Missoula, Seattle, Portland, Olympia, Portland, Bellingham, Eugene, Missoula. Ten dates over 12 days.
A 4Runner so overloaded – including both a roof rack and a hitch rack, thankfully with very good waterproof bags – with 4 bodies, 4 guitars, two amplifiers, a drum kit, gig bags, merchandise, and personal effects that I literally had to leave my Birkenstocks behind. Two hours to figure the optimum load configuration. Loading into the hotel/airbnb — then the venue — then load out — then back to the hotel/airbnb again. By the end of the tour we could have it all in and out in about 10 minutes flat.
Storming, norming and forming; getting to know my band, musicians who met on a Monday and had their first gig on Wednesday then got in a car together for 2,307 miles, late nights and early rises to get to the next show. 10 pounds dropped in a matter of days since we’d underestimated the need to find time to actually EAT, believe it or not. By day three or four, we literally did not know what day it was or where we were (cue the importance of having a tour manager).
The wonderful joy of playing and meeting new people who run the venues, and the other bands who were beyond generous in their support. The blessed two days in a friend’s home and the normalization of a Memorial Day barbecue (and the fun of a night spend doing Karaoke in their designated room).
The wonder of muscle memory after such an intense gig-a-day experience is such that I took a week off, then ran through the set and it was note-perfect—when normally I’d notice some skill drop off when I don’t play for a few days.
A touring band. Officially. And yes, it’s a banner that not all bands ever carry.
Just having a menu item on the website that says “LIVE DATES” is something we thought might never actually happen. Let alone a tour.
But it’s happening. Running through our set in Missoula at the Zootown Arts Community Center live room May 25 – to Seattle and The Blue Moon Tavern on May 26 then on to Portland 5/31, Bellingham 6/1, Eugene 6/2, Spokane in there we hope and then finish in Missoula with a few gigs on 6/3 and 6/4 it looks like — then a pause before we reunite for a powerhouse gig at Monk’s in Missoula on 6/10.
Suspect that is the one not to miss in many ways. Just back from tour with a week of rest and I suspect we’ll be fierce.
Walter Price is a wonderful music critic and runs “Global Texan Chronicle.”
He gave our recent single (well, all of them) really nice write-ups; the latest one here
While it’s lovely to see the words …
CATNYP’s Henderson K Shatner isn’t one to be easily pigeonholed. Delivering fiery single after single with strong comparisons to Bowie, Andy Partridge, Daniel Ash, and heavy on metaphoric brilliance that more often than not conjures up plenty of fantastic imagery. And the Missoula songwriter’s recent single “The Architecture of Berlin” is no exception.
Wordsmithery at its finest, drawing scenes that only the likes of Henderson could imagine. This single further cements Henderson as one of the more intriguing and certainly entertaining song crafters going these days. And you can stream the new single and see its Noir meets psychedelia, self-produced, music video, here at the GTC.
… Walter also shared this review from Trip Advisor about the cafe. Which is, absolutely, the song itself…
Imagine an old fashion European Coffee shop. Imagine two rooms filled with wooden tables and an eclectic mix of chairs. The shop is a smoky place with yellowed windows from decades of cigarette smoke and coal spewed out from the heater in corner of the room. Looking out the window one sees wet streets with barb wire and shadows of the guards in trench coats holding riffles. The cloak and dagger days are over, the Cold War atmosphere is long gone. I came hoping to see secret agents taking shots of vodka looking out the window. Sadly, there exists a modern day expensive busy coffee shop. The character is very different form years ago, it is however safer and probably family friendly. I came for nostalgia.
The evocative “The Architecture Of Berlin” exudes a moody elegance, conjuring the height of 1970s bohemian Berlin as something of a sequel to Bowie’s “Heroes.” It also serves up sharp social commentary on how similar art communities have been commodified and become a caricature of themselves in modern times, and he toes the line between romantic Bowie and cynical modernist.
Lyrically, Shatner manages some sensually poetic moments such as: She said, “I’d like it if we never went to bed.”/I said I’d like to, she said she’d try to if she could fit it in her head/Unter den Linden, not quite joyridden, they’re selling pieces of the wall/I kind of liked it, she said she’d spiked it, I woke up naked on the floor.
We are running a competition where one lucky winner will receive a limited edition “Game The System” T-shirts as well as all three CDs from “The Black Cat Trilogy.”
Promo shots are done by Bob O’Boyle Photography – pretty darn cool –
Spurred on by a quip from an ex-girlfriend, and Paul McCartney’s McCartney III (2020), Henderson K. Shatner—Catnyp songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist—created his most fearless platter to date, Catnyp IIII, out April 22, 2022. On this 14-song collection of intoxicating indie-rock treats, the Missoula, Montana-based artist explores the outer stratosphere of his eccentric modern classic sensibility.
“My ex provided some unsolicited advice that set the tone for this album,” Shatner shares with a good-natured laugh. “She said ‘get back to your quirk-pop rock roots.’” He complied by peeling back the layers of production and instrumentation he explored on previous releases. For the most part, Catnyp IIII is viscerally lean—just one guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. It has the rawness and energy of a demo, but with the high-fidelity and clarity of a polished studio production. It’s a best-of-both worlds approach guided by the golden touch of multiplatinum mixer engineer Brian Reeves (U2, Miley Cyrus, Elton John).
The Macca influence came from the self-contained vibe of his recent album in which the former Beatle played all the instruments. Taking a cue from this McCartney feat, Shatner—already an accomplished bassist and guitarist—learned drums in a couple of months, and then recorded 14 instrumentals. Next, he set aside 4 sequential days to write lyrics and melodies, before tracking vocals, often tearing through 4-5 songs in a day.
“It was scary staring at a blank screen with a cup of coffee, trying to write lyrics to so many instrumentals in such a short amount of time. It definitely gave the album a certain cohesiveness that might not be there if everything had been written and recorded in a more typically organic manner,” Shatner says. “It also allowed for some fearless experimentation in vocal styles.”
Shatner is a dynamic and melody-centric songwriter who carefully crafts each vocal line, and, like McCartney, pens lyrical basslines. He also impactfully uses loud-and-soft contrasts, recalling the explosive musicality of the Pixies and Nirvana. This penchant for juxtaposition plays out throughout his musicality as his lyrics, and his instrumentation, are rife with layers of meaning and oomph. Shatner’s songwriting is informed by 1990s alt-rock, Brit-pop, new wave and dark wave, and the timeless rock n’ roll of the Beatles and the Stones. To date, Catnyp has released The Black Cat Trilogy of records issued yearly from 2018 until 2020.
Shatner cut his teeth in the Denver music scene in the late 1990s before working and living internationally with bands in Australia, Sweden, and the UK. While across the pond, he formed the seminal surf-goth band, Brand Violet, as bass player and songwriter. The band were signed to iconic Some Bizarre Records (Depeche Mode, The The, Soft Cell).
Catnyp was formed when Shatner returned stateside in 2015. The group features Shatner as primary songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, but it also boasts a fluid membership of trusted studio and onstage musicians. Along for the ride on Catnyp IIII—on tracks “Big Sky” and “No Hope”—is Emily Dolan Davies on drums (Bryan Ferry, The Darkness, Tricky, The Hours), and on “Sharp White Teeth,” “Houdini” and “Mainstreaming” is often-featured Catnyp collaborator Ian Weckler on guitar.
Catnyp IIII tears open with the jagged alt-rock of “Big Sky,” and then rockets us into a series of thrilling adventures, including checking out grisly murder scenes; jetting to Berlin; reveling in the joys of dysfunctional high school get-togethers; intriguing encounters with a transgendered character; and vibing deep at old-school hip-hop parties. By the end of exhilarating ride, we find ourselves back where we started: perhaps in a Montana bar with a narrator quietly observing the birds out the window. Through it all, Shatner is a shapeshifting narrator, and his vocal stylings channel Paul McCartney, Debbie Harry, David Bowie, Jack White, Nick Cave, Chris Isaak, Damon Albarn, and Robert Plant in his quest to find the right voice for each song.
Album standouts include “The Architecture Of Berlin,” “13.13,” “Sharp White Teeth,” and “The Nature Of Birds.” The evocative “The Architecture Of Berlin” exudes a moody elegance, conjuring the height of 1970s bohemian Berlin as something of a sequel to Bowie’s “Heroes.” It also serves up sharp social commentary on how similar art communities have been commodified and become a caricature of themselves in modern times, and he toes the line between romantic Bowie and cynical modernist. Lyrically, Shatner manages some sensually poetic moments such as: She said, “I’d like it if we never went to bed.”/I said I’d like to, she said she’d try to if she could fit it in her head/Unter den Linden, not quite joyridden, they’re selling pieces of the wall/I kind of liked it, she said she’d spiked it, I woke up naked on the floor. The darkly brooding, “13.13,” is a voyeuristic peek into a crime scene, and listening to the tremolo-guitars and haunting Nick Cave-esque vocals feels like musical rubbernecking. The tuneful pop-rocker, “Sharp White Teeth,” is Pixies-style arty and playful. The 14-track album concludes with the ethereal “The Nature Of Birds” which is every bit as trippy as its title suggests.
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Single art for the first few escapees have been done by the imaginative Kayla McCormick –
Houdini escapes as a teaser / stealth single August 27.
