"I will always be the virgin-prostitute, the perverse angel, the two-faced sinister and saintly woman." Anais Nin
"I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another." Anaïs Nin
† 1st line-up :
Vocals, guitar : Olli Barbé
Guitar : Michel Angel P
Bass : Duff Barbé
Drums : Jay puis Mimi Beysset (pix)
photos: JG Orlandini click on to enlarge
(Line-up playing live on the demo, badly ripped off from a non-authorized CD.
Original sound : Laurent "Lolo" Sedes.
Roswitha played by the same line-up)
†† 2nd line-up :
Vocals, guitar : Olli Barbé
Guitar : Michel Angel P
Bass : Narbé
Drums : Fifi
†† 3rd line-up :
Vocals, guitar : Olli Barbé
Guitar : Mickey Finn
Guitar : Michel Angel P
Bass : Lolo
Drums : Alan Merlin
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Influences
every dawn
Sounds Like
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Record Label
unsigned undead unholy probably D.O.A. but here ..
Catholic Boys, Olli (vocals, guitar) and Michel, at The New Moon, Pigalle, Paris, France Ph. : J.M. Goyhenex
This is the story of many r'n'roll resurrections and near-death experiences
The band was born in the declining eighties when Olli Barbé, former singer and guitarist of Belladonna, meets, at the Rex Club, in Paris, Michel Pourcelot, aka Michel P. and Angel Face, issued from bands of Dijon like Norma Loy, Alice et les Pickpockets, Sister Ray/Slow Dazzle (with François Huet from Snipers fame), DZ Lectric and NNEnd (with Christian Dezert, aka DZ, another legend of the burgundian town), a no named band with Bruce Witsiepe from the New York "No Name Band" (better known as Circle X...). Permanent members through the nights and the years, Michel and Olli launched the long and torn adventure of this band who has never really searched for record companies. Just playing the r'n'roll games 'till the edges, often bringing the band a little bit too far.
Ups and downs
One of the most forgotten french bands, The Catholic Boys, played their own compositions and occasional covers from The Velvet Underground and The Animals... Their influences range from The Stooges and The Modern Lovers, Neil Young and The Sex Pistols, The Troggs and DMZ, Captain Beefheart and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Leonard Cohen and The Sweet, Can and The Chocolate Watch Band, Young Marble Giants and Wasted Youth, Cabaret Voltaire and Jim Carroll, Wayne County and Gérard Manset, The Who and Richard Hell, Teenage Jesus and The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground and The Pretty Things, Psychic TV and The Real Kids, Patti Smith, Gang of Four and The Saints, Peter Murphy and The Flamin' Groovies, to John Waters and Jim Harrison... The Catholic Boys played, not to mention the infamous "Ascension Tour", here and there : from Rheims to Rouen (in a ... church), from Périgueux to Pigalle (the late New Moon, a longtime homeplace, The Elysées-Montmartre, opening for Midnight Oil).
Torn and frayed
The band has known many rebirths with three different line-ups but the same faith. In spite of mad managers (today dead or disapeared) and with a little help from their friends : Dogs, Fleshtones, Coronados, Saïgon, Cherokees, Philippe Almosnino, Tony Truand and Kurt Cobain, Michel's friend, who left France with a demo, wanting the band to sign in the USA, saying it was sounding something like Mudhoney. Song he prefered : "I Hate Love". Think what you want. Anyway, everybody knows how the story ended one month later. The Catholics Boys survived slow deaths and other fairy tales. They use to comeback sometimes, playing rarer gigs, with a new rythm section and a third guitarist, Mickey Finn (Heavy Metal Kids, Higelin, Nino Ferrer...).
The Catholic Boys have never broken up although they almost touched heaven and hell.
ph. : J.G. Orlandini
ph. : B. Schacht
This site is dedicated to all our friends in the r'n'r heaven especially to our former manager Boz, Jean-Paul N'Diago Pop (Electrodes, Bad Loosers, Chihuhaha, Paris), Olive (Lili Drop, Paris), BB (Porte-Mentaux, Paris), Marc "Jezebel" Police (Jezebel, Wampas, Paris), Bruce "Cry Baby" Witsiepe (CircleX, New York City), Kim (Fabulous Cads, Paris), Jean-Luc S. (Bootleggers, Marseilles), Elno (Négresses Vertes, Paris), Kurt Cobain (Nirvana, Seattle) and Dominique Laboubée (Dogs, Rouen).
Thanks Michel for your nice compliments. Yup, i couldn't do more than that without him. He is great, isn't he? By the way, when is your coming show??? Big kiss, Kim Anh
