Swiss rockabilly band Hillbilly Moon Explosion, formed in 1998, will perform at Reading’s Face Bar next month.
Taking place at the Face Bar on Sunday, July 6th, the group who is known for a versailte mix of rock and roll, jump blues, swing, country, roots rock and surf music elements will perform in Reading for the first ever time.
Hillbilly Moon Explosion originated in 1998 as part of the Zurich rockabilly scene. The group was founded by the native English and Swiss citizen Oliver Baroni (vocals, bass, guitar) and Italian-Swiss singer Emanuela Hutter. Oliver Baroni was planning to leave his former band, the Hillbilly Headhunters. Emanuela Hutter worked with the singer/songwriter music project MD Moon at that time.
The original formation was completed by drummer Aad Hollander and guitarist Pat Matteo, another former member of the Hillbilly Headhunters. The first demo tape was made in the same year. Emanuela Hutter was at the time bound by solo performances and did not enter the band until the following year.
In 2006, after the release of All Grown Up, Englishman Duncan James replaced Patrick Gese on guitar and Swiss Luke Weyermann the new drummer. Frenchman Sylvain Petite later took over drums.
In addition to touring and performing in Switzerland, the band have performed in other European countries including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Finland, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Austria and the UK In 2010, Hillbilly Moon Explosion appeared as the opening act for Jeff Beck in Paris. In both 2018 and 2019, they also toured the west coast of the USA.
The members of the group live in and around Zürich.
The Zipheads will support them. They play Rock’n’Roll infused with punk, taking influence from the founding fathers of the 1950s like Little Richard and Chuck Berry, via the punk and new wave heroes of the 70s such as The Clash and Elvis Costello, along the way encompassing surf, swing, soul, country, folk, ska and reggae as well as most other types of music you could care to imagine into the mix
For tickets, visit: www.wegottickets.com/clubvelocity
