Custom-made Billy Martini dolls accompany CDs and Swarovski Crystal-studded tank tops on the merchandise page of Billy Martini’s website. The figurine, which looks like a cross between Kid Rock and Liberace, wears an ivory-feathered boa, rhinestone sunglasses and straw cowboy hat. The 12-inch doll ($99) enjoys more than a scary likeness to the real Martini. It also embodies the rock-and-roll showboating of hard-partying bands like KISS, who also had dolls modeled after them. Another strategy Martini borrows successfully from the KISS playbook: playing dress-up isn’t just for little girls.
“I’ve been playing music my whole life and acquired a whole selection of stage clothes,” Martini says in a leathery rock-and-roll voice. “Over the past eight years, I’ve put together this image with a cowboy hat, polyester shirts and ’60s and ’70s vintage clothes – the ladies really love it so it just stuck.”
The Billy Martini Show makes its Sly McFly’s debut on Saturday night, and Martini says to expect many costume changes and an extended appearance from his boa. When the band plays cities like Reno, Martini and his bandmates spend time scouring off-the-beaten-path thrift shops for threads and other esoteric items.
“A few months back, I found a really cool pair of platform boots that I wear periodically,” he says. “I also found a General Electric Wildcat portable record player and a big, old school radio console with tubes from the early ’60s.”
But the BMS is more than an entertaining stage spectacle. These guys can rock, even in constrictive silk shirts with hippo-sized butterfly collars. Though the outfit has three albums of original material, they’ll be performing their “’70s Musical Tribute” at Sly’s. From Junior Walker and the Allstars’ “Shotgun” to Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love,” Martini says the repertoire is made up of mostly one-hit wonders that people might know, but that other cover bands usually don’t play.
THE BILLY MARTINI SHOW plays at 9pm Saturday, April 28, at Sly McFly’s, 700 Cannery Row, Monterey. Free. 649-8050.