by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Peter Sandmark of the Crazy Rhythm Daddies has a brand new bag, hillbilly boogie, and a new nom de guerre, Slim Sandy. Now, that don't mean the Daddies are down for the count.

"Obviously, we've been playing 15 years," says Sandmark, "so we've played a lot in town, and each of us is involved in other musical projects. Our drummer Robert Kraft is in Morocco right now, playing with a Moroccan band. My brother Eric's working on a project called the Missing Link, which is rock 'n' roll between the late '50s and the British Invasion, that surf-based proto-garage stuff. I've always been into the older music, and I'd really gotten into what's called hillbilly boogie from the late '40s."

Sandmark explains that hillbilly boogie was the post-war white response to the blues, bringing a gritty groove to the twang of country music. In other words, the dawn of what would become rock 'n' roll. It's suited to Sandmark's musical CV, and to his self-described "hillbilly voice" - "It's not an accent, it's a tone, a vocal style that's a bit nasal.

"The other element is the harmonica - which I tried to do in the Daddies but it didn't fit - that amplified harmonica, really loud. It kinda replaces the lead guitar. I'd been wanting to do that since I was a kid, when one of the early records I had was by this guy Slim Harpo. He's famous for ‘Hip Shake Baby,' which the Stones covered. It was electric guitar and harmonica, and he never succeeded because he was considered too pop for the blues market and too bluesy for pop. But he was copied by the British, who turned the blues into a pop sound."

For Sandmark, it's a perfect one-man-band sound (though his show on Sept. 6 features a bassist and drummer), which sees him handling harp, voice, guitar and both bass and snare drum all at once. "At the end of the night, I'm packing up and I realize why it's called a one-man band - I've got all the gear of a band, and I have to pack it all into the taxi myself!"

At Jupiter Room on Saturday, Sept. 6, 10pm, $5

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