Cats in Boots

Guitarist Takashi 'Jail' O'Hashi is more known in his home country of Japan as a former member of the heavy-metal band Seikima-II. But he had his eye on American acclaim, and together with his bassist friend Yasuhiro 'Butch' Hatae they headed to Los Angeles. It was there that they spotted a band called Merri Hoax, and more importantly their singer, Joel Ellis. The persistence of O'Hashi and Hatae won Ellis over, and with the addition of his drumming band mate Randy Meers, Cats In Boots was born.

They recorded a demo and then went off to Japan where O'Hashi's name and rock magazines helped push the album to #1 on the independent charts on it's way to selling over 10,000 copies. The first major label release, Kicked & Klawed featured some re-recorded versions of songs of the East Meets West demo and shot to #3 on the Japanese charts, unfortunately success was limited elsewhere.