RESURRECTION - The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs (Amsterdamned Records/Triple X)
Los Angeles' Knitting Factory on Hollywood Boulevarde was obviously no place for wimps when The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs kicked 'em out loud and live one more time in September 2005 after a lengthy hiatus. Here's the proof, delivered at maximum volume.

There's not a lot of subtlety to what the Cheetahs do - and long may it be so. The primary vehicle for glued-on Detroit rawk fan and confirmed Stooge-a-phile, Frank Meyer, they've backed live and/or recorded with Cherrie Currie, Brother Wayne Kramer, Deniz Tek and Sylvain Sylvain. Bro Wayne was so moved to dub them spiritual descendents of the MC5 before a messy management dispute consigned both parties to part on less than amicable terms.

Cheetahs shows have a rep for being supremely physical affairs with band members as likely to damage themselves swinging from light rigs or launching themselves into crowd. Beer is almost always involved, consumed as much as worn. I tried to catch one show in San Jose, California, in January 2000 but through some stupid piece of scheduling, turned up to the venue a day early. (San Jose might be a very liveable place but i can tell you there's four-fifths of fuck all to do downtown on a Sunday afternoon.)

I also have to confess (is this starting to sound dysfunctional?) to losing track of the Cheetahs' output about the time of their final studio album "Gainesville" and the bits and pieces compile "Guns, Guitars & Gold" hit the racks (although the re-packaged "Maximumn Overdrive" was a welcome arrival) so it as much was a surprise to find they'd made 65 appearances on compilations, split singles, seven-inchers and soundtracks as it was to find this, Proper Album Number Ten, in the mailbox.

Frank Meyer's been busy with his other band Sweet Justice and any number of writing projects, including co-writing a ripping Ramones insider tome with the Brudas' ex-road manager Monte Melnick and working on scripts (hey, what else do you do in L.A.?)

Core Cheetahs Meyer, Dino Evertett (bass) and Art Jackson (guitar) were joined by B Movie Rats drummer Andy Baker for this, their 10th anniversary gig. There's the odd shaky moment but the band gathers enormous momentum as things go on and are white hot by the midpoint, a smoking cover of the Five's "Looking At You."

It's a raging and raggedly defiant set from start to finish. The song selection will be familiar to fans and accessible to anyone with a hankering for the hi-energy stuff. The hardcore-plated "None Of Your Business", mission statement of "Motor City USA" ("punk, rock and soul") and triple combo of "Disease", "Kick Me Down" and "Freak Out Man" would start a fire in an igloo. Mellower and more melodic moments like "Durango" never drag a chain.

Guest saxophonist Vince Meghrouni kicks the set into meltdown with his flourishes on "Built for Speed" (which morphs into "Wipeout" for a moment) and "Funhouse", which is close to a signature tune. The cover of "Slow Death" is a nice capper, too.

If all that sounds compelling, it probably is and if you want a copy, you better run. It's a limited pressing and available directly from the band. – The Barman

MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE – Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs (Alive/Total Energy)
This is a substantially beefed-up re-issue of the mighty 1997 album by Los Angeles’ most rocking combo of recent times, adding some demo and single material. If you’re not familiar with the Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, you’ll wonder if they live up the heavy expectations that such a name brings. To be frank, no band could, but they have a damn fine stab at it anyway, coupling the spirit of Detroit demi gods like the Stooges and the Five with a love for hard pop and what we in Australia would term “pub rock”.

Formed in ’95 by Stooges fan-atic Frank Meyer (you can read an interview with him here) and now on the backburner for geographical reasons, the Cheetahs run a fair gamut of material on this disc. The Meyer-penned liner notes reveal an early search for their real musical clothes (and a couple of the numbers included do sit a little uncomfortably) but the bulk is hi-energy Motor City rawk. Collaborations with Wayne Kramer back in the ‘90s had him fulsomely declaring the Cheetahs heirs to the MC5’s throne. That might be a little overblown but you get the gist of what he was saying.

No collaborations with Bro Wayne here but you do get digital treatment of the Cheetah’s 7” single with Deniz Tek, “Do the Pop” b/w “More Fun” (one half of which only was previously available on CD, courtesy of Bomp’s “Straight Outta Burbank” double compile). No radical re-arrangments but excellent stuff. So too is the cover of the Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb” with no less than Cherrie Currie helping out on vocals. There are also wonderful, though faithful, covers of the Dead Boys’ “Ain’t Nothing to Do” and the ‘Tators’ “Faster & Louder”, just to show the Cheetahs know The Bowery as well as the Murder City’s Woodward. The latter closed down the original “Overdrive” CD and I can’t recall a better version.

“None of Your Business” still rocks hard (and smells a little mysogonist into the bargain, it must be said). It was the opening “Overdrive” cut and now sits at two, behind “Do the Pop”. The following tracks, “What’s Coming to Me” and “Freak Out Man”, build a brutal momentum and it’s almost a relief to visit L.A.’s seamy side in the next cut, “Little Tokyo”. “Built for Speed” certainly is but “Disease” still rates as one of the fastest things the Cheetahs have recorded. Check out a couple of things off “Waiting for the Death of My Generation” for a velocity check. If a couple of the poppier tunes sit uncomfortably, well that's ice you should be willing to pay.

Of the bonus tracks, “Burn Silver Lake Burn!” rings with all the fury that can be mustered. I’m at a loss to explain it fully (sounds like a rant against posers), but my experience of that ‘burb in the City of Lights doesn’t extend much past the Spaceland club and a little petrol (sorry, gas) station down the road that serves crap instant coffee. All I can conclude is that the residents are in for a shitload of trouble. “Getting’ Sick” is reprised, in slower form, from the "Punk, Rock and Soul" split EP with the Bellrays while “Fuck No” is a suitably raucous closer.

All up, an advance on the “Overdrive” album that you should already own - and a "must have" if you don’t and any of the usual I-94 touchstones ring a loud bell. Sounds great for the re-mastering, too. The swansong “Gainesville” album should be in the shops by the time you read this, but “Maximum Overdrive” is as good a starting point as any. The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs haven’t shut the door on future work together but if they never re-surfaced, this re-ish would be a great send-off. – The Barman

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GUITARS, GUNS & GOLD - Streetwalkin' Cheetahs (Triple X)
Angeleno Frank Meyer's Streetwalkin' Cheetahs are a band that digs every kind of hard rockin' music, not only the high-energy Detroit kind with which they've been so closely identified (thanks to a band name taken from Iggy's greatest song and a lengthy stage-and-studio association with ex-MC5 guitar terrorist Wayne Kramer) but also '77 punk (which their sound has most closely resembled) and metal (the stock-in-trade of Frank's day gig as managing editor at KNAC.com; he previously penned liner notes for Bomp's Iguana Chronicles series of archival Stooge releases). They wear their influences on their black T-shirt sleeves (besides the aforementioned Kramer connection, they've had studio and live encounters with the likes of Deniz Tek, Scott Morgan, and ex-Runaway Cherie Currie), purvey an explosive live show that probably comes as close as anything you'll see today to approximating the mayhem of the Five and Stooges in their prime (hear their unspeakably dynamite "Live on KXLU" set from '99 for proof positive), and more recently, they've been finding their way around a studio with ever-increasing assurance (evidence: their five tracks on 2000's "Five Fingers of Dr. X" comp and last year's "Waiting for the Death of My Generation").

Meyer sings like a guitar player and plays lead like the aficionado he is (besides the usual Detroit/punk suspects, you'll hear echoes of seventies guitar gods like Jeff Beck and Johnny Winter in his riffage; the latter's "All Tore Down" is a fave toon of his), while his partner Art Jackson plays the Malcolm Young/Syl Sylvain role, cranking out the barre chords and holding things together while Frank, uh, INTERACTS with the audience a la Iggy. Since the departure of the excellent skinsman Mike Sessa and original skate punk/bassist-vocalist extraordinaire Dino Everett (whose departure seems to have decreased the athleticism quotient of their live show, at least on the basis of a coupla songs I caught late in their set at Emo's during SXSW last year), they've been going through rhythm section players like Spinal Tap.

"Guitars, Guns & Gold" is their rarities compilation, a necessary step for every band that releases as many records as these guys do (the Hellacopters' will be out later this year). It's interesting, in light of the Cheetahs' prolific recording schedule, to note that over half of the tracks collected here are previously unreleased in any form. Being the fans/collectors they are, maybe Frank and the boys didn't wanna take the fun out of it for their audiences. Why, they even encourage bootleggers on their website, as long as they get a copy.

So whaddaya get for your hard-earned fan buck? Several slabs of classic Cheetah crunch and frenzy ("Small Town Killer," the title track, "Generator," "The Night Billy Wanted to Fly"); a coupla covers (the American John Doe/Exene-led X's hometown homage "Los Angeles," the Boys' "Kamikaze," Iron Maiden's "Sanctuary"); unsweetened (minus sitar and horns) live-on-the-radio versions of two "Waiting for the Death of My Generation" songs ("No More" and "Dirty Mockingbird") that almost cut the originals; the evilest, most perverse Christmas song ever recorded; and an artifact from the band's very earliest daze as a comedy-and-covers band (shades of Rocket from the Tombs!) featuring Frank's brother, actor Breckin "Inside Schwartz" Meyer (I guess he really IS a Valley kid, after all) on drums and voxxx..

All in all, then, a solid set, at least enough to hold the faithful here in these United States over until their current American tour hits A Theater Near You, and the world at large until a full-length album of NEW material is released later this year. Turn it up! - Ken Shimamoto

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