Smutty Smiff may not be a household name but he has rocked onstage alongside of some of the biggest names in music. He is currently residing in Reykjavik and rocking the local scene there. He also owns a rockabillythemed store called WildCat, his attempt to bring the largely popular style of music to Iceland.We did a live interview on one of the radio stations in Iceland the day of the PRICK LIVE concert where he vowed to get all of Iceland wearing creepers and listening to Johnny Cash. He is a man on a mission. His current band,The 59’ers, is the epitome of his vision.

Chuck Brank: Tell me a little bit about the band and how you came to be?

Smutty Smiff: I found these guys when I moved to Iceland from Los Angeles. I wanted to find some young, cool rockabilly guys. I ran into these guys, thought I’d talk to them about rockabilly.They happen to be brothers and they grew up in a Baptist music background.

Brothers: Gospel and Blues.

SS: Their mother’s a jazz singer, uncle’s a musician.They’ve been listening to music all their lives.And their hair grows out of their head like this. It sort of came together rather organically, because we didn’t really talk a lot. But when we would talk, they said exactly what I wanted them to say.

CB: Tell me a little about yourself, Smutty?

SS: I’ve been playing rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll since the mid-1970s. I was tattooed by Bob Roberts and Mark Mahoney when they were doing their first tattoos.  Bob Roberts was a saxophone player in my band; I met Andy Warhol and was photographed by him; I lived in New York City from 1978 to 1986.  I’ve lived in Los Angeles, and I’ve toured with The Clash,The Pretenders, Tina Turner and others.

Bs: He was a big part of the rockabilly revival.

SS: I was a big part of the rockabilly revival. I cut The Stray Cats’ hair, sold them their first standup bass. Just google my name, bro’.

CB: Tell me a little bit about your tattoos.

SS: I started out on the tattoo scene in the mid-70s, in England.When I was getting tattoos back in the day I was photographed by Rolling Stone. I was walking down Sunset [Boulevard] in the mid-70s and there was only Gill Montie and Cliff Raven and Bob Roberts, there wasn’t anybody else.  People jumped out of their cars and took pictures of you and screamed at you. My whole back is Salvador Dali’s “The Ascension of Christ” done by Mark Mahoney in 1983. My chest and ribs were done by English Craig.  More by Bob Roberts, Jonathan Shore.A lot of it is from when Bob was studying under Ed Hardy, in the late-70s or early-80s. I don’t know if I payed for any Bob Roberts’ tattoos.

CB: What’s your most recent tattoo?

SS: I got a bird from Sophia at Reykjavík Ink and I got the whole top of my... left hand done by a great artist named Sid in Santa Ana who does old school, sort of Sailor Jerry-type stuff.

Thanks, guys. Keep on rockin’!