Dr Ezekiel Bordello The Doctor once said that being born on the Fourth of July in the back of a taxicab would always make him a special kinda baby. After training at the tender age to be an unlicensed practitioner of various dark arts, the Doctor was to disappoint himself, and thrill literally tens of followers, by becoming Buttefuque Ohio's most charismatic voodoo practitioner. Following a stint in the Swiss navy, which saw him rise rapidly through the rank, he returned to his native land to persue the calling of blues shouter and travelling medi-sin man. Bon vivant, charming rogue and raconteur are all descriptions other people would use to describe someone with a more likeable personality, but fuck 'em, what do they know, eh?
Lotus Dubois Ah, Lotus. Inscrutable. An enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a custom-fitted sparkly gown, high heels and a big-ass head-dress. Born in a hurricane, like most blues ukulele players (three, last count) she is naturally attuned to the beating heart at the centre of the universe. A shady lady with a hazy past, she is as at home twirling tassles with drifters and losers as she is in the hushed halls of academia. Of all the Jukebox she is the most likely to correct your grammar, and your posture. A friend to all the winged and stepping creatures of the earth, she'd probably like you better if you were a cuttlefish. Nothing personal, its just she's a dead-eyed freak with an agenda she doesn't care to share. Just make sure she gets paid.
Rev Jim Lodge What can one say about the Reverend Jim Lodge that hasn't already appeared in countless lawsuits? He was the originator, the inventor, the master, the creator, and for a couple of bucks he also made a damn fine pizza pie. You wanna step into his shoes? You better get some feet my friend. Not just any feet, but special feet. The kinda of feet that have walked down every wind blasted, rain lashed stretch of track between here and hellwater, preaching the gospel of unfettered bigamy and licentious hellraising. Some say he was once a trick rider for Barnum and Bailey. some say he was once engaged to Louise Brooks' illegitimate niece. some say he lost the tip of his finger saving a baby from certain death. some say... ah, let 'em talk. I've met him and I'm just not tellin'.
Scarlet Bonansea Miss Scarlett Bonansea was rescued from the Vienna Museum of Automata and Oddities where she had been languishing in a store cupboard since her harpsichord and the mechanism that makes it look like shes breathing had broken down in the late 1920s. The rest of the Jukebox, with their various skills of plumbing, welding and voodoo, feel theyve fixed her up pretty good, considering. She runs on cherry brandy and sachertorte, and has an unfathomable fear of canaries.
Mr David Broad Mr David Broad, the infamous ‘rural assassinator’, was sat at the crossroads one night when the devil came by and asked for guitar lessons. So it is a shocking waste of the man’s talents that he’s currently employed climbing a broomhandle for the Jukebox. Rumour has it he sees it as penance for punching a horse in the face when he was twelve. Besides, we do let him out at the weekends to play in a cowboy band.
Influences
Bessie Smith, Jelly Roll Morton, Blind Blake, Wynonie Harris, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Frankie 'half pint' Jackson, Blind Boy Fuller, a cornucopia of jug bands-Missisippi Sheiks, Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers etc, Ma Rainey, Tampa Red, Jim and Bob.
Sounds Like
Jon Gomm in Sandman Magazine thought we were "darkly surreal, sinister and bewitching... for those who can't afford LSD the Devil's Jukebox are a great alternative." Some people seem to think we're like Pennies From Heaven remade as a porno!!! Others if Iggy Pop fronted early Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. Someone at the BBC website said we were Tom Waits-esque nightmare jazz. Some have said Screamin Jay for the 21st Century, and David Broad told us long before he joined the band that he thought we were the most authentic Jazz, Blues, Jug, Hokum thingy he'd heard, but he's a very nice man. We just write the happy tunes for the dancing monkeys...
UK residents can buy our NEW 13 track CD for £8.00. US residents can buy our NEW 13 track CD for £9.00. The rest of the world please message us.
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The Devil's Jukebox are five vaudevillains playing red-hot ragtime, dirty, dirty 20's jazz and scurrilous blues from the wrong side of the tracks. Featuring Miss Scarlett Bonansea on Lap-Harmonium and suitcase percussion, Lotus Dubois on resonator and banjo Ukuleles, the Reverend Jim Lodge on Clarinet, Mr David Broad on washtub bass, and Dr Ezekiel Bordello on Holler, Hokum, Jug, and striptease...
Je n’sais pas si t’es au courant mais en 2010 c’est la fin du monde !!! Alors profites en vite, sors toi les miches de ton canapé et viens assister à nos messes d’enfer. Une chance ultime de sauver ton âme d’un paradis chiantissime
Meet Sirella the BEARDED LADY who has joined the Laycock family. This Sat 19th from 8pm till 1am at the Chemic Taverns one and only Pirate Night! Includes new local bands and musicians as well as Leeds famous sea shanty choir! Then on Sat 3rd Oct at Hull Truck Theatre Madam Laycock will perform with a fantasic shadow puppet storytelling background (See below!)
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