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. Their fate was sealed when they were dropped from their record label and Ellis left to form Heavy Bones (a band that included Quiet Riot and W.A.S.P. drummer Frankie Banali). An album of unreleased songs would resurface several years after the band disintegrated. Several members reunited in 2003 for a mini-tour in Japan, so future material is not out of the question. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.