Slim Jim Phantom doesn’t do regrets. Ask him about the Stray Cats’ first album in 26 years, 40, and he’ll tell you it feels right—like slipping back into a leather jacket that somehow still fits. “It kind of feels exactly like what I’m supposed to be doing,” he says, laughing off the idea that the gap in time might have dulled the band’s chemistry. “We were kids when we started, and it’s all still there.”
It’s hard to think of a band that could stay dormant for so long and then just pick up where they left off, but Slim Jim’s got no time for that kind of self-doubt. For him, rockabilly is as much a part of his DNA as the stand-up drum kit. “I never found it artistically constraining or anything like that,” he shrugs. “I’m proud of it. It’s classic. It’s culture. That’s gonna be on my tombstone, and I’m good with it.”
What’s most surprising about 40 is how fresh it sounds. Sure, it’s dripping with the same retro swagger that made them legends, but there’s a modern kick to it, too. One standout track, “Cry Danger,” has that unmistakable Stray Cats energy, but something feels… off—in a good way. Slim Jim breaks it down like he’s talking shop over a beer: “There’s a chord in there that shouldn’t be there. It just sticks out, like, ‘Why is that there?’ But that’s the trick—making it sound familiar while being different.” Shoutout to Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers, who co-wrote the track and brought that unexpected twist.
When it comes to recording, the Cats didn’t mess around with sterile, overproduced nonsense. They went straight for live takes, mics bleeding into each other like they were playing a seedy dive on a Thursday night. “Most bands don’t do it because of technical stuff—mics bleeding and all that,” Slim Jim says, as if that’s some kind of excuse. “But we’re confident in our ability to do it live, so we just went for it.” Turns out, pulling that off means knowing your songs so well you could play them in your sleep. “You had to earn an album back then,” he says. “You didn’t just mess around in the studio and hope for the best. You went in prepared.”
As for the revival of rockabilly—and let’s face it, it comes and goes like a ghost in the night—Slim Jim’s got one philosophy: It all leads back to Eddie Cochran. “Without Eddie Cochran, there’s no Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, or even the Sex Pistols. All roads lead to Eddie,” he says, almost reverent. “Rockabilly doesn’t really die; it just keeps finding a new way to kick down the door.”
Even as Slim Jim gears up for a potential collaboration with Jimmy Barnes and a new project with Chris Chaney, he’s not sweating the small stuff. The man’s content—happy to still be swinging, still drumming, still keeping rockabilly alive with every hit. “The thread’s gotta stay connected,” he muses. “Otherwise, what’s the point?”
For Slim Jim Phantom, it’s not about getting the band back together for nostalgia’s sake. It’s about proving they’ve still got it—live, raw, and unapologetically loose. Just like it’s always been.
Listen to the interview above and then check out the videos below!
