Faster Pussycat in Spain: Hollywood’s sleaze rock originals hit Pamplona and Barcelona
In September 2026, Faster Pussycat bring their Los Angeles legacy to Spain for two dates. On September 17, the band plays Totem in Villava, Pamplona; on September 18 and 19 they appear at the Rock The Sun festival at La Carpa del Poble Espanyol in Barcelona. For anyone with a connection to the late-1980s hard rock and sleaze rock scene, this is as close to the source as it gets.
Faster Pussycat were formed in Hollywood in 1985 by vocalist Taime Downe, taking their name from the cult Russ Meyer film. Their self-titled debut arrived in 1987 on Elektra Records and immediately established the band as one of the defining voices of the Sunset Strip — raw, provocative and more street-level than the polished glam acts around them. Tracks like “Babylon”, “Bathroom Wall” and “Cathouse” became instant anthems of the scene, and the band’s appearance in the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years cemented their place in the mythology of that era. They toured alongside Mötley Crüe, Guns N' Roses, Alice Cooper and Motörhead, selling over two million records worldwide by the time the decade was out. Wake Me When It’s Over (1989) was their commercial peak: the single “House of Pain”, a deceptively emotional power ballad about childhood neglect, reached the American Top 25 and received heavy MTV rotation.
Grunge ended the era but not the band. After disbanding in 1993 and a period spent exploring industrial-tinged territory, Taime Downe revived Faster Pussycat in 2001 and has kept them on the road ever since — sharper, rawer and with no interest in nostalgia for its own sake. The Spain dates are the only Iberian stops of their current run. Tickets for Pamplona start at €25 in advance and €30 at the door. Rock The Sun festival tickets in Barcelona start from €55, exclusively through madnesslive.es.
