The Chop Tops are a rockabilly trio from Santa Cruz, California, formed in the mid-'90s by Gary "Sinner" Marsh (vocals). They quickly built momentum in and around their Bay Area groundings with a combination of rockabilly, surf, punk, and psychobilly, and debuted on record with 1997's Revved-Up Rockabilly on Swillbilly Music. Tales of Hot Rods, Hot Broads and Lucky Odds followed in 1999. Always Wild appeared a year later on Rolling Rock, marking the debut of Shelby on guitar. The Chop Tops' blistering 2001 set Evil Six caught the attention of Brian Setzer. Impressed, Setzer included the Chop Tops on his '68 Comeback Special in August 2001. The band's first compilation arrived in 2005, titled Hicks with Sticks: A Town North of Bakersfield, and the Chop Tops' fifth full-length, Triple Deuces, appeared in 2006, followed by Deadly Love four years later. Josh joined the band in 2014, playing upright bass to match Sinner's standup drum kit. The band continued to tour often, and have shared stages with a long list of roots, rock, and punk acts, including Dead Kennedys, the Adolescents, Chuck Berry, Link Wray, John Lee Hooker, Crazy Cavan & the Rhythm Rockers, Wanda Jackson, Dick Dale, the Trashmen, the Blasters, Suicidal Tendencies, and Dwight Yoakam.
MacKenzie Wilson
AllMusic.com
