The UpSouth Twisters are not a new band but a group of seasoned veterans who have been playing together for years under the name Lucky 7. The decision to change the name coincides with their first full length CD release in a decade. The CD, self titled, will be released this winter of 2008 on UpSouth Recordings. The CD features the band's signature sound including accordion, electric and acoustic guitars, upright bass, harmonica, mandolin, drums, rub board, timbale and various percussion, piano and organ plus the guest appearance of Levon Helm's horn players Erik Lawrence and Steve Bernstein on several tunes.
Music critics have had a field day trying to describe the band’s music, dubbing it Cajun rockabilly, Rockin' Zydeco, roots rock with a squeezebox and a New York mix of Zydeco and rockin' roadhouse Americana. Just about the only certainty is that no two-or three-word label fully encompasses the range of the band's musical gumbo. By drawing from Elvis-era Rock'n'Roll, Cajun, Zydeco, delta blues, classic country, and even Latino salsa plus Tex-Mex, this New York based quintet has challenged the descriptive talents of the music press, while at the same time earning its praise. The UpSouth Twisters are Big Apple based but their music wins listeners across the heartland, as Austin American-Statesman critic Michael Point observed at a Texas show, "The group's seamless set was solid and substantial, full of prime party-time dance music underpinned by a resilient rhythmic thrust that pushed and pulled the music in consistently interesting directions."
The band's founder and leader is accordionist-keyboard player-singer- songwriter Kenny Margolis, an ex-member of Mink Deville, who's also toured with and appears on albums by Cracker, The Smithereens, Freedy Johnston, and The Silos among others. Billy Roues (guitar/mandolin/vocals) and Steven "Muddy" Roues (standup bass/harmonica) have brought their songwriting and experience producing, writing, playing and recording with roots artists as diverse as Jo-El Sonnier, John Lee Hooker, Carl Perkins, Lonnie Mack, Lenny Kaye, Wayne Kramer and Stax + Muscle Shoals soul greats Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham. Percussionist, Boris Kinberg has played with Mink DeVille and Robert Gordon. Rounding out the band is the solid drumming of Nyack's own, Bill Rankin.
After honing its style in sweaty New York clubs, the Twisters (under their former moniker) won favor on a series of European and Canadian tours earning praise as "a heavenly party band" (Sweden's Expressen) and "pure fun!" (Germany's Musick Szene). Toronto's Now said, "No doubt about it, New York's Lucky 7 is among the most fun, freewheeling live acts going." An awesome show at the Montreal International Jazz Festival won over thousands of new fans. Several songs from the band's repertoire have landed in feature films and also on compilation albums including the Margolis/Roues instrumental, "Holiday Depression” which was in the soundtrack to one of James Gandolfini's first movies, "Italian Movie". It was also released as part of a Swedish compilation called "Rockin' At The Barn" on Dusty Records (1999). Most recently their cover versions of Dave Alvin's "So Long Baby Goodbye" and Bruce Springsteen's "Valentine's Day" were included on highly acclaimed tribute CD's to their authors. (Blastered: A Tribute to The Blasters on Runwild Records and Light Of Day: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen on Schoolhouse Records).
The UpSouth Twisters are back with a vengeance, playing their greasy, Southern-fried-with a side of salsa music. Kenny Margolis says he doesn't mind the southern comparison. "A lot of our music does have roots in the South," he admits. "But growing up in New York City, we have interpreted it differently than a Southern band would. Sort of like the British Invasion bands of the Sixties like The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, and Cream interpreting Chicago blues."
For further information and bookings contact:
Upsouth Recordings
PO Box 34
West Nyack NY
10994
Phone: (845) 358-8672
Mobile (845) 596-1512
Fax (845) 639-1760
E-mail rouesong@AOL.com
www.myspace.com/lucky7band
www.myspace.com/upsouthrecordings
myspace.com/billyroues
cdbaby.com/cd/Lucky7band 5 STARS
What the critics said about Lucky 7's recordings . . .
Rolling Stone's John Swenson gave their second album, "Feed The Snake," three and a half stars, and noted, "Though the group is made up of New York area musicians, its rhythmically diverse renditions of Gulf Coast roots rock are more appropriate to a Texas band."
Jon Pareles of The New York Times dubbed the debut Lucky 7 EP "a stomping hybrid of garage and Cajun dance tunes." The out of print vinyl fetches upwards of $100.00 on the Japanese collectors market.
CMJ New Music Report, reviewing the first Lucky 7 album, "Get Lucky," said, "By assimilating so many styles and tastefully handling all of them, "Get Lucky" makes for enjoyable listening, track for track and can rival any DJ who would have to use at least six different records to string together a set this good."
Kevin O'Hare's online "Playback" review (8-31-03) of the Light of Day: Tribute to Bruce Springsteen CD says, "... some of the best moments on the set are those that key in on The Boss' lesser-known works." Mentioning, "... the alt-country cover of "Valentine's Day," by Lucky 7, a New York based quintet that sounds like they spent plenty of time roaming the heartland."
'One Way Track' by Lucky 7 reviewed by Jamey Garner; "Lucky 7 is a New York City-based band whose new album is deliciously steeped in a hillbilly-zydeco-country-rock-and-roll gumbo. With a sack full of original tunes and a couple covers, their newest release on Deluge Records, "One Way Track" is guaranteed to transport you to the bayou and back…… Do yourself a favor. Get a copy of this CD and play it at your next party. It is flat out awesome."
LUCKY 7 "One Way Track" (Deluge) reviewed by Dave Larsen for Rockabilly Magazine April 2007 Cajun accordion and infectious, insistent percussion cross with rakish, Memphis-via-NYC Rock'n'Roll guitar. As vividly and resoundingly alive as a French Quarter celebration. This (again available) 1994 disc includes Finn and the Sharks personnel Billy and Steven Roues and Kenny Margolis (Mink DeVille, Cracker). Recommended Tracks "C'est Parti Mon Kiki," "Rosalie"