By Amelia G
Oct 12, 2004
I was watching Metal Mania on MTV2 this morning when I couldn't sleep. Right before they showed Faster Pussycat’s Bathroom Wall video, the VJ mentioned that Taime Downe had some hits with Faster Pussycat in the 80’s, got his band’s name from a Russ Meyer film, and recently put together a new touring line-up of Faster Pussycat to go on the road with other popular 80’s bands. The MTV VJ paused oddly while reading this bio off the cue cards. I don’t know if this was because he was editing what he was reading and troubled by how minimalist a description of Taime’s significance this was.
For anyone who has lived in Los Angeles any time in the last couple of decades, Taime Downe has probably contributed to their enjoyment of the club experience, not to mention had a significant impact on what music everyone in the US ended up hearing. Although most closely associated with 80’s glam in the popular consciousness, Taime is not particularly biased towards one musical genre over another; he just likes bands which shred and are high quality.
I did not live on the West Coast during the legendary Cathouse days, but I did have the opportunity to enjoy Pretty Ugly, the club Taime and J.D. created for the Dragonfly crowd for turn of the century decadence. Taime has just started a new club with Motochrist’s Ricki Vodka called Pretty Pussy which is very promising. So far, they have booked pseudo-supergroup bands of respected local players who feel like doing a show and of course local hard-rocking bands. Blue Blood writer TC, who covered Klio Bedevil’s dolls for us recently, just played a fun show with her band Satiate at Pretty Pussy. Took her a song or two to get into the groove and then she just tore it up.
The first night of the new Pretty Pussy club was kind of the same as TC’s set. It was sort of a weird feeling to see tons of people we hadn’t seen since the last time we hung out at Dragonfly. Everybody in Los Angeles waits for the other guy to greet them first. I think that, as this club night continues, we will all feel less shy. It is like it is taking us all a little while to warm up, but it is the right mix. And I'm not just saying that because Taime was one of the first people to really welcome Blue Blood to Los Angeles with a club we enjoyed or because he did a great job deejaying the party for the SWAG Magazine project Forrest Black and I did. The man has taste and know-how.
Partly, I just like Taime as a promoter, and of course a musician, because I personally don’t feel like the distance between glam metal and guitar-driven industrial is that big. Basically, anyone who has toured with both Pigface and Faster Pussycat has musical tastes near and dear to my own and is aces in my book. I am terribly disappointed that the music industry never really got behind the dark industrial glam scene that was happening at Pretty Ugly a few years ago. But I am darn excited about the new Pretty Pussy club night in the same venue as Pretty Ugly. This is the kind of club which makes me glad I live where I do. It is darn fun getting to see performers who would generally only play stadium shows in an intimate club performance. Check out Pretty Pussy on Wednesdays when you hit LA.
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