Kathy’s musical leanings started later in life than the other girls in the band. Her younger sister Dodie was very good on the piano so when her parents gave them group piano lessons she kept at it for a while, but playing the piano just didn’t interest Kathy.
When she was a freshman in high school is when she began listening to music and becoming aware of the beat in songs…especially the drum beat.
In an interview with Ugly Things Magazine (Issue #45) Kathy tells how she became the drummer for the band. “When Dodie, asked me if I wanted to be the drummer of the band she was putting together, I was blown away! I couldn’t believe she asked me. I was so shy, but completely excited about being the drummer.” She begged her parents for a drum set and they got her one. She goes on to relate: “I remember there was a friend that used to hang out with us at my parents’ home and he could play the drums. He showed me a few things, like how to hold the sticks, how to get the rhythm with my foot on the pedal of the base drum and how to work with the cymbals. From there all I did was listen to music very loud and try to play along with the songs.”
Kathy did practice and practice and impressed all the people who came to hear her play. This was an unusual choice for a teenage girl back in the 1960’s when there were no other girls playing in a rock band let alone one who could really play the drums well. Kathy was also inspired by the music of the Beatles and if asked, she would say that of course, Ringo was her inspiration!
Kathy worked hard at becoming a very good drummer, reaching the level of most guys that were playing drums in bands. She performed at Princeton University, other colleges and in the beginning, “wherever Geri’s brother Tom, who was their manager at the time, could find them places to play”.
Every cover song that the band played, Kathy had no problem learning and keeping up a perfect beat. In several of the songs they performed, she had drum solos. In that same Ugly Things magazine article Kathy recalls: “Playing in Central Park was great. I did have a drum solo on the song “Wipeout!” and many people cheered for me afterwards.”
Later in that same article, Kathy remembers meeting Iggy Pop: “I got to Geri’s house after they all were back from New York. All I remember is that we played a few songs for them, but they wouldn’t play for us. I know we must have sounded pretty good because we practiced all the time and had already played many jobs ty then.”
Since Kathy and the Untouchable played most weekends at many venues it is hard at times remembering all of the places they played, but Kathy remembered something about their job at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. She says: “When we performed at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City we were on the same bill with Lou Christie. I could not get over how high his voice was. I thought it was a woman, because I remember thinking, how could a guy sing that high!
Another unique memory for Kathy was performing live on one of the TV shows that The Untouchable was on. “Disc-O-Teen”, hosted by a ghoulish character named, John Zacherle. She says: “From my perspective, I remember someone kept telling me not to drum so loud. I think our sound needed help, but everyone said we looked good!” Yes, Kathy’s powerful drumming at that time caused a bit of a problem on live TV!
Kathy recalls playing for a big concert at Princeton University’s Dillon Gym. “I remember playing at P.U.’s Dillon Gym with Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs. I remember that I was “snobby” (behind their backs) about the way his back-up singers were dressed. I also remember at that time my older sister Helen was there to help chaperone us and possibly to get to see a free show!”
By the time the band was ready to record their original song Tollbooth, Kathy was an accomplished drummer, but not so enamored with working in a studio instead of playing live. When asked, she stated that she remembered that the studio was large. She also said that she didn’t recollect being able to play a lot and added that she remembers not being crazy about recording because she felt that playing “live” was so much more fun than having to be controlled by a recording studio. She felt it took more patience than she thought it would. It was all so new to her and she wasn’t sure she liked it.
When the band broke up in the beginning of 1969 Kathy said that she felt lost for a while and she really missed playing with her sister and the other girls.
In the final part of her Ugly Things interview Kathy stated: “After the band ended, I didn’t play again professionally. I did keep my drum set and just had fun playing them occasionally. In 1987, Geri asked me to perform with her and Dodie at her wedding. We practiced a few times and that was probably the first time I performed in public again since the band had broken up. A few years (actually months), after they were married, all of us original girls from the band got together, practiced again in one of our original practice spaces – Geri’s basement – and then went into a local recording studio in Hamilton to record two songs just for fun.” When asked recently about her memory of performing at Geri and her husband Don’s wedding back in 1987 she stated that she was surprised at how much she remembered after not playing for almost 17 years!
For the reunion soon after the wedding she also remembered that playing again together with all of her old bandmates was so much fun. Though she felt that she wasn’t as sharp as she used to be, all at that session were amazed at how well she played.
Kathy has lived in Princeton for most of her life. She officially retired from her job back in 2012. She enjoys walking, biking and going to the gym with a special friend of hers – named Don.
She enjoys her cat, Monet, going to local museums and especially enjoys some of the musical concerts that still happen on the Princeton University campus. She loves visiting with her family, her nieces and nephews, her brother, Pepper, her sister, Dodie and greatly appreciates her older sister, Helen, who she says is the one that helps to keep all in her family connected by regularly getting everyone together.
Kathy doesn’t play the drums anymore, but she still turns the music on very loud at times and still keeps beat tapping on anything that happens to be close by!