These aren’t the type of Big Cats that prowl the jungle; more like the stray cat in your neighbourhood that always manages to turn up around dinner time.
After singer Rob moved to Melbourne from Brisbane, he put out a call for band members on Myspace. A bit of a daggy strategy perhaps, not very rock and roll, and he only had two replies -from current band members Lee Johnston (drums) and Rebecca Chen (guitar). The DIY approach has become something of a mantra for the band. Their unofficial manager ‘Mamma Cat’ volunteered her services after attending their first ever live show. “She’s the only reason we ever do anything,” says Lee. “She’s just this girl that came up to us after a gig one day, after our first show. She does everything for us, she books all our shows, she wrote up this mad itinerary before we went to Sydney, she writes up itineraries with graphs and photos and stuff like she’s like our manager slash mum.”
A week before launching their debut single ‘Hey Wait’, the band devoted a weekend to arts and crafts at Mamma Cat’s house, industriously forming a production line to make their own album covers. “We just bought like 200 cardboard cases and spent $10 on spray paint and home-made stencils,” explains Rob. “We went over to her house, and we got really bored. We just thought it would be like an hour process we all started choking on the fumes, we all had tea towels over our faces,” says Lee.
Chroming induced headaches and hallucinations aside, the band now have some shiny (or sticky) new artwork to show off at their upcoming single launches in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. The unassuming trio would have you believe that all their operations are equally as haphazard. But when it comes time to sample some tracks from their debut release, it’s obvious they have a canny ear for what makes indie rock tick. Driving drumbeats provide a solid launching platform for Bec’s fluttering guitar. Rob’s vocals will take you back to those early nineties summer days, the golden years of indie rock. He also boasts a distinctive Aussie twang without the Jebediah or Kisschasy whine factor.
The songs are predominantly melody focused; Rob admits that lyrics are the last thing on his mind when he’s writing material. “I was still writing them [lyrics] the day we recorded. I find it really hard because when I sing I close my eyes, but when we were recording, cos I didn’t know the lyrics, I had to try and read them off a sheet.
“I have a trouble with lyrics and I tend to up until we record I just sing Nirvana lyrics over the top, you can’t tell, and I stand by it when you’re kind of a poxy band playing at poxy clubs it doesn’t matter what you sing cause noone can hear you anyway.
“I didn’t even notice ‘Hey Wait’ had Nirvana lyrics,” says Bec (who, by the way, isn’t normally so quiet but is suffering from a severe case of hayfever today. Mental note, future outdoor interviews – bring batteries, tape recorder and Telfast). Rob does admit to getting caught out once. “It was like the anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death and they thought I was doing it as a tribute.Yeah I either sing Nirvana songs or I just…”
“Grunt?” Lee offers.
“Make random noises?” says Bec.
“Yeah, that’s it!” Rob laughs. “I also like to pull the back of my hair while I sing, so it’s really hard to coordinate. When I’m at home and I record demos I always close my eyes and yank at the back of my hair. I don’t know why I just have this habit.”
If you are left puzzled by Big Cats unorthodox creative process, paint sniffing and Rob’s personal twist on ‘tortured artist’, then the best thing to do is head down to one of their shows this month and see them in action. It’s all quite simple really.
Friday November 23 – Mum @ World Bar, Sydney
Saturday November 24 – Ric’s, Brisbane
Thursday November 29 – Revolver, Melbourne (with Detective Social)
