My life in the LA Underground Scene
By Ames Evil, Roadie To The Stars
LOS ANGELES – I will be doing one of these articles each month to document the great LA bands I worked with in the 1990’s. I am doing them in chronological order to show how I started and what I evolved into.
The bands I was lucky enough to work with were all prominent in the LA Scene. Most won local awards. Most of the shows and tours were DIY. All bands would like worldwide fame, but being top of the heap in LA is success.
There are hundreds of bands in LA. Having the ability to attract a crowd, and get a following, local press, and to progress to bigger shows is key. Most of my bands would get Best Bet, or Show Of The Night in the LA Weekly. They all had a unique sound. They also had a look. Some involved theatrics or dancers.
Due to no Internet in the 1990’s there is little to no representation online despite being big in LA at the time. But I hold the history of these bands, and I documented every show I did. I have photos I took, merch items, posters, set lists, and more. My articles will direct you to sites where you can learn more and hear their music. I encourage you to explore these bands, you just might like them. I look forward to writing these stories and I hope you enjoy them.
Sugar Coated Dynamite In A Van
Bobsled All-Girl Band, LA 11/94-11/97 and Patsy All-Girl Band, LA 5/95-11-02
Bobsled started with Jula Bell. It started as a side project from her band at the time Bulimia Banquet. Initially, she had guys in the group. When I started working with Bobsled it had morphed into an all-girl band.
Bobsled had Mia Ferraro on lead guitar, also from Bulimia Banquet and Spoon, Patricia Klein on guitar from Patsy, and Judy Cocuzza on drums who had been playing in Borax.
Nothing against the boys, but to me the songs made more sense being done by girls. They were not girly girls, they were tough. Some songs are “Riot Grrl”-ish, some songs are whimsical.
The band members all looked great together on stage and sounded great as well. They always seemed to grab the crowd. Of course girls liked the band, but guys liked them too. I was there at the start and saw what it could become. Then I watched them get tighter and tighter. They would get Pick Of The Night in the LA Weekly. They became a scene favorite. Then came doing a 10-show run on the road, then another one. It was my first experience having to pack for the road. Plus, I would be in a van with four girls. I believed in them and I was not disappointed. Jula Bell got a Flippy Award (Flipside Magazine) for best Female Vocals. She is also the female voice on Devo’s “Girl You Want” at the beginning of “Tank Girl” the movie.
They did release a CD, “Darlahood.” There is a song, “Friendly’s Cafe,” and I have some lyric credit on that song. Patricia’s band Patsy was also happening at the same time. Patricia played guitar, Kerry played drums, and Marcie played guitar and was lead singer. This was an all-lesbian band. The joke was that Ames is Patsy’s only boyfriend. I loved them too. They had such a unique sound and they became a favorite in the gay/lesbian community.
Both bands had prominent status in the scene. In 1997, Patricia decided to concentrate on Patsy and left Bobsled and Sharon Needles of Butt Trumpet took her place. I met Sharon working the final three Butt Trumpet shows that had Bianca as lead singer after the original band leader left. They called it quits after being served subpoenas on stage by the former band leader. Bobsled was on the same bill that night. The new lineup recorded a five-song demo they sold at shows in cassette form. This lineup lasted until November of 1997. The all-girl Bobsled lasted three years.
I continued working with Patsy. Judy and Sharon would later be part of two band Betty Blowtorch and Tadpole. Those bands are a whole other story I will write about in the months to come.
Bobsled and Patsy were both DIY situations on the most part. That meant doing fliers, booking their own shows, and making merch. It was not a money thing for me, or them. But we were like families. For some reason it was something we had to do.
My contribution was organizing and coming up with ways to make it a dedicated, regimented team. We went into mode the minute we arrived at a show. Unloading, prepping setting up merch, and setting up the stage. When the set was over they would go do merch while I packed up the stage gear. We would sell more stuff when they sold the merch. It made the accessible to the fans. I would also give them merch to carry with them if they went to hang out in the venue after the set so they could sell stuff directly to fans. Being DIY, every dollar the band made was important. An extra 30 or 40 bucks was really helpful. Money to make merch and gas for the van. On tour, for food and a hotel room. We became a mean, lean fighting machine.
They were girls, I was a guy. But I wasn’t there in hopes of getting together with one of them. Actually, that would add up to disaster, especially with an all-girl band. It would create an in balance in the universe. “How come your boyfriend can go on tour with us, and ours can’t?” I figured if that happened I could not only lose my girlfriend but also my job with the band. Not worth it. My rule was never put your pen in company ink.
What I loved about them was them on stage. Plus, most of the time, they were already spoken for. But at shows, people always assumed I was with one of them. I was a form of security for them. I did have a hard time finding a girl for me. “Why do you want me when you hang out with all these badass girls?”
I was committed to the band. Jula and I got Bobsled tattoos. There were no drug or alcohol problems. They would drink some wine or have a beer. It was always fun to hear their conversations in the van. Hilarious. Also, from a guys perspective, it was all very informative. Girls can be absolutely foul sometimes, moreso than a bunch of guys. But at shows they were sweet and always presented as professionals. Especially since we did a lot of all-ages shows.
They were inspirational to the young girls who saw them. Often they played better than the guy bands on the bill. Individually they were great, as a band they were awesome. Patricia supplied the crunchy rhythm, Mia’s madcap leads embellished the songs, Judy’s drums were thunderous, Jula’s bass lines pulled it together, but it was her unique voice that completed the picture. Sometimes hard rocking, sometimes almost operatic.
As in life, things happen and life moves on. I hate it when bands break up. It is like a divorce that involves several people. But bands have a life cycle. Especially if you never get the big break. Sometimes even that can ruin a band. At first a band rises in the scene and starts to go up the ladder. When you get to the point where the rise stops and you start getting less prominent gigs you have to decide if it is worth going on or not. Plus musicians evolve. They want to do something different. I get it. I think Bobsled lived out it’s life cycle and I am glad I was there. The same goes for Patsy although they lasted until 2002.
Patsy did release a CD, “In A Briefcase,” which dropped in 2001. Patsy evolved together. In the beginning they had a raw, primal, tribal kind of sound I can’t begin to explain. We already know Patricia is a great guitarist. Kerry the drummer had such an unusual attack. It was odd in a good way. Marcie played guitar, but it was her haunting voice that completed the picture. Themes within the songs were lesbian oriented, but there were no male bashing songs.
By the time they did the CD, they had evolved into more of a traditional band sound losing some of the eeriness that initially attracted me, but it was still Patsy. Early on, my second show with Patsy was at a Riot Grrl thing. Bobsled played in San Diego the night before and we were going to drop Patricia off and watch them play. When we got to the gate they said, “You can come in but he can’t!” It was explained that I was their stage guy and if he isn’t allowed in then no show. After a pow wow they decided to let me in.
Another problem for girl bands is guys trying to pick up on them. This would happen with both bands. Sometimes guys didn’t get the clue Patsy was lesbians. I would observe the situation. If it went over the line, I would put my arm around the girl and say something like,”Lets go get something to eat before we go back to our hotel room.”
That usually took the air out of the guys’ collective balloons. Plus it was non-confrontational. I never got into a fight with anyone at a show. If I thought something was too dangerous I would alert security, but that was usually while they were on stage. Sometimes Jula would stop mid-song and sound a troublemaker.
I did 101 of 115 Bobsled shows and 27 of 28 Patsy shows. By the time Sharon joined Bobsled I was working with a few more bands. The Muffs, Sluts For Hire, and Penis Flytrap. So I had to opt out of certain shows to do the other one when there was a conflict, a show on the same night. Amazingly that didn’t happen often.
You will read about those other bands in the months to come. I am doing these articles because back in the 1990’s there was no Internet and these bands have little to no info about them despite being major players in the LA scene at the time.
To find out more about Bobsled go to julabell.com and their CD “Darlahood” is on Bandcamp. Patsy has a facebook page and their CD “In A Briefcase” is also on Bandcamp. This is my personal experience as a roadie and I am in no way expressing what it was to the band members involved. You would have to ask them what it was to them.
I am often asked which band I loved working with the most.
My response is always: “I love them all equally!”