Recently, Faster Pussycat bassist Eric Stacy was kind enough to take a break from his decidedly hectic schedule to speak with us regarding, among many other things, the group’s forthcoming European tour and the possibility of reuniting with original frontman Taime Downe…

Todd: How did you originally become involved with Faster Pussycat?

Eric Stacy: “…Back in ‘85, I started a band called Darling Cool with a guy named Greg Darling. We were picked up for management by Vickie Hamilton who had a pretty illustrious career in L.A. She originally started out as a publicist with Motley Crue and eventually mover on to managing bands…Stryper, Poison…Guns ‘n’ Roses. She would manage these bands, get them signed and then after they were signed, they would pick up major management. …We were all friends and would hang out together and one day we were havin’ a barbeque a Vickie’s house. All the guys from Faster Pussycat were there. (Original Faster Pussycat vocalist) Taime (Downe) and the guys used to come see us play and we’d go see them play. It was sorta one big family back then. After I left the barbeque, I got a phone call from Taime and (Faster Pussycat guitarist) Greg (Steele)… …On the way to rehearsal, (future L.A. Guns bassist) Kelly (Nickels) had gotten hit by a car on his motorcycle and his leg was broken. They were wondering if I could fill in temporarily. The initial call said he’d be gone for a couple of weeks. I said ‘…yeah, okay…no problem…’, but Kelly took forever to get well. It was a real bad compound fracture. …Two weeks turned into a couple of months and he just wasn’t getting better. My first show with them was in October of ’86 at The Roxy, which was a benefit for Kelly. Evidently, Peter Feldman, the guy who signed us to Elektra Records, had seen the band six times and had always kinda felt there was something missing. When he came and saw us at the first show I did with them, he basically said ‘…the band is ready to be signed now…that was the missing piece…’ …I think with the time that it took Kelly to get better…combined with them getting signed after the first show that I did with them made them want me to be in the band permanently.”

Todd: At what point did you realize your time in Faster Pussycat was coming to an end?

Eric: “…We were out on the road with the Whipped tour in ’92 and there were a lot of signs that kinda just kept coming up. About half way through the tour, most of the employees at Elektra were fired, including most of the people that liked Faster, believed in Faster and would work hard for Faster… It basically left us with no one at our record company that supported us. That was the first indication that it was gonna hit the fan at Elektra. Also around that time…the whole L.A. Glam revival scene that started with Guns ‘n’ Roses, L.A. Guns, Faster Pussycat and Poison…was kinda yesterday’s news. The whole Seattle Grunge thing was the cool new Rock scene. While we were on the road, we found out we were gonna be dropped, which basically meant once we got off the road, we didn’t have a record label anymore. …I knew the time was coming right around the time (former Guns ‘n’ Roses rhythm guitarist) Izzy (Stradlin) had his first record coming out. I grew up loving The Stones and Aerosmith and wanted to get back to that sound. When I heard Izzy’s first record…I just started thinking that this was what I really wanted to get back to doing. So I called Brian “Damage” (Forsythe), a guitarist friend of mine who was still in Kix at the time. We had a bunch of phone conversations while I was still on tour about how both of our bands were kinda comin’ to an end. We both agreed that we wanted to go back to a certain sound. We made plans while I was still out on tour with Faster for me to fly out to Baltimore, which I did right after the tour ended so I could start writing with him. It was fresh, it was new, we had been dropped and the Rock thing we had been doing was really dead in the water. Every sign felt like it was time to move on. Our last show was on Halloween of ’92 in Miami with Kiss. That was the last show that the original band ever did.”

Todd: When Taime began putting together his version of the group, did he offer you the opportunity to re-join the band?

Eric: “Frankly, no. And I think that was a combination of a few things. I think there was some bad blood… …When I left the band, I guess they tried to continue…they got another bass player and did a club tour of Japan and a club tour of Canada, but it just wasn’t right and they ended up breaking up anyway. I was the first one to leave and by that time, there had been a lot of in-fighting and a lot of bad blood. I admit that when I left I probably could have done it better. I could have sat down with the band and said ‘…look, I’m leaving…’, but by that time, I was just so tired of certain things that were going on within the band… When I went and wrote with Brian for that week, it just felt so fresh and great. I went back to L.A. and just basically stopped going to rehearsals and just stopped being a part of Faster Pussycat. I just told myself I was entirely out of it. There were a lot of bruised egos…a lot of ‘…how dare Eric leave like that…’, ya know? …A lot of bad feelings about how it went down and things that had happened during the life of the band. …I had always thought that if we were gonna do a reunion, we’d do it right with all original members. I never wanted the reunion to be one of those where it was two fifths of the original members… …I had kinda gotten wind that Taime was starting to do Faster again, so I went down to Dragonfly and basically told him what I just said to you about how I’d always felt that Faster would do it right with all of the original members and how I was proud that we had never done a half-assed reunion. He basically said ‘…you know, I’m just doing this as the Newlydeads with a different name with Brent along. I don’t wanna do Faster, I’m not into doing it. It’s just the Newlydeads with Brent along as far as I’m concerned…’. …I think it was just a way for him to get back at me for all the bad blood, I guess.”

Todd: It's almost as if Taime has taken a totalitarian attitude in regards to his version of the group…

Eric: “Absolutely. …And it’s no secret that when Taime has gone out on the road with Faster Pussycat within the last five years…no matter what kind of money they make at a show…with him being the only original member and it basically being his band, he can decide how much money he’s gonna take and what little money he’s gonna let the other guys split up. He’s pretty much running the show…he’s running everything and that’s obviously another big reason why he did it the way he did. He doesn’t have to ask Brent, Greg or I how we feel about something. He doesn’t have to be diplomatic or democratic…the money doesn’t have to be split evenly, ya know? By bringing in a bunch of guys that were never in the band originally and calling it Faster Pussycat, it’s basically Taime’s show. He can run it how he wants, he can do whatever style of music he wants, he can pay the other guys however much he wants and that’s it. That’s where it stops. …As far as I’m concerned, it sounds nothing like Faster Pussycat, it looks nothing like Faster Pussycat and I’ve always said it’s not Faster Pussycat. The only thing that’s Faster Pussycat about that band is the name. There’s nothing Faster Pussycat about that band at all.”

Todd: What was the main motivation behind starting this version of the group?

Eric: “…Brent has always been one of my closest friends. We got along really well during the first run of the band…we’ve always just got along and have always been good friends. Aside from Faster Pussycat, over the years, Brent and I have been in two or three other bands together as well… …For like the last three years, once or twice a year we’d call each other and talk about doing Faster Pussycat again. (Our attitude was) if Taime’s not interested in doing it and making it sound like how it used to, we’ll get somebody else to sing. We’d talk about it and have all these grand plans and that’s where it would end. Another year would go by, we’d talk again and we’d say …hey, let’s do Faster Pussycat again…’, but that would be it. It kinda went on like that for two or three years and then finally this past December, Brent called me and said he might have a show for Faster Pussycat in Vegas. We talked again about doin’ it and for a while, it seemed like it might go the way of all the other conversations, but just before Christmas of last year, we were talking about it and I said ‘…Brent, if we don’t do it now, we’re never gonna do it, so let’s either do it or never talk about it again…’. We had been talking about getting back together and giving the fans Faster Pussycat the way it used to sound because for years, no matter what band I was in, I had been getting tons of E-Mails from people saying the missed the real Faster Pussycat and that it wasn’t the same without everyone… Finally, Brent and I talked about it again in December and I said ‘…Brent, it’s now or never…’, so he talked to (guitarist) Todd (Kerns) and (vocalist) Kurt (Frohlich), the other guys in the line-up and said ‘…it’s on…’. …Our first show was supposed to be this quiet show at a place called The Dive Bar in Vegas so we could see how it would go. We pretty much said ‘…here is the set list…learn the songs at home…’ …The first time I walked into rehearsal, it just sounded amazing…like the band had been together for like ten years. The show went great, the fans loved it and it just immediately started snowballing from there. We started getting E-Mails from fans and our booking agent started asking us if he could start booking some shows for Europe. It just blew up from that first little quiet show. Brent and I had been talking that if we were gonna do it, this would be the year so we could give the fans a twentieth anniversary tour. …It’s been twenty years since the release of the first record.”

Todd: Any idea what type of set list you’ll be working with?

Eric: “We’ve been doing close to a ninety minute show, give or take fifteen minuets. We’ve been doing, if I can remember right, a thirteen or fourteen song set. I’d say it’s probably forty five percent off of the first record, forty five percent off of Wake Me When It’s Over and ten percent from Whipped. Off of the first record, we do “Don’t Change That Song”…there’s five or six songs off the first. Off of the second, we do “Where There’s Whip, There’s A Way”, “Slip Of The Tongue”, “House Of Pain”, “Little Dove”…and off of the third record, we’ve been doing “Out With A Bang” and we’ve been starting to work out “Non Stop To Nowhere”. We’ve also been doing “You’re So Vain”. I think it’s a good long set and it’s a wide variety of Faster’s history. It gives people a good taste of everything, especially the first two records.”

Todd: Who owns the rights to the name Faster Pussycat?

Eric: “Brent Muscat legally owns the name. He registered the name Faster Pussycat. He’s owned it for the past couple of years. …After that first show in Vegas, we went back two or three weeks later and did another show at The Dive Bar and it was just completely packed. By then, our booking agent was booking shows in Europe for us, a Japanese promoter friend of Brent and I was asking if we could bring it over to Japan…it all just started snowballing so fast. Apparently Taime went online one night and posted a blog on MySpace basically saying ‘…Faster is not going to Europe…that’s just Brent’s tribute band trying to make a buck. They’re trying to cash in on my songs and my hard work. Brent you’ve made an enemy…you’d better watch out…’. Basically, I thought that was a just classless move on his part. To begin with, if we’re a tribute band, we’re a tribute to ourselves because we are the band. That’s like saying Steven Tyler and Joe Perry are a tribute to Aerosmith, ya know? You can’t be a tribute band to yourself. Anyone who has followed the band since the beginning of our careers, with the first three records, knows those songs were all written together with all of us writing. As far as it being all of his hard work, last time I checked, all five of us were in the band together, all five of us were in the recording studio together and all five of us were doing all the hard work together, so… I can understand where he may feel bitter or angry about it, but we have three fifths of the band together and Brent owns the name. That’s the legal bottom line, ya know? …That’s it, really.”

Todd: A this point, do you foresee there ever being any type of reconciliation with Taime?

Eric: “Well, ya know, for a lot of years, I really hoped there would be. For a lot of years, I really truly wanted it to be a real reunion with all five members. About six months ago, I saw a link to Greg’s MySpace page on someone else’s page and figured since it had been fifteen years… …I wrote Greg a long letter to his MySpace page just basically saying ‘…hey, how’s it going? It’s Eric…we haven’t talked in fifteen years. Whatever happened back then is all water under the bridge…I don’t care anymore. …It sure would be nice to look up onstage and see all five of us up there again…’ …I really just tried to write him a friendly letter so we could bury the hatchet and see what happens, but I never heard back from him at all. And Brent has told me that he reached out to Taime to let him know what our plans are, but he never heard back from him, so it’s pretty apparent that neither of them wanted to be a part of this. …Brent and I have always said since we started this that they both have a standing invitation to come back, but the only thing we’ve ever heard is some anger and negative comments from Taime. We haven’t heard anything from Greg. At this point, I don’t wanna burst any fan’s bubble by saying that it will never happen, but looking down the road, if I were a betting man, I’d say it’s probably not going to happen. At the same time, there are so many more reasons I could tell people to come see this band… …If it does happen, great, if it doesn’t, then so be it, ya know? When I started playing with these guys and got to see how nice it was to play with guys that are not only fantastic musicians but nice guys who are easy to get along with…I realized that I liked playing with this line-up a lot. If a reunion with the original line-up doesn’t happen, I really won’t miss it anymore.”

Todd: Do you have any plans to record new material?

Eric: “Not specifically…but we have already spoken with a producer and have been over to his studio. I hate to mention any names at this point because I really hate to say anything unless I know it’s going to happen. …We’ve definitely talked about recording some new stuff this year. We’ve had a lot of fans asking when some new stuff was gonna come out. …We’re leaving for Europe at the end of this month and we’ll be out there for three weeks, living in close quarters every day. I’m hoping that between the hotels, sound checks, and on the tour bus that we’ll take advantage of the time to start writing new stuff. …If we come back with six or seven new Faster songs, I’ll be really, really happy. There are plans to eventually get into a studio. Whether it’s for a full-length record or whether it’s an EP with six or seven new songs…we’re not exactly sure how it’s all gonna go down, but we’re definitely going into the studio this year and we’ll definitely be going the fans some new music this year. …There’s also been some talk of doing a DVD. Hopefully it’ll be ready for release by the end of the year. A friend of ours is a filmmaker and he’s currently taking the very first steps towards putting bids on multiple cameras and equipment. He going to be recording some of the shows from this year and is going to be doing separate interviews with each member of the band. It’s pretty much gonna be a concise history on the band, obviously ending up with the new line-up and what we’re doing now. …Basically, we’re taping everything. I’m taking my camcorder to Europe. I’ve taped every show and rehearsal that we’ve done so far.”

Todd: Have any labels expressed interest in signing the group?

Eric: “Not at this point. All of this started just getting thrown together in the end of December… Thus far, we’ve only done a handful of shows and pretty much all of our plans are still ahead of us. Even if someone at a label was interested in talking with us, they probably would have just heard that we had started to work again and would have probably just checked into what that was all about. I wouldn’t expect any label interest yet because we haven’t recorded any music for the labels to hear. I would expect that if any labels come to us, it will be after we’ve been in the studio, recorded some new music and have given it to an entertainment lawyer to shop it around. I would imagine that’s when we’ll start hearing from the labels, ya know? We have heard from a few personal managers that have gotten wind of what we’re doing and are very interested in talking about management, but no labels thus far. It’s just too early in the game I believe.”

Todd: What are your touring plans beyond Europe?

Eric: “We’ll be in Europe from the 24^th of April until May 15^th. Then, when we get back, we’re gonna be doing a Faster Pussycat twentieth anniversary Hollywood show at The Whiskey Friday night June 1^st. Then on Saturday June 2^nd, we’ll be doing a show at Tremors out in Riverside, which is a really cool Rock club… …We have a promoter in Japan that’s gonna be taking us to Japan. We did originally have a festival tour scheduled for the end of Summer in July and August booked for Japan, but that’s now, due to some other commitments, being moved to later in the year. We’ll probably end up hitting Japan in the Fall. …I’d say after Europe, we’ll be trying to do as many cities in the US as we possibly can. …Between that and recording, that’s pretty much gonna keep us real busy this year.”

Whipped (1992)

Live And Rare (1990)

Wake Me When It’s Over (1989)

Faster Pussycat (1987)

fasterpussycat.com