We have these two kids playing with two old guys and writing new stuff.” “It’s a weird combination for a band,” Roulette said. With the young guys joining in August 2020, Hillbilly Casino has continued their momentum, which includes cross-country tours with a journey on the west coast slated in March. I’ve hung out with him a few times and weirded him out.’ But he came in, and Sam is just as much of a musician as Colin is. It was like, ‘You are an amazing example of a young man who can really play stuff and understand it … I don’t know this Sam Clay character. “It was like, ‘You’re a very exceptional kid,’ because at the time, Colin was barely 21. “I had some trepidation at first,” Roulette said. “I feel like with Colin and Sam being younger and more energetic, they can keep up with me … and sometimes I have to keep up with them, which is rare.”īecause of his relationship with Kenny Taylor, Roulette was already familiar with Colin Taylor, but not so much with Clay … but that soon changed. “We’ve been a steady mainstay in rockabilly, and we need to kick it up a notch,” Roulette said. “Like he ruined my life with rock n’ roll, I’m trying to ruin his son’s life with rock n’ roll,” Roulette joked about the Taylors.Ĭolin Taylor and Clay got their start as teenagers in The B-45’s, then Uncle Muscle, before joining on with Roulette and Crutcher, while also working on other projects that have kept them in Fort Wayne. With two holes to fill, Roulette was able to infuse some new, young blood into the group with Kenny Taylor’s son, Colin Taylor, and his friend Sam Clay. That lineup held until COVID hit, when Arnn and Firebaugh opted to step aside. “I needed to get out of Fort Wayne,” he said.ĭrawn to Nashville to host an open mic at Mercy Lounge, Roulette reformed Hillbilly Casino with bassist Geoff Firebaugh, plus drummer Andrew Dickson and guitarist Ronnie Crutcher formerly of Brian Setzer and The Nashvillians. Roulette then formed a Fort Wayne version of Hillbilly Casino before moving south to Nashville. “The Blue Moon Boys are taking rockabilly boldly into the next millennium by redefining its boundaries.”Īfter releasing three albums, including a Christmas record, The Blue Moon Boys disbanded. “The Boys are pro enough to impress anyone with enough sense and maturity to admit it,” Whatzup writer Chad Beck said in a 1998 article. “I put an ad in the PennySaver saying I was looking for a drummer, a guitar player, and a bass player for an Elvis gig, and that’s when Kenny got in touch with me,” Roulette said.Īfter getting his first taste of rockabilly from Taylor and Joe Bel Air of the Fort Wayne group The Bel Airs, Roulette was hooked, and he formed The Blue Moon Boys with Taylor, Jerry Sparkman, and “Flava P. “I grew up in the late ’80s and early ’90s, so when everyone was listening to Sex Pistols, Misfits, and Social Distortion, I was listening to George Michael and Elvis.” “I was a hip-hop ballet dancer, and I didn’t know anything about rock n’ roll music,” he said. I kind of dig this.’ But I got fired because I didn’t do any Andrew Lloyd Webber-type singing, and I couldn’t really sing.”Īfter moving to Fort Wayne in 1991, Roulette found himself a little out of place among his peers. I had never sung with a live band before, but I picked ‘Blue Suede Shoes,’ and people went crazy. But there was a night when the lady in charge couldn’t sing because she had laryngitis, so everyone in the cast had to pick a song to sing with the live band. “I had done some Elvis karaoke, because my mom thought I looked like Elvis. “I got a gig dancing in Wisconsin, and they wanted me to be a singer, too, but I didn’t sing,” Roulette said. It was while he was in dance that he got his first chance to get behind the mic. Growing up north of Fort Wayne in Howe, Roulette took part in the Fort Wayne Ballet and would get rides into the city with the ballet master that also taught the North Side Dance Skins. “He kind of got me started in this business that’s ruined my life. “Kenny is the first person I was ever in a band with in Fort Wayne,” Roulette said in an interview with Whatzup. 17 for their annual Christmas show.Īs if the holiday show would not be wild enough, this year’s edition will have the added bonus of including Chicago’s “psychobilly pioneers” Three Blue Teardrops to help celebrate the birthday of Hillbilly Casino lead singer Nic Roulette’s former bandmate in Fort Wayne’s The Blue Moon Boys, Kenny Taylor. Things are bound to go off the rails when Nashville, Tennessee-based rockabilly band Hillbilly Casino comes to The Brass Rail on Dec.
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