Faster Pussycat (40th Anniversary Tour), Blacklist Union, Femme Fatale
Sunday, 9/27/2026
Kulturni dom, Prosecco, Italy
“Anyone can play R’n’R, you just have to want it badly enough”
Traveling around to gigs on Rockline duty comes with plenty of perks. Like riding in a super comfortable new-generation electric car. From a brand that stole its name from a mad scientist, the kind of guy who could get our southern brothers stirring up some unpleasant chapter of history all over again. And meeting cool people, like the driver of said vehicle and fellow lover of the musty, sweat-soaked LA sleaze-glam metal of the late 80s.
Faster Pussycat put out their self-titled debut album in 1987, the same year the multimillion (in both budget and sales) album from the band from the Paradise City came out. Listening to the two albums side by side, the first one wins hands down in the stink-of-sleaze, sweat, smoked-down butts and cheap-whiskey department (Faster Pussycat had no cash for JD). And I’ve probably played it more often over the years than the other one. But, as it tends to go, the Fast Kitties are celebrating their 40th anniversary in a community hall in Slovenia‘s cross-border corner, while that other band tears up stadiums all over the world… Instead of a stadium, 150 of us gathered in a hall in front of the boards that mean life, if I may awkwardly paraphrase Rambo Amadeus.
Those of you who know that Rambo tune know who showed up on stage and started jumping around on it. A femme fatale, Lorraine Lewis, with her backing band. I’d heard of Femme Fatale but never actually listened to them. In the 80s they had two mini hits, Falling In And Out of Love and the tellingly titled Waiting For the Big One. The three guys and the spry 68-year-old Lorraine blasted through their half-hour set with (way) too much energy, because the lady could barely keep up, and as a result her vocals were, to put it mildly, below average. A shame, because watching the music videos for those songs afterward, it turns out she used to sing this stuff really solidly. Since I didn’t know a single track beforehand, I could just enjoy the wild energy of punchy classic USA hard rock numbers and marvel at Lorraine‘s bust, which, out of sync with the rest of her body, lived a life of its own. Interesting.
Femme Fatale setlist:
01. My Baby’s Gun
02. Falling In And Out of Love
03. Bad Love
04. Home Is Where the Heart Is
05. Don’t Call Me Your Angel
06. Living Like There’s No Tomorrow
07. Waiting For the Big One
Next up on stage were Blacklist Union. I didn’t know this band even by name. The bassist and drummer were the same as in Femme Fatale (cost cutting, I’d say), and the lineup was rounded out by two guitarists and the band’s boss, Tony West, on vocals. They’re a fairly fresh group (considering the style of music they play), founded in 2004. Tony apparently really, really, but REALLY wanted to be a singer in an R’n’R band. Because what came out of the speakers was (especially in the high register) uncontrolled howling. Seriously. The faces in the crowd showed total disbelief. We were all giving each other sideways glances, feeling awkward for the guy on stage and his band, who kept charging resolutely from song to song. The music and the compositions weren’t bad at their core, and even Tony’s vocals sounded bearable in the lower register, but I’d describe the whole experience as slightly uncomfortable. Not even the couple of beers I was forced to down during the Blacklist Union set could wash away the faintly bitter aftertaste. In the last number, Jackson (a cover of the Cash couple’s classic), Lorraine tried to save the day, but sadly went down together with Tony. Mind you, Tony has enough arrogance in stock for two Axls.
Blacklist Union setlist:
01. Letters From the Psych Ward
02. Mississippi Moonhound
03. Heavy Is the Crown
04. Evil Eye
05. Dirty Halo
06. Madame Butterfly
07. Jackson (with Lorraine Lewis)
We could barely wait for Faster Pussycat. Just so we’re clear, this is now the sober Taime Downe (he cleaned up after a horrifying incident on a recent music cruise) with a crew of old and new friends. The other members of the original lineup haven’t been part of this picture for a long time.
Let me first fill you in on the fact that in the world of Glam Metal from the always-sunny LA of the 80s, Taime Downe has the second wittiest stage name ever. Right behind the legendary Jizzy Pearl, of course. Taime is yet another one of those from the subheading. Originally a model and co-owner of one of the most notorious clubs in LA, Cathouse, he decided he wanted to be a singer. If I say that even Vince Neil was a better singer than him back in those days, I’ve said it all. Despite that (or maybe precisely because of it) Faster Pussycat managed to put out two cult albums. Besides the aforementioned debut, there’s Wake Me When It’s Over from 1989. After that it was all downhill, and salvation only came with the EP Like a Ghost in 2023.
Dressed totally in “Black on Black”, Taime latched onto the mic and the band tore through a set made up mostly of songs from the first two albums, plus a couple of covers and a few sweeties from the rest of the discography. Bassist Danny Nordahl immediately proved he has no intention of copying his boss’s sober state, entertaining the crowd with his tired swaying while not hitting a single wrong note. The guy otherwise looks like the late actor James Marsden looking in the mirror in the morning after a wild night. He was successfully followed by longtime drummer Chad Stewart, while on guitars Ace Von Johnson and 27-year-old kid Chris Borell wrecked it in respectable style, trading iconic riffs and wild solos. The sound was really full and clean for a room like that.
The thing about Taime‘s vocals is that from the very start there’s nowhere for them to get worse. The guy is lucky he doesn’t botch it, so his nasal, screeching voice is equally dreadful and indispensable to Faster Pussycat music. Kind of the Johnny Rotten of Glam Metal, in other words.
Among the songs played, the biggest cheers went to the little ballad House of Pain, which dug a few lighters out of pockets, the punchy sleaze track Bathroom Wall, the morbid Where There’s a Whip There’s a Way, and the unexpected mini-hit from the third record Whipped! (1992), Nonstop to Nowhere, which buddy Izzy coaxed out of the wasted bassist. Originally Poison Ivy was planned instead, since they play those two songs alternately. The newer number Like a Ghost also worked great, and I’d stylistically place it on the first record.
At the end, members of all three bands burned through a mix of Shut Up And Fuck and Babylon together, staging a proper madhouse on stage, fueled by alcohol fumes, which poor sober Taime watched with mild disgust. The ethnically mixed crowd had a blast, and the iconic glam rockers conjured up the vibe of the LA clubs on the Sunset Strip. A great show from the old (fast) cats. If there’s any whiskey running through your veins, and if you’ve ever teased your hair with your mom’s hairspray, you absolutely must go see this band next time they stop in Europe. Thumbs up!
Faster Pussycat setlist:
01. Motorbike
02. Don’t Change That Song
03. Cathouse
04. Slip of the Tongue
05. You’re So Vain (Carly Simon cover)
06. Like a Ghost
07. The Power And the Glory Hole
08. Pirate Love (The Heartbreakers cover)
09. House of Pain
10. Nonstop to Nowhere
11. Where There’s a Whip There’s a Way
12. Bathroom Wall
13. Shut Up And Fuck (Betty Blowtorch cover) – everyone
14. Babylon – everyone
Special mention goes to Massimo (Maxx), the crazy promoter and organizer who brought this crew to Prosecco. Magnificent!!!
Text and photos: Igorac
