Serpentine: Voodoo in the Louisiana Delta

“Don’t go near the water, the water can only kill. Some say she’s the devil’s daughter, if the swamp don’t get ya, then the serpentine will.” OUCH, you’ve got to give it 5 stars for sheer imagination. The Kings of the Sun bit of voodoo magic that captured hearts everywhere. This clip was way down deep in the misty South Louisiana Delta. Check out the ’68 Roadrunner band car with fox tail. Now jump 20 years ahead, outside the seedy bar, with all kinds of broken dreams inside: bikers, drunks, risqué women, Jack Daniels and rock n roll. Being no strangers to any of the above, remember KOTS cut their teeth on the wild streets and bars of Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia. This band can bring any venue to life, and a very live performance indeed.

With an Eddie Kramer recording and Dave Thoener of Van Halen fame mixing this one at the Record Plant in a very swampy, no thrills approach. Love it, love it, I never get sick of watching this clip or hearing the song. Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top loves this tune. Thank you Billy.

Our first album Kings of the Sun was recorded in upstate New York with Eddie Kramer at the wheel. He was full of life, seen at that time to be old hat. Jeff and I wanted that classic rock sound from the late 60s and early 70s. This was done in Beartracks and Bearsville Studios, owned by Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman, up in Woodstock. So the album is full of that Woodstock magic that fills the surrounding hills. Eddie Kramer would try and talk us into buying Ferraris if the album went gold. It was a standing joke in between takes. The session was full of ping pong, Chinese food, plenty of laughter and Eddie’s obsession with the album going GOLD. It by rights should have.

Clifford Hoad, founder of Kings of the Sun