No rock n roll band ever really splits, and we knew that the urban cowboys of the Roughnecks couldn’t stay away forever. With a lightning set at Psychomania in Potsdam followed by bringing their ‘Saddle Soap’ to this year’s Psychobilly Meeting, plus a complete reissue of their back catalogue, Tom Reiss, Dirk Bartilla, Pete ‘Machinegun’ Grun, and Tex Schmidt have officially returned to make the world a slightly more twanging place. However, to really tell the story of the Roughnecks, we need to go back forty years and start with an argument. 

“On his way to the subway,” tells guitarist Tex Schmidt, “[Tom] Reiss was humming the chorus of a song he had written earlier that night and was trying to come up with the right lyrics. Aged twenty he had long been a fan of traditional American Rock’n’Roll, as well as its rougher, raunchier brother from the late fifties, known as Rock’a’Billy. While strolling down Hermannstrasse towards the station, the bequiffed youngster was suddenly stopped in his tracks when his eyes caught a 1951 Mercury. The ride was completely decked out with full lowrider gear and big red and yellow flames running along is massive flat black sides. Blinded by its steel beauty, Reiss did not see the cocky young Eddie Cochran wannabe lurching over sneering “yo, whatcha looking at? Get lost”. The young man he ran into was, of course, Schmidt, and after they worked out their differences they realised that a vocalist and guitarist just might be able to work together. 

That’s simplifying the situation a lot though. This meeting took place in the early eighties, when Berlin was a far different place to the tourist hotspot we know and love today. As Schmidt bluntly puts it, “Berlin, or West Berlin at the time, had been left hanging by the rest of the Western World.” It was a tough place, and the young Roughnecks knew it. “Politicians would come in and declare it an important outpost of the free world only to climb back into their jets, off to safer grounds. Surrounded by pseudo socialist territories, there was an ever charged political climate and sometimes it did feel like a city under siege. Riots were on a daily basis as was squatting of entire street blocks of deserted houses. It was a time, when teenage girls with goth tendencies were moving to Berlin. It was a time when AIDS was not an issue and the word ‘excess’ got a whole new meaning in just one bar, the Risiko, a tiny converted Turkish barber shop, which only came to life after 3 a.m. every night. The Rockabilly and Psycho Scene met at the Subway station Fehrbelliner Platz to find out where a party is going to be. It was a time way before cellphones and social media. The parties were wild and most of the time the cops ended up being the party pooper.”

By 1985, the duo at the heart of the Roughnecks had a set of songs as long as their arm and finally decided to recruit the rest of the band. Luckily, finding musicians with common goals wasn’t too tricky. “Our influence is probably a mix of the the different preferences in the band. It ranges from fifties- Johnny Burnette Trio, Eddie Cochran to sixties Garage Rock‘n‘Roll via 80s Neo Rockabilly, early Punk to Ennio Morricone Western Movie tunes”, explains Schmidt, which gave a lot of scope to find their missing rhythm section. Of course, the song that earned them the most fans, ‘Saddle Soap’, came out of this era too. “‘Saddle Soap’ was the second song we wrote after ‘Talking About You’. And as far as I remember we got it together on our first rehearsal, though the lyrics got completed just before it was recorded in the studio.”

While Berlin may no longer be split into East and West, the Roughnecks have survived and are changing with the times. This year saw their entire back catalogue released digitally in one huge drop to the delight of their fans. “It was about time to go that path,” says Schmidt. “Vinyl records are still or again the real deal but streaming your music is a great way for younger generations to discover or rediscover music. It‘s a promotion tool,” he admits, “no way to make a buck.” The scene is another point that the Roughnecks have needed to adapt to.  “Nowadays we have the bigger festivals with great lineups, fantastic bands and around the year. The downside is that the clubs are struggling to survive with single shows between the festivals. In the eighties, Rockabilly and Psychobilly was a subculture. We played illegal clubs, private parties amongst official shows.” 

Live shows are the Roughnecks’ real love – “Every single night we play live is a highlight, really. We love what we do!” – and with plans to ‘go places where no Roughneck has gone before’, it won’t be long before they’re bringing their ‘Hard Times’ to a town near you.

As told to Kate Allvey

The Roughnecks would like to thank: Mr. Frank Hermanns, the man who designed The Roughnecks logo. 

Big thanks also go out to our Tour Driver and Merchandising man, Flo!!!

We also have to thank all the crews, techs of the clubs, festivals and fans that came to our shows.