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Holy swampballs: Quintron and Miss Pussycat are gonna play the fucking Kennedy Center. Plus a few other places.
If you’re like me, you probably get sucked every year around Christmas into watching the Kennedy Center Honors, because your aging parents have pumped you so full of leftover turkey and Pinot Grigio that you can’t get off the couch and so you’re stuck watching that boring-ass parade of old actors and ballerinas and cellists and ohmygodisthatLedfuckingZeppelin? OK, so the Kennedy Center Honors aren’t all bad. Especially when you’re on your third bottle of Pinot Grigio.
Hosting the Zep was pretty cool…even though they got that talentless douchebag Kid Rock to massacre “Ramble On”…but the Kennedy Center is about to get even cooler. Because on April 13th, they will play host to none other than Quintron & Miss Pussycat. Yes, the New Orleans ambassadors of down ‘n’ dirty “swamp tech” are on the bill for something called the New Orleans Bingo! Show, which also features the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, a jazz cellist, and this guy. Your tax dollars at work, people!
We ran most of these Q & Miss P tour dates back in January, but we’ll run them again here because there have been a few updates…also because they made this awesome “tour commercial” video and we need an excuse to post it. Full dates after the clip.
Here are the dates. Oh and I should’ve mentioned: “The Mystery in Old Bathbath” is a new Miss Pussycat puppet movie. So bring your popcorn.
4-8 – Jacksonville, FL @ Sun Ray Cinema – live show and screening of THE MYSTERY IN OLD BATHBATH
4-9 – TALLAHASSEE, FL @ Downunder Club
4-10 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
4-12 – Purchase, NY @ SUNNY Purchase Culture Shock festival
4-13 – Washington DC @ Kennedy Center (Yes the real Kennedy Center) – more info TBA
4-17 – NEW HAVEN, CT @ Cafe 9
4-18 – NY, NY @ Anthology Film Archive – NYC premier of THE MYSTERY IN OLD BATHBATH – Q and A to follow film
4-20 (dude) – BROOKLYN, NY @ Secret Project Robot with K-Holes, Black Dice – Spring Fever / smoke lots of weed festival
4-21 – Richmond, VA @ STrange Matter with Bermuda Triangles
4-25 – Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s downstairs
4-26 Dallas, TX @ Doublewide with Darktown Strutters!
4-27 Austin, TX @ Psych Fest – Q and P, King Kahn and Bar-B-Que, Acid Mothers Temple, more trippy bands than ever
4-28 Waxahachie, TX @ Webb Gallery
Can somebody fly us to New Orleans so we can celebrate Mardi Gras with Quintron and Miss Pussycat?
Good news for people who like puking in alleyways and/or flashing their tits (not necessarily in that order): Mardi Gras is almost upon us! And what better way to celebrate than with New Orleans’ ambassadors of Crescent City eccentricity, Quintron and Miss Pussycat? (We hear Trombone Shorty’s a good time, too, but does he open his sets with sci-fi puppet shows? No, he does not.)
In addition to playing a few hometown Mardi Gras-related shows, Q & Miss P will also be bringing their puppets and swamp jams to several lucky, lucky cities this spring. See below for full tour dates, and for a little taste of what you’re in for, read our review of Quintron and Miss Pussycat’s last show here in L.A. The venue you see them at will probably less stanky, but we make no guarantees.
Quintron & Miss Pussycat Mardi Gras/spring tour dates:
02-1 New Orleans, LA – Tulane University Mardi Gras Ball
02-02 Lafayette, LA – Blue Moon Saloon w/ T-Kette
02-11 New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jack’s w/ K-Holes, Vice Cooler & the one and only STEPHANIE “call the police” MCDEE!
03-01 New Orleans, LA – THE PRYTANIA THEATER – NOLA Premier of “The Mystery In Old BathBath”
04-09 Tallahassee, FL – Downunder Club
04-10 Atlanta, GA – The Earl
04-13 Washington, DC – Kennedy Center New Orleans Bingo Show
04-17 New Haven, CT – Cafe Nine
04-20 Brooklyn, NY – SPRING FEVER @ Secret Project Robot w/ K-Holes, Black Dice
04-21 Richmond, VA – Strange Matter w/ Bermuda Triangles
04-25 Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s Downstair’s
04-26 Dallas, TX – Double Wide Bar w/ Darktown Strutters
04-27 Austin, TX – Austin Psych Festival at Carson Creek
04-28 Waxahachie, TX – Webb Gallery
Weird Live Review: Quintron and Miss Pussycat
Some venues live up to their name, and The Smell is definitely one of them. An all-ages, alcohol-free punk-rock club tucked away down an alley in downtown Los Angeles, it’s the kind of place where, every time a band finishes their set, everyone stampedes for the exit to suck down fresh air (and cigarettes, which compared to The Smell are like little tobacco-scented air fresheners) like carp bobbing to the surface of a dirty koi pond. You see, besides being alcohol-free, The Smell is also air-conditioning-and-ventilation-free. Midway through Quintron and Miss Pussycat’s set, I had to stop taking pictures because my iPhone screen was filming up with the salty condensation of 300 kids’ sweat. Ew.
That being said, it was kind of the perfect place to see Quintron and Miss Pussycat do their swampy, low-tech organ rock. After opening with one of Miss P’s totally adorable puppet shows (see the video clip below for an excerpt), Quintron fired up his Drum Buddy and was off to the races, laying down thick slabs of Hammond organ over programmed beats that had the sweaty punk-rock kids moving and grooving. It was a lively 90-minute set, especially given how oppressively hot the room was, although it probably peaked too soon with a slow-burn version of “Swamp Buggy Bad Ass” that found a shirtless, sweat-slick Quintron prowling through the crowd like a wild animal, before jumping back onstage to unleash an onslaught of distorted organ and Drum Buddy glitchitude that had the place going nuts. My favorite Hawaiian shirt may never smell the same again, but it was all worth it for that one song.
Other set highlights included the Miss Pussycat vocal showcases “Banana Beat” and “Fly Like a Rat,” the super-catchy “Waterfall,” and “Ring the Alarm,” one of the best songs from the duo’s most recent album, Sucre du Savage. And regardless of what song they were playing, it was fun to watch Quintron put the Drum Buddy, an analog synth built around a light bulb and a rotating tin can, through its paces—and to watch the audience wince every time he fired up the high-beams on the Oldsmobile grille attached to the front of his organ.
Side note: Although I don’t think they were really interesting enough to merit a Weird Band of the Week pick anytime soon, opening act XBXRX do get bonus points for taking the stage dressed in what appeared to be multi-colored, half-diaper/half-toga ensembles, and playing such a ridiculously loud set that at one point, Quintron walked past me with his fingers jammed into his ears. (If my wife is reading this: Yes, honey, I wore earplugs.) Sadly, I got no pictures of XBXRX and their ridiculous ensembles, because in addition to being one of the most aromatic venues I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting, The Smell was also one of the darkest. Most of the light in the second and third pictures below came from Quintron’s Drum Buddy.
Quintron and Miss Pussycat’s tour continues all through July. More dates here. I highly recommend checking ‘em out.
Oh, and did I mention there was a puppet show?
More Quintron & Miss Pussycat tour dates (including, finally, an L.A. stop)
Quintron and Miss Pussycat have been touring like crazy in 2012, so it’s about frickin’ time they included a swing through the West Coast in their travels. They’re playing here June 23rd at a place called (for reasons we’ll leave to your imagination) The Smell, and Jake and I plan to be on hand to catch all the swamp-tech and puppet-show madness. We’ll post a full report in these virtual pages once we’ve slept it off.
They kicked off their latest tour last night in Lafayette, Louisiana and it continues today in Austin. Here’s the full itinerary:
6-16 Austin, TX – Red 7 $$!
6-17 San Antonio, TX – Korova $$
6-20 Tucson, AZ – Solar Culture $$
6-21 Phoenix, AZ – The Crescent Ballroom $$
6-22 San Diego, CA – Casbah $$
6-23 Los Angeles, CA – The Smell $$#
6-24 Long Beach, CA – Alex’s Bar $$
6-27 San Jose, CA – Blank Club $$
6-28 Santa Cruz, CA – The Crepe Place $$
6-29 Oakland, CA – New Parish Music Hall $$
6-30 San Francisco, CA – Elbo Room $$%
7-2 Arcata, CA – The Jambalaya $$
7-3 Olympia, WA – Northern $$
7-5 Vancouver, BC – Waldorf Hotel $$
7-6 Seattle, WA – Chop Suey $$
7-7 Portland, OR – East End Block Party $$
7-9 Boise, ID – Neurolux
7-10 Salt Lake City, UT- Urban Lounge
7-12 Denver, CO- Hi Dive
7-13 Kansas City, MO- Record Bar
7-14 Norman, OK- Opolis
7-15 Dallas, TX- Doublewide
7-18 Lawrence, KS – Jackpot Music Hall
7-19 Iowa City, IA – The Mill
7-20 Chicago, IL – Printer’s Ball
7-27 Baton Rouge, LA – Spanish Moon
7-28 New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks
$$ w/ Dent May
$$! w/ Dent May, Golden Boys
$$# w/ Dent May, XBXRX
$$% w/ Dent May, Shannon and the Clams
We cannot wait to see the awesome power of a fully operational Drum Buddy unleashed upon the City of Angels. Bring it, Q & Miss P!
Totally adorable video interview with Quintron and Miss Pussycat
(Photo by Rebecca Smeyne for MTV Hive)
So our favorite Crescent City swamp-tech duo, Quintron & Miss Pussycat, just got done playing the Bruise Cruise, one of those party boat festival thingies where they pack a bunch of bands, DJs and well-heeled fans aboard a cruise ship and let them drink their way to the Bahamas or wherever. And while they were on board, they sat down for an interview with Noisey, Vice magazine’s video channel. It’s part of a running feature called “Bandmate,” wherein the good people of Noisey interview each band member separately in an attempt to get them to talk smack about each other. It’s kind of a stupid idea and we totally wish we’d thought of it ourselves, except that we don’t do video interviews with bands. (Yet.)
Anyway, watch the clip below to learn more about Mr. Q and Miss P, including which one’s better at limbo and who has a secret Jimmy Buffett connection they’d rather not talk about.
Quintron and Miss Pussycat tour dates, Bruise Cruise and more
Our favorite New Orleans weirdos, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, are bringing their patented blend of puppet show and electro-swamp-rock revue to a few lucky cities this spring (though not, we’re sad to see, L.A.—what do you have against the West Coast, guys?). You can also party on a boat with them if you act fast and score some last-minute tix to the Bruise Cruise, a floating rock festival setting out from Miami to the Bahamas Feb. 10-13. Also on that bill: Fucked Up, King Khan, Thee Oh Sees, the Dirtbombs and Jello Biafra. If you’ve never had the pleasure of puking into the crystal blue waters of the Caribbean, well, now’s your chance.
Q & Ms. P have also been nominated for a Grammy! Kinda! The album Grand Isle by Cajun stars Steve Riley and the Mamadou Playboys features a cover of the Quintron and Miss Pussycat tune “Chatterbox,” with Quintron guesting on organ. And it’s been nominated in the Best Regional Roots Music category. Congrats, guys!
Quintron and Miss Pussycat U.S. tour dates:
02-07 St. Augustine, FL – Nobby’s Tavern
02-08 Miami, FL- The Stage
02-10 Miami, FL – Bruise Cruise
4-20 Atlanta, GA – The Earl
4-21 Athens, GA – Farm 255
4-23 Savannah, GA – The Jinx
4-24 Columbia, SC - 5 Points Pub [Indie Grits Festival]
4-25 Raleigh, NC – Kings Barcade
4-26 Washington, DC – Red Palace
4-27 Baltimore, MD – Golden West
4-28 Brooklyn, NY – 285 Kent
4-29 New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
4-30 Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie
5-2 Allston, Ma – Great Scott
5-4 Portland, ME - Geno’s Rock Club
5-5 Bennington, VT – Bennington College [Sunfest]
5-6 Montreal, QC – Il Motore
5-8 Toronto, ON- Silver Dollar
5-10 Detroit, MI - Lager House
5-11 Cleveland, OH – Now That’s Class [Horrible Fest]
5-12 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
5-13 Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club
5-15 Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
5-16 Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room
5-18 St. Louis, MO – Firebird
We’ll leave you with the video for “Face Down in the Gutter” off Quintron and Miss Pussycat’s latest album, Sucre Du Sauvage. Never has getting shit-faced looked so adorable.
Weirdify Playlist 2: The Island of Misfit Toys
Greetings, weirdlings! Welcome to our second Weirdify playlist, live now on Spotify for your listening delectation. This time around, we got inspired by our Weird Band of the Week, Twink (the Toy Piano Band!), and decided to make a playlist full of songs that evoke childhood in various ways. You’ll hear toy instruments, sampled children’s songs and stories, 8-bit, chiptune and videogame references, and the ravings of a paranoid schizophrenic or two. (What can I say? I had some weird babysitters.)
To hear the full playlist, cruise on over to ShareMyPlaylists.com. Here’s what you’ll get:
1. Twink, “Rocket Pop”
2. The Books, “The Story of Hip Hop”
3. Powerglove, “Inspector Gadget”
4. Gangpol & Mit, “The 1000 People Band (Part 1)”
5. Vegetable Orchestra, “Scoville”
6. Gidropony, “We Are Sex Toys”
7. Quintron & Miss Pussycat, “Swamp Buggy Badass”
8. Wesley Willis, “I Whipped Spiderman’s Ass”
9. Max Tundra, “Will Get Fooled Again”
10. Ponytail, “Flabbermouse”
11. Dead Man’s Bones, “Pa Pa Power”
12. Psapp, “Tricycle”
13. Kid Koala, “Fender Bender”
14. Lemon Jelly, “Nice Weather for Ducks”
If at any point you get bored, feel free to skip to the last track, because it’s truly one of the greatest things you’ll ever hear. Trust us on this one.
Here’s the link again. Enjoy!
Quintron & Miss Pussycat
Today’s TWBITW candidates come to us from New Orleans, a town known and loved for producing more than its fair share of weirdos. Robert “Mr. Quintron” Ralston is a singer, songwriter, keyboardist and inventor who writes weird little boogie-woogie tunes that he performs on a variety of mostly homemade instruments, including a combination Hammond/Fender Rhodes organ outfitted to look like the front of a car (complete with working headlights) and an amazing gadget called the Drum Buddy, a homemade, light-triggered analog synthesizer/drum machine. The demo video showing the Drum Buddy in action is almost more entertaining than Quintron’s music, which he sometimes calls (pretty accurately, we think) “swamp tech.”
As if all that weren’t weird enough, Quinton’s live performances are usually accompanied by his wife, Panacea Pussycat, and her puppet shows, which have apparently become the stuff of New Orleans legend. The duo mostly operates out of their own little nightclub, the Spellcaster Lodge, which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina but reopened in late 2006.
This video for the song “Witch in the Club,” featuring Miss Pussycat’s puppets, gives you a pretty good idea of the duo’s offbeat charm. It’s kinda like the B-52′s meets Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, as remixed by Aphex Twin. Or something like that. Check out the puppet version of the Drum Buddy towards the end of the video.
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