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The rockabilly recluse
One-man band Al Foul on music, style and keeping fame comfortably at bay
By Troy Farah
Published on 01/21/2010
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Real deal: southern Arizona rockabilly-rocker Al Foul. This photo and opening page photo courtesy of Al Foul.
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Al Foul isn’t your average musician; he’s got the swagger, catchy tunes and drive of most rockers, but he also has a rare degree of authenticity. For more than 20 years, Foul has manifested a twangy rockabilly sound reinforced with his punk-rock roots. When not playing with the Bongo Billy Band or the Shakes, Foul is a one-man-band, definitely stealing the show. Alone, Foul works by hitting a kick drum with one foot and a self-made “stomparine” (a tambourine he pounds with his boot) with the other, all while strumming a guitar, singing and drinking heavily.
Foul’s a straightforward man, unafraid to speak plainly about everything from peep shows to porn stars to personal poverty. It could be because Foul’s main concern in life isn’t really his reputation or even fame. As a result, he cares more about “just the music” than most struggling musicians. Foul has zero outside motivation, making him genuine and perfectly content where he is.
“I see people that are trying to get fame so they’re on television all the time. I think that looks like an absolutely miserable life to me,” Foul says. “When I see the people that go for that, I see it as a weakness of their own.
They want to be famous so bad, it’s like they’re cursed. I can’t imagine what it’s like to live like that. And I think to enjoy it, you have to be a real douchebag.”
That kind of fame doesn’t attract him at all. Instead, Foul says, he wants to be the little-known, legendary type. “I want to be that obscure guy,” Foul says. “I would never want to be like a real famous guy. I don’t think I could do it. It’s not in my personality.”
What is in Foul’s personality is a good time. His live shows can get wild, usually involving onstage spanking and invocations of Johnny Cash. Foul leaves quite a lasting impression.
While drawing influences from many older country and rockabilly acts such as Cash, Charlie Feathers and Roger Miller, Foul tries most to be like himself. He doesn’t like labels and tries to stray from the term rockabilly.
“I love rockabilly, but I’m not covered in tattoos or have a girlfriend that looks like Bettie Page. I don’t go that far,” Foul says with a laugh. “But you know, I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with the rockabilly scene. I’m too punk for them, I guess.”
Al Foul wasn’t always a pompadour-styling rock star; once upon a time, Foul was your typical teenage punk. His story begins in Hyde Park (outside Boston) where he was raised. As a teenager growing up in the ’80s, Foul joined the “drunk rock” band the Foul-Mouthed Elves, where he adopted his moniker.
“It was a stupid (band) name, I know,” says Foul, laughing. “I was a teenager, 15 or 16. There was a guy in the band called Jimmy Foul and he’s used that name for years, too. I always think of dropping it, but I’ve used it for so long it makes no sense to drop it. It doesn’t bother me. Not much in a name, really.”
When he was 18, Foul hitchhiked to San Francisco with his buddy Pigpen. To avoid the winter weather, Foul hunkered down in Tucson and soon fell in love with the city. Twenty years later, Foul still resides in the area—specifically Mammoth, a small town Northeast of Tucson.
“They used to have a mine there called the Tiger Mine and it was a booming little place for a long time, but in the ’90s the mine closed,” Foul laments. “A lot of people left and it got very poor. There were several bars in the town and now there’s not a single one. It’s pretty poor, but you get a beautiful view of the mountains. Just gotta look over all the nasty trailers.”
Yet Foul says he wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. When he’s not playing live shows, the semi-reclusive musician is fixing up the abandoned ballroom where he lives.
“I always got something to fix. Plumbing, things like that. I’m always painting or something because it’s an old hunky place,” Foul says. “Mammoth is a poor little town but to me it’s like a castle. I don’t know if you’d call it the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. I mean, I live it about two or three days a week. The rest of the time I’m just a poor guy in Mammoth working on his f**ked up house. ”
In between his housework and shows, Al Foul is planning a West Coast tour in March as well as working on releasing two records.
“One is a completely solo record and I hope to have it done in March. I already have a gig booked at the Hotel Monte Vista for a CD release for that,” Foul says. “The other disc we’re trying to work on, we’re recording it this month, is with me and the French Tourist. He’s a DJ that plays with me and he’ll also be playing with me at the next show in Flagstaff.”
Catch the show with Al Foul and the French Tourist this Fri, Jan. 22 at the Monte Vista Lounge, 100 N. San Francisco. The show is free and starts at 10 p.m. To find out more, call 774-2403 or check out www.myspace.com/alfoulandtheshakes.
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