Southern Culture on the Skids, also sometimes known as SCOTS, is an American rock band formed in 1983 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The band plays country and rockabilly songs featuring humorous lyrics inspired by the culture of the Southern United States.

This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (July 2014)

Southern Culture on the Skids
Southern Culture on the Skids perform in Raleigh, NC, 17 April 2010. Left to right: Dave Hartman, Rick Miller, and Mary Huff.
Background information
Origin	Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Genres	Country rockabilly
Years active	1983–present
Labels	Lloyd Street Moist Plan 9 Caroline Safe House Geffen Estrus TVT Yep Roc
Members	Rick Miller Dave Hartman Mary Huff
Past members	Stan Lewis Leslie Land Chip Shelby Chris Bess Tim Barnes
Website	Official website

Artistry

Style and influences

Southern Culture on the Skids' music is difficult to classify singularly, as the band incorporates several different musical styles into its own unique sound.[1] Guitarist/singer Rick Miller has described the band's sound as "Americana from the wrong side of the tracks."[2] It incorporates elements of punk,[2] garage,[1] hillbilly,[1] novelty[3] and beach music.[1] This sound has been classified as country,[3][4][5] rockabilly,[1][2][5] Southern rock,[1][3] R&B,[1][2] surf,[1][2] psychedelic,[1] psychobilly[4] and roots rock.[5] The band originally focused primarily on rock music styles, but would later focus primarily on country music.[3]

Lyrical themes

SCOTS's lyrics are generally very upbeat, as they usually write and perform songs about dancing, sex, and fried chicken,[6] which are main themes in songs such as "Cheap Motels," "Soul City," and "Eight Piece Box." They are also known for their live shows, which often include throwing fried chicken and banana pudding into the audience, and audience members invited to dance onstage.[7] As a general rule, they are not hostile toward non-commercial taping of their shows.[8]

Other media

The band appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 1995, performing "Camel Walk" from their album Dirt Track Date,[6] where Jay Leno jokingly said Drew Carey performed on drums. They also appeared numerous times on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[6] The song "Soul City" was heard in the 1996 film Happy Gilmore, as well as the 2005 Dukes Of Hazzard movie. The song "White Trash" is featured in the soundtrack for the 1996 film Beavis and Butt-head Do America. The song "Camel Walk" is used in the 1996 movie Flirting with Disaster, the 1997 movie Perdita Durango, and the 2009 movie Schwerkraft. It also was used on the first season of the TV show Psych in the episode "Weekend Warriors." "My Baby's Got the Strangest Ways" appears on the soundtrack to the 1997 slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer. The band can also be seen performing the song on a beach party in the movie. Four of their songs, "King of the Mountain", "Pass the Hatchet", "Cheap Motels" and "The Corn Rocket" appeared on the soundtrack to the 2001 film Super Troopers. The song "Smiley Yeah Yeah Yeah" appears on the soundtrack to the 2004 Major League Baseball video game MLB 2005. The track "40 Miles to Vegas" appeared on the EA Sports video game NASCAR 07. The song "White Trash" appears in the trailer for the 2011 movie Goon. Rick Miller appeared on episode 174 of the Americana Music Show [9] and described their 2013 release, Dig This! as being inspired by having to dig ditches around his Kudzu Ranch recording studio to fix its septic tank. "Weird Al" Yankovic featured a style parody of Southern Culture on the Skids entitled "Lame Claim to Fame" on his 14th studio album, Mandatory Fun.

Band members

Current members

• Rick Miller (vocals, guitar)
• Dave Hartman (percussion)
• Mary Huff (vocals, bass)

Former members

• Stan Lewis
• Leslie Land
• Chip Shelby
• Chris Bess
• Tim Barnes
• Michael Kelsh

Discography

Albums

EPs/singles/demos

Guest appearances

References

External links

• Official Website
• Southern Culture on the Skids at AllMusic
• "69 El Camino" from the TV Show Corporate Country Sucks.
• Southern Culture on the Skids collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• Rick Miller Interview and music from the CD Zombiefied