`Crazy` Joe Domingo can still remember the moment everything changed for him, musically speaking.
Domingo was on stage with his heavy metal band at the Chance in Poughkeepsie. Sweaty and screaming, he looked out into the crowd and suddenly thought, `Why am I doing this? I’m really not that angry anymore.`
Before the set was over, Domingo, then 27, had an idea for a new band. It was simple, really. He wanted to play music that would make people dance.
The band that Domingo created, Slick Fitty, is still going strong 11 years later. It will be the headlining artist at Rockabilly Riot, billed as a celebration of 1950s and ’60s Americana, on Saturday, July 18, at Saratoga Music Hall.
Justin `J Man` Birk, the group’s saxophonist, describes rockabilly as `a mix of early rock ‘n’ roll with country twang.` It was Slick Fitty’s calling card in its early days, although Domingo acknowledges none of the members really had a background in that kind of music.
To learn it, he went to a music store, found the rockabilly section and picked out two compilation CDs featuring rockabilly’s greatest hits.
`Literally, the band learned those two CDs,` he said.
It was enough to fulfill Domingo’s dream of having people dance to his music. Slick Fitty found that the rockabilly got people of all ages up and moving.
`Older people could relate to it, and for young kids, it was more hot roddy than that kind of music usually was,` Domingo said.
The sound was not only a hit across generations, but across continents. In 2004, the group played at an open mic night at Savannah’s in Albany. A woman in the audience was from Sweden and encouraged Slick Fitty to fly over and play at a hotel she owned.
It was a crazy idea, but Domingo and his band mates were game. `No one had serious kinds of jobs going on,` Domingo said. `We were like, ‘Yeah, why not? Let’s just go and have some fun.’`
Before they left, they decided to see if they could find a few more places to play besides that hotel. They did a Google search for `European booking agents,` describing themselves as a four-piece American rockabilly band looking for a tour.
Musical success, Domingo said, often hinges on being in the right place at the right time, and this was one of those cases. One of the agents that they contacted had just had a band pull out of a tour because the drummer had broken a thumb or something like that. So, Slick Fitty stepped in.
Domingo said the fact that Slick Fitty was American was often enough to get people in the door. But it wasn’t enough to get them to stay, let alone bring them back for more — the group had to put on a good show.
Slick Fitty was able to deliver because it had spent weeks practicing, thanks to band members’ lack of employment.
`We were really, really, really tight,` Domingo said.
The response stunned the band, which regularly performed in front of crowds of 1,000 people while overseas.
`People went [crazy],` Domingo said. `I’ve never experienced anything like that. Man, oh man, it was a good time.`
The group recorded a CD in Germany, which Domingo said went as high as No. 9 on the alternative charts. Economically, though, it didn’t make sense to stay in Europe long term. Slick Fitty eventually came back to the States, and these days, most of its gigs are local.
The repertoire has changed somewhat, too. Instead of just covering Little Richard, Roy Orbison and Richie Valens, Slick Fitty plays about 60 percent original songs. Those songs still get people on their feet.
`Our music, it’s not so unfamiliar,` Domingo said. `It’s not stuff that’s got 18 parts and intense lyrics.`
`Everyone understands a good beat,` said guitar player `Million Dollar` Bill Harrison.
Harrison is the group’s newest member, having come on board only about a year and a half ago. A veteran of Albany’s music scene, he remembers seeing Slick Fitty perform and digging its music.
`They were right up my alley,` he said. `They’re a good rock ‘n’ roll band.`
It’d be just as easy to call Slick Fitty a good swing band or country band or bluegrass band.
`You name it, we’ve got a full set for it,` said Domingo, who predicted the group could do 45 minutes of just about any genre.
No matter what kind of music Slick Fitty is playing, band members — the group also includes drummer Mickey King and bassist Brian `Bri Bri Two Hammers` Springfield — promise a high-energy show, just like Domingo envisioned more than a decade ago.
`People can expect a lot of fun,` Birk said. `We’re very dance-able.`
Rockabilly Riot is being put on in conjunction with the Saratoga SAVOY monthly Diamond Dance, a large swing dance gathering. The evening kicks off at 7:30 and includes dance demonstrations, art exhibits, free food and Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. The cost is $15. Saratoga Music Hall is 474 Broadway in Saratoga Springs. “