The Hellcats "Cherry Mansions" 1988

...out of Tav Falco's twilightzone creep some hellcats...Hellcats is the first band for Memphis underground legend Lorette Velvette. She formed the band together with her friend Lisa McGaughran in the late eighties. Lorette Velvette is actually not from Memphis, but close by and her big dream as a young girl was to move to Memphis and make music that would stir some action in music world. Her vision was to put together the original sounds of Memphis, glam and punk from perspective of a female. Tav Falco and Alex Chilton both adored the band when they showed up and helped them to publish two albums in France on legendary New Rose label. To this day Lorette Velvette is virtually unknown in the USA, even though she still lives in Memphis and puts out great tunes as a solo artist or with her band Kropotkins. Why her groundbreaking style never got a deserved attention is still a big puzzle for me. The first two albums that Velvette did with her original bandmates were even somewhat softened by sleek production of Doug Easley, a member of Tav Falco's Panther Burns who obviously attempted to make Hellcats sound approachable to wide audience, which of course didn't happen. In any case, Lisa and Lorette exchange vocal duties on the album sisterly, and they stomp through a selection of songs that covers pretty much every possible style in rock music, taking time to cover tunes such as Pickett's Don't Fight It, Toussaint's I Did My Part and DeShannon's When You Walk in The Room. When nineties started, New Rose label died and Hellcats were left with a record label who understood them. Soon, the band split up and Lorette started an amazing solo career that completely defined her style, unfortunately far away from any kind of (self)promotion but in the best tradition of Memphis rock'n'roll.The Hellcats: