The Matadors

The Matadors are a psychobilly band based mainly in London, Ontario, Canada.

History
"Howlin Hooch" Parkins and Jeff Sheppard formed The Matadors in 1995. They began as a rockabilly cover band of sorts playing mostly classic country and older 1950s rockabilly. In the beginning, The Matadors played clubs, corporate events and weddings.

Parkins wrote and recorded four songs in 1998 one of which was "Let's Ride" which can be found on subsequent Matadors recordings. Following these recordings Parkins became unsatisfied with being a cover act and took over on lead vocals. The Matadors play a fusion of blues, swing and southern rock boogie they have described as "horrorbilly." Parkins invented the term after reading a book called The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by authors Al Ries and Jack Trout which states that "if you cannot be first in your category, set up a new category".

They are known for their live shows which have included giant stage-blood shooting puppets, foam launching machines and dancing girls. The band claims to be part of the Luciferian Brotherhood of Baphomet who are one of their inspirations. They also claim to have sold their souls to the devil in exchange for musical talent. The Matadors' first Canadian tour was in 2005. They were packaged with Canadian veteran psychobilly band The Dead Cats.

In 2006, Parkins defended his band against accusations of misogyny in an interview in Western University's student newspaper The Gazette. Parkins explained "“We don’t call ourselves misogynists. We call ourselves ‘Snatch Marauders.’ We travel the country destroying vaginas."

The band recorded their third full-length album, Horrorbilly 9000, in only ten days.

During the recording of their fifth release, Sweet Revenge, the band had no permanent bassist. Former singer of The Creepshow and Parkins then girlfriend, Jen "Hellcat" Blackwood, does guest vocals on the eleventh track on the album, If You're Gonna Bitch.

2014 will see the release of The Matadors 6th album, Say You Love Satan.

Discography

 * Hellblazin'  (2002)
 * The Devil's Music (2004)
 * Live at Call the Office (2005)
 * Horrorbilly 9000 (2006)
 * Sweet Revenge (2008)
 * "Lucifarian Gospel Hymns Volume 1 (2013)
 * Say You Love Satan (2014)

Members
Joel "Hooch" Parkins - vocals, guitar Brett Hueston - bassist/vocals Shiraz Ebrahim - drums

Former members
Jason Westman - Drums Steve Crew - Drums Archie Gamble -Drums Rob Carvell - Drums Iain Mckena - Drums Steve Murphy - Drums Shiraz Ebrahim - Drums Steve Ormerod -Drums Neil Devereaux- Drums Eugene Burda - Organ Chris Hart (in 1994 when they were a rockabilly revue band only, not when they made the leap to an original act) - Vocals Jason Haladnyuk - Bass Jeff Sheppard - Bass Julienne Morissette - Bass Danny Deville - bassist/vocals Neil Devereaux- Bass