The Hillbilly Moon Explosion are a pan-European rock’n’roll band with much … Read Full Bio ↴The Hillbilly Moon Explosion are a pan-European rock’n’roll band with much flair and a fast growing fan-base. They’re fronted by the Italian-Swiss songstress Emanuela Hutter and English exile singer and slap bassist Oliver Baroni, ably backed by English guitarist Duncan James and Swiss drummer Luke 'The Puke' Weyermann.

Emerging from the rockabilly scene in their home base of Zurich, they recently turned down an invitation to be the Swiss Eurovision entry. Known to some for their mini-hit ‘Johnny Are You Gay?’, a recent retrospective has propelled them gigging across Europe, including TV shows and a tour supporting Jeff Beck climaxing at the legendary Paris Olympia. A viral Cinéma vérité video from that album has attracted over 50,000 views: http://youtu.be/bANSizYxh-w

A single ‘My Love For Evermore’ precedes the album, on 7” and download. It’s a dark duet by Emanuela and guest Spark Phillips of infamous, wayward psychobilly band Demented Are Go, assisted by Geraint Watkins on organ, and backed with a rockabilly guitar cover of ‘Enola Gay’. A new ‘Bonnie & Clyde style’ video was filmed over 3 days and will be launched on the single release date. Stills from the shoot can be seen here: http://on.fb.me/ia21CJ

The album is produced by Greg Townson of US band The Hi-Risers, and recorded in London at Gold Top Studio, Camden, last year. (Gold Top Studio has now relocated to Gravity Shack, Tooting.)

TRACKS: - Buy Beg or Steal, Broken Heart, She Kicked Me To The Curb, Natascia, Trouble & Strife, My Love For Evermore (with Sparky), Night of the Living Ted, Imagine A World, Goin’ To Milano, Touch Me, Rock’n’Roll Girl, Chalk Farm Breakdown, Enola Gay. 13 tracks.

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www.hillbillymoon.com

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work up a plausible old-school sound these days—a few twangy guitars, a pile of echo, a sneering lead vocal on top, and presto, you're ready to rumble. There's a difference, however, between a true vintage-tinged update and another in a series of Eddie Cochran copycats. Which brings us to Hillbilly Moon Explosion, Zurich-based rock revivalists who've spent the past few years touring Europe, issuing a pair of acclaimed releases (2002's Introducing The Hillbilly Moon Explosion, 2004's Bourgeois Baby) while watching their fan base grow by leaps and bounds. Mind you, this is no quaint Sun Records send-up; at their best, HME— bassist/vocalist Oliver Baroni; rhythm guitarist/vocalist Emanuela Hutter; guitarist Duncan James and drummer Luke Weyermann—come across like a Sam Phillips-produced soundtrack to a Sam Raimi shock flick, a furious bed of slap bass and pounding snare underpinning layers of menacing guitar lines, wailing background vocals, and eerie keyboard flourishes, with front-woman Hutter providing the perfect aural/visual focal point, fishnet stockings and all.

When it came time to lay tracks for a third independent effort, head Hillbillies Baroni and Hutter eventually headed for the US and wound up at the door of producer-engineer Mark Neill, owner of San Diego's Soil of the South Studios, where it’s all-analog, all the time. One could not imagine a better match-up: Neill, a rockabilly bred Southerner whose client list includes The Paladins, Los Straitjackets and Old 97s, is a rock archeologist of the highest order and vast collector of choice old-school audio tools, who knows how to nail it down in just a few takes using as few tracks possible (the way it was before we all had too much time and tracks on our hands). In order to provide Baroni and Hutter with the proper instrumental framework, Neill enlisted the support of cohorts like guitarist Eddie Angel (of Los Straitjackets fame), sax man Archie Thompson and drummer Craig 'Flash' Packham, with Neill himself overlaying lead and rhythm guitars. The result is All Grown Up, a faithfully prepared (and mainly mono-mixed) amalgam of unbridled rock tracks that clock in at a Ramones-like two-and-a-half minutes apiece, featuring Baroni's saxes-with-axes classic "Live the Life," Hutter’s sensually exotic take on "House of Bamboo," not to mention a tour-de-force rendering of Mel Larson’s "Little Lil," with Baroni's lead vocals authentically distorting like a Little Richard 45. And in case anyone's forgotten what real country is supposed to sound like, there's the Baroni-penned "Brown Eyed Boy," a lilting Loretta Lynn pastiche that belies the murderous intent described within.

How good is this stuff? "To think that these guys came over to San Diego from Europe with a bunch of songs on acoustic guitar and absolutely nailed the vintage rock'n'roll sound—and made it contemporary," remarks the normally reserved Neill. "I've never seen that happen before."

Dave Simons, Rolling Stone Magazine.

Discography
Introducing The Hillbilly Moon Explosion (2002, Crazy Love Records)
Bourgeois Baby (2004)
By Popular Demand: The Basement Tapes (1999-2005) (2005, Crazy Love Records)
All Grown Up (2006)
Raw Deal (2010, The Freed)
Buy, Beg or Steal (2011, The Freed; Jungle Records)
Damn Right Honey! (2013, Goldtop Recordings/Jungle Records)
French Kiss avec Arielle Dombasle (2015, Mercury Records/Universal Music France)
With Monsters and Gods (2016, Jungle Records; The Freed; Cloud Hill)
The Sparky Sessions feat. Mark “Sparky” Phillips (2019, Freedonia; Jungle Records)

Maniac Lover
The Hillbilly Moon Explosion Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Drivin' down the street in my long black Cadillac
Gotta find that girl before I get a heart attack
See you standin' there lookin' for someone to hold
So I invite you inside, because outside it's too cold

Be my baby
Be my baby
Be my baby, I'm your maniac lover tonight

So now we're sittin' in the back of my long black Cadillac
Listen to me baby I'm a real gone maniac
I'm gonna squeeze you, suck you, scratch you all the night
Well, I hope my dirty love makes you feel alright

Be my baby

Be my baby
Be my baby, I'm your maniac lover tonight

Overall Meaning

The Hillbilly Moon Explosion's song "Maniac Lover" is a tune with an upbeat rockabilly rhythm and lustful lyrics. The song openly displays the ominous topic of dangerous attraction and the satisfaction of carnal desires. The lyrics instantly introduce the audience to the driver of a long black Cadillac who is looking for someone to hold aka sex. The driver picks up this woman and invites her in because outside is too cold, alluding to a change of events.

The chorus mentions the phrase "Be my baby" three times, signifying the fact that the driver wants the girl to be his lover. The phrase also contains an element of ownership, displaying the driver's possessiveness towards her. The phrase "I'm your maniac lover tonight" extends further on this, giving the listener a hint of what's going to happen in the car. The next stanza mentions all the things the driver is going to do to the girl and how he wants his dirty love to make her feel good. It is a song that is honest and open about the satisfaction of sexual desires.

Line by Line Meaning

Drivin' down the street in my long black Cadillac
I am cruising in my fancy car, searching for my desired lover

Gotta find that girl before I get a heart attack
I have to locate that woman before my heart gives out from the excitement

See you standin' there lookin' for someone to hold
I notice you standing alone, longing for someone to embrace

So I invite you inside, because outside it's too cold
I offer for you to come indoors, due to the chilly weather outside

Be my baby
I want you to be my significant other

Listen to me baby I'm a real gone maniac
Listen to me, my behavior towards love can be crazy and unpredictable

I'm gonna squeeze you, suck you, scratch you all the night
I plan to passionately embrace you, biting and caressing with fervor throughout the night

Well, I hope my dirty love makes you feel alright
I desire for my passionate, intense love to satisfy and please you

Be my baby
I want you to be my significant other

Be my baby, I'm your maniac lover tonight
I am a wild man in love, and I am yours for the night

Contributed by Anna V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.