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.

Michael Bryant - Lead Guitar

Michael adds the nuanced flavors to 45-90's rockabilly sound. His jazzy guitar understatements provide an after one o’clock AM smoky roadhouse seasoning–sexy and sweet.

Michael remembers how his life-long love affair with music of every type began at the age of 3 - sitting transfixed on a church pew kneeler and watching his mother’s feet dance on the bass pedals as she played glorious swirls of music on the majestic old pipe organ in the choir loft at Blessed Sacrament church in Westminster, CA.

On his 4th birthday he got a 6 transistor Motorola radio with an earplug and a rotary dial that he rolled back and forth all day long between KFWB and KRLA in a vain effort to satisfy his insatiable appetite by consuming a steady diet of early ‘60’s pop and R&B music.

A move to Sonoma County in 1964 was just in time for the Beatles and later the Summer of Love all brought home courtesy of the “boss jocks” at KFRC and Tom Donahue on KSAN. Guitars were bought, bands were formed, gigs were played - everything from Americana to Zappa and back.

Today he is most at home Twangin’ his Tele to help create that down-home sizzlin’, slap-back, chicken-pickin’ that makes Hilary Marckx & 45-90 so finger-lickin’ good!!

Oh yeah, he’s also an accomplished and eclectic (what a surprise!) Chef, but that’s another story...

Phil O'Malley - Bass

Phil is the bass backbone for 45-90, and does he sizzle.  His inventive back beats with Gary’s drumming are the glue that pastes 45-90 together.  Bouncing rhythms off Michael’s off-color lead guitar, Phil’s bass work thumps 45-90 into realms heretofore unknown.

Phil O'Malley (Nestor), born in 1946 in Olympia, Washington, is a 40-year veteran of the bass, graduating from rock, blues & R&B bands along the way, with forays into bluegrass & country. He spent the mid-70's in the music Dept at Sonoma State University, where he played in the Jazz Workshop & studied music theory, playing blues on the side.

Phil is also a veteran of Alembic Inc., instrument company where he learned the art of building fine handcrafted electric basses and guitars. While at Alembic, Phil oversaw the 1st production run of graphite-necked instruments, and made custom instruments for John Entwhistle of the Who, and one of the 1st ever 5-string basses for Flim Johnson of LA studio fame.

When not busy at music, Phil spends his time framing artwork for a variety of local artists, building and repairing instruments.

Gary Gohl - Drums

Gary, a Southern California native, grew up in Downey. His father’s love of classic jazz music led him to the drums at the age of 9 influenced by Louie Bellson, Gene Krupa, and Sandy Nelson. 

Gary spent his high school years playing drums in a “The Hard Times” playing gigs around his hometown before stints with “Unseen Destiny” and “Rage” during the sixties and seventies. He moved to Sonoma County in the late eighties raising two sons in Cloverdale. 

After playing with a local Sonoma County band favorites “The Rolling Blackouts” for many years, he moved to the Big Island of Hawaii, where he enjoyed surfing and gigging the islands with “Full House”. Upon returning to Sonoma County, he joins forces with Hilary Marckx and 45-90 lending a skilled hand to create “that back-beat you can’t lose…”