I'm Justin Sayne and this is my story. I had just finished a session at GIT in Los Angles the summer of '88. I drove to New Mexico to see my Dad. Then I headed north passing through SLC on my way to Seattle. I broke down in SLC and got stuck there.
I took a part time night shift job to earn a few bucks to fix the Wrastle Castle, I mean my van. One night I walk into Uncle Albert's (a small club in Murray, Utah just south of Salt Lake City) and happened to catch a band playing called Parris. Devin was the guitar player along with Ryan Sharp on bass, Dave Largent aka Thumper on Drums and I think Diesel Dave on vocals. I started a conversation with the guys and mentioned that I knew some of the songs they played. They invited me out to jam with them.
So I blew off my job one night and went down to check it out. Things went well and they asked me to join the band. We played and partied all around SLC. Devin and I really hit it off. Both our writing styles blended well. Soon we were working on songs that would be the early beginnings of ACS. In fact the name Alleycat Scratch came from one of those songs.
We knew that if we wanted to take things to the next level we needed to move out of SLC to a bigger music market. The Bay area was my home town and Devin just came back from there before we met so we decided to move there and take SF by the throat.
Here is a good scoop on things from that point taken from an interview with Boa...
In 1989 guitarists Justin Sayne and Devin Lovelace moved from Salt Lake City, Utah to San Mateo (just South of San Francisco) where they teamed up with a drummer named Scott. The trio placed an ad in BAM looking for a bassist, which I answered before meeting with Devin and Justin at a local Wendy restaurant. Shortly after I joined Scott was let go and his position filled by Drummer Mike Joyce.
After another ad was placed in Bam we found vocalist Tommy Haight and recorded our first demo, with the tracks Kiss Kiss and Jr's Bones. Straight after that we let go of Mike Joyce due to his flakey tendencies, and after auditioning many a drummer we met Robbi Black at The Omni in Oakland and finally we had our lineup.
Later that same year we had a mutual parting of ways with Justin, who then moved back to Salt Lake City and started guitar company Joe's Guitars
( http://www.joesguitars.com/ ). A few months after that Tommy left the band and joined a rival band at which time we packed up and moved to Hollywood. It was here we found Michael Michelle, who was later replaced by Eddie Robison.
Well that's it in a nut shell as far as the SanFran version of Alleycat Scratch goes. Thanks Boa! Besure to check out http://www.myspace.com/alleycatscratchmusic for more information on ACS!
Alleycat Scratch Press release.
ALLEYCAT SCRATCH RETURNS TO TRASH CITY
(Hollywood, CA - March 29, 2006) Cult sleaze rockers Alleycat Scratch
made the long lonely trek from the Bay Area of California to the City Of
Angels (and smog, crime and shattered dreams) in the early 90's to make a
name for themselves. And make a name they did. Hailed as one of the top
indie glam acts to take the stage, the quartet released their sole album
to date, the bombastic 'Deadboys In Trash City' in 1993 to a wealth of
global fan and critical acclaim.
Unfortunately for the band, just as the music industry started to take
notice of Alleycat Scratch the musical tide changed and the momentum the
band had built suddenly ground to a halt and the band had very few options
available to them. In April 1994 the inevitable happened
and Alleycat Scratch pulled the claws out one last time for a packed show
at Los Angeles' famed nightclub The Troubadour. It was their last stand
and they went down fighting as a screaming, blood thirsty audience showed
Eddie Robison, Devin Lovelace, Bobby "Boa" Dias and Robbi Black their
appreciation by giving their heroes a drunken orgy of a send off that many
of their Sunset Strip predecessors would have been envious of.
Thirteen years later the time has come for the world to revisit the
'Deadboys In Trash City' album via a special CD/DVD package from new
reissue label Regeneration Records. Featuring updated artwork, the
original ten songs plus two bonus tracks (a cover of The Boomtown Rats' "I
Don't Like Mondays" and the infamous "Love Song" from the X Rated
"Backdoor To The City Of Sin" film) and a DVD comprised of live footage
and extra goodies, the package will be unleashed in May of 2006 and will
be the flagship release for Regeneration. For more information on
Regeneration Records please visit www.regenerationrecords.com and for more
information on Alleycat Scratch hit up
www.myspace.com/alleycatscratchmusic
coming soon
www.alleycatscratchmusic.com
Hey Justin - just picked up your message/comment from weeks ago. I'm addicted to FB now rather than MySpace so I'm not on here that often. How have you been? Are you up for Vegas in September for Mers 40th?
OK having tons of requests already here is the info I will have photos of them soon their description is; Black shirts and a B&W photo of the band, it says Alleycat Scratch at the top and website info at the bottom.
Send a check or money order payable to Robert Dias for $20.00 + 3.00 shipping in the US and 5:00 shipping over seas.
or paypal info@AlleycatScratchMusic.com
Alleycat Scratch 18685 Main Street Suite 101~422 Huntington Beach, CA 92648
....
