Biographie: Katatonix Evolution
LP “Divine
Mission,” 1984
Now available on CD!
Click here to
order.
Thee
Katatonix played as Massey's backup band for about a year. |
|
 Edith, however, changed bands like other people
change socks — possibly due to the fact she couldn't sing and
had no rhythm.
So off went Danimal and Edie, while Andy, Adolf and Jack
corralled a rockabilly-reggae rebel called Mr. Urbanity to play
bass.
Instantly the band clicked again, and Thee
Katatonix continued stomping all over the Balto-D.C. area.
During this period, thee katz formed alliances
with the hottest acts around, like D.C.'s Slickee Boys, the
Rooters from Philly and others too numerous to mention. The
track "Dedicated to Fun" by
Suburban Wives Club was inspired by Adolf's hijinks on the
new wave scene.
At
one trendy disco gig, Saturday Night Live-“sprocket dancer” Bill
Marx got kicked in the face by the band's
erstwhile manager and threatened to sue.
The same night, this
“manager” pulled the ceiling light fixtures out of the
men’s room.
|
"Glamour" shot for punk magazine, 1982
 |
So
the band got a new
manager.
Thee Katatonix' main hangout in Bmore, the Marble Bar, was
planning a full-scale battle of the bands at the time. It lasted
three or four months, culminating in
a final showdown
with
Thee Katz and two other boffo bands.
Urbanity playing his
Hofner bass
Midway through the Katz set, Heineken accidentally
hit Urbanity in the face with his guitar, opening a large and
bloody gash (Urbanity didn't miss a beat).
Kowalski seized the
moment and using his mike stand to pole vault, threw himself
into the air upside down. He landed on his head to thunderous
applause, and Thee Katz claimed victory before the last band
even played.
The prize money sent our boys into the recording
studio for the first time, where they cut a three-song single.
Foul-ups at the pressing plant caused the labels to come back
blank, so all copies were designed by hand and to this day are
regarded as collector’s items. The track
“My Baby is a Basket
Case” was included on the internationally known compilation
series “Killed by Death.”
Sometime in '82, Heineken split to form his own
group and was replaced by Urbanity's friend, BeriBeri.
The new guitarist wasn’t
much on power chords, but he played lead like Jimmy Page and was
given a wide swath during performances.
It was not uncommon for Adolf to leave the stage during Beri's solos and do bong hits in
the dressing room.
Due to the growing popularity
of hardcore punk, Thee Katz became more jam-oriented and were
dubbed psychedelic. This was fine with them because they were:
It also allowed them more musical freedom, and
keyboards (which had been a large part of the Edith Massey
group) crept back in. By 1983 Beri had retired from music to
pursue a career in something.
Adolf knew
Urbanity was not just a bassist, but also a fine guitar player.
So Mr. U picked up
on guitar, and a new bassist was sought.
By now the ex-member roster
probably was at 400 or so,
but the band kept going because business was better then ever.
The Marble Bar had banned the group for excessive roughness, but they
found new gigs elsewhere almost immediately.
With new member Rockin Saint Anthony (who became
a saint when he cured a ham) Thee Katz entered the studio again
to record the LP “Divine Mission.”
[Click here
to order the CD.]
Money was tight , the
engineer was stupid and the finished product was poorly mixed.
Yet the disc received rave reviews.
This was 1984 or so and Thee Katz
played/traveled constantly. They showed up where you would expect
them to play (CBGBs) and where you wouldn't (Club Razzmatazz,
the hangout of Oriole Iron Man Cal Ripken).
Three more releases
followed, and the pressure proved too much for Saint Anthony,
who left the group .
He was replaced by Beautiful Tony Belle, an
actual musician.
One of Tony’s first shows was a sold-out gig
with the Ramones, which led to another sold-out gig with the
Ramones ... you get the idea.
(See
Biographie: Katatonix & Beyond)
