FASTER PUSSYCAT

KERRANG! ISSUE 145 April 1987

IT SEEMS as if Poison have opened a bottomless can of lip gloss Luthers, FlexNet Frasers and Chanel Chesters. In the platinum stiletto wake of Bret Michaels’ bombastic buccaneers come the likes of LA Guns (who’ve just recruited former Girl/Tormé lead vocalist Phil Lewis), Jet Boy, Cat House, Guns n’Roses (not a glam band but certainly cast in the slack-eyed image of the Stones, Aerosmith et al, the same dyed-in-black roots as the genuine glamsters) and, perhaps most exciting of all, Faster Pussycat (pictured below).

Faster Pussycat – the name says it all really, sleaze winders possessed of marinated claws that dig deep with a slovenly, sly slouch – and a taste for the loosest pf morals. It reflects in the music, too. Couched in the sort of rifts an’ rhythms first dragged through an alcoholic daze by those same Stones, Faces, Aerosmith and the New York Dolls, this is wonderfully gyrating sleaze souped up for the late Eighties and given the perfect production balance between latter day tightness and a barroom brawl attitude by Ric Browde, who has previously worked with such luminaries as Ted Nugent, Victory. . . and Poison.

So, just who are these band’s line-up is Taime Downe (lead vocals), Eric Stacey (bass), Bret Muscat/Greg Steele (guitar) and Mark Michals (drums). They’ve been together now for nigh on a year, originally under the management guidance of Vickie Hamilton, who also handled affairs for Poison in their early LA crazy maze. It was through her that the band first got in touch with Browde. . . and the rest can be heard on the aforementioned, quite sensational vinyl debut slated for release during June on the Elektra label and set to perhaps follow Poison up to the platinum plateau.

“We’re influenced by bands such as the Faces, Stones and Aerosmith”, Downe told me recently on the phone from LA. “In fact we’re highly interested in all good scuzz music!

The LP itself took three weeks to record at Amigo Studios, Browde producing and mixing the tapes with engineer Jim Bomba in close attendance, with tracks such as the rollicking ‘Cathouse’ (at first titled ‘The Best Whorehouse In Town’ but

changed in order to facilitate the possibility of mainstream radio airplay), ‘Babylon And On’ (rap technique meets red tints in the eyeglass), ‘I Got Your Number On The Bathroom Wall’ (the title says it all) and ‘Bottle In Front Of Me’ (tease-wallowing, guttersnipe alcoholism) set to become flash faves in the coming months.

The five -piece (who also run the hottest new night spot in LA – The Cathouse Club) intend to follow the release of this album with a major US tour (“we’re hoping to pick up the support slot with a big act,” explains Downe) and with Warren Entner (Black N’ Blue, Quiet Riot) now managing their affairs things certainly seem to be slotting into place.

Faster Pussycat a band gradually going nova with the heat of their own talent

MALCOLM DOME