Fontanels

Formation

In the early 1990's (while the Hodads were still active), Crawdaddy and Robbie had a side project called the Fontanels where they switched places — Robbie played drums, and Crawdaddy played guitar. Crawdaddy: "I wanted to play guitar, write songs, and scream. " Also in the Fontanels were Crawdaddy's childhood buddy Andy Higgins (guitar) and their friend Jeff Bradley (bass).

Sound

Like the Hodads, the Fontanels focused on original material but were more primitive and influenced by punk and blues. Crawdaddy: "After one of our shows, the sound guy commented that he liked what we were doing — sort of a "punk blues". I didn't realize it at the time, and we certainly weren't skilled enough then to do everything we wanted, but the Fontanels were basically the blueprint for Crawdad Crash — taking all my influences and the music that I loved and smushing them together into something unique."

Recordings

In 2023, the Fontanels released The First Gig: Live At The Georgia Theatre, the only surving audio evidence of the Fontanels. It contains 10 originals and 1 cover, the Archie's "Sugar, Sugar". Crawdaddy: "We were fortunate enough to open for Dash Rip Rock at our very first gig (thanks, Bill!). It’s pretty rough but not too bad for our first show. It has a lot of energy, and I have re-recorded several of the songs for Crawdad Crash albums. We continued to get better and had a lot of fun back in the day."

Repertoire

In addition to the originals Crawdaddy was writing, the Fontanels worked out a good number of covers — some of which are listed below.

• AC/DC - Jailbreak
• AC/DC - Overdose
• Archies - Sugar, Sugar
• Clash - Brand New Cadillac
• Cult - King Contrary Man
• Cult - Wildflower
• Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons
• Heartbreakers - I Wanna Be Loved
• Heartbreakers - One Track Mind
• Kiss - Rock And Roll All Nite
• Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown
• Ted Nugent - Wang Dang
• Ramones - Beat On The Brat
• Ramones - Cretin Hop
• Ramones - Suzy Is A Headbanger
• Sex Pistols - Pretty Vicious
• Stooges - Down On The Street

Contact

Contact the Fontanels via Crawdad Crash (see Contact page).