Remembering Phoenix punk musician and writer Robert X. Planet

Robert X. Planet was one of those rare individuals gifted with an obscene level of talent who was great at anything he did.

As a prolific musician, artist and writer, Planet — who died in his sleep on Jan. 5 at age 74 — had many opportunities to share his genius with Phoenix throughout his life.

Widely known for his longtime stint as the keyboardist for notorious ‘80s punk/New Wave band Killer Pussy, Planet’s relentless creative drive led him into other artistic realms where his ideas — some as twisted as the band’s songs — also flourished.

No matter the project or pursuit he orbited, Planet planted his distinctive flag on it.
In the ‘80s and ‘90s, he penned sharp, witty takes on local culture as a writer and editor for Phoenix New Times. He also designed award-winning sets, crafted costumes and directed productions for the Valley’s theater scene and staged adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s works at Alwun House.

Other projects reflected Planet’s irreverent, and sometimes profane, personal tastes. He built an Elvis robot to officiate spontaneous weddings at Burning Man, a favorite haunt for 15 years. He also launched Planet X Research Laboratories, a fashion design and label.

Killer Pussy vocalist Lucy LaMode, Planet’s best friend and “partner in crime” for 46 years, was constantly amazed by his talent and drive — including an intricate recreation of the interior of Durant’s for a production of “In My Humble Opinion,” Terry Earp’s play about the founder of the landmark Phoenix chophouse.

“He made a complete Durant's set,” LaMode says. “I was completely fucking blown away by that.”

Planet’s talents, LaMode says, often shone brightest when he was creating for Killer Pussy.

“I’d say to Robert, 'Build me a coffin. I want to come on stage out of a coffin.' He'd build me a coffin. 'Build me a cage. I want to dance inside a cage for the entire show.' He'd build me a cage,” LaMode says. “He’d say, ‘I'm going to make a penis and a vagina costume,’ and I say, ‘Go for it.’ And it was the (most) perfect vagina and penis costume you could ever fucking imagine. It was hilarious.”

From a creative youth to joining Killer Pussy

Planet’s artistic talents emerged early. Born Rober Severance in Ohio in 1950, he took up the accordion at age 7 after his family moved to Arizona. Later, he learned to sew from his grandmother. As a teenager, he made student films attending Central High School before getting acting and stage design at Glendale Community College.

After earning a theater degree from Northern Arizona University, Planet worked as a display artist for Diamond’s department stores (now Dillard’s) in the late ‘70s. Through the gig, he met LaMode, then a 17-year-old clerk at the Park Central Mall location, bonding over a shared love of John Waters’ actress Edith Massey.

“We just became friends and tied to the hip ever since,” LaMode says.

LaMode was already immersed in Phoenix’s then-nascent punk scene, frequenting The Hate House — the infamous stomping grounds of iconic bands like Feederz, Mighty Sphincter and JFA — co-fronting The Roll-Ons with fellow vocalist Les a Go Go and booking events such as Trout-O-Rama and X-O-Rama. Planet would frequently show up at her gigs.

“He’d come to anything I’d invite him to that we were doing,” LaMode says. “He was a fan.”

After The Roll-Ons disbanded in 1979, LaMode and drummer John E. Precious formed Killer Pussy, named after Les a Go Go’s cat. By then, LaMode and Planet had started collaborating, and she eventually invited him to join up to help flesh out one of his ideas — “Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage,” which became their most infamous song.

“He'd always told me this really funny title he’d thought would be hilarious for a musical. So I said, ‘I'm in this new band and we're writing songs and I have a bunch of lyrics that I wrote for “Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage” and we need music,’” LaMode says. “We worked on the lyrics together, he wrote the music and then joined the band.”

Killer Pussy goes big time

Killer Pussy became a hit. The band, which also included bassist Dale B. Sari and guitarist Gary Russell, performed at such early ‘80s venues as Solid Gold in Scottsdale and became what New Times later described as “dour darlings of the punk set.”

Their songs boasted innuendo-laced titles like “Pump-Rama” with profane, sex-fueled lyrics — material that would be almost unthinkable in a post-#MeToo era. “Now, (we'd) probably be fucking canceled with a song called 'Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage' and 'Pocket Pool' and 'Herpes,’” LaMode says.

Their performances were chaotic spectacles, featuring inflatable sex dolls strewn across stages and outrageous antics like LaMode hurling dead fish into crowds or donning a dress consisting of calves’ livers.

As Planet told New Times in 2010, Killer Pussy poked fun at the excesses and extremes of early ‘80s punk.

“We were a parody of punk bands," he told New Times. "Wendy O. Williams of The Plasmatics would go onstage with shaving cream on her boobs and she'd saw a car in half with a chainsaw, so at our next show Lucy would go on wearing whipped cream and she'd saw a cardboard guitar in half with an electric carving knife.”
Phoenix punks couldn’t get enough — and soon, neither could audiences outside Arizona. In 1982, Killer Pussy released the four-song EP "Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage." Its title track became the second-most played song on L.A.’s influential KROQ, catapulting the band to bigger fame.

A California tour followed, bringing Killer Pussy even more attention: their poster showed up on ’80s sitcom “Square Pegs,” they earned a shout-out in Bret Easton Ellis’ novel “Less Than Zero” and actor Dennis Hopper even painted a triptych inspired by the band.

Journalist Kenneth Walsh, a longtime fan of Killer Pussy and former Valley resident, wrote a tribute blog to Planet and how he enjoyed seeing one of his favorite Phoenix bands at the time get recognized on national television.

“I can remember how proud I was to have ‘my’ local new wave band make inroads, seeing the poster for their notorious ‘Teenage (Enema) Nurses in Bondage’ on the wall of the radio station at Weemawee High School,” Walsh wrote.

LaMode says Planet “loved every fucking second” of Killer Pussy’s fame.

“Robert was proud of all that stuff, but he didn't need any validation,” she says. “He had lots of confidence, he was super smart and didn't need any of that (to feel good about himself).”

'Once he finished something, it was always perfect’

In 1983, Killer Pussy released their only full-length album, "Bikini Wax." Planet wrote the title track (a bouncy '60s doo-wop homage to the joys of removing excess pubic hair) and the separate single "Moist Towelette," a parody of Grace Jones’ cover of "Warm Leatherette."

His biggest contribution to “Bikini Wax," though, was its memorable rear cover photograph depicting a crowded, colorful seaside scene where each band member and various beach-goers were each represented by dolls.

LaMode says Planet precisely arranged every element of the scene.

“He put each individual piece down on that table and built everything you saw,” LaMode says. “Robert did everything. Drew the hair on the chests. That's him in a nutshell.”

But with great talent and genius often comes the need for perfectionism — and with Planet, perfection took time.

“Robert could be difficult at times because he was such a perfectionist and he was a procrastinator, so it would drive people crazy,” LaMode says. “But once he finished something, it was always perfect.”

Killer Pussy petered out through the rest of the ‘80s and into the early ‘90s. Tours became more infrequent, and Planet had other projects and responsibilities.

He and LaMode remained close, even after she left Arizona in 2004 and didn’t return until last year, aside from occasional Killer Pussy reunion tours and shows.

“No matter what he did that pissed me off, I’d always love Robert unconditionally, no matter what,” LaMode says. “He used to say, 'I'm Lucy's second husband.' We traveled together. We stayed in the same hotel room. We slept in the same bed. He was my best friend.” LaMode says Planet struggled toward the end of his life because of an unspecified lung disease, requiring use of a walker and an oxygen tank.

"The life expectancy (of) somebody like that is a year to five years," LaMode says. "I kind of knew it was coming, but I was in denial and I didn't expect it to happen so unexpectedly."

One of the highlights for Planet in recent years was when downtown Phoenix punk venue Club Placebo hosted a celebration of Killer Pussy’s history and music. The band performed several songs during the event, including "Moist Towelette" with Planet on lead vocals.

“I let Robert sing the last shows we did,” LaMode says. “I'll tell you something right now, 'Moist Towelette,' Robert loved to sing that song live. Because to be honest with you, he would've loved to have been the frontman for Killer Pussy.”

Chris Coplan contributed reporting.