Gustave Molvik better known to you and me as Taime Downe lead singer of Faster Pussycat was born on this day in 1964.

Taime first formed a band named The Bondage Boys, and going under the stage name “Vaun Hammer”, he released a song with this band called “The Loser” on ‘Northwest Metalfest’, a compilation featuring ten Seattle-area bands. he left Seattle for San Diego before moving on to Los Angeles.

When Taime Got to LA he worked for ‘Retail Slut’ in Hollywood and ran the stage lights at the Troubadour. Magnus Walker of Serious Clothing accidentally got his start when walking into Retail Slut, Taime wanted to buy the pants off him, so he ordered pairs for the store. In 1985 he formed the band Faster Pussycat. The band released their self-titled debut album in 1987 on the same day Guns N Roses released ‘Appetite For Destruction’ and the rest, as they say, is history. The bands toured the UK together ending with an epic night at the world-famous Hammersmith Odeon along with The Quireboys.  whilst Guns were being touted as the most dangerous band in the world and Appetite was hailed as the greatest Rock album for decades – As good as Appetite was those clued in would agree that it was that self-titled Faster Pussycat record that really stood the test of time and is head and shoulders the better of the two.  I know its not a competition but whilst Guns n Roses played stadiums Faster Pussycat never achieved such riches.

Faster Pussycat were signed to Elektra Records and sold over 500,000 copies of 1989’s follow up ‘Wake Me When It’s Over’ and had hit singles like ‘.House Of Pain’ and ‘Poison Ivy’. MTV was good to Faster Pussycat who waited three years to follow up with a third the much-maligned ‘Whipped’ which was a lot better than the band got credit for with the single ‘Nonstop To Nowhere’  it also had some great tracks although quite diverse in style ‘Friends’ and the excellent ‘Jack The Bastard’. The band then dropped off a cliff and weren’t heard of for what seemed like an age.

In the interim Downe went on to form The Newlydeads for which he wrote and produced. Around 1998, he opened his own club, called The Pretty Ugly Club, with co-owner JD Terziu, and the club achieved the same level of success as The Cathouse, the club Taime had formerly run with Riki Rachtman at the height of Faster Pussycat and Guns upward trajectory. Taime has also been the promoter of other clubs in L.A. such as Thunder Pussy and Pretty Pussy. He also was the DJ at Metal Skool with Josh Richman as the MC.

The Newlydeads were a different beast and the music landscape had changed since Downe burst on the scene with his sleazy band of brothers.  it was now 1997 and with a more industrial edge and not afraid to push the boundaries Downe hooked up with Kyle K formerly of Bang Tango the band was probably best known for their exceptional cover of ‘Cities In Dust’.  A year later they revisited the album with ‘Re-bound’ made up of remixes before recording ‘Dead End’ in 2001.

Downe Resurrected Faster Pussycat with a fucked-up industrial mash-up of classic Faster Pussycat tracks that left the songs almost unrecognisable along with a really messed up cover of ‘I Was Made For Loving You’ and one new track entitled ‘Blood’. to be fair to Downe he kept the name alive touring every shit hole in Europe and the USA with a new line up of the band they went on to record ‘The Power And The Glory Hole’ which had the tribute to Bianca from Betty Blowtorch who lost her life under tragic circumstances  they also included a great version of ‘shut Up And Fuck’.

there were wars of words with members of the original line up and patched up friendships along the road. Downe has had some health issues in recent years but looks healthy and has quit the cigarettes and looks and sounds like he’s wound the clock back.  Happy Birthday Taime Downe you still rock and RPM love Ya man! So don’t change that song!