An Interview with Treacherous Four

Fine Dining with Harrisburg’s Treacherous Four

by Ed Yashinsky

The Treacherous Four looked very much at home in the diner they chose for a recent interview. In a mere 45 minutes, they opened over the recent coffee house phenomenon, unearthed a great source for two-toned Hush Puppies and were downright giddy about the mind-boggling opportunity to play before thousands of bikers in an Eastern California town populated by 20 brave souls. At the same time, these sweet-talking, suave gentlemen managed to pack the ashtrays with cigarette butts, abuse each other like a bunch of teenagers and generously compliment the waitress on her fine shade of nail polish (midnight blue with sparkles). If you can’t find happiness hanging out with the Treacherous Four, you might have to consider counseling.

On stage, the Treacherous Four are the same guys from the diner, except their enthusiastic banter is replaced by a sonic sound. At a recent Kokomo’s performance, lead singer, Eddie Von Bach, best summed up this band’s attitude after the first song: "It’s Friday night. You want to be entertained, and we want to entertain you. I think we have some sort of symbiotic relationship here." With that, the band ripped through a set that featured both upbeat originals and incredible interpretations of classic material by the Burnette Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley.

"We are over the top," says drummer Billy Love, who regularly sports a black leather vest, a bolo tie, and Buddy Holly glasses. "But people like to see more than a band just standing on stage playing. They want the visual as well as the music and that’s what we try to give them."

That same night at Kokomo’s, when two women jumped up to dance and then quickly sat down, Von Bach, decked out in black topped with a pink blazer, chased them back to their table and easily convinced them to return to the dance floor. All the while, the band, also featuring Paul Keaveny on guitar and Chris Wenrich on bass, continued to pump out the music, which owes as much inspiration to the blues and early Beatles as it does to Gene Vincent or Eddie Cochran.

The Treacherous Four have been together since last May, but the rockabilly sound they’ve been producing goes back more than fifteen years for Eddie Von Bach. During that time, he fronted his own band in New York City, and also managed a few brushes with true rock n’ roll fame: he toured Europe and recorded with Bo Didley and played guitar with The Top Cats, who later went on to international success as The Stray Cats. "Brian (Setzer of the Stray Cats) begged me to go to London with the band, but I couldn’t afford it at the time," says Von Bach, explaining the missed opportunity. "The rest is history."

Weary of the New York music scene, Von Bach returned to the Harrisburg area. He was working with Love on one of his solo projects when they decided to form the Treacherous Four. Von Bach met Wenrich at a Halloween party and knew that his personality, attitude, and ability were perfect for the group. Keaveny, from Lancaster and formerly of Out the Sun, joined the band several months later to complete the lineup.

As tempting as it might be today to take rockabilly and coat it in a wall of slacker-friendly distortion, the Treacherous Four make a concerted effort to keep their sound firmly embedded in the traditional style with a healthy dose of reverb. About half their repertoire is cover material, but it is difficult to tell the covers from their well-written originals. "We like playing the classic rockabilly songs," explains Von Bach, "but at the same time we are working to develop our own sound."

Von Bach’s friendship with Setzer continues to this day and it’s led to some great opportunities for the band, including opening two recent shows for the Brian Setzer Orchestra. The band has also been performing regularly in New York City and Baltimore.

But to catch the biggest Treacherous Four gig, you’ll have to hoof it to the California desert. At the end of April, the band heads to Amboy, California, a privately owned town that sits in a direct path between Los Angeles and Laughlin, Nevada, the site of an annual Harley Davidson rally that draws tens of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts. "They wanted to have a little festival, and they booked me to MC the event and the Treacherous Four to play," says Von Bach, who knows one of the organizers. "Since that time, the event has exploded in scope and will feature ZZ Top, George Thoroughgood, Billy Idol, and The Reverend Horton Heat."

The group plans to record a five-song demo in New York City in the spring, and they are all in agreement about their long-term plans. "We just want to continue to put all our energy into this project and see where it leads us," says Wenrich.

For a while, the Treacherous Four will be content to brighten the Harrisburg music scene and hang out in all the finest diners. The future, however, is yet to be determined.