The Ragers plan to light The Chukker up

Originally printed in "The Crimson White", Tuscaloosa, AL
February 25, 1999
By Ben Stiler, Senior Staff Reporter

Ace Borkowski says old people come to his shows and get scared.

Borkowski, the Ace in Ace and the Ragers, the Rockabilly band playing The Chukker tonight, thinks '50's rock has gotten "watered down" over the years and the wildness and intensity of its original performers has gotten lost in nostaligia.

"A lot of older people want older people to play their music. They hear we're '50s rock 'n' roll, so they come," he said.

Borkowski has a resume for scaring old people. He was doing punk rock when he started "doing homework and going back and looking at influences." The resulting band their music as swing or rockabilly but would prefer that you call it "rock 'n' roll."

From Cleveland, the city where the river caught on fire, the Ragers, like any other swing band trying to make it, proclaim their integrity and denounce fakers. Borkowski said "a lot of current stuff sounds half-assed the bands call themselves rockabilly and it comes out cocktail."

His band was formed five years ago before the current swing revival, and tries "to honestly represent the music with integrity."

Cleveland is the right place to get into rockabilly. The reason it got the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and Museum was because of its history of popularizing rock 'n' roll in the '50s.

"A lot of things have changed. People have died or moved away... Still, you'll be tilting the dial -- on the AM -- and you'll hear Bill Randle, the guy who helped Elvis get his first TV appearance.

DJs like Randle played people like Bill Haley, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Elvis Presley, who played the music the Ragers mimic to the nanometer.

So when the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame opened its Elvis wing, their band was selected from many to play. "They needed a band to play the music with the original sound."

The Ragers are supporting their debut album with their first national tour.

The Album is called "Light This Sucker Up" because "we wanted to lay down the law and tell (other bands) we're here for partying.

The band's name comes from "a lot of people saying that the show 'raged,' and it just sort of fit."

Borkowski sees "the same youthful energy in both (rockabilly/swing and punk) crowds.