THE LAZY COWGIRLS - A Little Sex And Death

THE LAZY COWGIRLS  A Little Sex And Death CD 1997
Here Comes Trouble / The End Of The Line / A Little Sex And Death / Montana / I'll Tell You Why / World Up For The Grabs (Another Emergency) / Bad News / Can You Tell Me / Sweet Thing / Hittin' Bottom / The Big Restless / Your Charmed Life's Fadin' Fast.
Produced by Earle Mankey & The Lazy Cowgirls.

The Lazy Cowgirls: Pat Todd: vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion / Leonard Keringer: bass, vocals / Eric Chandler: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals / Bob Deagle: drums, percussion.

If The Ramones had been a road-tested biker gang instead of pop-obsessed cartoon speed merchants, they might have sounded something like The Lazy Cowgirls. Merging the buzzsaw roar of first-wave punk, the sneering attitude of '60's garage rock, the heart-on-your-sleeve honesty of honky-tonk, and the self-assured swagger of The Rolling Stones, The Lazy Cowgirls play raw, sweaty outlaw rock and roll at its most furiously passionate and physically intense; like a Harley gunned up to 95 mph, The Lazy Cowgirls may not sound safe, but they sure are fun.

Tapping the Source Vocalist Pat Todd, guitarist D.D. Weekday (aka Doug Phillips), and bassist Keith Telligman left their hometown of Vincennes, Indiana in 1981 to move to California, hoping to get a rock band off the ground. In 1983, they finally settled on fellow Indiana refugee Allen Clark as a drummer, and began hitting the L.A. club circuit as The Lazy Cowgirls. After countless shows playing to "no one, and people from work" (according to Todd), the band caught the ear of Chris Desjardins (aka Chris D.), former leader of art-punks The Flesh Eaters. Desjardins got the band a deal with Restless Records, and produced their self-titled debut LP in 1984.

 The album didn't quite reflect the band's powerhouse live show, and they were soon dropped from the label. After two years of local shows and occasional touring, Bomp Records came to the rescue by releasing the band's second long-player, "Tapping The Source", which came much closer in capturing the fire of their live show on plastic, and merged fifth-gear originals like "Goddamn Bottle" and "Can't You Do Anything Right?" with stripped-down covers of "Justine" and "Heartache." The following year, the newly-founded indie label Sympathy For The Record Industry opened for business with "Radio Cowgirl", a souvenir of the band's high-octane live set at KCSB-FM in Santa Barbara.

Following yet another bout of long touring, the band cut the near-definitive "How It Looks-How It Is" in 1990, but years of hard work with little commercial reward began to take their toll, and at the end of 1991 Telligman and Clark quit the group. The Cowgirls' rhythm section became something of a revolving door for the next few years, and while The Lazy Cowgirls cut a handful of singles and EP's for various small labels, conventional wisdom had it that the band had called it quits. But in 1995, the Cowgirls re-emerged with a new album, the superb "Ragged Soul", and a seemingly stable lineup, with Todd and Weekday now joined by Michael Leigh on rhythm guitar, Ed Huerta on drums, and Leonard Keringer on bass.

The band toured the United States and Europe, but 1996 brought more personnel shake-ups, as D.D. Weekday and Ed Huerta both turned in their notices. Bob Deagle signed on as drummer in time for 1997's "A Little Sex and Death", with Eric Chandler sitting in on guitar. By 1999, Michael Leigh had rejoined the band on guitar, and almost 20 years after leaving Indiana, the indefatigable Pat Todd began pushing the The Lazy Cowgirls harder than ever, with the band spending plenty of time on the road and releasing two solid albums on Sympathy within six months of each other, "Rank Outsider" and "Somewhere Down The Line". "The live album, Here and Now: Live" was issued in summer 2001. 2004 found the band recording for a new label, Reservation Records, and releasing their strongest new album in years, the rootsy "I'm Going Out And Get Hurt Tonight".

For over twenty years, THE LAZY COWGIRLS were the undisputed kings of Los Angeles underground Rock 'n' Roll, releasing countless singles and albums for labels such as Sympathy For the Record Industry, Crypt, Bomp!, and Gearhead. The Cowgirls may be no more, but Pat Todd, has released his third full length album with his new band The Rankoutsiders. Entitled "14th & Nowhere…”, produced and engineered by former Sparks guitarist, Earle Mankey, the album reflects the diversity of American Rock 'n' Roll, from the opening track “Carryin’ A Torch” to heartfelt laments like "The Ambulance is Here"; love, hope, sex, death, betrayal, renewal- it’s all here. Pat Todd’s songwriting is an road map that leads back to the self- an existential longing to reside in the aesthetics of self-creation. Some call it art, others the blues, soul, country, rock ‘n’ roll- check it right now !

Following up the Lazy Cowgirls' masterful "Ragged Soul" was no easy task, especially after longtime guitarist D.D. Weekday hung up his Les Paul, causing "A Little Sex and Death" to suffer a bit by comparison. New axeman Eric Chandler delivers solid work and suits the band's style quite well, but he lacks Weekday's undertow of sloppy genius, and while the songs on "Ragged Soul" were pure meat, this disc seems to have a bit of filler here and there. But if "Ragged Soul" was a great album, "A Little Sex and Death" is a very good one, and Pat Todd, always one of rock's great bellowers, never sounds less than thoroughly committed throughout. If it isn't quite as good as the album that immediately preceded it, "A Little Sex and Death" is still a far stronger and more committed work than nearly any other band covering their territory has made in ages -- no small accomplishment after 14 years in the game. Allmusic
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