Born in Brooklyn and raised in Massapequa, New York, Phantom grew up listening to his parents' jazz records and began playing drums by the age of ten. He took lessons with Mousie Alexander, who played with Benny Goodman, studying jazz and working through books by Jim Chapin and Ted Reed.

By the late 1970s, he was playing in bands with his childhood friend, bassist Lee Rocker. They soon joined forces with guitarist Brian Setzer to form Stray Cats.[ When performing with Stray Cats, Phantom did not sit behind a standard drum kit like most drummers, but instead opted to play in a standing position with a minimalist set-up of bass drum, snare drum, hi-hat, and crash cymbal.

During downtime from Stray Cats, Phantom played in swing, rockabilly, and jump blues combo The Swing Cats with Rocker and ex-Polecats guitarist Danny B. Harvey,[6] as well as rockabilly and glam rock project Phantom, Rocker & Slick with Rocker and guitarist Earl Slick.  In 1985, he appeared with Carl Perkins and a host of other musicians including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Dave Edmunds and Rosanne Cash for Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session in London, England. Phantom also played with Jerry Lee Lewis.

He later formed Col. Parker with former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke, releasing the album Rock n Roll Music in 2001.[

Most recently, he has been involved in the eponymous roots-rock band Slim Jim's Phantom Trio; rock-and-roll supergroup Dead Men Walking with Kirk Brandon and Mike Peters, and Captain Sensible;[ and rockabilly supergroup The Head Cat with Danny B. Harvey and the late Motörhead vocalist and bassist Lemmy.  He also hosts the Rockabilly Raveup show on Little Steven's Underground Garage.

In March 2023, Barnes announced the supergroup The Barnestormers, featuring Barnes, Cheney, Phantom with Jools Holland and Kevin Shirley. A self-titled album was released on 26 May 2023.

 

 

Some Things That Came Up:

 

-2:35 45 Years of The Stay Cats

-3:30 Studying with Mousey Alexander 

-3:50 Ted Reed and Jim Chapin books 

-8:30 Carl Perkins, Bo Diddley, Eddie Cochran, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Luis Jordan are           the roots

-10:12 Origins of The Stray Cats 

-14:00 Moving to London at 19 years old

-16:00 Lemmy, Joe Strummer, and Chrissy Hyndes

  were early believers

-17:30 Ray Davies 

-17:50 The Rolling Stones front row at a show helped the Stray Cats make national news

-18:40 Arista Records and Dave Edmunds

-19:00 A Top 10 hit! 

-22:20 5 nights at The Roxy

-25:45 Opened for The Stones in 1981, for FREE! 

-29:20 Always creating with longtime friends 

-32:00 Working with Harry Dean Stanton and Jules Holland

-37:45 Getting the job on Little Steven’s Underground on Sirius XM, every Sunday at 5 pm 

-44:00 Climbing Mt. Everest and Mt. Kilimanjaro

-54:00 One Man Show 

-56:20 Jennie Vie with Courtney Love and Eagles of Death Metal

-56:45 New drummer is Leah Bluestein 

 

Follow: 

www.slimjimphantom.com

IG: @officialslimjimphantom

 

 

 

The Rich Redmond Show is about all things music, motivation and success. Candid conversations with musicians, actors, comedians, authors and thought leaders about their lives and the stories that shaped them. Rich Redmond is the longtime drummer with Jason Aldean and many other veteran musicians and artists. Rich is also an actor, speaker, author, producer and educator. Rich has been heard on thousands of songs, over 25 of which have been #1 hits!

 

Rich can also be seen in several films and TV shows and has also written an Amazon Best-Selling book, "CRASH! Course for Success: 5 Ways to Supercharge Your Personal and Professional Life" currently available at:

 

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One Book: Three Ways to consume....Physical (delivered to your front door, Digital (download to your kindle, ipad or e-reader), or Audio (read to you by me on your device...on the go)!

 

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Jim McCarthy is the quintessential Blue Collar Voice Guy. Honing his craft since 1996 with radio stations in Illinois, South Carolina, Connecticut, New York, Las Vegas and Nashville, Jim has voiced well over 10,000 pieces since and garnered an ear for audio production which he now uses for various podcasts, commercials and promos. Jim is also an accomplished video producer, content creator, writer and overall entrepreneur.

 

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@jimmccarthy

www.jimmccarthyvoiceovers.com