Pussycat and the Dirty Johnsons

Dirty Jake and bassist Ian Fuller first formed The Johnsons. In 2002 they were joined by Puss Johnson together with drummer James Stutridge. Over the course of the 2000s, they released three EPs with the first EP also featuring harmonica player John McGarvey in 2003. Stutridge was replaced by Filfy Antz in time for the third EP in 2007. In 2010 Mike Lalor replaced Fuller on bass and the band, now revitalised and under the new name of Pussycat and the Dirty Johnsons, released debut album Exercise Your Demons in 2010. Album track Vampire Sugar was included on a free CD with issue 5 of Vive Le Rock magazine[3][7]

Lalor was sacked from the band in 2012 and since then, Puss, Dirty Jake and Filfy Antz have played live as a three piece with no bassist. Second album Dirty Rock N Roll was released in 2013. Vive Le Rock awarded the album 9/10, declaring that the album had "(taken) the elements that made Exercise Your Demons a winner and improving on them ... The twisted humour's still abundant, albeit a tad darker," and declared that track Hideous was the album's "coup de grace."[4]

Writer Ged Babey also praised the band and the album on the Louder Than War website: "This is a magnificent, homegrown UK punk rock’n’roll album. Beg, borrow, steal or buy it. Hear it at least and check them out live, that’s all that needs to be said really ...Puss has hair sculpted into cats ears, PVC catsuit or leopard print gear, great big boots. She looks as cool as fuck. OK, she takes inspiration from Eartha Kitt's Catwoman, Poison Ivy and ’77 punkette Soo Catwoman, but in 2013, there is simply no one else who looks like Puss. She stops traffic. She has such style she just had to be the singer in (the) wildest rock’n’roll band in the county ... At their most raging P&TDJ’s sound like the Slits had they chosen rockabilly over reggae as their musical first love ... on the one hand they sing about all the usual fantasy splattermovie stuff; shrunken heads, bodies in ditches and bondage, but coming to the surface and at the heart of other songs there is some real underlying pain."[6]

The group received two gushing live reviews from Neil Duncan in the Basingstoke Gazette in 2014. The first, of their January 2014 gig at the Irish Centre described the band as "Basingstoke punk'n'roll legends" and reported that the band "were really tight and professional with a fantastic sound and a great selection of catchy songs. There was plenty of interaction with a delighted crowd and an all round very lively performance."[1] In July 2014, Duncan travelled to Brighton to see and review the band's performance at The Haunt and again enthused, "They were a big hit from the word go - it was a fantastic venue, with a good crowd and excellent acoustics. The band themselves were on top form and faced an irresistible cheer for an encore, which they duly obliged."[2]

The band released an EP called Dead Songs in 2015 which was a collection of song versions recorded at the Exercise Your Demons sessions but not previously released. Third album Ain't No Pussy was released in 2017. Vive Le Rock scored the album 8/10 with reviewer Lee Cotterell commenting that the band were "on feisty form. The roar of a big cat introduces the title track, a furious stab of garage punk that goes straight for the jugular... All the while Dirty Jake and Filfy Antz provide the scuzzy guitar and pounding beats that keep the momentum going. A strong contender for album of the year."[5] Fourth album Beast is due for release July 2020.

• Official website
• Pussycat and the Dirty Johnsons on Dirty Water Records