PACO GATO – ETERNAL HOLDINGS

Paco Gato: The Return of a Punk Rock Legend

Where did he go? And why is he back now?

In the raw, neon-lit chaos of the 1980s punk scene, Paco Gato was an icon, an enigma, and a wild force of nature. With his signature snarl, untamed stage presence, and lyrics that balanced rebellion, humor, and heartbreak, Paco carved his name into the underground with anthems that made you mosh, laugh, and think all at once.

Meet Paco Gato (aka Lee Elman): A Punk Rock Original

Lee Elman, better known by his stage name Paco Gato, is a genre-blending force in rock music. Influenced by the raw energy of The Clash and Ramones, the gritty storytelling of The Kinks and The Who, and even the freewheeling spirit of The Grateful Dead, he crafted a sound that fuses punk rock, ‘80s new wave, rock, and funk into something uniquely his own.

So where did the name Paco Gato come from? It all started in 9th grade Spanish class. On day one, their teacher asked a kid named Frank—whose Spanish name was Paco—if he knew the word for cat. Paco proudly answered, “Gato.” Lee turned to his friend Kevin and said, “That’s a great band name.” And just like that, Paco Gato was born.

From sweaty clubs to packed venues, Paco Gato brings an old-school rock ‘n’ roll attitude with a modern twist—loud, unpredictable, and always authentic.

Paco Gato, the punk rock rebel of the ‘80s, left music in 1991 for a simple reason—rock wasn’t what it used to be. In an interview that year, Lee Elman (Paco’s real name) bluntly stated that “the music became hairband and crap.” Disillusioned with the changing industry, he made a sharp turn into television, putting his music career on hold.

Life took its course—he got married, had two kids, and while he left the stage, he never left songwriting. Throughout the years, Paco continued to write in the background, never fully closing the door on music.

Then came 2022, and with it, the unexpected return. Paco was asked to perform at Woofstock, a charity concert supporting shelter dogs. The event marked a turning point—he took the stage once again, delivering a setlist that blended old anthems and new material. Fans were alongside a full play through of his first album. He also played fan-favorites like OK Corral, American Donkeys, and Furrier to the Mob, and Encore of We are the Shelter, We are the Dogs.proving that Paco Gato’s raw, rebellious energy had never truly faded.

Performing We are the Shelter

Performing Lost on the Moon with Victoria Chen atWoofstock 2022

WE ARE THE SHELTER, WE ARE THE DOGS

After years in the shadows, Paco Gato was back—and this time, it was on his own terms.

New Album: Paintings from the Bathroom

This isn’t just a comeback—it’s a full-blown resurrection. Paco Gato returns with a brand-new album, “Paintings from the Bathroom,” a collection of songs that sound like they were scrawled on the walls of punk clubs, gas station restrooms, and whiskey-soaked memories.

💥 The Tracks:
🔥 Big Stick – A blistering punk anthem about revenge, justice, and a sheriff who didn’t need a gun to take back his town.
🔥 Jump– A reckless ride back to BMX bikes, scraped knees, and Evel Knievel dreams.
🔥 I Date Asians – A tongue-in-cheek, Ramones-style rocker that plays like a diary entry from a world-traveling heartbreaker.
🔥 Big Bed – A haunting ballad about love lost and the empty space left behind.
🔥 Can I Buy You a Drink? – A rowdy country-punk hybrid about a man re-learning the dating game after decades away.

It’s punk. It’s personal. It’s Paco Gato.

The Legend Returns… But For How Long?

Paco doesn’t do nostalgia—he’s not here for a reunion tour or some feel-good comeback. He’s got something to say, and this might be the last time he says it.

The question isn’t why Paco Gato disappeared.
The real question is: Can you handle what he brought back with him?

🚀 Paco Gato – Paintings from the Bathroom – Available Now.
💀 Catch him live—before he disappears again.

TRACK 1 SUMMER OF 83

TRACK 2 BIG STICK

TRACK 3 CAFECITO

TRACK 4 BIG BED

TRACK 5 JUMP

TRACK 6 NEW YORK WOMAN

TRACK 7 RUSSIAN QUEEN WITH 4 ACES

TRACK 8 I DATE ASIANS

TRACK 9 CAN I BUY YOU A DRINK

TRACK 10 A LETTER FROM VINCENT

TRACK 11 SUNSET AT DAWN

TRACK 12 STAR TREKKER

TRACK 13 PALM TREE DOCTOR

TRACK 14 CALL MY LAWYER

Paco Gato: The Punk Poet of the Village
By James O’Rourke – 1986

In the dimly lit, beer-stained clubs of Greenwich Village, where neon flickers over graffiti-covered walls, a new kind of punk poet is setting the stage on fire. Paco Gato, a name whispered among the underground faithful, is carving out his own reckless, sneering path—one that spits in the face of the rising New Wave scene.

His songs—raw, filthy, and relentlessly honest—channel the riot energy of The Clash and the furious simplicity of The Ramones. Tracks like “Dive Bar” and “Totally High” are anthems for the lost, the wasted, and the ones who know damn well they’ll never fit in.

“Who cares if you have a number one song?” Paco scoffs between drags of a cigarette, leaning back in a booth at CBGB. “So you get played on some Top 40 station? What does that even mean? Nobody remembers that crap. You wanna be remembered? You bleed for it. You burn for it. Poe died broke. Van Gogh cut off his ear and never sold a thing. But we still talk about them. That’s what matters.”

His crowd—leather-jacketed misfits and spike-haired rebels—thrashes to his signature sound, a violent cocktail of punk grit and literary soul. When he snarls through “Clampdown” or “Death or Glory,” his favorite cuts from London Calling, the sweat-drenched audience shouts every word back.

“He who fucks nuns will later join the church,” Paco grins, quoting his favorite Joe Strummer line. “That’s the truth of it all, right? The whole damn system’s a joke. You either play along or burn it down.”

The Man Behind the Snarl

But underneath the feral stage presence, the broken-glass lyrics, and the booze-fueled bravado, there’s something else—something softer.

“The right girl’s out there,” he says with a half-smile, flicking ash into a half-empty beer bottle. “I just haven’t met her yet. Under all this, I’m a sweet, sensitive guy. Just don’t tell anybody.”

For now, Paco Gato belongs to the Village, to the dive bars, to the ones screaming his words back at him. He may never top the charts—but his name is already legend in the places that matter.

And that’s all he ever wanted.

1986 ALBUM WELCOME TO THE DIVE BAR

DIVE BAR 1985

TOTALLY HIGH 1986

BONFIRE 1986

RADIO MAGICIAN 1986

DOWN UNDER 1986

BAG OF CASH 1986

CINDERELLA ON THE BEACH 1986

LONG LIVE PUNK 1985

PACO GATO: “Australian Kiss Took On a Life of Its Own”
Long Island, July 1987

By: Danny Michaels

Bayshore, NY – In the back room of a record store just off Montauk Highway, Paco Gato leans back in a folding chair, leather jacket half-zipped, boots still muddy from last night’s show at The Velvet Chain. He’s grinning when we bring up the one song everyone talks about: “Australian Kiss.”

“It took on a life of its own,” Paco says, running a hand through his hair. “We threw it together as a joke at rehearsal, and now it’s the one fans scream for before we even hit the chorus of the opener.”

The song, equal parts punk snarl and tongue-in-cheek charm, is a crowd-favorite that rides on one unforgettable line:

“What’s an Australian Kiss?”
I said, “You heard of a French kiss?”
She said, “Yeah…?”
I said, “Same thing, but down under!”

It’s catchy, cheeky, and pure Paco Gato—blending innuendo, wit, and a call-and-response hook that whips crowds into a frenzy.

“When I sing ‘You heard of a French kiss,’ I point to the audience,” Paco explains, eyes lighting up. “And they yell back ‘Yeah!’ It’s this electric moment—like when Springsteen shouts ‘Sing it!’ and the whole place screams ‘Down in Jungleland!’ Same rush. You feel like you’re part of something wild.”

“It’s raw, it’s ridiculous, and people love it,” Paco shrugs. “It’s fun. That’s us.”

As the interview wraps up, a fan knocks on the back door, holding a homemade Australian Kiss T-shirt. Paco signs it without missing a beat.

“It may not be poetry,” he laughs, “but it sure gets the crowd loud.”

Finding Paco Gato: The Lost Rebel Returns

For decades, Paco Gato was punk’s great vanishing act. The snarling, defiant voice behind underground anthems like Dive Bar and Totally High disappeared from the scene at the height of his notoriety in the late ‘80s. Fans speculated: Did he burn out? Fade away? Sell out? The truth? He took a left turn into television, quietly building a career creating TV series—while his legend as punk’s lost poet only grew.

Now, almost 40 years later, Paco Gato is back—older, wiser, and ready to scream again. His new album, Paintings from the Bathroom, revisits his roots with high-energy tracks like Summer of ‘83 and Sunset at Dawn, while showing surprising depth with the haunting ballad Big Bed. He even takes a stab at country with Can I Buy You a Drink? and the outlaw-inspired Big Stick.

In 1986, Paco jokingly said, “I just hope I sell more albums than Zamfir the Pan Flutist.” Now, in 2024, the question remains: Will his long-lost punk spirit resonate with a new generation, or is he just another ghost of rock ‘n’ roll’s past?

Finding Paco Gato is a raw, revealing documentary that uncovers the truth behind the myth—the rise, the escape, and the unexpected comeback of a man who never truly left.

Coming soon. Because legends don’t retire… they just take detours.

3 Christmas Angels (Paco’s only Christmas song)

**Review: 3 Christmas Angels – Paco Gato’s Only Christmas Song**

Who knew that punk’s lost legend, Paco Gato, had a Christmas song in him? 3 Christmas Angels isn’t your typical holiday track—it’s a whiskey-drenched, bittersweet anthem wrapped in distortion and regret. With his signature sneer and a driving, nostalgic melody, Paco sings about the three women who got away—Faith, Hope, and Joy—each one leaving their mark like ornaments on his tree.

Lyrically, the song walks a fine line between humor and heartbreak. One moment, Paco’s reminiscing about Hope’s dreamy optimism, the next, he’s cursing Joy’s wild spirit that left him drinking alone on New Year’s Eve. The chorus—simple, anthemic, and undeniably catchy—feels like it belongs in a dive bar singalong, with the crowd raising their beers in holiday despair.

In a rare 1986 interview, Paco joked, “If I ever write a Christmas song, it’ll be for the brokenhearted and slightly drunk.” Mission accomplished. Gritty, honest, and unexpectedly festive, 3 Christmas Angels is the holiday song you never knew you needed.

BONUS TRACKS

Some songs just don’t fit the album, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be heard. Paco Gato is dropping 5 exclusive bonus tracks that didn’t make Paintings from the Bathroom—but they’re too good to keep locked away.

🎵 Now available for download:
🔥 Bonny from New York – A streetwise anthem with a rebel heart.
🏇 A Day at the Races – Chaos, speed, and a little punk mayhem.
🎯 5 Towns Mods – Vespas, overcoats, and the spirit of ‘81.
🩸 Serial Killer – A dark, twisted ride into the mind of madness.
💍 My Best Friend’s Wedding – Love, loss, and the punk ballad you never saw coming.

SERIAL KILLER

MY BEST FRIENDS WEDDING

BONNY FROM NEW YORK

DAY AT THE RACES

5 TOWNS MODS

SONGS FROM THE TRUNK 2022 MINI EP

**Paco Gato’s Songs from the Trunk: The 2022 Mini-EP That Never Saw the Light**

For fans of Paco Gato, 2022 was supposed to bring something special—a mini-EP titled Songs from the Trunk, a raw, rebellious collection of tracks recorded but never released. The project featured some of Paco’s most genre-bending work, blending punk, outlaw country, and satirical storytelling. But for reasons never fully disclosed, the EP was shelved, leaving fans wondering what could have been.

“It wasn’t the right time,” Paco says with a smirk. “Some of these songs were too wild, too weird, too… let’s say, ‘unfiltered’ for what was going on then. But I never bury a song forever.”

The EP’s tracklist reads like a fever dream, featuring a mix of lost anthems, twisted storytelling, and collaborations that push genre boundaries

“Furrier to the Mob” – A gritty, swing-infused tale of Paco’s grandfather Big Al, the man who sold luxury furs to mobsters and their mistresses.
“OK Corral” – A full-throttle punk showdown, reimagining a bar fight between punks and cowboys as a modern-day shootout.
“American Donkeys & Government Mules” – A defiant outlaw country-punk anthem about a short stay in federal prison and fighting against the system.
“Edgar Writes Love Songs” – A twisted bluesy rock ballad where Edgar Allan Poe tries—and fails—to write happy love songs in a whiskey-fueled haze.
“Dog Show Parlay” – A fast and quirky punk-rock anthem about degenerate gamblers betting on a dog show, treating it like the Super Bowl.
“Redneck Rich” – A honky-tonk-meets-punk anthem about making it big, small-town style.