L.A. Beat

Cousin Harley aka Paul Pigat is looking forward to being back in Alberta to be part of the Rockabilly Riot in the Geomatic Attic parking lot, July 4.
“I’m looking forward to being back in Alberta, because visiting Alberta once a year isn’t enough,” said Pigat, who has played the Geomatic Attic with several acts but made his first visit with Cousin Harley (including drummer Jesse Cahill and bassist Keith Picot, who also plays with Hurricane Felix)  last year.

The show will open with local rockabilly trio Bent 8 at 4 p.m. followed by Eve Hell and the Razors at 5 p.m., Hurricane  Felix and the Southern Twisters at 6 p.m. followed by  Cousin Harley at 7 p.m.
“It’s going to be  a 90 minute set, so I’ll start with a full rockabilly set, then maybe a western set than go completely insane after that,” Pigat chuckled adding the show will showcase everything he does from rock, rockabilly, country and even a little jazz.

“It’s like gumbo, man, there’s a little bit of everything,” he said.
“We’re a very improvisational based band. No matter where I’m going, Jesse and Keith know exactly where I’m going and can follow it,” he continued adding they are just beginning the tour in support of  their new CD ’It’s A Sin’ which was released in late May.

“We don’t know how stage sales are yet, but sales from CDbaby and iTunes are going well. It took way too long to get it out there,” he said adding they had it in the can back in January, but didn’t want to release it  in the post -Christmas lull, then didn’t want to compete with the Olympics and Paraolympics.

“Cousin Harley records are  usually recorded, mixed and mastered within two weeks because that keeps it fresh. It’s supposed to be real spontaneous rock and roll which doesn’t work if you start overthinking guitar parts,” said Pigat, who is endorsed by Gretsch guitars and plays with a  variety of diverse musicians.

“This CD continues where ‘Jukin’’ left off. Jukin’ was more of a traditional rockabilly  record . I grew up playing in roadhouses, so there is blues and country as well,” Pigat continued, who started Cousin Harley in 1997 after  getting interested in rockabilly revivalists like Brian Setzer and especially Danny Gatton, who  played with Robert Gordon.
“Danny Gatton was very rock and roll. He played everything from country, R and B and jazz and mashed it all together.”

He is looking forward to playing Europe for the first time with Cousin Harley, though he has played there with Jim Byrnes.
“I’m looking forward to playing a town called Hoorn in the Netherlands. It’s a great little town with a great venue. I have a lot of fans in Europe from Poland to the Netherlands. I’m not sure how they know about me, but I hope they’ll be able to come to the show. It  a busy season and they’re all musicians,” he said adding it is thanks to the Internet and his manager that people know about  Cousin Harley.

“Cousin Harley usually only plays around B.C. and Alberta, but we played a big music festival  in Australia. We ended up going all the way over there for a weekend. We spent 48 hours on the air and 48 hours on the ground, but it was worth it. There were people like Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy and Taj Mahal playing. People were calling out the names of our songs,” he said adding he never even got to see  Jeff Beck as  they had to catch a return flight.

Rockabilly Riot begins July 4 at 4 p.m. with Bent 8 followed by Eve Hell and the Razors at 5 p.m., Hurricane  Felix and the Southern Twisters at 6 p.m. followed by  Cousin Harley at 7 p.m.

A portion of the  show’s proceeds will be donated to Feed the Children, a charitable organization designed to empower and feed children.