Posts Tagged ‘faster pussycat’
Cathouse Live Concert Review, Irvine, California, August 15, 2015
A while back, former MTV host, Riki Rachtman, announced a one day festival celebrating the now defunct (and purely dysfunctional) Cathouse in Hollywood. Let’s be clear, back in that era of the 80s, I was not down with hair bands, silly ballads and much of the stuff associated with that hairspray and makeup. There were a few acts, however, that I did at least like a few songs from. But whatever.
This show was set up with a limited number of VIP passes and I was able to score one for the main purpose of the meet and greets to get my Book signed. Supposedly all bands that were performing were suppose to appear. More on that later.
I got into LAX around noon on Friday the 14th and got my rental car (1.5 hour wait) and headed down to Irvine to get checked in to the hotel. I unpack, grab some dinner and head to a club in Anaheim called Chain Reaction. It’s an all age club that didn’t serve alcohol so no beers for me. I caught the last 3 bands which in order were Tower Guard, Toronto’s Crimson Shadows and Nekrogoblikon. I really liked Tower Guard. Younger power thrash with some good potential. The singer could stand to do less talking between songs, though. Crimson Shadows, while technically proficient musically, were about as boring as I could have wanted. Tight Gothenburg style metal with cookie monster-esque vocals intermingles with clean vocal harmonies from the two shredder guitarists. Nekrogoblikon came on and had a large band and some dude dressed as a “goblin” that runs around on stage. I was totally annoyed less than a minute into the first song and left.
The next day I slept in a bit to save up some energy for the long day ahead. Parking lot opened at noon and I went to get my VIP swag which included the meet and greet wristband. I ran into some friends of friends and hung with them until 2PM when the gate was opened. It was pretty damned hot and I was in jeans, black SA Slayer shirt, denim vest and the shoulder bag that I carry the book. It was hot, but not quite Texas hot. Opening band, Swamphammer, was playing as I walked into the venue. I made a bee line right into the VIP tent and downed 2 bottles of water. I was drying out quickly.
The meet and greets were set at 2 different times to have the later playing bands come out early to meet the fans and vice versa for the early playing bands to come out later. In the early one, I got Stephen Pearcy, Tom Keifer and Steve Riley to sign the book. Riley had been an elusive one for me over the years. Phil Lewis recognized the book and said, “I remember this. You’re carrying this around all day?” Ugh. Yes. Faster Pussycat came out and it was good seeing those guys. Good friends, Dangerous Toys came out and as always when I see any of them around town, it’s just friends hanging out together. Great guys. During this meet and greet, Bullet Boys, Enuff Z’Nuff, Trixter, Autograph, Black N Blue all played. I only got to hear them play and all of them sounded great, Especially Black N Blue and Autograph. I was hoping that Don Dokken, Mark Boals and Mick Brown would come out but they never did. Bummer.
After this, I went down into the VIP pit and watched part of Junkyard’s awesome set and the beginning of Saigon Kick, which bored me as much now as back in the day. I went to the merch/food area to grab a taco and caught some of Pretty Boy Floyd’s set on the side stage. Kristy Krash Majors was back in the band and they sounded pretty good. I moved back to the pit and caught LA Guns, Dangerous Toys and the beginning of Pussycat’s set. They had a bunch of original members join them on stage which was cool.
By this point it was time to hit the other meet and greet. At this one we got Autograph, Black N Blue, Junkyard, Extreme, Sebastian Bach, Bullet Boys, Jetboy and Trixter. I got the 2 guys from Autograph, 2 from Black N Blue and Bach. I didn’t know Extreme had come out until they had already left, so no sigs. I hung with David Roach from Junkyard for quite a while and with my old pal, Rowan Robertson (DIO). Guys from Trixter, Jetboy and others that I had no idea what band they were in signed my VIP pass. I really hated bands like Trixter, Jetboy, Little Caesar, Bullet Boys, Cinderella and Extreme back in the old days. Modern day, I do at least like the old Cinderella.
So let’s get to the band performances that I saw/heard.
- Bullet Boys – I only heard them but they sounded good. I’ve seen them several times in the last year and when their singer saw me he jumped up and gave me a big hug. Nice guy. I got to see their drummer, Shawn Duncan (Odin) briefly and his wife, which is always a pleasure.
- Trixter – Heard them only. They were solid but I just couldn’t care.
- Black N Blue – Heard only but they may be my faves of the day. They were solid, great vocals and heavy. Chains Around Heaven!
- Autograph – Sounded great and I wish I would have seen them to watch Steve Lynch play. He’s a great guitarist. It was cool hanging out with him as we have a good friend in common.
- Junkyard – ROCK AND FUCKING ROLL. They were great. It was hot as hell up there and they rocked their set.
- Saigon Kick – zzzzz
- LA Guns – As solid as ever
- Dangerous Toys – Jason McMaster and company sounded great and the crowd was really into them. Always fun to see live, especially seeing “hometown” boys away from home.
- Faster Pussycat – Sounded great and cool having the originals on stage again
- Stephen Pearcy – Only heard him. It was about like it was last year. He’s having a tough time these days.
- Sebastian Bach – He sounded great as did his band. Great show.
- Dokken – Only heard but they sounded much better than I expected. Having Boals on backing vocals is a good idea.
- Tom Keifer – He sounded great. Utterly impressed.
- Pretty Boy Floyd – Solid. Nothing different than what I expected.
I didn’t catch any of the other bands. I tweaked my back somehow during Dangerous Toys and it got progressively worse throughout the evening, so bad that I left before Extreme came on. That meant that I missed the Gilby Clarke all star jam with Ace Frehley. I was in incredible pain. Absolutely horrible. It was better by morning, thankfully, but not great.
All in all this show was fun and well organized. The bands on the main stage were on a rotating stage and no set times were missed. It was impressive seeing all bands start and finish on time. The only negative thing I can say is that it sucked not getting to meet a few of the bands, but oh well, herding rockstars is like herding cats. I had a blast.
Faster Pussycat Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, November 23, 2014
Night #3. Oh man. I got home from Houston yesterday and just flopped. I got a decent nap in and got in touch with Xristian to see what time they were going on in San Antonio at Fitzgerald’s. He gave me the word that 11PM was the time and that I was on the guestlist. Sweet. I contacted a friend in SA and let her know about the show and that she could be my +1 and she accepted.
I got there around 930 after driving just over an hour to San Antonio and felt the wave of tiredness coming over me. I didn’t know anyone there and the FP guys hadn’t shown up yet and the openers didn’t do anything for me. Xristian arrived with his awesome girlfriend, Melanie, and we have a beer while waiting outside for the last opener to finish. They finish and the band gets on stage around 11:15. They open up with Jack the Bastard from the Whipped album followed by Cathouse and Slip of the Tongue.
The sound out front was absolutely terrible and it was obviously bad on stage as well. There was a terrible hum coming from the mains and absolutely horrible feedback all night. It was the same way during the Lizzy Borden show there a couple of months ago. This place has notoriously bad sound. The whole band was obviously having issues with the sound on stage. They played 7 more songs and at the end of Babylon, they walked. The sound was just f’n awful. The soundman didn’t seem be trying. It totally sucked for them but I don’t blame them.
Most folks there didn’t seem too phased by the show being cut short. It was a small crowd, maybe 40 people. Tough draw for a Sunday night in San Antonio, especially when the Cowboys had the late game. Although a short set with bad sound, it was fun…it was also a very late night. I’m running on fumes now, so goodnight!
Stephen Pearcy, LA Guns, Faster Pussycat, BulletBoys Concert Review, November 22, 2014
Night #2 of the eyeliner and hairspray weekend took me to Houston, TX to see Stephen Pearcy, LA Guns, Faster Pussycat, and The BulletBoys at the sold out Warehouse Live. I had booked a room at the famed Sam Houston Hotel in downtown. What a nice hotel. The rooms have been fully modernized and while small, they are very comfortable. I’ll likely stay there again when the opportunity presents itself.
This show was a free show and all you had to do was RSVP tickets. I was supposed to be on the VIP list as well (thanks to Faster Pussycat) but it didn’t happen. No big deal. One of the reasons I was going to this show was to get The Book signed by Phil Lewis and Steve Riley of LA Guns and hopefully Stephen Pearcy. More on these developments later.
My friend from Houston picked me up and we went to grab a quick dinner near the hotel and ended up at Frank’s Pizza in downtown which was delicious. From there we went to the venue and got in about halfway through BulletBoys’ set. This place is open and spacious and the sound was probably as good as you could get in a giant concrete room with very high ceilings. Bulletboys sounded good again and the crowd was very into it. I ran into some other Austin friends there and we all hung together for most of the night.
Next up was Faster Pussycat. They are one of the few bands of this genre that I’ve always liked. I think their scenes in The Metal Years softened it up for me. I had played with them back in Virginia about 12 years ago and always love seeing them live. Taime is a character and does his job as front man very well. They opened up with Cathouse and blew right into Slip of the Tongue. They played 9 songs including 2 covers (Supersuckers and Betty Blowtorch). They were very tight, which is no surprise as this unit has been together for the better part of 18 years. It’s always a good time seeing them.
After a quick set change LA Guns took the stage opening with Show No Mercy, Sex Action and Never Enough. Their set consisted of everything you’d want and expect to hear from Phil and the guys. Their lead player is a total badass, too. That guy shreds. Phil’s voice sounded great. I was super glad to see them since I missed them in Austin a few months ago as I was going out of town very early the next morning. Twelve songs total and it was a lot of fun.
Then Stephen Pearcy comes on. Look, I’m a pretty big Ratt fan and it was never really about his voice. I love the riffs and solos those guys used to lay down (minus the silliness of songs like Way Cool Jr). Pearcy never had a great voice although it was unique. I saw Ratt with the Scorpions in 2010 and his voice sounded pretty good. Saturday night not so much. I want to be careful to not dog him out as I don’t know if he was just having a bad night, can’t sing anymore or just didn’t care to try. He seemed to be phoning it in. His backup band sounded good but the voice was killing me and many others. We decided to leave about mid-set during I’m Insane. We weren’t the only ones. People were rolling out steadily and you could hear lots of people saying how poorly Pearcy sounded.
During Pearcy’s set, I went to the merch booth to see Shawn and the Bulletboys guys as Marq hadn’t signed the book yet. He thought it was great and cheerfully signed it. Hanging out with him 2 nights in a row did change my perspective a little bit. Aaron Samson (Odin) was also at the booth and while both he and Shawn had signed the book a few years back at an Odin show in LA, he hadn’t signed my rare Odin Caution! EP. Shawn and Jeff signed it for me a few months ago before sending it to me. Aaron was glad to see it. I still needed Phil and Riley from LA Guns though. I went over the VIP area to chat with Sean a bit while Pearcy was still playing and Phil came out. Chad Stewart, Pussycat’s drummer, grabbed Phil to come over and meet me to sign the book. He signed the band photo and flipped though it a little bit and asked where he could get a copy. I told him I’d send the link. Pussycat’s guitarist, Xristian Simon, was looking backstage for Riley and couldn’t catch him before he bailed out to the hotel. No biggie. Guns come to Austin every couple of years and I’ll be sure to get them next time.
All in all it was a great night with my friend, Myra, and my Austin friends. I was tired, so tired, and just needed to get back to the hotel to crash out and that’s exactly what I did.
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- My view at the hotel
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- Faster Pussycat
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- LA Guns
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- Aaron on the Caution! EP
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- Marq Torien signs The Book!
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- Phil signs The Book!
Here are some great photos taken by Jamie Miller! Please visit his page!
Faster Pussycat Concert Review, Houston TX, 3/7/2013
I’m on temporary work assignment in Houston and saw last week that Faster Pussycat was playing right up the street from my hotel. I’d seen them a couple of times before including being able to open for them in 2003 when they were on tour with Pretty Boy Floyd and Enuff z’Nuff. That was a fun night for sure. On to last night…I had been sick all day and laid up in my hotel room from diverticulosis. Lucky me. By dinner time, I was feeling a little bit better and had enough energy to go and grab a bite to eat. I drove up the road to find the venue after dinner and hung out in my truck for a little while trying to decide whether I was going to go in or not. Ultimately (and obviously) I went in. Quite an interesting crowd at this north Houston venue. The groupie girls were definitely in full effect, most of whom are really past their prime. Sorry ladies, you’re looking rough these days.
While sitting there wading through some opening bands who were so horrid that they shall remain nameless, Danny Nordahl, bassist for Faster Pussycat, walked in. When we played with them in ’03, he and I talked for a long time, mostly about Thin Lizzy. The custom guitar picks I was using at the time had Phil Lynott on them and I gave him one, since he said he was out of picks. Last night I mentioned to him about that show and he said something to the effect of ‘you’re the dude that gave me that guitar pick with Phil on it. I still have that!’ Sweet! We hung out for a few while the last opener was clearing the stage and then it was showtime.
They were slated to go on at 10:30 but ended up being closer to 11. I was getting really tired but I stuck around for for about half of the set. Taime was his typical self. His voice sounded pretty good and the band was pretty solid. I think my favorite thing about the show was that Taime held an unlit cigarette in his hand the whole night. It was quite funny.
Faster Pussycat is one of the few “hair bands” that I like and their first 3 albums are pretty good.
I stayed for 6 songs, but could only recall 5.
I’ve seen Poison 3 times? What the hell is wrong with me?!
As I’ve been digging through all of my old ticket stubs recently I noticed one thing that has not left me at ease. Yes. I’ve been to 3 Poison shows. I mean, what the hell? I detest that band. I find their style of music to be of the utmost poseur category. I have a lot of friends who like them and that’s fine, but I don’t. Looking up who they were on tour with, it all starts to make a little sense.
The first time was in 2002 and they had Cinderella, Winger and Faster Pussycat as openers. Prior to this I had only seen Winger once in the late 80s and they were great live. I hated Cinderella back when they came out but over the years grew to appreciate them a little more. Faster Pussycat always sat well with me, even though they did some silly stuff too. But Poison? Blech! I will admit that they are entertaining live to a degree, I only wish I could have just turned their sound off completely. Their music and Brett Michael’s voice annoys me to no end. The other three bands put on a great show. It was worth the $10.
Poison Hollyweird World Tour 2002
Next up was 2003. Wait…what? I saw them 2 years in a row even? Shoot me now! At least I got free tix to this one. Vince Neil and the Bach-less Skid Row opened up. Awful. When I saw Skid Row in 1991, they were great but then again they had a great frontman at the time.
Poson Harder, Louder, Faster Tour 2003
Finally I saw them again in 2006. What is my f’ing problem? Ah, Cinderella opened up. Since seeing them a few years prior, I knew they were likely to put on another great show…and they did even though Kiefer’s voice was having troubles. Poison? Blah…again. My ticket says $10, but I think I got these for free.
Poison 20th Anniversary Tour 2006
If any of you ever see or hear me inclined to go see Poison again, please berate me and talk me out of it. I promise it wouldn’t take much to do. :)
The Metal Files 
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