Cycle
Sluts from Hell
Cycle Sluts
from Hell Halloween ’07 Reunion
@Rebel/Motherfucker Party or “I Was a Back Up Druid!”
By Morgan Y.
Evans
The Cycle Sluts
from Hell, a notorious underground female fronted metal band, are
best remembered for their poseur-hating anthem “I Wish You Were a
Beer”. All rants at losers and lame guys aside, they wrote quite a
few great metal tunes in their day but sadly, broke up after only
one album, 1991’s self titled Sony cd. Due to label problems, bad
management and inter-band conflict, this potentially huge group
unfortunately ended up as a terrific, though influential. footnote.
They deserved a lot more
The October, 31st
(and reportedly final) Motherfucker Party, was a chance to come back
and light a few more fires under the asses of the complacent hordes.
A series of parties which were always in a different location, this
final Motherfucker event was at club Rebel on West 30th
street and was billed as “Motherfucker’s Monster Mash-Night of 1,000
Monsters”. The crowd was large and well-bedecked, from jeweled gypsy
girls to the obligatory undead to a giant Chewbacca.
I am a long time
friend with the Cycle Sluts own Honey 1percenter (aka. Donna She
Wolf, now of the terrific She Wolves). It was with disbelief and
then surging enthusiasm that I said yes when she asked me to be a
back up druid on stage for this event. I would get to help make a
stage prop Stonehenge (ala Spinal Tap, of course), wear a robe and
wave around a giant fake axe. All of this, basically, amounted to
some of my wildest metal dreams come true! There was even some free
booze!
The show started
with Brooklyn, NY’s gothic mopesters the Hunt, pounding out
convincing gloom rock while lead singer Jasper writhed and hopped
around the stage. They were followed by the excellent and always fun
Stalkers (also from Brooklyn), whose debut YESTERDAY IS NO TOMMOROW
is a must hear for fans of messy garage mayhem. Singer Andy Animal
mocked and reveled with the audience at the same time while new
guitarist Lefty, in a ridiculous wizard-looking get up, leapt high
into the air as drummer Josh Styles pounded the skins. They also had
some pretty cute ladies dancing around.
Finally, though,
it was time for the Sluts to take the stage. June 24, 2006 was a
previous "one time only" reunion at The Delancey in New York, but
this was probably destined to be crazier simply because it was
Halloween. Queen Vixen, Honey 1percenter, She Fire of Ice, and
original guitarist Lord Roadkill took the stage, with some great
hired guns (including Nick Marden from The Stimulators on bass) and
She Wolves own Tony Mann (ex-G.G.Allin, Dee Dee Ramone) behind the
kit.
The band sounded
tight and booming, with the ladies voices holding up great despite
the years since their debut. “Taste the Flesh” remained anthemic
metal perfection while “Talisman” evoked a world of Dungeons and
Dragons Valkyries gone leather. “Bad Ass Mama” was pure attitude,
with the crowd waving their fists along with the groove. It was kind
of hard for me onstage during “By the Balls” because we druids were
supposed to repeatedly grab our crotches and bend over in pain
during the outro, not an easy feat when you are wearing a spiked
bracelet and already holding a pointy axe!
I was kind of
confined to near the side of the stage, though we did get to dance
behind and with the Sluts at certain points. The highlights by far,
for me, were getting to hold axes aloft over the ladies’ heads while
they head banged in the bridge of the doom meets thrash of “Dark
Ships” and chugging a whole beer through my nasty tasting mask while
the crowd went nuts for “I Wish You Were a Beer.” The encore “Queen
High Love” sort of derailed a bit amidst the chaos, but is so catchy
you can’t help but get it stuck in your head for days. And anyway,
the show was near perfection, ample proof as to why these girls
rightfully ruled NYC in a reign of terror during their heyday.
Let’s hope for
another one!
