With instruments and image in hand, the trio that resembled a mix of punk icons the Clash and a '50s street gang left New York City in 1979 and headed for London, making it onto the charts a year later with the aptly named "Runaway Boys." Other hits like "Stray Cat Strut" and "Rock this Town" became radio and jukebox staples.

After more than 25 years, the band members are still strutting as a sell-out concert draw and as solo artists. Drummer Slim Jim Phantom, whose skill and style have inspired many imitators, is currently touring Europe on his "Cat with Nine Lives" tour. While critics may characterize it as an attempt to capitalize on a well-known band name, Slim Jim is an artist whose true love of rockabilly music keeps him standing tall behind the drums in a traditional style that he helped to revive.

The Stray Cats were never a revival band; strictly speaking, they were evolutionists, taking the sounds of the '50s and channeling them for new generations of listeners. Renowned for true-to-the-roots covers of classics, the band made them fresh and appealing to a wide audience.

"Rockabilly is one of the true American art forms, like jazz," he says. His explorations of the music led him to other early greats such as Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochrane and Carl Perkins.

Slim Jim says he's excited about playing in Central Europe because it gives him an opportunity to personally reach a new audience with the music. That would fit with the crowds that the Stray Cats and the Slim Jim Phantom Band already attract, which tend to be composed of fans of all ages and musical tastes pulled from many genres.

But in some ways the music has already arrived, at least in terms of the lifestyle it evokes. Slim Jim says he was surprised to find it in places like Budapest, where kids are not only listening to the music, but sporting '50s-inspired hairdos and vintage clothes, and buying leopard-print couches.

Asked what he sees as the legacy of the Stray Cats, he immediately responds, "We should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame." He quickly adds that the honor would be not just for the band's contributions to rock, but for its role in the preservation of musical history.