Johnny Chastain, 22; Zach Babbe, 19

JC “My favorite bars in the city are California Clipper, Cobra Lounge, Delilah’s and Holiday Club. They aren’t specifically rockabilly bars, but there are nights when rockabilly DJs spin. And the first Thursday of every month, Martyrs’ has a rockabilly open mike.”

ZB “We’re in a band called Tracer Bullet. Our practice space is amazing. It’s got a beer machine! It’s like a soda machine, but the owners of the space put beer in it. Occasionally, they wrap $10 bills around the cans, so you get $10 and a beer. Our next gig is performing as the house band for a burlesque show at the Lakeshore Theater on April 24. It’s gonna be a hell of a time. There’s going to be bustiers and leather and pinup models.”

Danny Zuko called. He wants his everything back.
ZB Oh, shit! Them’s fightin’ words to me.

Sorry. Do you get that a lot?
ZB People say shit like, “Hey, Fonzie!” It’s like, I’m not Fonzie, motherfucker. Fonzie’s a pussy.

Kinda like Brian Setzer?
JC No! How dare you!

But what about his big-band holiday album?
JC Setzer’s got credibility coming out his ass. He could put out an album of him singing the alphabet and it’d still be awesome.
ZB The other thing we get asked is, “Are you guys going to some ’50s party?” We get that every fucking day. We got that yesterday at Subway. It’s not a fucking costume, it’s our lifestyle. It’s how I’m comfortable.

Then you pummel the guy, right?
JC Yeah, we rumble.

Because you’re expected to?
ZB Not necessarily. If you’re in any counterculture, jackasses are gonna give you shit.

How much time did you spend on your hair? Be honest.
JC ’Bout a minute and a half. You get pretty good at it.

Where do you get the pomp grease?
JC A lot of places up here push Layrite pomade. It’s a good product, but expensive.
ZB What you want to do is get some Murray’s Superior—the orange can with the two people with Afros on it. You can find it in any Walgreens ethnic-hair-care aisle. A $2 tin will last you forever.
JC Man, you try to get [Murray’s] out of your hair three days later, it’s still going to be in there. Now my hair doesn’t go anywhere but back.

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