Beatclub Bandcorner no.4 - The Moving Sidewalks (us)

Back in the mid-sixtites time was ripe for a new great sound - after the Beatle-Mania and the British invasion thousands of American teenagers, talented or not, buckled into mom & dad's garage and formed their own bands to play their own music.

One of these kids was Billy Gibbons (yeah the one you think of when someone refers to a "ZZ Top - beard") who formed with Don Summers, Dan Mitchell and Tom Moore the Moving Sidewalks somwewhere in Texas around 1966. And this one wasn't one of the many "unknown Garage-Losers", no Gibbons and the Moving Sidewalks even hit the top-ten twice.

First of all their '67 single "99th Floor" topped the Houston-charts for six long weeks, which in my opinion was much too short for such a driving monster! An easy-cheesy melody, a grinding organ, great vocals, stupid lyrics and of course a lot of FUZZ - just what you'd call perfect (Psychedelic-)Garage-PUNK!

Their second single, "Need Me" followed the same year and also made it into the Top 10. For that I think they should have rather taken the B-Side of the single called "Every Night a New Surprise", which compared to "99th floor" provides a rather psychedelic mood but still has the features of a GARAGE-PUNK pounder - powerful vocals, driving organ and fuzzed out guitars!

In 1968 the Moving Sidewalks released two more singles and their final record, their only LP called "Flash" which featured all of their singles and, as it was 1968, a hell lot of crazed out psychedelic tunes.

The end of the Moving Sidewalks came after Tom Moore and Don Summers were drafted into the U.S. Army and there was definetly no return for the Moving Sidewalks hence Billy Gibbons and Dan Mitchell turned their backs on psychedelia heading for some blues rock and formed ZZ Top!

However, the Moving Sidewalks made at least two of the best garage tracks on earth, influencing numerous 80s revivalists such as the Chesterfield Kings (check out their "99th floor" video below!) or the Fuzztones and I'm sure there are many more to come - so grab your guitar and don't stop till you get to the 99th floor!

Song you should listen to: Every night a new suprise
Myspace: www.myspace.com/movingsidewalks
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZNnZfvfmVY
Editor: Murphy Morphine