In 1991, Johnny G. d'Artenay (vocalist & bassist) and Buzz Campbell (vocalist & guitarist) formed a three piece Rockabilly band and took the name of this legendary song as their moniker. Hot Rod Lincoln (HRL) is based in San Diego, California and has subsequently recorded six independent releases.

Their first self-titled CD, "Hot Rod Lincoln", was recorded in 1993, with Chris Giorgio on drums, and released in early 1994. Recording and music production was supervised by Stray Cats’ bassist, Lee Rocker, and all other production duties were handled by music attorney, Joel B. Kellum. The tracks were engineered by Gary Gladstone at his home studio in Granada Hills, CA. This CD, the only title released on self owned "Hot Rod Records", featured a somewhat rustic cover of the song,” Hot Rod Lincoln”, loosely based on the Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen version. There were also ten original tunes written by Johnny G. and Buzz. One thousand copies were printed of this release.

Chris Giorgio left the band, and with the addition of Ty Cox on drums, the trio immediately became more polished. As a result they found themselves in heavy demand in the Southwestern region of the U.S. playing 250 or more shows in 1994. The band decided that the better sound of the trio was not well represented on the first release, so another CD was in order. The band took on more of the production duties themselves. Joel B. Kellum was the executive producer of "The Boulevard", which was originally released on Dionysus Records in 1995. The sessions for this CD were recorded at Hit Single Recording Services in El Cajon, CA and engineered by Randy Fuelle. Most of the original compositions from the first release were rerecorded as well as an updated version of, “Hot Rod Lincoln”. However, the band accidentally recorded one too many instrumental verses of music. They discovered this when Johnny G. d’Artenay was overdubbing the lead vocals on the track, and he ran out of words before the song ended. Rather than splice out the additional verse, they decided to come up with an additional verse of lyrics. Johnny G. wrote out the verse, they recorded it, and a personalized version of the song was complete. This version also featured a “Peter Gun” style vamp and a “007” guitar quote by Buzz, while Johnny G. imitated the dialogue of a police dispatcher putting out an APB “…be on the lookout for a Hot-Rod-Lincoln”.

Through mutual contacts and networking, Buzz Campbell met his main modern musical influence, Brian Setzer, at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) in 1994. At a debut performance of the Brian Setzer Orchestra, sponsored by Gretch Guitars, the two guitarists apparently hit it off and Brian Setzer became a friend and encourager to H R L. This is evidenced by the continuing relationship that has spawned many impromptu jams and shows where H R L shared the bill with their mentor, Brian Setzer. On one occasion, in 1994, as Brian Setzer was appearing on the San Diego radio station, 91X, to promote his then new Brian Setzer Orchestra, he invited Johnny G. to accompany him on upright slap bass. And on July 3rd, 1994, as H R L played their weekly gig at Johnny M’s in San Diego’s Gas Lamp Quarter, Brian Setzer joined the band on each set for several songs, alternating between guitar and lead vocals. Having enjoyed themselves too much to drive all the way back to Los Angeles, Brian, and his wife, Christine, ended up staying the night at Buzz’s house. That evening’s events were Brian’s apparent inspiration to write the song, “Blue Cafe”.

The band continued to do approximately 250 to 300 shows a year up through 1997. These included showcases with many other bands, such as: Brian Setzer Orchestra, Lee Rocker, Big Sandy & The Fly-Rite Trio, James Intveld, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Blasters, Buck Owens, Ronnie Dawson, Cherry Poppin Daddy’s, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Indigo Swing, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, and many more. These shows were, for the most part, at night clubs, parties, car shows, charitable events, and festivals from San Diego to San Francisco. The “Grease Ball” in San Francisco and “The Hootenanny” in Orange County were both annual rockabilly festivals that cemented H R L’s reputation as one of the core Neo-Rockabilly bands on the West Coast.

The band continued to write and perform original and cover material, and in 1998 released their third independent CD entitled, “Blue Café”. The title track was written by Brian Setzer and given to the band as a memento of good times and as a hopeful boost to H R L’s career. With Lee Rocker back in the producer’s chair, the band took on the rest of production duties. The tracks were recorded and mastered at Golden Tracks studio in San Diego. The mixing was done by Steve Russell, and studio owner Steve Weatherby did the mastering.

Joining the band in the studio were several guest musicians: Dennis Caplinger, Robin Henkel, Gene Jaramillo (Eugene Edwards), Ben Moore, Amy Nelson, Lee Rocker, and Johnny Viau. A new fan of the band, Dave Stevens, created custom pinup art work for the cover. Johnny G. d’Artenay hired graphic designer, Sheri Neville of The Record Factory in Orange County, CA, to assist him in realizing his design vision for the CD, as well as manufacturing the first 1,000 units. The Blue Café CD got a lot of positive attention regionally from fans and critics alike, culminating in an award from The San Diego Music Awards for “Best Local Recording of ‘97-‘98”.

At this point the band was receiving some attention from rockabilly fans and press internationally however they had still only toured in California. At this point, newly wed Ty Cox didn’t have the desire to leave his wife and baby behind for the rigors of a life on the road. An agreement was made to take on a new drummer in order to tour. David Bernson was a mutual friend and had spent time on the road with the Latin rock n roll band “The Blazers”. Subsequently the band hired agent Marc Mencher and he booked them through Texas, the Mid West and Eastern U.S. The band enjoyed moderate success but after a year and a half of 2 to 7 week tours, they decided they could do better financially by focusing more consistently on short tours primarily on the west coast.

In 1999 armed with a new batch of songs at the ready and David Bernson as a contributing writer, the band went back to Golden Track studio for the Hot Rod Lincolns fourth CD “Astronaut Girl”. The title track and several others had been recorded on an orphaned recording session with Ty Cox playing drums. Overall this CD was a mixed bag of traditional rockabilly, neo-rockabilly, and jump blues and found much less of an audience than the former Blue Café CD. The cover art was contributed by Dave Stevens and was one of his published pieces called “Aurora’s Flight”. While David Bernson had intended to be Hot Rod Lincoln’s permanent drummer, he had also led a jump blues project called “The Majestics” with a CD in the works. When his Majestics CD was complete David felt compelled to promote that project and left Hot Rod Lincoln in a permanent capacity.

With a short tour planned to the mid West to play the annual “James Dean Birthday - Indianapolis Weekender”, the band needed a new drummer. Joey Galvan joined the band on the road with only one show under his belt. Upon returning from this short tour, Hot Rod Lincoln dropped off Joey in San Diego, picked up Ty, and immediately flew to Helsinki Finland for their first European show. The show was a festival celebrating the summer solstice, it included “Mad Sin”, “Crazy Cavin and the Rhythm Rockers”, “Mac Curtis”, and a host of other Europian rockabilly bands.

In 2000 Hot Rod Lincoln was approached by Mark Stuart leader of the Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash (BSOJC) looking for a band to back him up. Having never toured before, Mark was looking for competent and professional musicians with experience. Apparently Mark had lost his previous backing band in a dispute over whether or not to continue a short tour after lead guitarist Alex Watts had taken ill. A deal was struck and Hot Rod Lincoln went into extensive rehearsals to learn the BSOJC material.

Not only did HRL become the backing band on tour but they also wound up re-recording many tracks from the BSOJC CD “Lasso Motel” which later became the first nationally distributed BSOJC release “Walk Alone”. However this arraignment was only to last for one, seven week tour. Throughout this first BSOJC tour, it became obvious that there was not an adequate professional tour managment team in place. The writting on the wall was becoming glaringly obvious so Buzz quit the BSOJC and continued to play shows in the San Diego area as “The Buzzards” as well as HRL. By the end of the year Johnny G. d’Artenay became disenchanted and left the band as well, leaving Joey Galvan to continue on touring and recording with the BSOJC.

This situation found all the original members of HRL available and willing to play shows in the region. They continued to play many showcases, bars, clubs, casinos, parties, weddings, and charity events through 2001. HRL was invited to play just outside of Green Bay Wisconsin at “Oneida Casino’s Rockin’ 50's Fest 2002” by event organizers Marc Mencher & Phil Doran. At the show HRL met “Connie” a female Japanese rockabilly singer that had worked with mutual friends “Sha Na Na”. Connie was looking for an American rockabilly band to collaborate with and after seeing and hearing the HRL set she was sold. After the festival and both parties returned home, they stayed in touch and plans began to take shape for Connie to come back to America. Rehearsal space, tour dates, and recording time were booked in preparation for Connie’s return.

In July 2003 Connie and her manager went to San Diego to begin the whirlwind of recording and performances with HRL. The tour was 5 dates from San Diego to Redding CA and back. The recording was made at Bigfins Studio in Vista CA. by engineer Dave Reese. The tracks include originals by Jacko Marcellino of Sha Na Na and Buzz Campbell entitled “Choto Mate”, and the title track “Tokyo Bop”. Connie’s manager Kazu Tsuchiya was producing the CD and chose the rest of the songs to be recorded including yet another version of “Hot Rod Lincoln”. The Tokyo Bop CD was manufactured in Japan and the band traveled there in September of 2003 for a 4 date tour in support of the CD for the Tokyo Bop Tour. The tour featured The Rockats as well as The Cools, and other local bands.

From 1996 through 2003 Hot Rod Lincoln performed as the back up band to many rockabilly and rock n roll artist such as; Chuck Berry, Billy Lee Riley, Robert Gordon, Lee Rocker, Brian Setzer, Al Casey, Jody Reynolds, The Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash, Ronnie Mack, Connie (Japanese Rockabilly Star), Josie Kruzer.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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