Pussyfoot #1

There was this period in 1987 or so that you’d probably call “peak SST”, when said label was pumping out multiple records each month by a host of mediocrities – from Lawndale to B’last to Swa to Zoogz Rift and so on. This is when I first started seeing shows at the Anti-Club in Los Angeles, and if an out-of-town or bigger local SST band was headlining, there’d be a whole host of these lesser lights on the bill as well. It’s how I got to see Swa. And B’last! And later, Always August, Sylvia Juncosa, DC3 and Painted Willie. 

Record Time recently did a huge feature on this era and on the garbage clogging the label at the time, a “say something nice about one of these records” feature that I got to put in one review for (Das Damen). But Pussyfoot #1 from ‘87 is right in the heart of it, spending much quality time at these Anti-Club four-band SST specials, and they very unironically chose (of all bands from which to choose) to interview Swa themselves. The interview – with Chuck Dukowski, Merrill Ward and Sylvia Juncosa – is as utterly lamebrained and cringe-inducing as the band themselves were. Merrill Ward: “SWA is the revelation, it’s revealing, it’s the opening. SWARA is the revealment and the actual face of the god in heavens….the Sex Doctor is the healer, the wounded healer & through his pain he’s able to heal & liberate the true spirits of sensuality that exists from the body & souls of man”. 

Listen folks, you haven’t lived until you’ve been forced to suffer through Swa in 1988 at the Anti-Club, only to find that there’s a tiny blessed patio outside that you can escape to, only to then have Merrill Ward come outside with his long mic cord to tunelessly moan in your face while his band plays bombastic thud-core back inside. Only being on the receiving end of a stoned Greg Ginn hippie hair-shake in my face while fruitlessly trying to ignore his band Gone rivaled it at the time.

Pussyfoot #1 from La Habra, though, is fully on board in this “ish”. They also bring us a chat with a La Mirada punk band called The Misled, featuring this gem:

PF: What do you think of punk bands changing styles to Heavy metal-glam rock (i.e. Channel 3, Overkill, etc.)?
Chris from The Misled: They turn into fags while they do it.

Much of the fanzine is taken up with placeholders for next issue’s classified ads, next issue’s letters to the editor, subscriptions, ad rates and lots of big planning. There were others, however! The editor was a guy named Blaze James. Blaze James, Blaze James….I know this name. Oh, he was later in the band TVTV$ in the 90s, right. All I remember from the one time I saw them live was that a guy in the band had these awesome Coca-Cola branded pants, and that I was totally hammered and heckling them, which is something I’d only do if I was hammered.

Speaking of hammered, the last interview we’ll jest & jape about here is with a 1987 NY Dolls-esque band from the LA area called Sludge, whom I never heard of nor from at the time. And man, are they right in step with their era – long hair, a guy flipping off the camera, lots of talk about Budweiser and weed, jokes about eventual cirrhosis of the liver. Verbal Abuse, anyone? At least Flesh & Bones interviewed, you know, the good bands from this scene and epoch.