Southern Culture on the Skids w/ The Woggles
September 25, 2024
Southern Culture on the Skids
w/ The Woggles
Wednesday, September 25
Doors 7pm / Show 8pm
All ages / Partially Seated
General Admission Standing Advance: $20
GA Standing Day of Show: $25
Member Standing: $18
General Admission Seat Advance: $25
GA Seat Day of Show: $30
We're happy to accommodate ADA seating requests. Please reach out to 3S in advance (tickets@3sarts.org) or speak with a staff member upon arrival to your event.
Guitar riffs as lumpy as a camel, rough as a jackhammer or smooth and bright as Tennessee sippin’ whiskey, all slung loose and loud over salacious beats - No Depression
About Southern Culture on the Skids:
Southern Culture On The Skids has been consistently recording and touring around the world since 1983. The band (Rick Miller – guitar and vocals, Mary Huff – bass and vocals, Dave Hartman – drums) has been playing together for over 30 years. Their musical journey has taken them from all-night North Carolina house parties to late night TV talk shows (Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show), from performing at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan to rockin’ out for the inmates at North Carolina correctional facilities. They’ve shared a stage with many musical luminaries including Link Wray, Loretta Lynn, Hasil Adkins and Patti Smith. Their music has been featured in movies and TV, parodied by Weird Al, and used to sell everything from diamonds to pork sausage. In 2014 the band was honored by the Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with an exhibition featuring their music and cultural contributions. Their legendary live shows are a testament to the therapeutic powers of foot-stomping, butt-shaking rock and roll and what Rolling Stone dubbed “a hell raising rock and roll party.”
At Home with Southern Culture on the Skids is the latest full length album from the band and was released in March of 2021. It was recorded during the stay at home period of the pandemic when the band was at home and not touring. The album consists of 11 tracks recorded and mixed in Rick Miller’s living room with some additional tracks recorded at his studio, The Kudzu Ranch.
The first radio single off the album is “Run Baby Run”—a rocking number with deep garage roots. SCOTS bassist Mary Huff provides an urgent vocal while the band pulls back the throttle on a full race fuzz fest—cause she’s gotta to go fast! Run Baby Run!
The other songs on the album are a combination of the band’s unique mix of musical genres: rock and roll, surf, folk and country—all a bit off-center, what Rick proudly calls “our wobbly Americana”. Rick goes on, “We put a few more acoustic guitars on this one, as you would expect if you recorded in your living room, but it still rocks like SCOTS. So put your headphones on, get in your favorite chair/sofa/recliner, put on “At Home With” and let’s hang out for a while.”
For over thirty years, Southern Culture On The Skids have played an eclectic range of Americana including rockabilly, surf rock, country and R&B, with a punk edge and heaps of humor. They are known for their legendary live shows and wacky antics...But it’s more than just great fun; they are fantastic musicians to boot. - Elmore Magazine
This Chapel Hill-based trio is flat-out amazing. Without resorting to needless flash or attention-hungry showboating, Miller in particular is one of the most spectacularly gifted guitar players I’ve ever seen. He juggles a lot of styles – country, garage rock, surf, rockabilly and soul to name just a few. - Stomp & Stammer
About The Woggles:
For a band to not only last beyond 30 years together but keep scaling more imposing heights, it’s going to need a sense of purpose. In the case of The Woggles, the seasoned garage rockers passed that milestone with a renewed rallying cry to move ever forward!
The Woggles now feature a two-guitar attack of Graham Day (The Prisoners, Solar Flares, Thee Mighty Caesars) and Shane Pringle (Tiger! Tiger!, Bad Spell), with Shane switching to saxophone for some songs.
The band is touring in support of their new album Time Has Come out on Steven Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool Records label (release date 5/31/24). It features several songs (Hole In My Heart, Her Majesty’s Pleasure, Mr. Last Chance) designated as “Coolest Song in the World” both on Van Zandt’s Siriusxm Channel and his syndicated over the air radio program.
Steven Van Zandt (Little Steven) contributes guitar parts to several songs along with Greg Cartwright (Reigning Sound), Peter Greenberg (Barrence Whitfield & The Savages), and Pat Beers (The Schizophonics).
“The band is not as much an institution as a way of life,” says frontman “The Professor” Mighty Manfred. “The main thing is to keep swimming, cause the shark has got to keep moving.”
The band continues to feature the sock-it-to-them rhythm section of bassist Buzz Hagstrom and drummer Dan Eletxro, both also sometime members of savage English rockers Graham Day & The Gaolers.
“Alan Freed once said that ‘Rock and roll is a river of music that has absorbed many streams,’” quotes Manfred. “The Woggles drink from its many tributaries, from early rock and roll and R&B to ’60s garage rock, British Invasion, ’60s soul and forward.”
Fusing pure rock and soul from vintage sources into their own singular sound, The Woggles lay it down hard and loud but with more majesty than recklessness. Their beats and riffs are as strident as Manfred’s swagger and strut onstage. Having played in the past with Johnny Cash, Link Wray, The Zombies and nearly every garage rock group worth its salt, as Meredith Ochs wisely advised on NPR All Songs Considered: “Go see a Woggles show. It will change your life.”
Thank you to our year-round Lead Sponsors: AC Hotel Portsmouth, Katzman Contemporary Projects, MacEdge, and Raka.
Thank you to our Summer Season Sponsors: BANKW Staffing, Beswick Engineering, and Procon, Inc.