Paws, Pets & Metal is Metal Insider’s newest column on bands with pets, discovering who watches them on the road, and more. Get to know more about these metal furbabies. We caught up with Phaeton’s Ferdy Belland (electric & fretless bass) as he revealed his cats like to purr out to Slayer, The Damned, and Voivod.
Tell us more about your pets and their names?
There’ve always been cats in my household, whether I was a little kid or now in the house I share with my wife Erin. I have been blessed with having a long string of amazing and loving cats in my life. Currently, there are three cats with us:
- a) Sir Simon the Inevitable, Lord of Floofington;
- b) Miss Lucy Goosey Monkeybutt Honeychurch; and
- c) Fizzgig, Lord Mudermittens of Toebeania.
They are all black cats, which is about as metal as it comes, no? Simon is part Maine Coon, so he’s this ginormous galoot of a tuxedo cat with dippy-paint paws and a goofy expression who’s just a big cuddlebug. Lucy is the smallest of the three, and quite skittish with me – I learned the lesson early that she’s Erin’s lap cat, and not to be trifled with. I only picked Lucy up once, and I still have the scars to show for it. Fizzgig is a House Panther and a royal terror who careens and caroms and ricochets around the house, so everything gets knocked off high shelves and such, but once you finally catch him he just curls up in your arms and purrs and purrs and purrs.
Many people consider their pets to be substitute children, but that’s an unsettling mindset for me. My cats are my Animal Friends, and much of the time they’re my Best Friends. Me loveses them kitties.
Have you ever taken your pet on tour?
No, never. That would be foolhardy and dangerous for the cat. Dogs are way easier to travel with. I mean, of course I would love to while away the seven-hour drive between gigs in Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie with a big cuddly cat purring away in my lap, but I wouldn’t want the cat to piss in the drummer’s cymbal bag or anything. Or on the merch! It’s hard to hang a $60.00 tag on a zip-up Phaeton hoodie when it’s reeking like ammonia. Or might that add a certain street appeal? I might have to rethink this. Me loveses them kitties.
Who looks after your pet while on the road?
My lovely wife (and long-suffering Bass Widow) Erin looks after the cats while I’m busy gallivanting around the country on some numbskull adventure or another, and she deserves the Order of Canada for all of her good work, especially as sometimes I’m out for six weeks on end. I miss my cats terribly whenever I’m on the road…hell, I miss my cats when I’m shopping for groceries in my hometown. Me c them kitties.
What’s your pet’s favorite song or album?
Simon: “Necrophobic” by Slayer.
Lucy: “New Rose” by the Damned.
Fizzgig: Voivod’s version of “Astronomy Domine.”
Or so I figure. At least, they don’t seem to mind whenever I drop those records on the househod turntable. Me loveses them kitties.
How did you introduce your pet to metal?
They didn’t really have a choice, right from the start. I remember my Dad squinting and frowning in disapproval on the day I came home from the record store with Megadeth’s So Far, So Good…So What? under my arm, but my cat at the time didn’t scurry out of the living room when I dropped the needle on “Into the Lungs of Hell.” I figured that was a good sign. I’ve been metalizing my cats ever since. Me loveses them kitties.
What animal charity means most to you?
The East Kootenay chapter of the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The SPCA has always been my favorite charity, for obvious reasons, but the local branch is where we’ve gotten virtually all of our cats over the years, as rescues. I’ve promoted several fundraising concerts for our local SPCA office and will continue to do so for many years to come. Me loveses them kitties.
