Twistin' Tarantulas

Attack Of the Twistin' Tarantulas

(Self-issued)

In a recent Facebook post, Twistin' Tarantulas' singer / slap-bassist "Pistol" Pete Midtgard disclosed that new CD copies of the trio's 1997 debut disc had been manufactured. The limited run, he explained, had been produced for sale at an impending concert. Remaining CDs (assuming there would be any) were to be marketed on the group's website.

(The following paragraphs are for the benefit of the few ignorant of the iconic group's stature.)

Even on this introductory compendium, the Twistin' Tarantulas gave evidence of the song-construction flair and capacity for rock-ribbed execution that would bring them renown. 

In their world, creativity was not bound by stylistic dictates. Though the majority of material is of the strapping, fire-breathing species (indeed, their brawniness ensured that an ambitious Motorhead cover met its challenge), occasional ventures were made into less usual territories. Even then, the Twistin' Tarantulas' facility animated endeavors.

With Pete's exuberant navigations their guide, guitarist George Friend and drummer Todd Glass raised a ruckus second to none in the Neo-rockabilly sphere. (The two later departed. Today, Carl Bradychok and Nick "Macho" Marocco stoke the dangerous fire.) The then-new trio's bold approach called for and received volume in the uppermost range. Listeners were thrown off their creepers.

Subsequent years brought additional recordings, which were immediately seized by frothing adherents. Given those increasingly significant albums and the trio's wildcat barnstorming, good word not only spread domestically but assumed international proportion. And the phenomenon rampages, yet.

Rock'n'Roll chroniclers recall Dave Edmunds once sang that "From small things, Mama, big things one day come." But as many knew in 1997, and more can now realize, Attack Of the Twistin' Tarantulas was already a big thing.

Recommended: "Let's Go," "Greased Lightning," "White Trash Express," "Rebelina," "Takin' You Down Tonight," "Ain't Got All Night," "Theme Song," "Ace Of Spades"

Video: "Takin' You Down Tonight" (live 2012)

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