Faster Pussycat: Brent Muscat to Bring the Sludge
By: Valerie A. Ciliento
Originally Published in Long Island Entertainment News, July 2003.

If you ever wondered what life on the road is like for a musician, Faster Pussycat lead guitarist Brent Muscat would be a good person to ask. A member of the Sunset Strip rock band since his high school graduation in 1986, Muscat has not only been touring since the late '80s, but practically non-stop since the beginning of 2003. First he helped out fellow Hollywood friends in L.A. Guns on their U.S. tour by filling in guitar duties for estranged guitarist Tracii Guns. Then it was off to Europe for more shows with the Guns. Next, he headed back to Europe for another month with his own band Faster Pussycat. After a short break, Muscat finds himself on another trek with Faster Pussycat- this time headlining the first Metal Sludge Extravaganza tour, with glam-rockers Enuff Z' Nuff and Pretty Boy Floyd along for the ride.

So much touring the past six months must get quite exhausting. While trying to set up a time to conduct this interview, I phoned Muscat when he happened to be caught in a bit of a predicament. "They left me," were the first words I heard from him after introducing myself. "The band left without me. I'm still in Colorado Springs. I'm waiting for them to come back and get me." It seems that he might have overslept- must be all that late-night partying with the Pretty Boy Floyd guys! Ah, life on the road. But Muscat is not worn out yet. He's a trooper- and he takes his vitamins too!

Once this interview took place, Muscat happily discussed Faster Pussycat (of course) his working relationship with frontman Taime Downe, the website responsible for this fun-filled tour (www.metal-sludge.com for those unaware) and some vivid details about his upcoming book titled "Brent Muscat: Babblin' On and On." Sound familiar?

First, the music. Aside from old favorites like the contagious Chuck Berry influenced "Bathroom Wall" and "Cathouse," expect to hear three new Faster Pussycat songs in their set, and expect them to be straight-ahead rock n' roll. Muscat is excited about playing the new material live, which he describes as a cross between the sound of their self-title1987 debut and their last studio record, 1992's Whipped.

"Think of the hardness of the last album but the simpleness of the first album- the catchiness of the first album," he informed. This will most likely fit the description of their next studio effort as well- if they ever get some time off from the road to actually do some recording! It also sounds like a great combination and compromise between Muscat and lead singer Taime Downe, as far as musical direction goes.

"I didn't like the idea of remixing Faster Pussycat," Muscat said, referring to the band's 2001 release Between the Valley of the Ultra Pussy, a collection of completely revamped Faster Pussycat tunes- techno/industrial style. "You got great songs and play rock n' roll, why do you need to remix it? I'm not into that…Call me old school rock guy or whatever but- that's just my take."

The concept of an industrial concoction of Faster Pussycat's music came from Downe and former rhythm guitarist Gregg Steele. This wasn't the only time something Muscat had worked on got transformed by some of his bandmates, particularly Downe. Muscat reflected back on the writing process during the group's early days, when a song he composed for his high-school girlfriend took a different twist.

"If I wrote a love song, I brought the music and the lyrics and Taime turned it into like, a hate song," he said, recalling one tune in particular. "It was kind of ballady, nice and sweet, and then he turned it into a song called 'No Room for Emotion.' Not so much a hate song, but saying 'I don't have room for any love,' know what I mean?"

But it's all good in the Faster Pussycat camp, don't get him wrong. "I have known Taime for so long that he's more like a brother where it's sort of a love/hate relationship," Muscat remarked. "The chemistry between me and Taime worked well that way, and still works well…If you look at all bands, the singer and the lead guitar player- every band has that kind of weird chemistry. Joe Perry and Steven Tyler hated each other for awhile, but they love each other. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, you know. I mean, we're on way much more smaller level than those bands I just mentioned, but if you look, a lot of bands have that kind of chemistry between the guitar player and the singer."

Despite Muscat's differences with Downe, one thing he admires about him is his ability to make smart decisions, and one of those decisions was to agree to headline the Metal Sludge tour.

"I think people don't realize how big it is," Muscat said of the controversial website, which began as a spoof of the hard rock magazine Metal Edge. Launched in 1998, it's today's main source for the latest news and gossip on '80s metal bands, not to mention plenty of wisecracks too. Although the "Sludgeaholics" can't get enough of its tongue-in-cheek humor, not everyone finds it so amusing, especially some of the rock stars who find themselves the butt of all the jokes.

"People think, 'Oh fuck them,' you know, but at the same time they have more hits than any other website on the Internet." Some might think this only applies to the rock crowd, but that is not so, according to Muscat. "Even new rock bands, like, people read that all the time. I talked to the guy from Sugar Ray, the singer, and he reads it all the time you know." He continued, "People don't know, but every show you go to, people are wearing Metal Sludge shirts, people are taking pictures and talking about your 20 Questions, you know? It's bigger than people think."

And in Muscat's opinion, as the old saying goes, there's no such thing as bad publicity, no matter how nasty some of the comments on Metal Sludge (especially their Gossip Board!) get. Instead of going against it, he enjoys the site for its downright funniness and sees it as a good promotional tool as well. He even contributed to it recently by submitting a tour diary, which has already garnered a lot of feedback.

"Look at one tour diary and I'm getting all kinds of calls in the morning you know what I mean? That's the funny thing, all these people say Metal Sludge is no big deal…Everybody who says that to me has called me today. They were the first ones to see it. Is that funny or what?" Indeed it is!

"You know, the main thing, as I see it, if people are talking about you, that's a good thing. If people aren't talking about you, you're in trouble. If people are talking about you whether it's good or bad, it means you have a bit of popularity. Metal Sludge- what I like about it is that whoever does it, it's kept a secret."

That's right. Those who run the site operate anonymously, using monikers that combine the names of famous rock stars ("Jani Bon Neil" for example.) After all, do you think they could get away with constantly making fun of Vince Neil's weight gain, Tommy Lee's use of "ebonics," Bret Michaels' hair extensions, and calling Jani Lane "frog boy" without eventual face-to-face confrontation? Probably not.

"It's pretty genius if you think about it, you know?" Muscat opined. "That's the whole point about it; if they reveal their identity it wouldn't be fun anymore. Everybody speculates on it and that's the fun of it too, I think."

So better to embrace all the attention and make the most of it. "I don't take myself too seriously…I mean, we're playing '80s music you know? Watch Spinal Tap you know what I mean? When we are out here on tour, even new bands that are not playing '80s music, being in a rock band, if you can't find the humor in it, if you can't learn to laugh, then you gotta quit."

Aside from playing kick-ass rock n' roll shows almost every night of the week, Muscat keeps busy working on his forthcoming book, where he plans on doing quite a bit of dishing about himself, revealing things from his past he's "not so proud of." Believe it or not, one of those things is having had a steamy affair with his middle-aged Japanese teacher when he went back to school after Faster Pussycat broke up for a while in the mid-'90s.

"She hated me," Muscat said. "When I started school there, I used to come in late, messy hair, and just like- rock guy…I already knew some Japanese and I'd get in trouble with her…" The strict instructor obviously had a secret naughty side though- as soon she discovered that Muscat was in a band and checked out one of his videos, her attitude toward him changed- in a kinky way.

"All of a sudden I start becoming teacher's pet," he said. "She wasn't an old lady, but I was 27 or something, 26, and she was like, god, I don't know, middle-age, you know what I mean? But it wasn't even about the age to me; she was my professor, who I was definitely scared of at first, and hated me, and now she's starting to unzip my pants at her house, you know?" He further divulged, "And she could've gotten in big trouble, I mean, she'd get me after school in the teacher's parking lot and get me in the car and try to start messing around with me and I would have to stop her you know?"

David Lee Roth would surely appreciate a story like this one. "Hot for Teacher," indeed! Or in this situation, more like "Hot for Student!"

"I talk about a lot of stuff that I didn't wanna tell anybody but I thought, god, if I'm gonna be honest, I gotta dig a little dirt out on myself." To find out if Brent got an "A" in the class, you will have to pick up a copy of this page-turner when it comes out- and hopefully that will be soon.

Speaking of "dirt" however, how does Muscat feel about Motley Crue's best-selling autobiography chock-full of sex, car crashes, back-stabbing, drug overdoses and overall debauchery?

"In my opinion, I think there's some exaggeration to the stories," he remarked. "The story about the groupie in the hotel room, I think that's a composition of like, eight different groupie stories put together." That's not to say anybody is lying though. "People have different memories about stuff," Muscat clarified. "…Even with my book, I'm trying to be super accurate, but somebody in my band might go, 'You know what, it didn't happen that way. People remember stuff differently," he explained. "Motley's book is different because they got different guys talking, but this is gonna be my story and it's gonna be my life. It's not just about Faster Pussycat but more about a kid who grows up with the dream of becoming a rock star, makes it, loses it ALL, and then has a second chance again."

Does he think package tours for '80s metal bands such as this one could be that second chance?

"I don't think we're gonna be #1 on MTV like I was in 1990," Muscat indicated. (Remember 'House of Pain?') "I'm realistic about it you know," he stated. "I think it's fun, I think it's funny, I think it's amazing that we can even do it you know? And I'm grateful that we can even be out there still doing it."

The Metal Sludge Extravaganza tour blasts through The Downtown on Long Island for one of the biggest party nights of the year: the Fourth of July. Sounds like one hell of a rock n' roll party to me!

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For more info on Brent, visit www.fasterpussycat.com or www.brentmuscat.com!