Blast From The Past: Faster Pussycat/Slik Toxik/Blackboard Jungle – Atlanta, GA – August 2, 1992

I still remember this show like it was yesterday.  I had graduated high school in June and I was still in my “figuring out what the fuck to do” phase of my life.  Just the night before I was at a friends house getting drunk beyond all recognition so needless to say I was in pretty rough shape come time for this show.  Me and my buddies were really big Faster Pussycat fans but we really weren’t too excited about their latest album “Whipped” for which they were touring behind.  Like any good fans of a band, we chalked it up as a dud with a few good songs and just went to the show to see one of our favorite bands play a great set.  At a whopping $8.50, what were we to lose?

Opening the show were two “buzz bands” that we had been hearing a lot about.  First up was the unsigned LA band Blackboard Jungle.  Now these were the days before the internet and YouTube and all that good stuff so when you heard about bands like this, you read about them in magazines and just hoped that someday you’d get to see them.  These guys were all worth the hype they were getting and we really dug their set.  Looking and even sounding a bit like Hanoi Rocks, Blackboard Jungle really wowed us and we were so impressed by them.  Even meeting their singer and guitar player and bonding over our love of bowling was a kick and a half.

Up next was Slik Toxik from Canada and we were REALLY pumped to see these guys.  They had a video on Headbanger’s Ball for the song “Helluvatime” and while the song was just “OK”, the rest of the album was fucking killer.  They were kind of like a Skid Row type of heavy band with some really killer grooves to their songs, a bassist that kicked ass and a drummer that could play his ass off.  The band took the stage opening with “Crashed” and for 45 minutes just killed us with a high energy set that was nothing less than stellar.  I still remember being so impressed by their musicianship on the song “It’s Not Easy” and felt like these guys would be really hard to follow.  Unfortunately I would never get to see these guys again as, like most bands of this time, were here today and gone later that day.  They really made a lasting impression on me and I still love listening to their album “Doin’ The Nasty” to this day.

Finally it was time for Faster Pussycat to take the stage and as the intro tape of “Cat Bash”  played, the capacity crowd went nuts.  The band took the stage opening with “Jack The Bastard” and what an awesome song to open with.  I could feel the floor bowing in as the audience jumped and moshed to this song and it was so much fun.  The band sounded so good and they played with so much energy as they played a great variety of songs from all their albums.  “Where There’s A Whip There’s A Way” was really kick ass to hear and I just remember Brett Bradshaw’s drums were just thunderous.  “You’re So Vain” was so great to hear live as I had never heard them do that one before this tour but I still remember kinda rolling our eyes as the band did “Nonstop to Nowhere” which is still one of the lamest songs ever.  They were on a “lame train” indeed.  The set came to a close with the band decked out in hip hop attire as they performed “Babylon” to an insanely energetic crowd.

Faster Pussycat to me was always one of those bands you had to see live.  Even if you were just a casual fan, you could totally get into a live Faster Pussycat show.  They really brought it in a huge way on this tour and in my opinion was the last great Faster Pussycat tour.  Taime Downe is still out on the road with a new incarnation of Faster Pussycat but that classic line up of Taime, Brett Bradshaw on drums, Eric Stacy on bass and guitarists Brent Muscat and Greg Steele was the ONLY Faster Pussycat.  The chemistry those guys had on stage together really created an amazing live performance but even at this point, I could see that their best days were soon to be behind them.  I’m glad I saw them when I did!

Discover more from Southeast of Heaven

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading