Back in the day just before Rock’s great late eighties Sunset Strip-fueled peak Los Angeles was the place to be if you loved your Sleazy, down and dirty Rock and Roll. Sure Bon Jovi were East Coast ‘kings of the hill’ riding high on the success of the previous year’s ‘Slipper When Wet’ but there was something a little more dangerous lurking in the Rock bars way out West. On 7th July 1987 Faster Pussycat released their self-titled debut album a whole two weeks before Guns N Roses unleashed ‘Appetite for Destruction’. By October that year both bands would be playing the UK together on one of the best double bills I’ve ever witnessed, a few lucky ones like me got to see them both for the very first time that tour and hang out after the show. That was probably the show when I knew I’d love Hard Rock the rest of my days.
Faster Pussycat last played Australia in 2008 along with Lynch Mob – it was at that gig I decided we needed a website that catered for the music I loved, a year later we started The Rockpit. We caught up with Taime Down a few weeks out from their return to Australia, and it only took me a few minutes to get my facts wrong!
Mark: Hi Taime, it’s Mark from the Rockpit, thank you so much for talking to us today.
Taime: Not a problem.
Mark: I was actually at one of the shows last time you came down to see us back in ’08 but I’ve seen you many times over the years both in the UK and US, I think the first time when you came out with a little band called Guns N Roses.
Taime: I remember that one, that was fun.
Mark: The last time though was the Monsters of Rock Cruise back in 2015, what a great party that was with you closing the night!
Taime: We’re back on the Cruise this year too – as soon as we finish in Australia we fly out there.
Mark: I will have to get back there again! This month at The Rockpit on our Podcast we’re looking back at the year 1989 and for me that was a great year for Faster Pussycat – the debut album had landed in 1987 and the follow up that year ‘Wake Me Up When It’s Over’ was amazing.
Taime: That was definitely a fun year.
Mark: I’m actually just about to speak to one of the guys who played on that in a few hours.
Taime: Who was that?
Mark: Frankie Banali.
Taime: Oh Frankie – he played with us on that tour but not on the record. (laughs) when you said Frankie I thought my memory was shot! I was thinking Franki who? I was thinking Frankie from the fucking Sea Hags? Maybe Mitch Perry? But that was on ‘Babylon’ on the first album. Nicky Hopkins played on ‘Whipped’ and Jimmy Z played saxophone and Kevin played piano on ‘Wake Me.’ No Franki played on tour when Mark (Michals) got busted for heroin! Franki was managed by Warren who was our manager too and he was on the plane the next morning with headphones on learning our shit! He was in the video for ‘House of Pain’ as well!
Mark: Of course he was (laughs)
Taime: But Mark did the album.
Mark: I’ll not forget that now! (laughs) You have these snippets of information lodged in your brain for years and some of them are bound to be wrong! At least now I’ll not accuse him of playing on the album!
Taime: (laughs)
Mark: You’ve had a great career so far, some classic albums under your belt. But this must be your longest serving line-up that you have at the moment?
Taime: Yeah, by a long shot.
Mark: And all of the guys will be back I think apart from one who played last time, I think Michael Thomas was on that last tour wasn’t he?
Taime: Michael was with us when we were there I think he did a few more shows after that but Ace has been with us almost nine years now.
Mark: Michael told me something when he was over here a few months back with Steven Adler, and I might be wrong about this too so hold on!
Taime: (laughs)
Mark: He told me that part of your live album ‘Front Row for the Donkey Show’ was recorded on that Australian Tour, is that right?
Taime: Some of it was, I think two of the shows parts of it were done there but it was pieced together. Most of it was done in Toronto but there were a couple from Detroit. Some basic tracks were kept from certain cities and then some wee overdubbed with guitars and vocals and some of that shit. We just took the best parts from each City and I think there were two from there but I’d have to look back at the tracking notes and whatever but there were definitely two from Australia and most of the basic tracks were from Toronto.
Mark: So cool that we made it on there.
Taime: Yeah from the Glory Hole Tour.
Mark: And talking of that album, it’s been 13 years now since the last studio record ‘The Power and the Glory Hole’ and sorry if you’ve been answering this question for all those years but is there any chance of some new music from Faster Pussycat?
Taime: We’re hoping, I got a bunch of songs ready. I’ve just been changing over from pro tools to logic, changed the whole computer system and all the hardware. It’s kinda like, I don’t know if you’re familiar with pro tools and logic, but it’s kind of like me trying to learn to drive over these but not just on the other side of the road but on the other side of the car and also going backwards and maybe upside down as well! (laughs) They all do the same shit it’s just finding your way around without it taking a week to do a drum track! I’m getting there though! So I transferred a bunch of shit over from the pro tools that we did before I got sick and right after, that was cool as shit but just not finished, man that’s already two fucking years ago! But now that I got this new rig, and I just put it together, I got a new amp thing , a new profiler, all new hardware, new Apollo interfaces, Thunderbolt, new monitors, speakers everything! Now if I could just start this car and drive it!
Mark: (laughs)
Taime: I’m getting there! I’m getting there I can do a vocal demo and it’s fine! I’m getting close I’ll play with a few more tracks, start editing them up and then start doing what I need to do. I’m gonna go over to Gilby’s (Gilby Clarke who will be producing) and try to get the drums down, we tried before and it kinda turned out like shit! So we gotta go over and re-track it and Gilby’s got a good set up over there.
Mark: Drums are always the hardest, once they’re down you’re cooking with gas! You sound pretty excited, I sense a new lease of life?
Taime: Yeah I am, I’m looking forward to getting into these new songs, because now they’re not new to me! For the fans and stuff yeah this is all new shit, but for me man, we’ve been sitting on this for… some of this stuff, a couple of songs I started when we did ‘Glory Hole’ but there was way amounts of drugs and alcohol going on back then. We got side-tracked!
Mark: And that’s all subsided for you now – the party has died down a bit?
Taime: I know, man it’s a different world. Before when I first started rebuilding the studio I would crack a beer, throw a little Jack on some ice, bring my pack of smokes and fucking do a line of blow and then I would get to work. Now the first thing I do when I come in here is think “What the fuck am I supposed to do here?” I sit down with my cup of coffee and think “Man this shit looks weird” it’s fun, you know. It got to a point before when I first started to record the new album shit, I was that fucked up and it kinda got to the point where that took over. It was fun being creative that way, but my body wasn’t too happy about it. (laughs)
Mark: You made it out man that’s what counts thank you for sharing that, and a new album is the best news you could have given us today.
Taime: Thanks man.
Mark: Let’s take it all the way back now, where did it all start for you, what made you realise that music would be your life, was it a defining moment or a slow realisation or a bit of both?
Taime: Well I grew up with music, my Dad was a guitar player so I was going to rehearsals when I was like three or maybe even younger! I just always loved it. I grew up with records since I was born. I got my first drum kit and first guitar when I was four! It was just an acoustic and it was too big, I couldn’t get my hand around it, but I grew into it and I grew up with it. But I didn’t know that was what I’d do it wasn’t until that I was at junior high school that I joined a band, went to concerts and stuff, and it just happened. But I credit my Dad for that, going to his rehearsals and gigs. My Step Mom made me some pants that matched his! It was the 70’s so use your imagination – they were bell-bottoms, and maybe a little satin!
Mark: (laughs) I can picture that now!
Taime: I shit you not! I remember those Blue satin pants that matched my Dad’s! (laughs) Eight years old with satin bell-bottoms rocking out! And my Dad playing Zeppelin… (pauses) Times were simple.
Mark: They were simple but they were fun, no distractions and you got to use your imagination more.
Taime: Exactly!
Mark: That just leaves us with time for our traditional closing questions. The first is: If you could have been a ‘fly on the wall’ for the creation of any great Rock album just to see how the magic happened in the studio, what would you choose?
Taime: God that’s tough! Led Zeppelin IV would have been insane. Aerosmith especially some of those ones with Tyler out of his mind – ‘Draw the Line’
Mark: My favourite and the first of theirs I heard that title track is crazy!
Taime: Oh man it’s so cool! Or ‘Toys in the Attic” I could go on for days about how many flies I’d love to be! (laughs) Shit!
Mark: And the final question, the easy one now we’ve warmed up – What is the meaning of life?
Taime: The meaning of life is enjoyment, you can live long and be miserable but that isn’t a real life, just enjoy your day, that’s my opinion.
Mark: Thanks mate it’s been so cool to talk and it’s great to see you coming over again, it’s been too long mate. I remember shooting the breeze with you at The Amplifier Bar in Perth all those years ago! Best of luck with the tour, get driving that new car and give us a killer new album, and stay safe!
Taime: Cool, I can’t wait, come up and say hey! Thanks brother.
FASTER PUSSYCAT February 2019 Australian Tour Dates
Thu 14 February – Adelaide, Enigma Bar
Fri 15 February – Melbourne, The Prince
Sat 16 February – Sydney, Crowbar
Sun 17 February – Brisbane, Crowbar
Tickets On Sale Now From: http://silverbacktouring.com.au/faster-pussycat-2019/
