March 20, 2024
Interviews
Interviews
It's three of my characters, Enth, Ila, and Izi, trying to figure out where they are through a fog in the middle of nowhere...
ETHEREAL.PRESS
Date
October 23, 2023
Read
8 mins
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ETHEREAL.PRESS
Tell us a bit about Cat Temper.
CAT TEMPER
Cat Temper is the culmination of several decades of different bands and solo projects. For many of those I tried to fit into traditional genre trappings (Synthpop, Goth, Industrial) or blaze my own trail with a new style (Toytronica, Casiopunk) and failed to find success with either route. I hit a crossroads where I would either quit music or make something solely to please myself. To my surprise, I finally found my audience by being completely irreverent and ignoring critics, trolls and gatekeepers.
Oh, and it's cat themed! Some people take issue with the obvious humor involved in referencing classic bands and songs as cat puns in my album and track titles, but those folks need to loosen up. I'm not making joke or novelty music, but I think it's important to have a bit of fun and not take one's own work deadly seriously.
ETHEREAL.PRESS
How did you initially develop the concept for Cat Temper?
CAT TEMPER
As hinted at in the last answer, a bit of frustration built up from previous projects. This one is a mix of sweetness and sass while having unpredictable direction and aggression to let out those pent up feelings. I took inspiration from the somewhat schizophrenic yet entertaining behavior of a few cats I've owned who purr for attention and then sink their teeth into you without reason or warning.
ETHEREAL.PRESS
Talk to us a bit about the visuals for 'Purradise By The Dashboard Light (Synthwave, Retrowave, Outrun).'
CAT TEMPER
My artist friend Jim Ether fearlessly jumps into different mediums to find new ways to express his brilliantly warped vision. He's spent the last few years mastering 3D animation so I asked him to come up with something for that song. His background in filmmaking, storytelling, character design and general sense of twisted humor came together in a wild mini adventure that I'd love to turn into a whole series! I love the retro video game look and epic camera POVs he brought to it.
ETHEREAL.PRESS
Tell us about your most recent full-length release, 'Furio.'
CAT TEMPER
Cat Temper has a variety of influences, mostly revisiting the sounds that got me excited about music in the first place as a 1980s kid. I like for each album to have a conceptual and sonic theme and this one explores Synthpop and New Wave. Duran Duran is one of the first bands that I obsessed over, specifically their 1982 "Rio" album which also has my favorite album cover of all time. I paid tribute to that design with the "Furio" artwork and you can hear sparks from Duran Duran and other New Romantic bands in the songs.
ETHEREAL.PRESS
What is Catcore?
CAT TEMPER
When it came time to unleash Cat Temper into the world I had difficulty finding an appropriate genre to describe it. Jeff Gross of Lazersteel Records released some of my albums and came up with "Meowave" in reference to the Synthwave scene. Bandcamp lets you assign whatever genre tags you like. I started using made-up cat-related terms that fit the harder edge side of my sound like "Metallicat" and "Catcore".
ETHEREAL.PRESS
Tell us a bit about the costume you have for Cat Temper.
CAT TEMPER
I love concept bands like The Residents and GWAR who present themselves as characters with fun backstories. As a dude with less sex appeal than your typical pop artist, I'd also rather be somewhat anonymous than have my true appearance define or overshadow my music. The Synthwave scene has a lot of masked musicians so it seemed natural to join in and also kind of parody that trend with a playful purr-sona of my own. I built a low-poly angular black cat mask, and the rest of the outfit takes inspiration from artists ranging from The Ramones to Prince.
ETHEREAL.PRESS
What's next for Cat Temper?
CAT TEMPER
My thirteenth album "Mystic Kitten" comes out appropriately on Friday, October 13, 2023. Like "Furio," the artwork for this one pays tribute to a favorite classic album cover. There are two other albums with very different themes in the works to be released sometime in 2024.
