Purr Machine - Ging Ging

I was watching Monster House with the kids the other night and on that night's episode they had some misfits from earlier shows come back to try and redeem themselves by making a dog house. They show the owners, a man and a woman, and I wasn't really paying attention until the woman spoke. "Wait a second, I know that voice. What did she say her name was? Hey, I have their album!" This gives me a great excuse to write about Betsy Martin, her old band, Caterwaul, and her new band, Purr Machine. Arizona-based Caterwaul released three albums in the late eighties that featured Betsy's distinctive voice. I don't know how well they did but Caterwaul seems to have a small cult following out there. Check out the song Good For You to hear what you missed. There was one more release, Killer Fish, that came out several years after the band had disbanded. Sigh. In 1996, Betsy hooked up with Kevin Kipnis and formed Purr Machine, which released Ging Ging in 1999. Less guitar and more electronics than Caterwaul but that is definitely Betsy singing. Check out The Moon and My Head are Full and Keep Calm. Betsy and Kevin are hard at work on their follow up so I will be on the lookout for it in the next several months.