Bush Tetras

Too many creeps

Bush Tetras formed in New York in 1979; the name combines bush babies and neon tetras, a small African primate and a tropical fish, with Neon Tetras Pat Place's idea and Bush Babies Dee Pop's, per Sley. Place had played in James Chance's Contortions and on the Eno-produced No New York, leaving in spring 1978 after internal conflict. In 1979 she began jamming with the drummer Dee Pop while living with Laura Kennedy, who worked at the Bleecker Street Cinema, and Cynthia Sley joined after Adele Bertei did not gel. Sley is from Cleveland and moved to New York after a visit. They rehearsed in a basement at Georgio Gromelski's studio with no toilet or heat, played Tier 3 in Tribeca and opened for the Feelies at Irving Plaza; Place dates the first gig to February 1979 and Sley to February 1980.

"Too Many Creeps" came out on Ed Bahlman's 99 Records in 1980, followed in 1981 by "Things That Go Boom in the Night" and "Can't Be Funky" on Fetish and the Rituals EP produced by Topper Headon of the Clash, which reached 32 on the Billboard club chart. Live tracks appeared on Stiff's Start Swimming, recorded at the Rainbow in London on February 20, 1981, and the Clash had them open some Bond's Casino shows. Kennedy and Pop left in 1983 and the band dissolved, with Sley citing internal conflict and frustration with major labels; Wild Things (ROIR, 1983) is a live cassette.

The original line-up reformed in 1995 for Boom in the Night, then Tetrafied (1996) and Beauty Lies (1997); Julia Murphy replaced Kennedy. They resumed in 2005, toured Europe in summer 2006 and released Very Very Happy in 2007, and Happy, recorded in 1998 with Don Fleming, finally came out on ROIR in 2012. Kennedy died on November 14, 2011 and Dee Pop on October 9, 2021. The box set Rhythm and Paranoia: The Best of Bush Tetras (Wharf Cat, November 12, 2021) collects three albums and 29 songs with a previously unreleased track featuring Henry Rollins. A memorial show for Dee Pop at Bowery Electric in March 2022 had Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth on drums, and he has stayed; Cait O'Riordan joined on bass in April 2023. They Live in My Head (Wharf Cat) arrived on July 28, 2023, and they toured the EU and UK that year.

Place called the sound some punk version of funk, and songwriting a total democracy; Sley lists James Brown and Bohannon among influences. Members describe the band as implicitly feminist and political, simply by women playing male-dominated music.