Three Bad Jacks bring the slap-back to Corbin Bowl next Friday

L.A.'s long-running rockabilly-psychobilly trio headlines a four-band, $15 bill in Tarzana on Friday, Nov. 13.

Somewhere between the lanes and the bar at Corbin Bowl, there is going to be an upright bass getting slapped hard enough to rattle the pins. Three Bad Jacks headline the Tarzana bowling alley's stage on Friday, Nov. 13, a week from today, and it is the kind of booking that makes the Valley feel like it has its own corner of the city's rock 'n' roll underground.

The details: music starts at 7:30 p.m., tickets are $15 through Eventbrite, and the Jacks top a four-band bill with The Hellflowers, The CheeseBergens and Battle Flask. Fifteen dollars for four bands on a Friday is about as good a deal as the Westside and Valley offer, and the show was only announced Oct. 16, so there is still time to round up a crew.

If you have not caught them before, Three Bad Jacks are a Los Angeles trio led by guitarist and singer Elvis Suissa, and they have spent decades on the rockabilly and psychobilly circuit. OC Weekly has pointed to songs like "It's Forever," from the group's 1999 debut, and "Gone Gone Goodbye," from 2005's *Crazy in the Head*, as close to standards among the band's fans. Suissa wrote most of the debut, *Made of Stone*, himself.

The reputation that follows them is built on the road. Coverage from North Coast Journal and The Pitch tracks a band that has made a habit of playing dive bars and small rooms from coast to coast, and writers have reached for a wide set of reference points to describe the sound: Ramones and Clash energy, acoustic and electric blues, garage rock, all run through the pompadour-and-creepers frame of the genre. One reviewer called them the best psychobilly band they had seen in a long time. Listings tag them as punk, which is fair enough; this is a band that plays the old forms fast and loud.

The room is part of the fun. Corbin Bowl, at 19616 Ventura Blvd., is a bowling center dating back to the 1950s, and its live music happens largely in Bar 10, a space that has become a regular stop for jam bands, Grateful Dead tributes and, increasingly, rock bills like this one, according to its venue listing. The stage and sound have been remodeled, and there is something deeply right about hearing a psychobilly band with the sound of a strike drifting in from the next room.

For the Valley, that matters. Too many nights out on this side of the hill mean a drive over the 405 or through the Cahuenga Pass to get to a club. A $15, four-band bill on Ventura Boulevard, with parking that does not require a second mortgage, is the kind of local show that keeps a neighborhood scene alive.

A practical note: age policies at Corbin Bowl vary from event to event, so check the Eventbrite page before you bring anyone under 21.

Bring your boots, bring cash for the bar, and maybe reserve a lane for the set break. Next Friday, Tarzana gets loud.

Sources: Three Bad Jacks (OC Weekly) (ocweekly.com); Three Bad Jacks (North Coast Journal) (northcoastjournal.com); Flier of the Week: 3 Bad Jacks at the Replay, July 13 (The Pitch) (thepitchkc.com); Psychobilly turkey (Steve Terrell) (steveterrellmusic.com); Bar 10 at Corbin Bowl (ma.to); Three Bad Jacks, The Hellflowers, Battleflask, The Cheesebergens LIVE (Eventbrite) (eventbrite.com); Three Bad Jacks at Corbin Bowl (JamBase) (jambase.com)