The Head Cat is an American

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blu ...

supergroup formed by vocalist/bassist Lemmy (of

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...

), drummer

Slim Jim Phantom James McDonnell (born March 21, 1961), known by the stage name Slim Jim Phantom, is the drummer for Stray Cats. Alongside bandmates Brian Setzer and Lee Rocker, he spearheaded the neo-rockabilly movement of the early 1980s. Phantom currentl ...

(of

The Stray Cats Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in th ...

) and guitarist Danny B. Harvey (of Lonesome Spurs and The Rockats). Lemmy died in 2015 and as of 2017, former

Morbid Angel Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida, formed in 1983 by guitarist, primary composer and sole remaining original member Trey Azagthoth, vocalist and bassist Dallas Ward, and drummer Mike Browning. Widely considered ...

member David Vincent took Lemmy's place as vocalist and bassist.

History

The Head Cat was formed after recording the

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

tribute album by Swing Cats ''A Special Tribute to Elvis'' in July 1999 to which the future bandmates all contributed. After recordings were finished they stayed at the studio and Lemmy picked up an acoustic guitar and started playing some of his old favorite songs by Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, and

Eddie Cochran Ray Edward Cochran (; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. Cochran's songs, such as " Twenty Flight Rock", "Summertime Blues", " C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desir ...

. The rest of the guys knew them all and joined in. The name of the band was created by combining the names

, and 13 Cats, which resulted in The Head Cat, similar to what Lemmy did in 1980 with Headgirl, a collaboration between Motörhead and

Girlschool Girlschool are a British rock band that formed in the new wave of British heavy metal scene in 1978. Frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead, they are the longest-running all-female rock band, still active after more than 40 ye ...

. In 2006, the band released their first studio album on June 27, '' Fool's Paradise'', which was a re-release of an earlier album titled ''Lemmy, Slim Jim & Danny B'' recorded in September 1999, even though ''Fool's Paradise'' does not include three songs from the first release and the track list is in a different order. It included cover songs from artists such as Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins,

Jimmy Reed Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with blues as well as non-blues audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), " ...

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...

Lloyd Price Lloyd Price (March 9, 1933May 3, 2021) was an American singer-songwriter, record executive and bandleader, known as "Mr. Personality", after his 1959 million-selling hit, "Personality". His first recording, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", was a hit for S ...

, and Johnny Cash. On the recordings, Lemmy played acoustic guitar in live performances too including ''Rockin' The Cat Club'', the only live album the band had. In later years, Lemmy began to use his signature

Rickenbacker Rickenbacker International Corporation is a string instrument manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California. The company is credited as the first known maker of electric guitars – a steel guitar in 1932 – and today produces a rang ...

bass in live performances, saying "I'm just not that good on guitar". Before that re-release, a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

of a live performance was released on April 25, 2006. The album was recorded on January 13, 2004 and was released in 2006 on limited

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

322 copies too. It was filmed at the Phantom's Cat Club on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles and included 13 live songs and interviews with the band. The band's second studio album (or third altogether), '' Walk the Walk...Talk the Talk'', was recorded by the Niji Entertainment Group in June 2010, released in 2011. This was the first new material by the band in eleven years, following up from the ''Lemmy, Slim Jim & Danny B'' album in 1999. It has two original songs "American Beat" and "The Eagle Flies on Friday". While the first album was all acoustic and the second album was half-acoustic, the third album (second studio) was all electric with Lemmy playing bass like in

. In 2016,

Cleopatra Records Cleopatra Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1992 by Brian Perera. The record label has since grown into a family of labels, including Hypnotic Records, Purple Pyramid Records, D ...

re-released ''Rockin' The Cat Club'' on vinyl with a different sleeve from the original release and for the first time on CD three-panel

digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case ...

Members

* David Vincent: bass,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

: drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, vocals * Danny B. Harvey:

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Former members

Lemmy Kilmister Ian Fraser Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015), better known as Lemmy Kilmister or simply Lemmy, was an English musician. He was the founder, lead singer, bassist and primary songwriter of the rock band Motörhead, of which he wa ...

: vocals, guitar, bass, harmonica (d. 2015)

Discography

Albums

* ''Lemmy, Slim Jim & Danny B'' (Recorded September 1999, released in 2000) * ''Rockin' The Cat Club: Live from the Sunset Strip'' (

+ LP in 322 copies) (Recorded January 13, 2004, released in 2006) * '' Fool's Paradise'' (2006) * '' Walk the Walk...Talk the Talk'' (Recorded June 2010, Released in 2011) * ''Rock 'N' Roll Riot On Sunset Strip'' (2016 re-release of ''Rockin' The Cat Club'' on

and first time on CD with different sleeve)

Singles

* "Tell Me How" // "Take Your Time" (No Balls Records / Cleopatra) * The Head Cat / Lonesome Spurs: "Tell Me How", "Take Your Time" // "Lovesick", "Trouble" (No Balls Records) * The Head Cat / Wanda Jackson: "Well Alright" // "Riot In Cell Block 9" (Muddy Roots Music)

Compilation albums

* ''Fool's Paradise + Rockin' The Cat Club'' (Cleopatra Records)

References

External links

Official Head Cat website

Official Head Cat MySpace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Head Cat American rock music groups Rockabilly music groups American supergroups Rock music supergroups