Compact Pussycat, a 4 piece outfit from Norwich, oozing experience, attitude and sex appeal. To coincide with the release of their excellent video Filthy, I got together with Jen to find out if finally something better than mustard and sale of the century has really come out of Norfolk.
       
You have been on the scene for many years now, with a few line-up changes and directions. Do you feel the band is now stronger and better than ever?
Yes absolutely largely down to the fact that we are real friends and not just band colleagues.  Jen feels that previous singers all brought something to the band but feels Becky’s ability to perform as well as sing has really brought the band together as a complete piece. 



Jen always wanted a less conventional performance in the style of Iggy pop/Ian Curtis only from a female perspective and feels Becks delivers.  In terms of direction this is something again we feel has taken a natural progression, sometimes we can work on a song for months and it just doesn’t come together yet as was the case with Filthy and Ticking Bomb amongst others, they worked out really quickly, which adds to our theory that if something takes too long it’s shit!

You mention a big variation in influences, although you all seem to have strong punk roots, what bands in particlar do you as a band admire?
In terms of admire we like it when the bigger bands we have played with are also really welcoming and friendly.  Top of the list in that department are definately Penetration, UK Subs and The Damned.  Musically although we have a shared appreciation of bands such as The Jam, The Cramps, Penetration, The Clash, The Sex Pistols all four of us have diverse music tastes ranging from ABC, Marc Almond, Sparks, Placebo, Suede, Greenday, Propaghandi, The Plasmatics, The Specials, The Pretenders…You get the idea…Although Cliff’s classic Mistletoe and Wine and Chris De Burghs Lady in red always bring a tear to the eye! Chortle chortle!!

If you could choose to support anyone at all who would it be and where?
All of the above, Preferably Brixton Academy (Carling Academy)

Has anything ever gone terribly wrong at one of your gigs, or have you ever been faced with a particularly hostile crowd?
You know what, we generally get treated really well particularly in the punk rock scene and especially when we play outside of Norwich.  In terms of stuff going wrong nothing life threatening yet, although a tyre blowout and almost getting hit by a massive truck as a result, on our way to Bedford to play with Penetration was a bit of a drama.  Jen once had an amp blow up on her but fortunately kept all her own hair! Beck’s first gig with the band, everything that could go wrong did, mostly due to a noise limiter in the venue not letting us even get through one song, to the point Jen had a diva strop and said she may as well be in a folk band for all the power she was getting from the turned down amp! We all love a bit of drama though, goes hand in hand with playing.

Over the past 30 years, our music has crossed over, morphing with so many other different styles - rockabilly, ska, rock and rap to mention a few - how do you feel about this?
We love a bit of Morph and his little mate Chad! Tony Hart weren’t bad either! There’s room for everyone in The Gallery!

What lifestyles do you all lead, and how do you find the time to juggle your time and dedicate so much time to the band?
We live our lives carrying out very important ladies business taking tips from the heroines of ladyness such as Mae West, Joanna Lumley, Marjorie Dawes, Lily Savage and the fabulous Pat Phoenix.  As such a typical day starts with a  champagne breakfast, followed by a crafty menthol before our personal trainer arrives.  Post lunch we partake of another crafty menthol before adjourning to the drawing room to slug some gin.  Yes how do we find the time???! Seriously, joking aside, no ,matter how busy we are as individuals we have always found time for the band. As Pauline Murray once advised us, its not just a band, it’s therapy and lets face it we could all do with a bit of that sometimes.

You have just released your latest video, which I have to say, is extremely professionally produced. Do you worry about one day leaving the underground scene and become to "commercial", as so many bands seem to lose their core following if and when they make it big - and for that matter would you want to make it "big"?
It’s great you think the video is extremely professionally produced, we were exceptionally lucky to have one of our friends Richard Howes film the entire thing for us and a venue we play at regularly allowed us the use of the room for free for the entire day. Everything else about the video is classic Compact Pussycat in that it is completely DIY. I think the most expensive thing we shelled out for  was the red paint for the heart in the background, and of course brand new lipstick for all of us so that we co- ordinated  with the heart, for those who care it’s Revlon Red!

In terms of becoming too commercial all I can say is we have been around a while now and have had some great gigs but to be fair not enough great gigs. There is nothing better than having a decent crowd to play to and any band, if they are being honest will say the same.  Like any decent punk band worth their salt We have had so many gigs where we drive for hours to play to an audience of 3 and even though we always end up making some great new friends and causing a bit of chaos  it would be fucking great playing to some bigger crowds.  Those people who have supported us most loyally to date know us personally as well and I think it would be fair to say they would be chuffed sick for us if we got some wider exposure and some recognition, the music we write together is always always about our genuine personal experiences and that wont change no matter what, so yeah it would be ace to have some bigger opportunities come our way in the next year, more stuff to write about innit!

How often do you get together and practice, and who is generally thr driving force in holding the band together?
It depends what gigs we’ve got, we like to be tight before a gig so sometimes once a week, sometimes more if we are working on new material.  Depending on what’s going on in our individual lives  any one of us can be the driving force.  We all go through ups and downs and it’s our ability to support one another that keeps it going.

Who is the most organised and who is a total bloody nightmare!
Unanimously  Most organised “Helen”  Total Bloody Nightmnare “ the rest of us!”

How do you feel about the politics in the scene at the moment? Some feel our music is there as a protest, whilst others feel its there for the fun and way of life - where do you guys stand?
Ok here’s the deal cat style, Punk rock is about self expression, challenging bullshit and kicking the arse of the ignorant AND having a bloody good time whilst you’re at it! It doesn’t matter what you wear just as long as you are there etc …ha ha!... Ok whatever but ya get the drift? Yeah it’s bound to happen, kid ourselves as much as we like but the human beast cant suppress the urge to be elitist whether that’s inverted snobbery in the way of looking down the nose at those of us who just wanna get wrecked, or slagging off the more political of our contingency as being too serious, its life and cliques and counter cliques are rife! There’s a song in there somewhere.  But ya know kids, in the big Punk rock utopia there is room for us all, but if you’re a racist, facist, sexist, homophobic bastard you can fuck off!

What is the bands biggest achievement to date?
We’ve got to say staying together, what more can we say

Where do you feel that Compact Pussycat will be in 5 years time?
Playing songs old and new, drinking vodka, smoking menthols, pretty much how we are now apart from the fact we will be wearing more expensive shoes and only drinking Smirnoff as opposed to that exquisite aperitif Vodkat. Although discovering that some company had labelled a cut price vodka  Vodkat has to go down as being one of the funniest moments we shared, fucking Vodkat! They may as well  have called it Bet lynch in a bottle, vodka for tarts! Genius X

Finally, as the Norfolk glamour queens of punk, when are you guys going to strip down to your underwear for the next studs and punks merchandise shoot?
Just give us the word….. just one thing, remember the mantra of the old style supermodels… something about not getting out of bed for less than £10,000 a day?! Hmmm…. go figure XXXX

Any last words?
We’re not dead yet!  Kitttyus Cattyus love XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

You can visit the bands Myspace for more details and band information.