Toller Roller (The Brighton Session): Austrian Electro Swing Trio Records Love Letter to Brighton's Mod Culture
Toller Roller (The Brighton Session) by Renato Regato, Louie Austen and Ray Scooter, out now on all streaming platforms
Three Austrian musicians walked into a Brighton recording studio and came out with a love letter to the city's Mod heritage. Toller Roller (The Brighton Session), released on 14 September 2026, is a three-track single by Viennese producer Renato Regato and legendary Austrian electro-crooner Louie Austen, featuring guitarist Ray Scooter, recorded on location in the city that gave the world Quadrophenia, Bank Holiday scooter runs and some of the sharpest-dressed subcultures in British music history.
The release is the first English-language coverage of a track built entirely around Brighton's identity. The cover art alone tells you everything: a man in a black-and-white chequered blazer astride a Vespa, Palace Pier behind him, a red, white and blue RAF roundel stamped across the frame. It is Mod culture distilled into a single image.
The three mixes
01
Modness Electro Swing Mix
A nod to Madness, reinterpreted through electro swing and ska
02
Garage Beat Mix
Raw and British. The Kinks, The Clash, The Jam
03
Brightone Demo
The bilingual 2-Tone original. Where it all started, in Brighton
Rather than a single version, the trio recorded each mix as its own piece, pulling from a different corner of the British music timeline. The press release puts it simply: "Brighton lieferte dafur Erinnerungen, Atmosphare und jede Menge Inspiration." Brighton provided the memories, the atmosphere and plenty of inspiration.
Toller Roller (The Brighton Session) is available now on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube
Who made this record
Producer
Renato Regato
Real name: Rainer C. Regatschnig
Vienna-based producer. Started in studios aged 18. Worked at EMI Austria alongside Falco. His 2017 electro swing remake of "Puttin' On The Ritz" hit number one on iTunes and featured on the Dancing With The Stars series finale in the US. Runs R&B Music with his wife Bibi.
Vocals
Louie Austen
Born Alois Luef, Vienna, 1946
Classically trained singer who performed in New York, Pittsburgh and Las Vegas. Reinvented at 53 as Austria's most unlikely dance act after a producer heard him in a hotel bar. Collaborated with Chilly Gonzales and Peaches. Appeared in the Oscar-winning film The Counterfeiters.
The connection between these two runs deeper than this single release. Austen was already part of Regatschnig's world, having featured on the Puttin' On The Ritz tribute album alongside Right Said Fred, Ashley Slater of Freak Power, and Alvin Chea of Take 6. That earlier collaboration is what made this Brighton session possible.
Austen describes his sound as "electrocrooning" and has said he will never retire, adding: "I'll probably die on stage but I don't care." He is 79 years old.
Ray Scooter and Brighton's Mod DNA
The third name on the record is Ray Scooter, described by the project's press materials as a "Mod legend and guitar hero" whose involvement brought the session to Brighton in the first place. It was Scooter's presence in the city that turned what could have been another Vienna studio production into something rooted in the streets, seafront and cultural memory of Brighton itself.
Brighton's connection to Mod culture runs deeper than most cities in the country. The 1964 Bank Holiday clashes between Mods and Rockers on the seafront became national news and cemented the city as the spiritual home of the movement. When The Who's rock opera Quadrophenia was filmed on Brighton's streets in 1979, it locked that reputation into popular culture permanently. To this day, scooter rallies still roll along Madeira Drive, and the Mod aesthetic remains part of Brighton's visual identity.
Why Brighton
1964
Mods and Rockers clash on Brighton seafront. National news. The city becomes the spiritual home of Mod culture
1979
The Who's Quadrophenia filmed on Brighton's streets. Locks the city's Mod identity into popular culture permanently
2026
Three Austrian musicians record Toller Roller in Brighton. Scooter rallies still roll along Madeira Drive
That heritage is exactly what Toller Roller channels. The press release closes with: "Mods never get old. We just get... better dressed."
Listen to Toller Roller (The Brighton Session)
Toller Roller (The Brighton Session) by Renato Regato and Louie Austen feat. Ray Scooter is available now on all streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. The release is distributed by DistroKid and produced by Rainer C. Regatschnig through R&B Music, Vienna.
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