45-90 Band Biographies

Hilary Marckx (Songwriter, Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica) -Hilary’s first memory of music was being rocked in his mother’s lap as she sang “Oklahoma Hills ”by Woody Guthrie. He was brought up by a minister father and a musician mother who led tent revivals in the Ozark Mountains during the ‘40s, and later in churches. Hilary remembers his mother leading church singing with her mandolin (he still has that mandolin), and singing in a deep alto voice.Part of his childhood was confined to bed in the early fifties with on-going problems connected to rheumatic fever. He remembers sitting in bed listening to honky tonk and country radio when he could get a station. Living as he did in the high desert country of northeastern California, radio was always words and music one could make out over the constant hiss of static.

When he was thirteen in 1956, when he moved from the mountains to Los Gatos, CA, he heard what, even at that time, he considered real, true music for the first time. Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Jackie Wilson, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Chuck Berry generated what Hilary terms a benchmark for what music is suppose to do for the listener – fire up them up and let spontaneous combustion have its way.

Hilary began writing melodies and lyrics early on, but had no outlet for doing so and only did it in his head, humming little ditties like, “I got a gal and her name is Betty, She’s the kind of gal to make you hot and sweaty” – the kind of stuff a fourteen year old boy might think up. The ability to write was not used then, but it was always there to be drawn on when the time was right. His father was a fundamentalist minister and loathed rockabilly, rock ‘n roll, country, and any kind of music but about six hymns out of the Baptist hymnal. Hilary’s mother gave his father a guitar for their first Christmas in 1928. It was an Epiphone Recording “A”, 12-fret cutaway that could be converted into a Hawaiian-style guitar. Hilary finally got hold of it in the late sixties and began to think about actually doing something with it. By the middle seventies he was writing songs and performing. He still sometimes performs with it for nostalgia’s sake.

Hilary says he may not look like he’s rockabilly, but he is rockabilly to the bone, “I was there! There’s all this talk about retro-rockabilly, but I lived and danced to those kats. I guess I’m retro. I stood in the Student Union at Los Gatos High and rocked to Perkins’ ‘Put Your Cat Clothes On’, ‘Tutti Frutti’ by Little Richard, Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On by Jerry Lee Lewis, ‘Daddy Cool’ by the Rays, and ‘Be Bop a Lula’ by Gene Vincent . At thirteen it became my life and it is now, but I thought at first it wasn’t for me and turned to photography as my artistic outlet. It was a very quiet outlet, and I needed the sound of rock pounding on my body. Now, when I stand up on stage and sing songs like, ‘I Want to Rock You,’ or ‘It’s a Rocket,’ or ‘Rockin’ at the Black Cat,’ and the audience goes crazy so do I. They egg me on, and we love each other.”

Of his influences the early rockers mentioned above were very strong as well as some of the story-song writers of the ‘60s and ‘70s: Tom T. Hall, Mickey Newberry, were key of these, with John Stewart being primary. Later his central influence would be Billy Joe Shaver. But at both ends of his career two stand out for the personal friendship they offered and the wisdom they were willing to share. First is Mick Martin, Sacramento blues harpist, for helping him understand how songs were put together and their internal logic, and for encouraging Hilary’s budding song writing. Second is Charlie Musselwhite, blues great, and current neighbor, who through many conversations helped Hilary move from the story-song back to his love of rockabilly.

45-90 Band Members

Gene Rapalyea (Drums) -Riding into rock'n'roll on the wave of the British sound of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the mid 60's. Gene enjoyed moderate success playing in Northern California through the 70's. After a sabbatical of seven years Gene took up sticks again in the mid-eighties and returned to performing in the early nineties playing with jazz, blues, and rock bands.

Carl "Slim" Thompson (Bass) - Slim has been playing in the Western U.S. and Canada since the 60's. A native of San Francisco. A songwriter with a love for rockabilly, he's had minor radio hits in Northern California.

On the bass, Slim is a serious as they come. He is innovative and solid, and his strong bass lines provide the glue that holds the guitars in place. He has a degree in cooking and loves to cook. He says he doesn’t hunt, but he sure knows what to do when the meat comes in.

Download more information