Los Straitjackets & Deke Dickerson Rockin Dance Party

Mike Campbell knocked on the dressing room door and brought in a friend to meet Los Straitjackets. It was the late 1990s and through a chance encounter with Campbell, the band found themselves opening a series of shows for Tom Petty You gotta meet these guys. They sound like the early Beatles...

It was a high compliment because everyone in the band understood exactly how to take it. Constantly tagged with a slightly reductive surf music label, Los Straitjackets are better characterized as instrumental rock n roll, and have been since founders Danny Amis and Eddie Angel met and watched drummer Jimmy Lester play drums with Webb Wilder at a Nashville club. Their influences range from the double-picking-surf-attack of Dick Dale, to the proto-rock of Link Wray, the hooks of The Ventures, to the groove of Booker T.

s, all played with an energy that acknowledges The Cramps and punk rock. And past the golden age of instrumentals of the 1960s, one could argue they have brought this music to more fans than any other band, having done it for more than 30 yearsJoining The Straitjacksts on stage adding vocals and additioanal guitar is the renowned musician and writer Deke DIckerson. Dickerson is a veteran of the Southern California roots music scene and has toured for years with various bands, including the Dave and Deke Combo and Deke Dickerson and the Ecco-Fonics.

His former band members have gone on to play with Social Distortion, X, Tiger Army, and Los Straitjackets.