackslacks honed his chops as a founding member in both Forbidden Pigs and

Hot Rod Lincoln "Hot Rod Lincoln" is a song by American singer-songwriter Charlie Ryan, first released in 1955. It was written as an answer song to Arkie Shibley's 1950 hit "Hot Rod Race" (US #29). It describes a drive north on US Route 99 (predecessor to ...

, popular groups in the early San Diego roots-rock scene, which also included

Beat Farmers The Beat Farmers are an American rock band that formed in San Diego, California, United States, in August 1983, and enjoyed a cult following into the early 1990s before the death of drummer and sometime lead singer Country Dick Montana. Their m ...

The Paladins The Paladins are an American roots rock-rockabilly band from San Diego, California. Founded in the early 1980s by guitarist Dave Gonzalez and his high school friend and double bass player Thomas Yearsley, they have recorded nine studio albums a ...

, and

Mojo Nixon Neill Kirby McMillan Jr. (August 2, 1957 – February 7, 2024), known professionally as Mojo Nixon, was an American musician and actor best known for his novelty song "Elvis Is Everywhere", which was an alternative staple on MTV. His style coul ...

. At about the same time, childhood elementary school chum,

Tommy Byrnes Thomas Patrick Byrnes (February 19, 1923 – January 9, 1981) was an American professional basketball player. He played collegiately for Seton Hall University. He began his professional career playing for the New York Knicks of the Basketball Ass ...

joined neo rockabilly band

Stray Cats Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in ...

on second guitar and backing vocals for a European and US tour concluding at the New Orleans World's Fair, giving Jackslacks the inside track to both the exploding local and increasingly popular national rockabilly revival scenes. Jackslacks CD "Rock and Roll Dinosaur" was produced by Stray Cats slap bassist

Lee Rocker Leon Drucker (born August 3, 1961), professionally known as Lee Rocker is an American musician. He is a member of the rockabilly band Stray Cats. He is the son of the classical clarinetists Stanley Drucker, the late former principal clarinet ...

and includes Byrnes on guitar, before he went on to play with

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Joan Jett and the Blackhearts is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979 as a conjunction of lead musician, singer and songwriter Joan Jett and the backup band. It has undergone many lineup changes since its inception, ...

and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...

. A huge fan of

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American disc jockey, songwriter and record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, R ...

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Jo ...

, Jackslacks arranged the Sun inspired original song "Bank Account's Too Small" on the Hot Rod Lincoln CD "Blue Cafe" which won best local recording at the San Diego Music Awards and whose title track was written for the band by Topcat

Brian Setzer Brian Robert Setzer (born April 10, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and returned to the music scene in the early 1990s with ...

. Jackslacks has long enjoyed a career steeped in rockabilly and roots-rock. He has performed and recorded with many popular players of the genre, sharing the stage with musical hero

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis m ...

and

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

as well as a who's who list of nationally prominent second generation rockabilly revivalists all across the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The Perkins show also featured Detroiter Johnny Powers ("Long Blond Hair"), the first and only recording artist to ever be under contract to both Sun and

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

, while the Jerry Lee show, MC'd by famed gravelly voiced radio DJ

Wolfman Jack Robert Weston Smith (January 21, 1938July 1, 1995), known as Wolfman Jack, was an American disc jockey active for over three decades. He was famous for his gravelly voice, and credited it with his success, saying, "It's kept meat and potatoes on ...

, showcased a setlist stacked with Sun favorites.

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Ar ...

co-headlined the Chuck Berry performance. According to Jackslacks, "Getting to meet, hang out and open for Carl Perkins has been the highlight of my musical journey so far ... God is good!" Recent solo work, released on indie label Shield of Love and distributed through

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

has received excellent press and gained substantial airplay in the US, Europe and Australia; the album "Inside Out" concluded a six week run at #1 on The Roots Music Report's Top Rockabilly Album Chart by finishing number four overall for the year ending 2021. Jackslacks is a member of the Blackcat Rockabilly Europe Hall of Fame.

Discography

* ''Forbidden Pigs Forbidden Pigs'' (1987) * ''Hot Rod Lincoln Hot Rod Lincoln'' (1993) * ''Nobody's Business Waycool Rock and Roll'' (1997) * ''Johnny Mercury and the Hot Rockets Shake Hands and Shack Up'' (2000) * ''Jackslacks Rock and Roll Dinosaur'' (2002) * ''Jackslacks I'm Just the Drummer Live!'' (2004) * ''Jackslacks The Kind of Girl'' (2007) * ''Dead Engines Crash 'n Burn'' (2010) * ''Jackslacks Lucky Man'' (2012) * ''Jackslacks Farm Jazz'' (2013) * ''Jackslacks Other Side'' (2014) * ''Jackslacks Invisible'' (2015) * ''Jackslacks Earthling Sessions'' (2018) * ''Jackslacks When Pigs Fly'' (2020) * ''Jackslacks Inside Out'' (2021) * ''Jackslacks The Unity Song'' (2022) * ''Jackslacks Love & Unity'' (2024)

References

{{authority control American rockabilly musicians Drummers from San Diego People from Long Island American male drummers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people