The Alley Cats

The Alley Cats are a Los Angeles, California-based punk rock trio formed in 1977 featuring Randy Stodola (guitar and vocals). Along with Dianne Chai (bass and vocals) and drummer John McCarthy, they were members of the early L.A. punk rock scene. Chris Morris (former senior writer at Billboard, music editor at The Hollywood Reporter and critic at The Los Angeles Reader) described them as having "made some of the toughest, most nihilistic music on the scene."Originally signed to Dangerhouse Records alongside other seminal California-based punk bands including the Bags, Black Randy and the Metro Squad, and X, they released their first single "Nothing Means Nothing Anymore" backed with "Give Me a Little Pain" on March 30, 1978. At Dangerous they released the album Nightmare City (1981), while major label MCA released Escape From The Planet Earth (1982). They are among the six bands featured on the 1979 compilation album Yes L.A. and appear in the 1982 film Urgh! A Music War.The Alley Cats were regular performers at such Los Angeles venues as Club 88, Hong Kong Café, The Masque, and the Whisky a Go Go.Reformed as "The Zarkons", they released two albums, Riders In The Long Black Parade (1985) and Between the Idea & the Reality…Falls the Shadow (1988), before disbanding in 1988.After a 20-year hiatus, Stodola reformed the trio and currently performs as The Alley Cats along with Apryl Cady (bass and vocals) and Matt Laskey (drums). Randy Stodola was recently interviewed by Pete of Suburban Rebels zine on Youtube.