It’s not every song in this series that was written by a former New Times editor (Robert X. Planet) and as a matter of public record put Phoenix punk on the map. Killer Pussy’s 1982 anthem to rubber and bedside manners is surely just such a Heritage Hump. Having garnered airplay from Los Angeles radio station KROQ in 1982, the band attracted the attentions of actor Dennis Hopper, who painted a portrait of singer Lucy LaMode that was prominently displayed on the sitcom Square Pegs. There isn't one proper noun in that last sentence that you can't possibly not love.
Is it any wonder that our own Tom Reardon recently named the EP of the same name one of the 10 Most Influential Punk Records of Arizona?
"LaMode sort of embodies the full-on punk ethos, even if the rest of the band never really looked the part.The band is performing what is said to be its last show this Saturday at the Alwun House, a make up show for the last time they played there and the cops shut the festivities down. But the band has reunited several times since the '90s, most notably the 30th anniversary show. Promoting that show was this May 2010 New Times article by Robrt L. Pela which described an early and unforgettable Killer Pussy show:
"We recorded Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage over two weekends at Jack Miller Productions recording studio at Third Street and Garfield in downtown Phoenix," Liddil says. "Jack and I were ultimately partners in the enterprise, but I don't remember if we were at the time of the recording. We put 'Behemoth Studios' as the recording venue on the record jacket, as Jack didn't want his name used on this particular project. He wasn't fond of the name Killer Pussy."
"It's another sweltering Phoenix night — the millionth one of the summer. One hundred forty-seven 20-somethings are gathered in this dank, smelly warehouse, perspiring and writhing in unison to deafening rock music. One young woman in a miniskirt made entirely of paper clips thrashes wildly beside a guy in a plastic raincoat and a Brockabrella hat. An obese man wearing a sailor suit and a wig made of lima beans is screaming. Someone has farted.
Suddenly, an Amazon takes the stage. She is 7 feet tall and wearing a tiny, skin-tight nurse's uniform; her long, dark hair curls like seaweed to her waist. She glares at the audience, then begins hurling dead fish at the crowd from a plastic bucket at her feet. The audience goes wild.
This is not a fetishist party or a secret meeting of crazed halibut fans. It's 1983, and this is a Killer Pussy concert. The Amazon is lead singer Lucy LaMode; behind her, trashy-looking guys with asymmetrical haircuts break into the opening chords — all three of them — of the band's signature hit, "Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage." Just before stepping over to her mic stand, LaMode points to the mob and scowls.
"Fuck you," she says in a bored voice.
The audience practically levitates with joy.