Radioactive Cats - s/t

Name: Radio Active Cats
Album: s/t
Year:1991
Style: Roots Rock, Hair Metal, Blues
Similar Bands: Mr. Big, Blasters, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cheap Trick, Tesla, Primal Scream
"One-Word" Review: Swamp Hair Metal
Based Out Of: Burbank, CA
Label: Warner Brothers, WEA Manufacturing

CD

Radio Active Cats (1991)

1. Shotgun Shack 4:54 (single)
2. Hold On Tight 3:27
3. Bed of Roses 4:45 (single)
4. Finger in the Pie 4:55
5. Standin' in the Rain 4:24
6. Love Razor 4:18
7. Cry on My Shoulder 3:48
8. Think About Love 3:29
9. Cheap Mascara 4:28
10. Knock Knock 3:56
11. Wet, Hot Sweat 4:36

Album Rating (1-10): 6.0

Members & Other Bands:

• Andy Wallace - Producer, Engineer, Mixing
• Roberta Petersen - Executive Producer
• Shel Graves - Vox (TV in Flames)
• Michael Graves - Drums, Percussion, Vox (Broken Homes, Bang-Bang, Moccasoul, TV in Flames)
• Ian Espinoza - Guitar, Mandolin, Vox (The Breakaways, Dancer, Failsafe, Beachy & the Beachnuts, Honeys. James House, The Coup, TV in Flames)
• Ron Maldonado - Bass (Pappo's Blues)
• Michael Doman - Drums (Broken Homes, Goodie Mob)
• Joe Simon Seibert - Keys (Broken Homes, Rick Parker)
• Janet Levinson - Art Direction
• Andy Earl - Photos
• John Jackson - Asst Engineer
• Judy Kirschner - Asst Engineer
• Bernie Grundman - Mastering
  
  

Unknown-ness: I've never heard of this band...and since i only have the CD, there is not much to go buy. From the song names and the band name, plus year this was released, they sound like a made-for-tv metal band, like something that would have appeared on Married With Children. I know Andy Wallace's name from Faith No More producing and other bands of that type, so perhaps hair metal is spot on. And spacing matters with this band...as they are not the Radioactive Cats, they are Radio Active...as if they are dudes who are active on the radio.

Album Review: The songs are a touch southern roots rock while singing about metal themes of women, love on the run, and roses. The songs are not that threatening, but i wonder if that is just time and the genre pushing the bar up since 1991 that makes it sound almost quaint. "Knock Knock" sounds like a metal singer fronting Cake, which is strangely enjoyable. They suffered the wrong band at the wrong time syndrome, as Alt-Grunge was picking up speed just as they were releasing this debut. Not entirely hair band metal and not classic rock inspired grunge at all, their cover-all-basis music made them a band that was stopped before it started

Stand Out Track: Cheap Mascara (half of the song)

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