Around this time last year we took my parents on an immersive theatrical fine dining experience called The Raven & the Writing Desk. Guests were lead into a reimaginging of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland where scenes were played out around the serving of four courses of playful gastronomy over four dark and deeply atmospheric floors of Bristol’s original gin-joint-cum-speakeasy The Milk Thistle.

For the Food & Theatre Company‘s next outing – a rockabilly roller derby to be held in a secret location – I had the honour of providing the soundtrack. This meant a week of frantically genning up on the tougher side of ’50s americana and turning out three hours of continuous seat-of-my-pants music on each performance night. But looking out over the city in summer with pomade in my hair, a toothpick clasped between my teeth and those ethereal golden oldies pervading the sixth floor of West End car park is one of those memories that validates all the snap ‘Er… yeah, sure’ decisions made over the years.

Jack Rabbit’s Jukebox is a selection of the tunes that worked best over the two nights; from scene-setting to rollerskating, hep cat swingin’ to a-rockin’ and a-rollin’ (apologies for Vincent’s sweary mouth):

Me.