Chicago rockabilly beginnings
Ricky Dubra’s work with bassist Earl ‘Pool Ball’ Carter predates the Secret 4. In the group’s own history, the two musicians met and played together during the 1980s in the Buzzards and the Deacons, part of Chicago’s rockabilly scene. That shared experience brought a long-established rhythm partnership into their later band.
The Secret 4
The Secret 4 brought those rockabilly roots together with Chicago blues and the keyboard background of LaeLo, Lance Loiselle. The band describes its repertoire as crossing blues, country, jazz, and punk. Dubra appears under the name Bam Bam in the group’s recording credits.
Recording at Jam Lab
On June 4, 2024, the Secret 4 recorded with Willie Buck at Jam Lab Studios in Brookfield, Illinois. Released that December, the session pairs Dubra’s drums with Carter’s string bass, Loiselle’s piano and organ, Jack Bilby’s guitars, and A. Bruno’s saxophones. The program includes ‘Boogie Woogie’ and ‘Twine Time.’
Walk On In
Dubra is credited by his full name on the group’s 2026 album Walk On In. He and Carter remain together in its rhythm section, while Gene Kilty plays guitar and Anthony Bruno receives featured billing. Their route from rockabilly groups to Buck’s blues sessions gives the Secret 4 a background that extends beyond a single stylistic setting.
Instrumentals before the Buck recordings
The Secret 4’s self-titled 2021 release presented the group as an instrumental band. Titles such as “Burnt Bisquits,” “Stalkin’,” “Apache” and “Sly” sit within a catalog that draws on rockabilly, surf, rhythm and blues and jazz. Dead Science followed in 2023, before the group’s December 2024 releases with Buck.
Dubra’s drums and Carter’s bass form a partnership that carried into the band’s work with a vocalist. Their shared history in the Buzzards and the Deacons predates those releases by decades. Keyboardist Loiselle and the guitar and saxophone players brought other musical backgrounds into the same group.
Bam Bam in the credits
The name Bam Bam appears on the Jam Lab recording, while Walk On In credits Ricky Dubra. Both identify the drummer. On the later album, he works with Carter, Kilty, Loiselle and Bruno through fifteen selections, with Buck leading the vocal numbers.
The band’s 2024 recording includes “Pump Up the Night,” as well as “Boogie Woogie” and “Twine Time.” Walk On In follows with a different program, including “Big Boss Man,” “Double Trouble” and “Willies Boogie.” Together, the releases extend Dubra’s work with Carter from the Secret 4’s instrumental records into an ongoing collaboration with Buck.