The Whole Sorry Tale For The Completeists Out There:

During the Mid 90s a young fella by the name of Gary Law was in a band with three other "no-hopers" from Bargoed, South Wales (his home town), called SHAKE DOG SHAKE and Steve was in band with four other no-hopers from Blackwood (his home town) called MIDNIGHT FX.

SHAKE DOG SHAKE was a sleazy rock band in the vein of Faster Pussycat and LA Guns, whilst Steve's band was an altogether more poppy affair, with cover versions of Bryan Adams Summer of 69 etc. Following a Rock n Roll Defection Gary had a brief spell in Steve's band and made a few immediate suggestions on improving their sound by maybe grunging it up a bit, and was promptly sacked. He went back to SHAKE DOG SHAKE with his tail between his legs, who continued, for a while, as the glorious and loud no-hopers.

Then one day, young Gary was at home working out a song with a double harmony guitar part, which was proving a bitch to pin down and knowing that Steve was good at working out things like this, he gave him a call. Steve gladly assisted in figuring out the guitar section and mentioned that MIDNIGHT FX had since split. Gary immediately invited him over for a jam with the no-hopers and an unlikely, and some would say unholy, alliance was formed.

SHAKE DOG SHAKE split through lack of enthusiasm and the drummers addiction to Night Nurse but the newly joined pairing of Steve Price & Gary Law continued to write songs, eventually forming a new band: BRAVE NEW WORLD.

Steve got in touch with TY, the bass player from his old band and TY sorted out a drummer, who's name was Tapper. Tapper was about 265 years old and had played in bands since he could tap his very first skin. TY would never rehearse though and they found another Bass player whose name is Adam something or other, a reformed drug addict from Hayling Island. They also found themselves a singer called Richard Pullen who was into soul music and started playing stuff like Mustang Sally and Stand by me mixed with stuff by the Cult and Led Zepllin etc. Adam never got on with Tapper, not good for a rhythm section, and, after a huge and bloody bust up, after a gig in deepest Maesteg, Adam quit. Tapper and Gary immediately found Bill at a jam night at the local rock pub (most towns have one, just follow your nose) Bill was a punk who had once successfully auditioned for the Manic Street Preachers but decided that they weren't hard enough (DOH!!!).

They carried on playing our unique set of punk, soul and rock covers plus about 10 of their own songs that Steve and Gary were writing. "Circles" and "Tracks" were two of the earliest and having a lot of laffs until… Richard got ill. He was constantly in and out of hospital, which was very frustrating for the band. Then one day he dropped out of a gig in Cardiff and they decided to do it anyway as they had already packed the van and filled it with diesel.

The reluctant Gary was voted singer for the night, by default, as he was the only one who knew most of the words. They played a few more gigs with Richard and then he started cancelling more and more gigs. Unbeknownst to him, they would just play the gigs anyway without him. They were not happy with the situation but needed the money to progress. Eventually they parted company with Richard Gary being the unlucky bastard that had to tell him.

They played all over the place from then on, building a decent if strange following in across the UK. Then one summer, Tapper finished with the band and after using a session drummer to cover a few gigs they found a feisty new drummer, Lisa. So began a new era and a new name, STIFF KITTENS. They played their respective balls off (including Lisa) for the next year or so and also found some time to record their debut disc, PROGRESS, at BIG NOISE RECORDERS, CARDIFF, with Greg Haver who worked on the Manics "Everything must go album". The Manics previous album, "The Holy Bible" had been recorded in its entirety at BIG NOISE.

The late 90's saw them making more headway, touring Scotland and France, along with a hectic schedule of home gigs and the recording of some new material MAN OF STRAW EP, at LE'MONS studio in Newport, in 1998.

Bill decided at the end of that summer that he wanted to spend more time with his family and as he didn't get on with Lisa, he was going to call it a day with the band. The video for the Liars song, that was shot on Hengoed viaduct, is the last thing he did with the band. The search was on for yet another new band member, the result of which was Richard Murray, a former roadie, but this was to prove to be another problematic arrangement. Steve was also going through a messy (are there any that aren't) divorce and the band was a contributing factor.

Richard was a lovable pisshead which at times affected his performance on the bass, but they managed to get into TWIN PEAKS STUDIO in 1999 to start work on their 2nd album WON'T REACH THE FIFTH, completing this epic work during 2000. The album was recorded and produced by Adam Faust who has worked with amongst others, The Who. Adam has an enormous collection of vintage guitars and amps that the band used to great effect on the album. Recording was occasionally strained but the album was bravely completed ahead of schedule and released to critical acclaim. Following the album's success, they returned to Twin Peaks at the end of the year to record some more new songs for what will eventually become their third studio album (working title: BULLETS THE NEW BLACK ???).

They carried on gigging and writing but Lisa and Richard had grown complacent in their positions in the band becoming reluctant to rehearse and even more reluctant to play gigs in the South Wales Valleys where there was good money to be earned. Even the temporary addition of a keyboard player Miles did nothing to enhance their enthusiasm. Richard was fired just before Christmas in 2001 for basically being too pissed to play and Steve manfully took on the roll of Bass player and they continued to play throughout 2002 with gigs all over the UK, including several showcases in London. Then Lisa got ill. And the band had to cancel many of their hard won gigs. Eventually, something had to give.

A recording session was arranged with Producer Steve Brown (Cult/Manics/Mansun), who had seen them at one of the gigs that had fortunately still got played, but both parties were reluctant to work with the now unreliable drummer. An excellent session drummer Sarah Jones was used to record the three tracks that made it onto the resulting double A Side "Hunger"/"Gutless the Wonderboy" single. Sarah's studio work was incredible and complemented the professional and proficient Riff engine that is STIFF KITTENS, perfectly. Steve Brown and the management team were delighted by the results and the bands future was secured. So it was time for Steve and Gary, not without trepidation, began to search for a suitable replacement rhythm section to take on the road.

Salvation was found in the shape of their new drummer Gez and their new Bassist Rob! Amen! A rhythm section to die for! Stiff Kittens are now writing new material almost three new songs a week in a good week, packing all the explosive riffary they are known for with an added dimension of power playing to up the anti. Watch this space…

Now thoroughly deserving the current attentions from the likes of Producer Steve Brown and a division of Sony Music in the US, and a number of UK indies, they are finally being recognised for their years of work at the sharp end, it's glory time…

STIFF KITTENS 2003:

Angry Kitten - Gary Law - Main Lyricist, Lead Vocals & V-Loud Guitars

Serious Kitten - Steve Price - Second Guitar, Keyboards, Programming & Vocals

Feisty Kitten - Geraint Thomas- Drums, & Backing Vocals

Cool Kitten - Rob Tucker - Bass Guitar

Stiff Kittens formed in 1996 and will continue to know no boundary when it comes to musical direction.

"Our purpose in life is not to please you, it is to please ourselves"

Discography & Gigs | Press | Band History

MORE ON STIFF KITTENS AT:

www.stiffkittens.com