Elvis Hitler @ the Magic Stick on November 21, 2003
The name “Elvis Hitler” by itself just seems to bring all conversations to a screeching halt. This week I was talking to somebody on the phone about the show at work and I heard those muffled gasps around the office. I quickly managed to blurt out the story of this band before I was hustled off to sensitivity training.
This “Elvis Hitler” is a “psychobilly” band from our own hometown in Detroit. Through the late 1980s and early 1990s they managed to entertain audiences with a blend of humor and rock & roll that that just brought you back for more. It goes without saying that Elvis Hitler was not destined for commercial success, but they put out three albums: “Disgraceland” (1988), "Helbilly" (1989), “Supersadomasochisticexialodocious” (1992) & Splatter. Featuring such unforgettable songs as “Teenage Surf Slave”, Don’t Blame Me if You Die Tonight” & “Shove that Sax” - Elvis Hitler found a rabid following before breaking up and going into that “what the hell ever happened to” category that you always try to answer at the Lager House well after 1:00 AM.
In this case my prayers were actually answered when I saw that Elvis Hitler was reuniting for a show at the Magic Stick. I quickly scanned my old copy of “Helbilly” and compared it to the flyer – it was even the whole original band!!! Things were just getting better & better. The fateful evening finally approached & I headed down to the Magic Stick. The one thing that I’m always afraid of at these reunions is that there won’t be much of a crowd. Ten years is an eternity in rock & roll and people have short memories. As usual, I was completely wrong as the Magic Stick was jammed & I realized that there were quite of few of us who needed to hear the “Ballad of the Green Berets” as sung by the incomparable Elvis Hitler himself.
The magic moment was at hand. The stage was set as Damian Lang (drums), Warren Defever (bass), John Defever (guitar) and Elvis Hitler himself took their places. The crowd surged forward and once again those unforgettable words boomed through the PA: “It’s a long way from Berlin to Memphis”. Within seconds a frenzied mosh pit had started which of course culminated in a quick fight and forced ejection from the show. These things are way to0 predictable – if you don’t want anybody to bump into you – stay the hell away from the front of the stage. The band took this all in stride and a string of familiar hits followed in rapid succession: “Helbilly”, “Ghouls (Looking for food)”, “Dickweed”, “Gear Jamming Hero”, “Live Fast – Die Young” and the Green Acres tune were Elvis Hitler sings the lyrics from Green Acres over Purple Haze. Don’t even try to imagine how that sounds – it needs to be experienced in person.
Of course, the show ended way to quickly – these things always do. I rushed over to the merchandise stand and the only thing left was a cassette copy of “Super….”. I only have a CD player in my car, but I still bought the cassette. I just need more Elvis Hitler – and this evening provided me and a whole bunch of other fans with at least a temporary fix. I don’t know if this show is a harbinger of things to come or just a one night stand, but at least it proved one thing to me. I was not wrong – our world needs Elvis Hitler !Update: (Thanks to Pasadena of the Mutants for the following information:
Elvis did reappear in 1998 as a 3 piece and continued to play until mid 2000. They did several gigs during that time at Lili's 21, and were actually the last band to play at Lili's while Lili herself was still alive. There were also gigs at the Gold Dollar, Jacoby's(313 jack), the Polish Sea League, and even a huge gig at the "Exit" in Chicago in Sept. 1999 where the placed was packed and highly enthusiastic. There is a video of this gig as well as videos of some of the Lili's gigs. All of the Lili's shows during this time were recorded. There are soundboard tapes of every Lili's show from this period as well as a soundboard of the Gold Dollar show and the Polish Sea League shows. The only show that was not either recorded or video taped was the Jacoby's show, but there are pictures of that show on the Motor City Punk website. A compilation CD of tracks from these shows is being put together right now. By the way, I agree with your review of the reunion show at the Magic Stick. That was big fun. Oh ya. One other thing. Elvis also did a live over the air broadcast in late December 1999 at the U of M radio station. (I forget the call letters off hand). It was also broadcast live over the internet. It was hosted by Del Villereal(I probably spelled his name wrong). There is also a tape of that broadcast which included several live songs as well as Jim's witty dialogue and a somewhat informative interview.