Friday, April 30, 2010

Faster Pussycat, the band history...

Faster Pussycat was formed in Hollywood by Taime Downe during the Glam metal boom of the 1980s, the earliest incarnation of the band featured Downe and Greg Steele along with Brent Muscat. The name of the band, "Faster Pussycat," is derived from the Russ Meyer film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

After several more member changes, Faster Pussycat soon morphed into the band's most well known line-up, consisting of Taime Downe (vocals), Greg Steele (guitar), Brent Muscat (guitar), Kelly Nickels (bass) and Mark Michals (drums). Before recording their debut album, Nickels left the group and was replaced by Eric Stacy (ex-Champagne).
In 1987, Faster Pussycat released their self-titled album which was titled "Faster Pussycat". The band managed to built a strong reputation around their name and put out several promotional videos from the first album for songs such as "Cathouse", "Bathroom Wall" and "Don't Change That Song". In 1989 it was time for the follow up album of "Faster Pussycat" titled "Wake Me When It's Over". That was a very good album and another one successful record for the Pussycats! Music videos were also produced for "House of Pain" and "Poison Ivy". While the band were touring for the album in 1990, drummer Mark Michals was arrested in Omaha, Nebraska for trying to mail heroin to his hotel room and was subsequently kicked out of the band. Frankie Banali of Quiet Riot filled in as drummer for the remainder of the tour, then Brett Bradshaw became Faster Pussycat's new long-term drummer. Tours with KISS and Mötley Crüe followed.


In 1992 they released their third album, "Whipped!", which peaked at #90 on the charts!! In 1993 the band split up and the members of the band followed different ways. In 2001 Faster Pussycat reformed featuring original members Taime Downe (vocals), Brent Muscat (guitar), Greg Steele (guitar); alongside Taime's former Newlydeads bandmates Xristian Simon (guitar), Danny Nordahl (bass), and Chad Stewart (drums).
A remix compilation "Between the Valley of the Ultra Pussy" was released the same year by the band, featuring industrial rock remixes (???) of their classic tracks, along with a bonus cover of KISS' "I Was Made For Loving You". This was a thing that mixed up the feelings of the old die hards of the band who loved their sleaze rock of their ealier releases and they have faced something completely different ( image and sound).
In December 2006, three former original Faster Pussycat members; Brent Muscat, Eric Stacy and Brett Bradshaw alongside The Underground Rebels vocalist Kurt Frohlich began performing under the name Faster Pussycat, creating two versions of the band both claiming to be the 'original'. Brent's claimed purpose for this was to allow fans to hear Faster Pussycat tracks played in the way they originally recorded, as opposed to the Industrial rock-themed version he said Downe continued to front. Brent also made a legal claim to the name 'Faster Pussycat'. On April 21, 2007, Muscat circulated via MySpace an open invitation to Taime Downe and Greg Steele to reunite with him, Stacy and Bradshaw. There was no response from Taime. Brent's version of Faster Pussycat toured Europe in Spring 2007 with Kurt Frohlich replacing Taime on vocals along with Todd Kerns on guitar.

In July 2007, Brent Muscat decided to drop the battle to use the name Faster Pussycat. Brent Muscat has since started a band called Sin City Sinners. Brent has stated in an interview "Faster Pussycat is dead".
Taime has continued on with the name 'Faster Pussycat.' and this band performed at Rocklahoma July 2007. During their set, Taime Downe went on a tirade to the crowd referencing Brent Muscat's cancer, wishing he would die, which received a poor reception from both the crowd and journalists. He then cut their set short and left the stage without playing several of their biggest hits.
Faster Pussycat toured for the Summer of 2008 with Tracii Guns' version of LA Guns. They toured across the U.S.
"All in all Faster Pussycat have offered some great records full of attitude, sleaze lyrics and loud guitars!!"

sources for Faster Pussycat biography: http://www.fasterpussycat.com/  and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster_Pussycat 



1 comment:

  1. Love Fast Pussycat.. but what a douchebag!!!!!

    ReplyDelete