Power pop band Kitten's Pharmacy (originally just Pharmacy) was formed in 1995 by original members Kathleen “Kitten” Johnson, Scott Samuels, Sean McAnally (aka Siever), and Nick (Nico) Peters. Says Johnson, “Sean had a lot of music history and was good at networking; plus, working at Carvin Guitars for over ten years didn’t hurt.”
Siever and Peters left the band, and were replaced by Scott Bell on drums, Dave Farmer (of The Snails) on bass, and Franc Alonso on guitar. Samuels recalls “There were a few different drummers and bassists for Pharmacy over the years, whose names I don't remember, but in 1997, Andrew Bisessar became the drummer, and in 1998, we recorded the Recommended By Doctors CD, for which I wrote all of the original material, giving some of the other members co-writing credits here and there.” Recommended By Doctors was co-produced it with Andy Machin at Big Rock Studios (then Bedrock Studios), and Samuels’ own record label Premonition.
“As there was another well-known band named Pharmacy in the UK, we changed the name of the band to Kitten's Pharmacy for CD release,” says Samuels. “Shortly before the release of the CD, Dave Farmer left, and was eventually replaced by Keith Jones on bass. This was the final version of the band, which split up several months after the CD release.”
According to Johnson, “Someone else in the band went out of their way to cause problems between us, and for years [Sean Siever and I] weren’t communicating.”
Singer/guitarist Scott Samuels went on to join Roxy Monoxide and A.M. Forever, bassist Dave Farmer joined Roxy Monoxide, while singer Johnson formed a new version of Pharmacy, a band later joined by original Pharmacist Sean Siever (who quit in late 2010).
Samuels recalls “We played a [Kitten's Pharmacy] reunion show in 1999 with Andrew on drums, Dave Farmer on bass, and Michael Rennie on guitar.” He describes the current model Pharmacy as “completely different songs with a completely different style.”
Lead singer Kit Johnson passed away April 26, 2018, after reportedly suffering shortness of breath.