The Alley Cats are a Los Angeles, California-based punk rock trio formed in 1977. The original line-up, featuring Randy Stodola (guitar and vocals), Dianne Chai (bass and vocals) and John McCarthy (drums), was a fixture of the early L.A. punk rock scene. Signed to Dangerhouse Records alongside other seminal California-based punk bands including the Bags, Black Randy and the Metro Squad, and X, they released their first single "Nothing Means Nothing Anymore" backed with "Give Me a Little Pain" on March 30, 1978. They are among the six bands featured on the 1979 compilation album Yes L.A. and appear in the 1982 film Urgh! A Music War.
The Alley Cats were regular performers at such Los Angeles venues as Club 88, Hong Kong Café, The Masque, and the Whisky a Go Go.
Reformed as "The Zarkons", they released two albums, Riders In The Long Black Parade (1985) and Between the Idea & the Reality…Falls the Shadow (1988), before disbanding in 1988.
After a 20-year hiatus, Stodola reformed the trio and currently performs as The Alley Cats along with Apryl Cady (bass and vocals) and Matt Laskey (drums).