The Wildcats were a rockabilly band from Melbourne, Australia, which in 1983 recorded a single with one of my favourite versions of the song Rain, originally from Charlie Feathers, for the Preston Records. The Wildcats were formed by Vic O’Neil vocalist, Dave «The Kid» Cantrell on guitar, Graeme Thomas on bass, Wayne Marx on drums. The band a handful of songs for Preston Records in the early 80’s.
You can find the song Rain, plus 3 other songs of the group in the compilation titled Aussiebilly by Nervous Records, edited in 1986. The rest of his short discography, appears in volumes 1,2,3 of the compilations The Preston Rockabilly Story, 4 songs per album, in volumes 1 and 2, and 11 songs in volume 3, in 2 of which accompany female singers. Side b of the 1983 Rain single doesn’t appear in any compilation. After the disappearance of The Wilcats, the group members went to different formations, including Toni & The Tomcats y Straight 8’s.
We miss a good compilation album which collects all the recordings of this pioneer band from the Australian rockabilly scene.