being a crude amalgamation of Skunkbucket LeFunque, Spinal Tap and the Rutles

whilst abusing time-honoured traditions of jugband, blues, hokum and gullible audiences

New Nooze:

Sheiks to play 2008 JazzFest May 1st

(yes, JazzFest gets 'played' again)

Details to follow - stay tuned!

Sheiks go Video!

Live @ Neutral Ground

Barnacle Bill the Sailor

Nevertheless

Sadie Green (the Vamp of New Orleans)

Who Walks In

In Remembrance

Papa PegLeg Prickly Pear Polk (1971-2007)

A toast to our original tubbist

whose vital energy was instrumental in launching the Sheiks

Ramble 'round in Peace



Old News:
Sheiks make good on threat to infest JazzFest '07
Pics on the Calendar page

Medium News:

Sheik Set reviewed in All About Jazz article

(zip down to 4th pic)

“We saw their demo (video) tape earlier this week... It kind of freaked us out.”

SheikSite wins top billing!

This very site was proudly picked poster child in Washtublibrarian's blog "Websites that Suck: Washtub Edition" (6 May '06)

"Basin Street Sheiks -- good band. Terrible website".  (what? has he not heard us? --ed.)

Seek the Sheiks! Upcoming SheikShows
Stalk the Sheiks!  Join our  e-Mailing List
Study the Sheiks! A shameless Sheik History
Steal the Sheiks!     How to avoid  booking the band
Suss the Sheiks! WHO do we think we are?  WHO cares?
Sample the Sheiks!      Hear the latest SheikSound Files
Splash the Sheiks!  Press Kits, Posters, pompous Promo-Pimpage

SheikLinks

In all the world of the blues there has never been a jug band like Louisiana's Basin Street Sheiks.  Formed in New Orleans in 1930, the Sheiks' initial success took the country by storm.  Forty-seven chart-topping hits (Billbored Magazine String, Jug and Washboard Charts, 1930-42), including all five top spots-- a full thirty-four years before the Beatles-- during their initial pre-war recording period would be enough for any artists' career.  Not the Sheiks.  Their accidental rediscovery and subsequent near-mythical status during the sixties and seventies has plowed a deep groove in the cotton field of the Blues.  Their 1986 opening slot on tour with the Rolling Stones stole the show so many times they were asked to leave.  When the Sheiks refused, the headliners quit the tour and left the Sheiks to finish what would be the first-ever stadium tour by a jug band.  Today, their original 78s and wire recordings commonly set records at auction.  Bootleg tapes are shared by their legions of fans affectionately known as "Jugheads".  And the Basin Street Sheiks are still the most recognised name in jugband music.  Their art spans the ages.  Their longevity is astounding.  Their story is suspect.

Thus "The Original Boy Band" returns after a self-imposed hibernation brought on by changing times; when producer George Martin attempted to interest the Sheiks in a modernised sound to be called "Electric Sheiks", the band balked and opted for salient silence over technological jiggery-pokery.  After a time they took stock.  "We thought about doing a whole hip-hop-meets-blues thing but we didn't", says jugular whistler Whisperin' Lu.  "It would have been just for the money.  We gave the idea to R.L. (Burnside)".  Now, finally, it's back to the roots.

The great producer and organ inventor John Hammond Sr. put it best: "It (the music) is kind of like having a neighbor doing some construction work next door.  It's annoying, but not so bad as to actually cause you to go over and ask them to stop."  It's no wonder then, that their recordings such as "There Is No Page Two", "Gettin' Juggy Wit It^©", "The Crazy People From Hell Milieu" and the definitive "You May Feel Some Discomfort"^® have seared through the jug charts as a hot knife through butter, even if it was in reverse direction.  It's all a matter of perspective.  And when you've achieved what the Basin Street Sheiks have, perspective doesn't mean much.

SheikSounds
Vintage Mp33^1/3 files