69 Cats – “Bad Things” EP

When you hear that the 69 Cats are described as a perfect Halloween date with Dracula & Elvis, you kind of know you are in for a treat! This is actually something of a supergroup as it consists of Jyrki69 (The 69 Eyes) vocals, Danny B. Harvey (Rockats, Headcat) guitar and Chopper Franklin (The Cramps) bass. The reasoning behind the formation of this great band is best described by Jyrki69 himself: ”No matter where I was Dj-ing around the world, whether it was a Goth or metal night, I always spun some 50’s rock’n’roll, The Cramps or The Stray Cats in the last part of the night – and drove everybody crazy and filled the dance floor. But it’s always the same records, there’s no new happening band.” Well now that new, exciting band definitely exists!

The EP opens up with “Bad Things”, a song which will be very well known to fans of the cult TV series ‘True Blood’. It’s the absolutely awesome theme tune to that programme. Quite rightly, the 69 Cats keep it close to the brilliant original, but just add a bit of rockabilly swagger to the swamp, blues sound. It is followed by “Black No1 ” which is a Type O Negative song. I don’t know the original, but this version is excellent. It’s a slow and sleazy song with a great gothic feel. The vocals are mean and moody and it will have you digging out those old Sister Of Mercy albums and dressing like a vampire.

The EP draws to a close with “Flaming Star”, as the band demonstrate their influences with this classic Elvis song. Again, it’s great and they just add that ’69 Cats’ feel to the song. Compared to the other tracks on the EP it is a far more wholesome, old school, rockabilly song.

As an intro to the 69 Cats, this is brilliant as it shows their obvious talent and influences. The important thing with covers is the need to bring something different to the track and the band do that on every one of these. The only negative is that there are only three songs, so it’s just over too damn quick. It will certainly leave you desperate to hear more and see what else they can deliver. Let’s hope that they get their debut album out very soon!