Quintron and Miss Pussycat at Highland Park Ebell

Photos by Sergio Estrada

It’s truly hard to describe the kooky magic of a Quintron & Miss Pussycat gig, and since it’s not that often that the New Orleans-based couple play in LA, we knew we had to be there.  Presented by Sid The Cat, Thursday’s show took place at the Highland Park Ebell Club – a longtime neighborhood fixture built in 1912 as a women’s club that played a crucial role as a safe organizing space during the women’s suffrage movement.  The old-style performance hall is very homey and comfortable, and I super dig how the stage and lighting make the performers look so much larger than life.

We arrived in time to catch Feels.  Been a few months since we’ve caught the always busy LA locals, and we had heard the group has been working on some new material, so it was nice to catch up with the band and their sun-drenched sounds both new and old.  Captivating as always!

 

Quintron’s partner and master puppeteer, Miss Pussycat, joined him onstage behind a big inflatable castle to kick off the performance with a good ol’ fashioned puppet show about a fashion designer named Mindy who needs to keep an evil moth from ruining her pieces for the upcoming Weaver Wear fashion show.  Kinda felt like a neon DIY Pee Wee episode, but the child-like medium only helps to build the innovative, mythical, and light-hearted vibe of the set.

Then it was on to the dancing! Quintron has been making music as a one-dude band since the early ’90’s. He’s not just a musician, but also an inventor.  Quintron is credited with creating various instruments over the years that add to his full, unique, swampy sound.  We’re talking inventions like a spit-powered organ (the “Spit Machine”) and the Drum Buddy – a light-activated drum machine, which was on full display at the gig.  Stationed behind his custom organs, Quintron basically used each of his limbs for a different instrument throughout the whole show, while Miss Pussycat sang backup and rocked her maracas with an incredible, unstoppable zest.  They also took turns swigging from a handle of whiskey throughout the set… which they had totally annihilated by the end.  The whole place was movin’ and a shakin’ to that swamp boogie of Quintron and Miss Pussycat!  You know you’re in a good place when you see King Tuff, Allison Wolfe, Vice Cooler, Wand/Cory Hanson, Tacocat/Emily Nokes, and a grip more among the crowd :p

 

Peep the rest of the pics below.  Thanks to Sid the Cat for continuing to bring the good times to Highland Park!