The Soulphonics

Start Date

Founded in October 2007

Genre

American Garage Rock and Roll!

Band Members

Kevin "The Skindriver" Connolly - drums; Joe Emery - bass; Lee Lazarine - guitar; Reid Watson - guitar; Glen Worley - guitar

Hometown

Austin, Texas

Record Label

Scratched Records (Scratched Records sound better!)

Short Description

The Soulphonics play American garage rock and roll: 3 minutes to remember the dance that it took 1000 years to forget!

Bio

Guitarist Glen Worley and drummer Kevin Connolly travelled 40,000 miles together from 1979-1983 as founding members of the Austin band The Rattlecats, which Austin’s Third Coast magazine once described as "sounding more like The Clash than anything on this side of the Atlantic." Along the way they played shows with such bands as The Fleshtones, Dave Edmunds, The Bongos, Joe King Carrasco and the Crowns, Jason and the Scorchers, The Leroi Brothers, and lots of other bands in towns and cities from Austin to Omaha. The Rattlecats 45 rpm single 'Run My Life/Back to Life' can be found on the Hyped2Death compilation album Teenline 101. After the breakup of The Rattlecats in late 1983, Kevin and Glen formed The Rivals in early 1984 and Reid Watson joined the band in the spring of 1985. The Rivals played frequently in Austin and Houston, headlining local shows and opening shows for such bands as The Beat Farmers, and Webb Wilder and the Beatnecks. In 1986 The Rivals released "One Side Of", a six song cassette tape that received favorable reviews. In 1988 Reid left the band and no suitable replacement could be found. Flash forward to September 2007 when Reid ran into Glen on the UT Austin campus, where all three work, and suggested getting together. After nearly 20 years apart the two reunited at Glen's house outside of Elgin, Texas, and found that they had a blast playing the kind of music that they love: American Garage Rock and Roll. Luke Torn, long time Rattlecats and Rivals fan and former Austin Chronicle writer, now editor of Pop Culture Press, happened to be in charge of booking bands for the Cherrywood Arts Fair, held each December in Austin, and asked about the two to make an appearance at the 2007 Cherrywood Art Fair. When Reid asked Glen about this, he said that he had vowed that, if he ever played again, if would be under the name "The Soulphonics", a band name he had wanted to use ever since high school. Reid's reply was, "Who am I to stand between a man and his dream!" Kevin “The Skindriver” Connolly soon found out about this and asked, “When’s the next rehearsal?” In March 2011 The Soulphonics released their 16 song debut album 'The DYNAMIC SOUNDS of The Soulphonics'. Reid Watson left the band in January of 2012. Guitarist Lee Lazarine of the Dallas-based band, The Mullens, joined the band in February and then Joe Emery of The Ugly Beats came in to play bass. The new line-up made their first appearance during SXSW 2012 at a day party.

Personal Information

The Soulphonics play American garage rock and roll: 3-4 minute songs, including instrumentals!, full of hooks and mostly about the pain of love, of life, and death, and no guitar noodling! 1966 AM radio at 4 AM. 3 minutes to remember the dance that it took 1000 years to forget. The Soulphonics 2011 debut album 'The DYNAMIC SOUNDS of The Soulphonics' contains sixteen tunes: thirteen original songs and covers of three obscure songs from the 1960’s, chosen from the band’s repertoire of over fifty tunes. The Soulphonics’ Christmas classic “All I Want for Christmas Is a Job”, previously released as limited edition single in late 2010, is also included. The CD can be purchased in Austin at Antone's Record Shop or Waterloo Records or from CDBaby.com and can also be downloaded there, on iTunes, Amazon, or other music sites.

The Soulphonics can be seen the first Wednesday of each month at the fabulous Carousel Lounge in Austin, Texas, and occasionally play other venues around the Austin area, though the Carousel has been their home base for the past two years. The Soulphonics do not have a bass player and they are OK with that. Check out www.the-soulphonics.com to hear Soulphonic music, see photos, link to tons of youtube clips, and more!

Current Location

Austin, Texas

General Manager

Glen Worley

Artists We Also Like

Ugly Beats, Tom Petty and the Hearbreakers, Muck and the Mires, Woggles, Fleshtones, Flamin' Groovies, etc.

Influences

The Kingsmen, Shadows of Knight, Bo Diddley, Eddie Cochran, Nick Lowe, The Seeds, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Pebbles V. 9!!!, Lenny Kaye, Little Steven's Underground Garage, The Shadows (Hank Marvin!!!), Link Wray, The Leroi Brothers, Chuck Berry, Wilko Johnson, The Brogues, Teisco del Rey, Social Distortion, The Replacements, The Fleshtones (Yeah, baby!), Dave Edmunds, 1966 AM Radio, The Beat Farmers, Smithereens, Plimsouls, Neil Young, Guadacanal Diary, Johnny Cash, The Strangeloves, The Easybeats, Flaming Groovies, Magic Christian, the amazing Cyril Jordan!, Gretsch guitars (That Great Gretsch Sound!), Rickenbacker guitars, Fender amps, Maestro Fuzz Tone FZ-1A(!), Hoodoo Gurus, Del Lords, Del Fuegos, Real Kids, The Standells, Count Five, Bobby Fuller Four, The Yardbirds, The Kinks, The Oneders (love the red suits!)The Ramones, New York Dolls, Ventures (Nokie Edwards!!), The Who, Webb Wilder, Music Machine, The Remains, X (Billy Zoom!), Dave Alvin, Mike Ness, Davie Allan and the Arrows, The Lyres, Husker Du, Bob Mould, Moulty (He don't want no pity!), Buddy Holly,

Band Interests

World domination and getting rid of the corporate bizmen who are running the music industry into the ground!

Email

thesoulphonics@gmail.com

Website

the-soulphonics.com

Press Contact

Glen Worley