Pelvic Meatloaf turns 35 as one member opens cat rescue

If you watched Valley musician Rich Fourmy roll through a strip mall parking lot on his Harley, you might not assume he was heading to the pet store to grab the latest and greatest cat toy.

In fact, after seeing the heavily bearded and thoroughly tattooed fifty-something-year-old dude, you might never come to the conclusion he was responsible, along with his wife Irma “Squirmy” Fourmy, for making sure over 400 cats and kittens have gotten new homes since 2019. 

On Saturday, January 10, the Fourmys, along with Rich’s band, Pelvic Meatloaf, celebrate the birth of their nonprofit organization, AzCat Rescue Corp and 35 years of Pelvic Meatloaf being one of the Valley’s heaviest bands. The show is an all-day event at The 44 featuring many of the Pelvic Meatloaf’s friends and former members’ bands, with all proceeds from the door going to benefit AzCat Rescue. 

“We lived in this apartment, and there were all these feral cats running around. We started feeding them about four of them, and within a year, there were 35 or 40 cats running around. The landlord was not happy about it,” says Fourmy. 

According to Fourmy, it all started with a cat they called “Tommyboy.”

“I befriended the main tomcat (who became “Tommyboy”). He was impregnating all the ladies, and kittens were exploding like roaches. It was nuts, so we had to get Tommyboy neutered and started working our way down the line,” says Fourmy, who added that Tommyboy was sitting on his lap as we spoke.

The couple continued to take care of the neighborhood cats, bringing as many of them into their home as they could, caring for them, and reaching out to their network of friends in the community to find the kitties new homes. 

“We would tame them, work with them, and make them adoptable and get them homes. We started doing that a few years ago, and it kind of turned into a pretty full-time thing, so we just filed for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit so we can do it on a little bit more of a grand scale. We just want to help more animals,” says Fourmy.

Fourmy has been the frontman for Pelvic Meatloaf since the band’s inception in 1990. He remembers starting the band as a prank on his former high school a year after he graduated. 

“They would have bands play at lunchtime during spirit week, so I called them up and told them I had a band and we wanted to play,” says Fourmy.

Once the school said yes, Fourmy called some friends who had instruments, and a band was formed. 

“We put on some masks, made some noise until they kicked us out. People thought we sucked so bad,” Fourmy says. 

Over the next few years, though, Fourmy and his friends started taking things a bit more seriously and if you listen to any of Pelvic Meatloaf’s four full-length releases between 1995 and 2013 and additional singles (including a 2024 single, “Nonconformist” featuring valley resident Roger Miret of Agnostic Front), it is easy to see how the band advanced from masked pranksters to one of Phoenix’s best bands. 

“We started as a bunch of friends that just liked hanging around, making noise, and drinking beer together. It just kind of stuck around like that. We had the chemistry thing before we had talent, you know, and along the way, we learned how to play. I love that I still get to do this with some of my best friends,” says Fourmy.

Most of the current lineup of Pelvic Meatloaf, according to Fourmy, have been playing together for about 25 years. Guitarist Byron Filson, who owns Villain Recording and played in local legends N17, joined the band in 1991. In addition to Fourmy and Filson, drummer John Ogle and bassist Kelly Moore have decades under their belt in the band, as well. The lone newcomer, Mark Fowler, also plays the guitar. 

The band has something special planned for the show as well. 

“My whole life though I’ve always wanted a vinyl and we’re finally putting out a vinyl album for this show with just a limited run of 100 copies, but it’s gonna have 11 tracks that we never released from all the way back from songs that we wrote in 1990 all the way up until our newest one that we just recorded,” says Fourmy.

The title of the album is “MCMXC – MMXXV,” and it will also include a booklet featuring 12 pages of pictures and band history. 

“The cover features cavemen and dinosaurs to show how old we are,” says Fourmy with a laugh. 

Pelvic Meatloaf has always been a band that didn’t take itself too seriously, except when it came to the music and putting on a good show. Fourmy is excited about the lineup they have put together to celebrate the band’s new record and the formation of AzCat Rescue Corp. 

“We got a lot of our friends’ bands playing on the show and the guys that were in N17 (Damon Deluca of Blinding Light and Jason Kowalski and Tanner Crace of Olde Animals), our original drummer’s (Opie Cakebread) new band (73 Libra) and it’s a bunch of guys that we’ve, you know, kind of grew up in this local music scene with and all their current bands, so it should be pretty fun,” says Fourmy.

Local music fans, especially those who want to help rescue some deserving cats and kittens, will want to show up early and stay late. The lineup is stacked with heavy music, of course, but local country favorites, Last Train to Juarez (which features ex-Pelvic Meatloaf guitarist Dejan Knezevic) and Deluca’s Blinding Light will offer a little respite from metal onslaught for those who need something a little less distorted. This is truly a great celebration of the Phoenix music scene’s strength. 

For the Fourmys, though, it means even more. 

“We thought we would do this show to promote AzCat Rescue Corp and see if we could raise some more money because the vet bills, you know, they stack up really fast, and it gets crazy. We’ve been doing it all out of pocket for years,” says Fourmy. 

Get out there and pack the 44 on Saturday, Phoenix. Do it for the kittens. 

Pelvic Meatloaf performs on Saturday, January 10, 2025, at The 44 Sports Grill. The all-ages show starts at 1 p.m.15 bands will perform on two stages. Bands are: 26 B4 40, 24 Thorns, Bleed The Fifth, Mourning Star, Last Train to Juarez, Horrid Remains, Bendling Light, Redrumed (featuring Scott Rowe), Olde Animals, 73 Libra, Sectas, Gasping, Strip the Soul and Torso. Admission is $15 at the door.