About The Alley Cats

There are at least three artists known under the name The Alley Cats. 1. Punk trio from Los Angeles, consisting of Randy Stodola (vocal & guitar), Dianne Chai (bass & vocals) and John McCarthy (drums). Band regular fixture on L.A. punk stage from the late 70s to early 80s. As The Alley Cats they published two albums: "Nightmare City" and "Escape from Planet Earth". In 1985 Stodola and Chai tried to start again, as The Zarkons. They recorded "Riders in the Long Black Parade" with McCarthy. After that McCarthy was changed by Terry Cooley and with lead vocalist, named Rente as quartet they recorded "Between The Idea & The Reality... Falls The Shadow". 2. A male acappella group performing 50's Doo-Wop. Started in the music department op Fullerton College in 1987. The two men who have founded the group, Mando Fonseca and Royce Reynolds are still member. They have had show stopping performances in Las Vegas and Reno, and were featured performers in New York for the world premiere of Disney's Hercules. The Alley Cats have won two Contemporary A Cappella Society awards: one for best album (The Doo-Wop Drive-In Live) and one for best song ("What's Your Name"). The group released five albums until now: Cruisin' (1998), The Cats Meow (2000), Strike 3! (2001), Doo-Wop Drive-In Live (2002) and A Christmas Long Ago (2003). 3. An LA based R&B vocal group formed in 1962 by Lou Adler. Up until earlier that year, Adler had sung in a largely unsuccessful quartet called The Untouchables, and he recruited former members Sheridan Spencer and Brice Coefield to join this new act, along with James Barker, Gary Pipkin and Bobby Sheen (who had previously recorded the popular single "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" as Bob B. Soxx). Adler's original plan was for The Alley Cats to serve as session musicians for iconic producer Phil Spector, but ultimately they would only cross paths with Spector once, when he recorded their one and only hit song, "Puddin' N' Tain (Ask Me Again, I'll Tell You the Same)." Released on Philles Records (Spector's own imprint), the single went on to hit #21 on the R&B charts and #43 on the pop charts, which apparently wasn't enough to warrant him keeping the group in his growing stable of artists. 4. A Hungary based experimental drone project: Alley Catss