The Head Cat - History

History

Head Cat was formed after recording the Elvis Presley tribute album Swing Cats, A Special Tribute to Elvis in 2000 to which the future band-mates all contributed. After recordings were finished they stayed at the studio and Lemmy picked up an acoustic guitar and started playing some of his old favorite songs by Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran. The rest of the guys knew them all and joined in. The name of the band was created by combining the names Motörhead, The Stray Cats and 13 Cats, which resulted in The Head Cat, similar to what Lemmy did in 1980 with Headgirl, a collaboration between Motörhead and Girlschool.

In 2006, the band released their first studio album, Fool's Paradise, which was a re-release of an earlier album titled Lemmy, Slim Jim & Danny B. It included cover songs from artists such as Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, Jimmy Reed, T-Bone Walker, Lloyd Price, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. On the recordings Lemmy played acoustic guitar, but on live performances Lemmy uses his signature Rickenbacker bass saying "I'm just not that good on guitar". A year later, a DVD of a live performance was released which was filmed at the Phantom's Cat Club on Los Angeles Sunset Strip and which included 13 live songs and interviews with the band.

The band's second studio album, Walk the Walk...Talk the Talk, was released by the Niji Entertainment Group in June 2011. This was the first new material by the band in eleven years, following up from the Lemmy, Slim Jim & Danny B album in 2000 when the group finalised their official name.