Revved up and ready: The Chop Tops reunite for two final shows

It’s time to bust out the Murray’s pomade, roll up those T-shirt sleeves and get ready to rumble as Santa Cruz welcomes the return of its prodigal sons, The Chop Tops. On Friday, Dec. 12, and Saturday, Dec. 13, the self-proclaimed “Revved-Up Rockabilly” trio will be joining friends at Moe’s Alley for their first hometown shows in a decade. 

“Back in the day we were the house band there,” guitarist Shelby Legnon says of Moe’s Alley with a laugh. “But we caused so much trouble I’m surprised they’re going to let us through the door!”

The final dates come after a busy year for the band that has decided to get back together. In January, they released their seventh studio album, “Fabrikate.” The album features mostly originals, with a couple of covers – “Police Truck” by the Dead Kennedys and the semi-traditional “Gallows Pole.” Originally based on the poem “The Maid Freed From the Gallows” by Francis James Child, The Chop Tops follow popular artists like Lead Belly and Led Zeppelin by putting their own unique spin on it. Along with changing some of the lyrics, they incorporate a surprise instrument not normally associated with rockabilly: the mandolin, which also appears on the tracks “Fool’s Gold” and “The Devil You Know.” 

“I love it,” says drummer Gary “Sinner” Marsh. “Shelby’s shredding on [the album]. We’ve always had that element, hopping from bluegrass to jump blues to country-ish tunes to, obviously, rockabilly and psychobilly.”

An example is the surf instrumental track, “Pleasure Point.” Local fans will recognize this song, along with “Heartbreak” and “Gallows Pole,” because they were regularly performed live prior to the band’s “retirement” in 2015. 

“However, a lot of the songs are ones we were working on but never premiered live,” Legnon says. “‘Dog House Blues,’ goes back to the ‘Triple Deuces’ album [2008]. It was recorded but didn’t end up on ‘Triple Deuces’ and I have no clue why.” 

Despite the trio living apart – Marsh still in Santa Cruz, bassist Brett “Black” Williams elsewhere in California and Legnon out of state –  they say writing “Fabrikate” ran as smoothly as a finely tuned engine. 

“Actually I thought this was the easiest one to write,” says Williams. “We’d send each other parts and we’d have our own time to figure out what we wanted to play and hear it back in real time before sending it to the other guys. Instead of being in a room and having to think of things on the spot.” 

However, “Fabrikate” is an album that also almost never happened. 

“Shelby and I had a handful of tunes we intended to record on an album but it never happened,” Marsh says. By chance, Marsh and Williams met up at a friend’s wedding in Whittier, California. 

“I told him we were kicking some tunes around and, believe it or not, we were thinking about recording another album,” says Marsh. “That was years before we even got to it.” 

Marsh explains that ever since The Chop Tops’ final performance on April 3, 2015, at the three-day Las Vegas rockabilly festival Viva Las Vegas, tons of promoters have been clamoring to get the band to do reunion shows. But each time they politely declined. 

“We wanted the retirement to mean something,” Marsh says. “How many bands have you seen that ‘retire’ and then a summer later they’re on tour again?” 

“Loot at the Rolling Stones, they’ve been doing it since the ‘70s,” Legnon laughs.

Initially, they were just going to record the album, which was announced in April 2024. However, when Viva Las Vegas founder Tom Ingram, who also wrote the back cover liner notes for “Fabrikate,” told the band this would be his final year with the festival, The Chop Tops knew it was time to come out of retirement, even if just for a record release show at Viva. When the band’s old agency, Atomic Music Group, asked if they wanted to add some extra shows, the band agreed, but only if they kept the number under 10. 

The first was on April 26 for Viva Las Vegas. The band then played a mix of festivals and club shows with three more in the month of June, one in July and another in August before this week’s final two. 

Ironically, this week’s shows were also the first two announced on this January. The first night is a lineup of reunions with classic local acts Astro Zombies, The Swillbillys and Los Dryheavers opening. Saturday will feature surf-a-billy newbies Surf Creeps, Southern soul sensation The Inciters and a second show by The Swillbillys. 

Yet, both nights hit walls of uncertainty early on. 

The first came earlier this past April when Felix Lozano, guitar player for Los Dryheavers, unexpectedly died of a heart attack. The second came in September, when Backyard Blues Band guitarist Mike Baldwin also passed on. While Los Dryheavers decided to continue on with the show in honor of Lozano with a surprise guest on guitar, the Surf Creeps stepped up to fill in for the Backyard Blues Band. 

Marsh said that Mario Valens of the Backyard Blues Band, and younger brother of early rock ‘n roll star Ritchie Valens, is going to come out on Saturday and sit in on a couple of tunes.

Formed in 1995, the Chop Tops have gone through multiple lineup changes throughout their 30 years, with Marsh the only consistent member. Originally on guitar and piano, Marsh jumped behind the skins early on, with Legnon joining in 1999 and Williams in 2008. In true punk rock style, Williams’ first show was a trial-by-fire forever immortalized online, as it was the night the band recorded their video for “El Diablo” live at the Key Club in Hollywood. 

“Without a practice too!” Williams said with a laugh. “You just got to walk until you find it.” 

During the band’s height, they were playing roughly 200 shows a year, completing countless national tours and even one overseas in Australia. 

In 2006, they starred as themselves in the locally produced indie cult film, “Flying Saucer Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Filmed in Watsonville, the movie follows a 1950s “square” who tries to save his friends – and the world – from an invasion of weed-smoking extraterrestrials whose marijuana turns humans into zombies. The band was asked to join by their friend and movie writer and director Eric Callero, who also used to play shows with The Chop Tops in his band, The King Peasants, which longtime locals might remember. 

“We gave him nothing but s–t,” says Legnon. “He’s directing us, saying ‘OK, you come off stage and now you’re selling your CDs.’ And I’m like, ‘It’s the 1950s, dude, why are we selling CDs?’” 

The Chop Tops were also among some of the earliest underground bands in the area to have corporate sponsorship. Along with instrument company Gretsch, clothing brands like  Lucky 13 and T.U.K., they were also one of the early bands to score a sponsorship by the energy beverage company Red Bull. But the real feather in their cap – or comb in the pompadour – was being one of only three bands to be sponsored by the 100-year-old hair pomade company Murray’s, next to The Stray Cats and Social Distortion. 

For this week’s shows, the band says they will have a limited number of “Fabrikate” merch items including shirts, CDs and black vinyl. They will also raffle off a limited, blue sapphire LP (pressed at only 250 copies) each night at Moe’s Alley. 

“And we’ll have some leftover Chop Tops-branded Murray’s combs,” Marsh says. 

As for the future, the band says they don’t plan on touring anytime soon. However, never say never. It seems “Fabrikate” might have revved them up for future releases. 

“As Brett said, this tech is so easy to work with there’s really nothing stopping us,” says Marsh. “I haven’t even talked about it with the guys, but there are a couple of concept albums I always thought would be fun. One of them would be an instrumental album with a lot of the amazing people and guitar players we’ve met.” 

“It’s up to the public,” Legnon says. “Do you want to hear from The Chop Tops again?”

The Chop Tops play Friday and Saturday at Moe’s Alley; both shows are now sold out.

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