Pet Sounds #68: Temple of Love Open Their Hearts to Fulci the Cat
Lest you think Austin, Texas, is only comprised of psych-rock bands these days, The Bad Penny brings you Temple of Love, a goth-rock/dark-wave band whose debut, Songs of Love and Despair, drops November 7 on Reptile House. Fans of The Black Angels and Killing Joke, take note.
Husband-and-wife duo Steve Colca and Suzy Bravo incepted Temple of Love way back in 2018, intending it to be a “pet” recording project all their own. But the two musicians – who hail from touted doom bands Destroyer of Light and Witchcryer, respectively – decided to aim for loftier ambitions after their 2019 demo earned them heaps of praise.
Consisting of guitarist/vocalist Colca, vocalist Bravo, drummer Patrick Pascucci and bassist Joseph Maniscalco, there’s also an honorary member of the band: Colca and Bravo’s beloved black cat, Fulci. We’ll have plenty more to say about Temple of Love and their maiden release in the future, but first, let’s give the hat-wearin’, snow-bearin’, self-brushin’ Fulci some affection and attention.
How and when did Fulci enter into your life?
Fulci came into our lives on November 3, 2017. She is a Hurricane Harvey survivor from Baytown, Texas. We picked her up from Austin Pets Alive!
Isn’t Fulci typically a last name, not a first name? Did you endow your cat with that name because you knew or later determined that your cat is of Italian descent? What I’m driving at here is should I give a h/t to Ancestry.com in this article?!
This question kind of extends from question 1. The night before we went to find our cat, we watched Lucio Fulci’s The Black Cat. When we went to Austin Pets Alive! to look for cats, we looked at three other cats, but none of them really spoke to us. The lady said, “There’s one more cat you haven’t seen; she’s hiding.” I went down to pick her up, and it was a black cat! She immediately let me hold her, and she was purring, and that was it! We decided to name her Fulci. Her middle name is Lucia. She is also Italian by my Sicilian roots as the father. So, you’ll find some of that spunk in her DNA.
What was it like the first time you really connected with her and decided you wanted or even needed to have her in your life?
It was immediate. It took holding her once to know she was coming home with us. When we took her home, we let our bedroom be her “safe space.” So, we let her hang out there, and we went downstairs. Within half an hour, she was downstairs and ready for pets and huges. The connection was made!
In what specific ways has Fulci improved your lives and vice versa?
Since we both don’t want to have children, Fulci is the closest we have. It’s definitely nice to have a fur baby who loves you and wants your attention. She wakes up in time for work; she greets us when we get home from work. She really isn’t a lap cat, but she likes to lay and hang next to us. She asks for treats constantly and likes to play. I’d say she definitely improved our mental health and makes being at home fun for sure. The way we’ve improved her life is that she is a little chonky (but not fully). She’s very social with people too.
What were the chief challenges, at least at first, of raising Fulci?
We learned pretty quickly that she had urinary problems. So, when we had to take her to her doctor, she had to get specialty food. Then we had to learn her eating habits and how to keep them under control. She is like a dog, so, when we go out of town, we have a caretaker friend who comes and checks on her every day. But we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Is Fulci a purely indoor cat or does Fulci wander outside, perhaps through a cat door you might have?
Fulci is strictly indoors. We have two outdoor cats that we feed and take care of, but Fulci is the only indoor cat. She does get curious sometimes, but living in our neighborhood, we feel safer having her indoors [given the] stray cats, cars and coyotes where we are.
What was the most damage Fulci did to something you own(ed)?
She destroyed Suzy’s MC5 signed Wayne Kramer poster right after she got it. Bad, bad girl!
Has Fulci made any appearances on Temple of Love songs and/or inspired any of them, lyrically or musically?
Not yet … but I did start an electronic/industrial solo project during the pandemic called Fulci’s Eyes and used her as the cover. A black cat did end up in our “If Sighs Could Kill” video, so, in a way, she is in there.
What’s the most tender moment you shared with Fulci that you can recall?
She had a health scare a year ago. She wasn’t eating and was very lethargic. We took her to the [vet], and she had to be given liquids and stay at the clinic for over a week. They couldn’t even identify what it was that caused her to end up like that. It was definitely scary for us and her. The day we brought her home, the joy on her face, seeing us and being back home, and for us to have her back … it was special.
What’s the most amusing antic you’ve ever seen Fulci do?
Whenever she finishes taking a shit, she immediately runs down the stairs, jumps around and hides behind the couch. Suzy’s favorite [antic] is, when Suzy is grooming Fulci before going out or to a, she’ll knock her brush down and start combing herself with the brush.
Visit Temple of Love’s Bandcamp page to pre-order their upcoming album, Songs of Love and Despair, and buy their two-track collection, The Singles. They have a nifty website too.
Here’s a taste of their music: The first single from Songs of Love and Despair, “If Sights Could Kill”:
Go here for The Bad Penny’s Pet Sounds index.
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