Southern Culture On The Skids, with guests Five ‘N’ Dime Poets
May 12, 2024
Bells Eccentric Cafe – Kalamazoo, Michigan

Southern Culture On The Skids (SCOTS) is a hillbilly rock band out of North Carolina. Wikipedia says they have been around since 1983, so over 40 years now. Even after 40 years, the band continues to be mostly a “club level” act and unknown to most casual music fans. However, “Weird” Al did parody the SCOTS style with the song “Lame Claim to Fame” from his “Mandatory Fun” release – look up the video.

Anyway, my wife (Michelle) is a big fan of SCOTS, and as a result she has educated me quite a bit on their music. This May 2024 concert would be our third time seeing them, and the second time at Bells in Kalamazoo. This time, we knew to get there a little early to be towards front of the line, as there are a few cocktail tables available to those who get in early. We also met some fellow SCOTS friends there, so we shared a table with them.

Bells Eccentric Cafe is a nice little place for “club” shows, and they do a decent job of keeping the place organized. This was only our second time to the venue, but no complaints.

Opening act for the evening was the band “Five N Dime Poets” from Flint, Michigan. The band leader is Cash O’Riley, who opened as a solo act for SCOTS last time at Bells. The band features Tyler Clayton on bass and Justin “JRock” Girard on drums. In my opinion, their style had elements of rockabilly, blues, classic rock, and country. Tyler is great on bass, and Justin kept things energetic on drums. Their set was decent for an opening act, but I can’t say any particular song stuck with me.

The SCOTS group came out next and promptly got things going with “Skullbucket”. Band guitarist and singer Rick Miller seemed to be in a good mood wearing his trademark baseball hat. Drummer Dave Hartman plays a “stand-up” style cafe drum kit, but manages to cover all needed parts with the smaller kit – even with added percussion pieces – very entertaining to watch. Bass guitar and vocalist Mary Huff seemed a bit distracted by technical issues, but kept the groove going.

SCOTS brought out their “hits” including “Liquored Up and Lacquered Down”, “Too Much Pork for Just One Fork”, and “Camel Walk”. The week of the concert, “drive-in movie” producer Roger Corman and Rick mentioned being a fan of many of Roger’s movies. In tribute, the band performed the song “Goo Goo Muck”, originally recorded by Ronnie Cook and the Gaylads in 1962, but likely the SCOTS crowd knew the version recorded by The Cramps in 1981. This was a treat for the crowd, and many seemed to know it. The band played for almost 2 hours, ending the night with their own version of “Dear Mr. Fantasy” (original Traffic song) – they ended the previous concert at Bells with the same song, so it must be a favorite of SCOTS. Both me and my wife are not huge fans of the song, but we know it is a favorite for many classic rock bands. The performance was fine, but we think they should end with something more “uptempo”.

After the concert, Rick Miller came over to the merchandise table for autographs and photos. Rick seems like a very nice guy, and appreciates the fans. If you like fun and retro sounding rockabilly type music, I recommend Southern Culture On The Skids (SCOTS) – they are a fun band to see.

Here is partial video of “Goo Goo Muck” –

Five N Dime Poets – 6 out of 10 stars

Southern Culture On The Skids – 8 out of 10 stars

Here’s the Southern Culture On The Skids set list as posted to setlist.fm: