Black Cat Psychobilly Show

The Grims

EDITORS UPDATE:

WE REGRET TO REPORT THAT BLACK CAT ENTERTAINMENT / PROMOTER RICH VREEDE REGULARLY STIFFS BANDS AND INVESTORS. WE DID NOT REALIZE THIS AT THE TIME WE COVERED THIS EVENT.

AFTER THIS EVENT IN 2010, SEVERAL BANDS REPORTEDLY DID NOT GET PAID. SOME REPORTED THAT THEY EVENTUALLY GOT PAID ONLY AFTER DRIVING TO VREEDE”S PARENT’S HOUSE (HE LIVES WITH THEM STILL) AND THREATENING ACTION. WE APOLOGIZE TO ANYONE THAT MAY HAVE GOTTEN INVOLVED WITH VREEDE OR BLACK CAT THINKING HE WAS A LEGITIMATE PROMOTER DUE TO THE COVERAGE THAT WE PROVIDED. ONCE AGAIN WE WERE NOT AWARE OF HIS PAST OR HIS DISHONEST DEALINGS AT THE TIME OF THIS COVERAGE. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON VREEDE AND BLACK CAT YOU CAN GO HERE AND HERE

Friday night was the big Black Cat 10th Anniversary Show at the Music Box at Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood, CA.  I arrived around 8:30pm and the place was already fillng up with psycho psychobilly and rockabilly fans. Up and comers, local psychobilly trio The Grims were on stage getting the crowd fired up when I walked in.

Fans

After meeting my new good buddy Francisco Mora who was helping me out this evening, we proceeded to get our press passes and head back stage where the real party was happening. First thing we noticed was a bevy of burlesque and pin-up honeys getting ready for the big fashion show, posing for photographers and in general having a good time.

Backstage Beauty

A band called “Human Flys” was up next and they were loads of fun. The music and the vibe reminded me a lot of “The Cramps” from back in the day, complete with go-go girls dancing around in different costumes including a nice little female Lucha Libre wrestling match. The vibe was very early psychobilly surf and as I said, very Cramps influenced. I found out later that was because they were  a no holds barred, Cramps tribute band… I remember seeing one of the Cramps last shows in NYC just a few year’s back and I think they’d be proud.

Human Flys

Regardless of how you describe Human Flys’ music, the show was loads of fun, with multiple costume changes and a big support staff of go go beauties who’s only duty it seemed was to titillate (which they did very well). The lead singer was a skinny and pale but super animated and energetic guy who stripped down to some black tights that may or may not have titillated the ladies, not sure… you’d have to ask the ladies or this being Hollywood, maybe some of the guys.

Lucha Girl from Human Flys

Next up was “Evil Devil” from Italy and these guys obviously have a big following in the states, with the fans going nuts and demanding an encore, which they happily gave consisting of 3 full songs. The next day I got to meet and interview them at Venice Beach. This is not their first tour in the U.S. They’ve played LA once before (Key Club) and back in the early turn of the century, CBGBs in NYC.  More on their interview soon.

Evil Devil Singer

Next up was the Coffin Case fashion show where a dozen or so of the hard partying, lovely ladies from backstage got the chance to strut their stuff. It took them a while to set up so by the time they came on, it was about midnight LA time, which to me was 3AM, NYC time, so I had to call it a night after the fashion show but  before the final act and main headliners, The Quakes took the stage.

Coffin Case Fashion Show

Lucky for me, my man, Francisco hung tough  and saw the Quakes’ set as he’s a local and had no nasty jet lag to contend with. He spoke to the band and they agreed to be interviewed the next day @ Amoeba music in Hollywood. I’ll write about that in a separate entry later on and I’ll follow up with some video from the big Psychobilly Show as well, so stay tuned here.

Psychobilly Fans

In the meantime, we got LOTS and LOTS of pics if you want to check out the rest of the pics from the show, check out the set on our FLIKR page.

Thanks again to Francisco for helping me with still pics and Flip cam coverage and for just being an all around good dude. I met Francisco strumming guitar with some friends on a street corner in front of a bar in Hollywood a couple years back and he’s got such good positive energy we’ve stayed in touch ever since. Also thanks to Rich from Black Cat for hooking us up with backstage access and to all the fans and bands who were so cool to us. It was a great night..

Enjoy!