I’m a little partial to garage, psychobilly etc and this little slab of genius is a particular favourite. I Know You Be Houserockin is a compilation of the first two Gories records; Houserockin and I Know You Fine But How You Doin’. Lead by the brilliant Mick Collins, the Gories take us on a ride through a down and dirty, swamp encrusted tribute to 50’s R&B and 60’s garage. The production is raw and minimal (OK it is shit, I admit it) but that’s the whole charm to this record. The songs are about the important things in life, girls, dancing and cars and sometimes all three. There is not a lick of polish (or production values for that matter). The drumming on this is so inept it makes that woman from the White Stripes sound like a drummer from a band that has a very good drummer. Yep that bad.
Hey Hey We’re the Gories kicks of the records with this statement of intent “This here’s the Gories from Detroit, hot off the press. It’s gonna jump on you baby and its gonna stain your dress”. Its followed up by “You Make It Move” which without a doubt has to be one of the best garage tunes ever: Walkin’ down the street and I’m looking at you/ You look so good I don’t know what to do/ I wrote to tell you and I’ll holla it too/ You make it move yeah you make it move. Surely one of the most eloquent odes to a ladies ability to well …. make it move … in one’s pants … I suppose. The song then descends into a favourite garage trick: call and response. You make it move (yeah you make it move), You make it move (yeah you make it move) etc ad lib to fade.
Mick Collins ability to get to the point of a song and bludgeon the essence out of it stayed with him in his later bands the Blacktops (after a car I assume) and the Dirtbombs (which is slang for a poo. Again I’m assuming). The Dirtbombs compilation is well worth investing in especially for the ex-girlfriend revenge fantasy Never Licking You Again and the very catchy She Played Me like a Booger.
Ducks Battle Satan 