The Lounge Kittens
{{Short description|English comedy lounge band}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = The Lounge Kittens
| image = The Lounge Kittens 2019 Glastonbury Festival 06 crop.jpg
| alt = The Lounge Kittens, Glastonbury Festival, 2019
| caption = The Lounge Kittens at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2019. From left to right: Zan Lawther, Jenny Deacon, and Timia Gwendoline.
| landscape = no
| origin = Southampton, England, UK
| genre = Lounge music, parody, comedy rock
| years_active = {{Start date|df=yes|2012}}–2020
| website = {{URL|http://www.theloungekittens.com/}}
| current_members = * Jenny Deacon
- Timia Gwendoline
- Zan Lawther
}}
The Lounge Kittens were an English comedy lounge band formed in Southampton in 2012. They perform covers of classic popular songs, in particular rock and heavy metal songs, in a lounge style focusing on vocal harmonies accompagned by a piano.{{cite web|url=http://www.theloungekittens.com/#!about/c1qsz|title=The Lounge Kittens - About|website=Theloungekittens.com|accessdate=28 February 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.deadpress.co.uk/39687/live-sonisphere-festival-knebworth-saturday-05072014|title=Live Sonisphere Festival @ Knebworth Saturday 05/07/2014|website=Deadpress.co.uk|accessdate=23 April 2015}} The trio consists of vocalists Jenny Deacon, Timia Gwendoline, and Zan Lawther, sometimes called Red Kitten, Blue Kitten, and Pink Kitten respectively because of the colour of their hair, with Deacon also performing piano.
Their songs are released via their YouTube channel and accompanied by tongue-in-cheek videos which take token ideas from the original artists' videos. They released their debut EP Just The Tip... in 2015 and their first full-length album Sequins & C-Bombs the following year. In 2019 they released a second EP, Have Another....
On 23 September 2019, the trio announced that they would split-up, explaining that band was never "financially viable" and that the members' financial struggles were "to the point where it's all just a bit too hard", wanting to end The Lounge Kittens on a high note before it "stops being any fun."{{cite tweet|number=1176058623404969984|user=TheLKittens|title=Twittens, we have some news. 1/3 |date=23 September 2019}} They performed a three-show farewell tour in early 2020, culminating with their final show taking place on 29 February 2020 in Southampton.
Biography
Deacon and Gwendoline met in 2012 at a production of Company at the University of Southampton, owing their meeting to the fact that they were both wearing the same black, white, and silver glitter socks.{{cite web|url=http://sonisphere.co.uk/news/13-things-we-bet-you-didnt-know-about-the-lounge-kittens/|title=Sonisphere - 13 Things We Bet You Didn't Know About The Lounge Kittens|website=Sonisphere.co.uk|accessdate=23 April 2015}} Deacon runs a Rock Choir in Southampton where she and Gwendoline met Lawther.{{cite web|url=http://thepunkarchive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/interview-lounge-kittens.html|title=The Punk Archive June 2014 - Interview: The Lounge Kittens|website=Thepunkarchive.blogspot.co.uk|accessdate=24 April 2015}} During a night out at Southampton's iconic rock club The Dungeon, the idea for The Lounge Kittens was born out of singing along to Vengaboys song "We Like to Party (The Vengabus)".
The Lounge Kittens sing in three-part harmony and credit Richard Cheese and The Andrews Sisters as their influences; 'Imagine if Richard Cheese seduced all three of the Andrews Sisters...and each had a little Lounge Baby. The Lounge Kittens would be the scandalous by product of that sordid affair'.{{cite web|url=http://issuu.com/phmusicmedia/docs/smapr14b|title=Southampton Music April 2014|website=Issuu.com|date=31 March 2014 |accessdate=24 April 2015}} Their first demo recordings, made in early February 2014, were an eclectic trio of musical styles: "Firework" by Katy Perry, "Rollin'" by Limp Bizkit, and "Ob La Di Ob La Da" by The Beatles.{{cite web|url=http://james-hawkins-music.co.uk/tag/lounge-kittens/|title=How To Make A Song Go Viral|website=James-hawkins-music.co.uk|accessdate=23 April 2015}} Their repertoire boasts over 40 songs, including songs by The Prodigy, House of Pain, Elton John, Rammstein, and Iron Maiden.{{cite web|url= http://www.theloungekittens.com/#!setlist/c16v8|title=The Lounge Kittens - Setlist|website=Theloungekittens.com|accessdate=24 April 2015}}
and they cite their musical tastes cover Rock, Jazz, Punk, Psychobilly, Ragga, Hip Hop, Folk, Ska, Pop, Soul, Metal, Dance, House, Grunge, and others.
Music and videos
On 26 February 2014 the Lounge Kittens posted a video to YouTube of their cover version of Limp Bizkit's "Rollin'". On 28 February they sent a tweet to Fred Durst, the Limp Bizkit frontman, with a link to their video. Four hours later Durst replied 'loving it' and promptly posted the video on his band's Facebook page.{{cite tweet|number=439365393686474752|user=TheLKittens|title=Hey @freddurst over 9.5k views in less than 48 hours. We're still ROLLIN!! :) |accessdate=28 February 2015|date=28 February 2014}}{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/limpbizkit/posts/473581729435868|title=Limp Bizkit post The Lounge Kitten's video to their Facebook page|website=Facebook.com|accessdate=28 February 2015}} Following the endorsement from Durst, The Lounge Kittens video went viral and subsequently had appearances on Kerrang!'s and Metal Hammer's Facebook pages. Within a week the video had nearly 75,000 views.{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/TheLoungeKittens/posts/204775759733577:0|title=The Lounge Kittens Rollin' video gets 75,000 views|website=Facebook.com|accessdate=24 April 2015}}
Following on from the success of "Rollin'", The Lounge Kittens worked on increasing their repertoire. Deacon had the idea to arrange an Aerosmith song in a tango style. Deacon says 'I was imagining the kind of naughty, sexy, but totally clueless image we could make through a tango... The tango is about power, so I naturally turned to rock love songs'.{{cite web|url=http://www.teamrock.com/news/2014-06-04/the-lounge-kittens-tackle-aerosmith-in-hilarious-new-video|title=The Lounge Kittens Tackle Aerosmith in Hilarious New Video|website=Teamrock.com|date=4 June 2014|accessdate=23 April 2015}} In June 2014 the video to the song "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" was released.
Later in 2014 The Lounge Kittens released their own version of Slipknot's "Duality". The video's release coincided with the release of Slipknot's fifth album and UK tour. Gwendoline says 'The Lounge Kittens as a band are all about duality', referring to their combination of lounge music and rock/metal songs.{{cite web|url=http://www.teamrock.com/news/2014-10-17/slipknot-s-duality-reworked-by-lounge-kittens|title=Slipknot's Duality reworked by The Lounge Kittens|website=Teamrock.com|date=17 October 2014|accessdate=23 April 2015}} The slapstick comedy chases in the video complement the polka rhythms in Deacon's piano.{{cite web|url=http://loudwire.com/lounge-kittens-slipknot-duality-best-of-youtube/|title=The Lounge Kittens Cover Slipknot's 'Duality'|website=Loudwire.com|date=5 February 2015 |accessdate=24 April 2015}} 'Slipknot's Duality has got such a frantic energy about it' says Deacon, 'especially when you accompany the video alongside it – with super dark angst and dirty rhythm, and I really wanted to convey the same atmosphere but still take it away from its origins. The first two Lounge Kittens videos had received some criticism from fans of the original songs, but the backlash from Slipknot fans on their interpretation of "Duality" was unforeseen. In an interview for TeamRock Radio Gwendoline mentions that while the criticism for the first two videos had been fairly tame and laughable, the criticism for "Duality" had been vulgar. They add 'However, for every one bad comment there are three good comments'.{{cite web|url=http://www.teamrock.com/news/2014-09-08/lounge-kittens-join-us-on-tonight-s-metal-hammer-radio-show|title=The Lounge Kittens on TeamRock Radio|website=Teamrock.com|date=8 September 2014|accessdate=28 April 2015}}
In December 2014 The Lounge Kittens released their version of Andrew W.K.'s "Party Hard" as a downloadable single. Rather than sing a Christmas song Gwendoline says the focus of the band was on partying at Christmas and dubs "Party Hard" as 'the ultimate party anthem'. The band's aim was to get to Christmas number 2, Lawther saying 'number 2 is more satisfying than number 1'.{{cite web|url=http://metalhammer.teamrock.com/news/2014-12-03/lounge-kittens-get-christmassy-with-andrew-wk|title=The Lounge Kittens Get Christmassy With Andrew W.K.|website=Metalhammer.teamrock.com|date=3 December 2014|accessdate= 23 April 2015}}
Following a huge demand from fans, The Lounge Kittens released the EP Just The Tip... on 26 February 2015. This coincided with the release of their cover of Steel Panther's "Gloryhole" the following day and the start of their Fluffing For Steel Panther tour. The release features all of the songs they had previously released videos for, with the exception of "SeanAPaul Medley" whose video came after the EP's release. Deacon said their song choice was 'to show the true variety of our musical passions, genre tastes, naughtiness and vocal range'.{{cite web|url=http://www.kerrang.com/28887/the-lounge-kittens-cover-steel-panthers-gloryhole|title=The Lounge Kittens Cover Steel Panther's Gloryhole|website=Kerrang.com|date=27 February 2015 |accessdate=28 April 2015}}
Upon their return from tour with Steel Panther, the Lounge Kittens released the sixth and final song from their album; "SeanAPaul Medley". This is an arrangement of seven songs by Sean Paul; "Temperature", "Get Busy", "Like Glue", "Got 2 Luv U", "Hold My Hand", "She Doesn’t Mind", and "Ever Blazin'".{{cite web|url=http://www.stereoboard.com/content/view/190764/9|title=The Lounge Kittens Release Sean Paul Medley Video|website=Stereoboard.com|accessdate=28 April 2015}}
On 16 September 2016 the band released the crowd funded album titled Sequins & C-Bombs which comprises 15 new tracks including Bounce which was the feature of a promotional video release and Facebook Live event which occurred at St Pancras Station in London on 15 September 2015.
Live
The success of "Rollin'" led The Lounge Kittens to making several appearances in 2014 at Sonisphere and Glastonbury festivals.{{cite web|url=http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/line-up/line-up-2014/|title=Glastonbury 2014 Line-up|website=Glastonburyfestivals.co.uk|accessdate=6 March 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://sonisphere.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/FINALSONIARTWORK_24JUNE_900.jpg|title=Sonisphere 2014 Line-up|website=Sonisphere.co.uk|accessdate=6 March 2015}} At Sonisphere The Lounge Kittens drew in a large crowd to their shows on the Satellite Stage and Rocky Royalty area. After seeing their performance, Fred Durst invited The Lounge Kittens to open Limp Bizkit's show on the main stage, singing a part of their own rendition of "Rollin'".{{cite web|url=http://www.teamrock.com/news/2014-07-10/the-lounge-kittens-post-sonisphere-video-diary|title=The Lounge Kittens Post Sonisphere Video Diary|website=Teamrock.com|date=10 July 2014|accessdate=28 February 2015}} At Glastonbury festival The Lounge Kittens performed six shows at five venues in just two days.{{cite web|url=http://thenoisecartel.com/2014/08/11/the-lounge-kittens-unveil-headline-tour-dates|title=The Lounge Kittens Unveil Headline Tour Dates|website=Thenoisecartel.com|accessdate=28 April 2015}}
In September 2014 and February 2015 The Lounge Kittens headlined their own UK tours; Girls On Tour and Fluffing for Steel Panther respectively.{{cite web|url=http://metalhammer.teamrock.com/news/2015-01-13/lounge-kittens-fluffing-for-steel-panther|title=The Lounge Kittens are Fluffing for Steel Panther|website=Metalhammer.teamrock.com|date=13 January 2015|accessdate=1 March 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bringthenoiseuk.com/201409/music/news/music-news-the-lounge-kittens-added-to-steel-panthers-2015-uk-tour|title=The Lounge Kittens are Added To Steel Panter's UK Tour|accessdate=6 March 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006180728/http://www.bringthenoiseuk.com/201409/music/news/music-news-the-lounge-kittens-added-to-steel-panthers-2015-uk-tour|archivedate=6 October 2014|df=dmy-all}}
In March and April 2015 The Lounge Kittens supported Steel Panther on the UK and European legs of their All You Can Eat tour.{{cite web|url=http://www.metal-rules.com/metalnews/2015/04/12/steel-panther-with-support-act-the-lounge-kittens-on-all-you-can-eat-tour-2015-european-leg-store-vega-copenhagen-denmark|title=Steel Panther with support act The Lounge Kittens - All You Can Eat Tour 2015 - European Leg|website=Metal-rules.com|date=12 April 2015 |accessdate=10 June 2015}}
In June 2015 The Lounge Kittens played The Encore Stage at Download Festival.{{cite web|url=http://downloadfestival.co.uk/lineup-poster|title=Download 2015 Line-up|accessdate=8 June 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151029085549/http://downloadfestival.co.uk/lineup-poster|archivedate=29 October 2015|df=dmy-all}}
In December 2016 The Lounge Kittens supported Status Quo with REO Speedwagon on "The Last Night Of The Electrics" tour {{cite web|url=http://reospeedwagon.com/uk-tour-with-status-quo/ |title=UK Tour with Status Quo & The Lounge Kittens announced |website=Reospeedwagon.com |date=2016-03-21 |accessdate=2020-06-04}}
On 23 September 2019, the trio announced that they would split-up, stating: "It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce 3 final performances to mark the end of TLK. Despite your unwavering support and generosity, we have struggled to keep TLK financially viable over the years and although it’s never been 'about the money' when we add the financial strain to the demands of our own lives and our individual wants and needs, we have simply come to the point where it’s all just a bit too hard. What we don’t want to happen is to reach the point where it’s all too hard and it stops being any fun because the fun, dear Kittens, was always the only reason to do any of this. We want to assure you that through a lot of honest conversation, our decision was made with love and care for each other, and for you all. We decided that if we were going to call time on the band, then there’s only one way we want to go out – the three of us standing together and having a big fucking last laugh. We would like our final shows to be a huge celebration of everything that we’ve achieved over the past 6 years (and by 'we', we mean us three, the whole of our extended Team Kitten and all of you lot). We hope you will take up your place in the squad one last time. A social media post cannot adequately describe what being in TLK has done for each of us and we understand that some of you hold your memories and experiences of TLK just as closely as we do. [...] As always, big Kitten love. It’s been a helluva ride!"{{cite tweet|number=1176058623404969984|user=TheLKittens|title=Twittens, we have some news. 1/3 |date=23 September 2019}}
In February 2020, The Lounge Kittens performed their final three shows ("An Evening With The (Departure) Lounge Kittens & Friends") in Manchester, London and Southampton. The final show was at The 1865, Southampton on 29 February 2020.
Discography
=Albums and EPs=
== ''Just The Tip...'' (2015) ==
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Track | Title | Original Artist | Video Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Party Hard | Andrew W.K. | 3 December 2014 |
| 2 | Duality | Slipknot | 17 October 2014 |
| 4 | Get Busy Blazin', Hold My Temperature Like Glue | Sean Paul | 8 April 2015 |
| 4 | Rollin' | Limp Bizkit | 26 February 2014 |
| 5 | I Don't Want to Miss a Thing | Aerosmith | 2 June 2014 |
| 6 | Gloryhole | Steel Panther | 27 February 2015 |
== ''Sequins & C-Bombs'' (2016) ==
| class="wikitable" |
| Track
!Title !Original Artist !Video Release Date |
|---|
| 1
|16 August 2016 |
| 2
|15 September 2016 |
| 3
|Yeah |19 April 2017 |
| 4
|{{N/A}} |
| 5
|16 December 2016 |
| 6
|16 June 2016 |
| 7
|Toto |26 July 2016 |
| 8
|Smack My Firestarter to Outer Space |{{N/A}} |
| 9
|{{N/A}} |
| 10
|{{N/A}} |
| 11
|{{N/A}} |
| 12
|4 March 2020 |
| 13
|Rammers (Medley) |{{N/A}} |
| 14
|{{N/A}} |
| 15
|16 October 2016 |
== ''Have Another...'' (2019) ==
| class="wikitable" |
| Track
!Title !Original Artist !Video Release Date |
|---|
| 1
|13 March 2019 |
| 2
|{{N/A}} |
| 3
|9 January 2019 |
| 4
|Omi |{{N/A}} |
| 5
|31 October 2019 |
| 6
|Love Walked In |{{N/A}} |
== ''Do It LIVE'' (2020) ==
| class="wikitable" |
| Track
!Title !Original Artist !Venue |
|---|
| 1
|Welcome |{{N/A}} |St Pancras Old Church |
| 2
|St Pancras Old Church |
| 3
|Band on the Wall |
| 4
|Violent Pornography (With Full Band) |Union Chapel |
| 5
|We're Definitely Going to Hell |{{N/A}} |St Pancras Old Church |
| 6
|All Night Long (All Night) (With Full Band) |Union Chapel |
| 7
|Band on the Wall |
| 8
|St Pancras Old Church |
| 9
|St Pancras Old Church |
| 10
|Union Chapel |
| 11
|Gloryhole |Union Chapel |
| 12
|Hail Satan! |{{N/A}} |St Pancras Old Church |
| 13
|One Step Closer (With Full Band) |Band on the Wall |
| 14
|Angry White Guy Polka |Union Chapel |
| 15
|We've Been the Lounge Kittens |{{N/A}} |St Pancras Old Church |
| 16
|Medley: A Vocal Tribute to Avicii (With Full Band) |St Pancras Old Church |
| 17
|Buh-Bye |{{N/A}} |The 1865 |
= Singles =
"Party Hard" - 14 December 2014
"Medley: A Vocal Tribute to Avicii" - 21 February 2019
= Other =
"Sad but True" - 3 June 2015. The Lounge Kittens feature on a free cover CD in Kerrang! with their version of the Metallica song.{{cite web|url=http://www.kerrang.com/32003/8-reasons-must-buy-new-look-kerrang-magazine|title=8 Reasons You Must Buy The New Look Kerrang! Magazine|work=Kerrang! |date=28 May 2015 |accessdate=29 May 2015}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{commons category-inline|The Lounge Kittens}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lounge Kittens}}
Category:English alternative rock groups
Category:Musical groups from Southampton
Category:Musical groups established in 2012
Category:English musical trios