catl. at June Records – February 9, 2014

I was lucky enough to see catl. open for Alabama Shakes last year at the Kool Haus. When I see who the opening act is for a show I will look them up and try to find their music. It was a bit trickier with catl., I learned they were a local blues based band and they were good. I couldn’t figure out how their name was pronounced. Was it ‘Cattle’ or was it maybe ‘Cat-le’ or was it ‘Cat-L’? It didn’t matter because within seconds of them playing the first song everyone was dancing!

As a vinyl enthusiast I try to go to as many record stores as possible, I know Sonic Boom occasionally has live shows but I had never been inside June Records, located by College and Ossington. Patrick Grant was the first act, I only caught the last two songs of his set but he had a great voice with a mellow acoustic sound, except he was playing on an electric guitar with lo-fi distortion. I hope I can catch a full set from him another time.

The Nature Boys came on next and they sound like when they were growing up, all they listened to was their grandparents 1950’s rock records. The first tune sounded like it was written by Buddy Holly, albeit if he played guitar like Kurt Cobain. The common thread of the bands during the night’s show was they all had a lo-fi garage rock sound. The bass player had a fun dance style going for him which suited their style of playing. They joked about how a few of the songs they were playing were available on their record they had for sale, otherwise known as product placement, according to them. They played a doo-wop style song that sounded like ‘Oh Darling’ by The Beatles could have inspired it. To go along with The Beatles reference the lead singer played an old school Rickenbacker guitar that looked like George Harrison might have played as it was his preferred brand. Towards the end of their set they played what could have been a surf rock instrumental before it abruptly shifted gears and became a psychedelic blues freak out. These guys were a lot of fun and I hope I can check them out again. My only complaint was that the amps and PA System were turned up too high and it was hard to understand the vocals, even though the harmonies still came through.

This show was put on by People Put On Productions (PPOP) to support Sick Kids Hospital. The show was PWYC and this show seemed extra important for catl.’s singer/guitarist Jamie Flemming as his sister works at the hospital, who happened to be in attendance as well. The band tried to kick the first song off, but some issue with Flemming prevented them so they laughed it off and restarted their set. The band took a brief hiatus last year and went from a trio back to a duo where it is now just Flemming and his partner (both musically and relationship-y) Sarah Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick played keyboards when I last saw them but now she plays a snare drum standing up so she can still dance and sing.

Kirkpatrick mentioned several times that they are a dance band and encouraged the packed record store of close to 50 people to dance to their tunes. Their music sounds like the cotton music and early blues juke box sound from the 40’s and 50’s, not what most people would think of when you say dance band. If you were to say what bands are similar you could suggest if someone was a fan of The Black Keys first album “The Big Come Up” and the first few albums from The White Stripes like their self titled debut, until they polished their sound and lost that fuzzed out distortion that made their sound so raw which catl. is still rocking. They played several new songs off their upcoming album like the Muddy Waters inspired ‘Getaway Blues’ which has a rocking backbeat. Flemming also changed since the last time I saw him play, gone is a chair he would sit in while playing. Although I use the term “sitting” very loosely as he would pound his foot on the ground with the beat and find a way to dance around. Now that the chair restriction is gone he moved around like Elvis reincarnated with the types of moves that got him banned from The Ed Sullivan Show. They played (my personal favourite song) ‘Gold Tooth Shine’ with tons of energy. If it weren’t a brightly lit record store with shelving units stacked with vinyl, people probably would have been dancing more. Seeing catl. live you wonder how anyone could not boogie down and love their sound instantly. They ended their set with a new tune called ‘Fuck You Blues’ that Kirkpatrick said Flemming wrote for her after seeing her getting cat calls from douche guys on the streets. She then quickly apologized for swearing since Flemming’s young son was in the venue.

After the set was finished the people from PPOP came to the front to announce they managed to raise almost $500.00 for such a great cause and thanked June Records for hosting the show and everyone for coming out and donating. Raising money for a great institution plus seeing a rocking good show? That is win-win in my books. By the way their name is pronounced like the cows. catl. is worth your attention.