Cats in Boots

BIOGRAPHY

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Cats in Boots (1985-1989): a Glam Metal band from Los Angeles, California, USA.

anding the realm on one-hit-wonders of the glam metal area was Cats in Boots, whose 1989 single Shotgun Sally received a modest amount of airplay. Although short lived, this Japanese-American band traces back to Japan in the early 1980s, when a heavy metal group formed in Tokyo called Seikima-II. By 1985 they recruited a second guitarist and eventually hired Takashi O'Hashi, a native of Toyohashi City, Aichi, who had begun performing under the name Jail O'Hashi and would join the band shortly after they signed to Sony. After recording three albums with Seikima-II, O'Hashi by 1987 he relocated from Japan to the US with his friend and bass player Yasuhiro Hatae, with their intention of forming a new group and breaking into the mainstream.

Arriving in Hollywood, O'Hashi soon approached Joel Ellis, who at the time had been performing with a Cleveland-based rock outfit Merri Hoax. Having recently signed a contract with 'Atlantic', the band were eager to tour and record but felt that the label were not supportive. O'Hashi asked Ellis if he was interested in forming a group and promised that they would have an audience in Japan. Having struggled to gain any exposure with Merri Hoax Ellis was easily tempted and, following the hiring of American drummer Randy Meeks, who had briefly toured with Black Oak Arkansas during the late 1970s, Cats in Boots was born. Soon there-after the band went to Japan and had no problem booking tour gigs. Their first release came in May 1988; a seven-track EP appropriately titled Demonstration: East Meets West; the Japanese attention got the notice of 'EMI', who signed the group the following September.

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Despite the language barrier between two Japanese and two American musicians, the writing for their full length debut album would go relatively smoothly, with nine of the eleven songs written solely by O'Hashi and Ellis. With the label having high hopes for their new clients, they brought in Tom Werman to handle the production. Werman, from Boston, Massachusetts, had worked with on several successful hair metal albums, most notably Girls, Girls, Girls by Motley Crue and Open Up and Say... Ahh! by Poison. Creative differences between Werman and the band over his handing of the sessions would lead to his eventual dismissal, with 'EMI' bringing in Mark Opitz, who had worked with a variety of artists, from AC/DC to INXS, as well as overseeing the soundtracks to the hit movies Pretty in Pink and The Lost Boys. Recording would take place throughout April and May 1989, primarily at Amigo Studios, which was based on North Hollywood and had been purchased by Warner Bros. during the 1970s, although other locations used during the sessions were Ameraycan Studios (which had been built by Ray Parker, Jr. a decade earlier as his private recording space), Summa Studios and Can-Am Recorders in Tarzana, Los Angeles.

The first single to be released would become their most well known, the being Shotgun Sally, and was accompanied by a video and lyrics that told of a young delinquent girl with an itchy trigger finger. Kicked & Klawed, the album it was derived from, was released in late 1989 and featured re-workings of four songs originally featured on Demonstration: East Meets West. Cats in Boots enjoyed more success in Japan than in the United States, due to the overshadowing of Faster Pussycat's Wake Me When It's Over, L.A. Guns' Cocked & Loaded (produced, ironically, by Werman) and Skid Row's eponymous debut.

Following disputes with their record label with 'EMI' wanting them to recycle their material, Cats in Boots disbanded soon after the touring for Kicked & Klawed came to an end, with O'Hashi deciding to work on a solo album entitled Neither Reality Nor Fiction, featuring a mixture of original material and covers of the The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Elvis Costello. Ellis formed Heavy Bones, who recorded one album with guitarist-turned-producer Richie Zito. Cats in Boots reformed in 2003 for a one-off tour of Japan, sans Hatae.