The Guitar Player's Resource
Alternately described as "desert surf rock", "spaghetti-western surf" and "surf with punk propulsion", the music of New Hampshire's Cadillac Hitmen is much better experienced than described. True, if you watched a couple of old Italian Clint Eastwood westerns you might detect a breeding ground for the music on the band's debut CD, The Assassin, an eleven track album of cinematically melodic modern "surf" music. The Cadillac Hitmen are guitarists Robert Garceau and Jeff Morris, bassist Tina Marconi and maniacal drummer Steve Toland. The two-guitar lineup guarantees plenty of six-string action for fans of instro music, the tracks punctuated with crunchy, reverb-laden rhythms, heavy vibrato whammies, feedback howls, but most importantly, infectious, memorable, melodic hooks. Check out The Assassin, even you've never ridden the waves or taken a chili-and-tequila-fueled drive through the Texas tumbleweed.
The Cadillac Hitmen were formed in 1996 in the basement of a house shared by Garceau and Marconi. They took something they called "desert surf" music and began playing live in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire area. Within about a year, The Assassin was recorded and released, and the music was soon used by local radio station WHEB in it's ads. At the same time, Garceau started Hellhouse Music, an independent label specifically designed to promote the band and the album. The band also created a presence on the internet with their own web site, describing their own brand of music as, "A Tex-Mex-Surfin'-With -The-Devil-Psycho-Boppabilly -Hayride-In-Hades."
The Cadillac Hitmen are poised to take their music out to the world from their current base in the Northeastern United States. Their future looks bright, so don't expect them to stop wearing their $3 wrap-around black shades anytime soon!
Robert Garceau
The Cadillac Hitmen
P.O. Box 218
Greenland, NH 03840
United States