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| Member
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Mar 18, 2004 |
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| Gender |
Male
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| Status |
Single |
| Smoke |
Yes |
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Yes |
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Untitled Document
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In this time of global uncertainty the soundtrack to our lives is a complicated one a multifaceted hue of influences and emotions not easily classified or pigeonholed. As the music industry struggles with how to categorize the new sounds of this urban foment musicians are taking their sounds to the street building visions and honing them in the studio creating music for audiences that draws from this rich palette without sacrificing accessibility.
Groups such as Chicago-based Digable Cat have tapped into a creative wellspring with their literate pop refining a smooth, melodic sound into something completely new and edgy for adult-alternative listeners who demand intelligence with their groove. The group draws from the tradition of guitar-pop while folding in the rootsy easy-going maturity of early 90s folk-rock giving them the unique ability to appeal to a more refined mellowed-out cross-section of music lovers. This is music that has both integrity and immense commercial appeal.
The musicians of Digable Cat are the true synethesists blending disparate influences into an ambitious sound that mirrors the changing global landscape. In a nutshell Digable Cat is about a sensibility rather than one set sound.
As the Illinois Entertainer notes Digable Cat is “one of those rare bands that is able to successfully fuse different genres into a focused style of its own.”
But as the old saying goes it all started with a song.
Digable Cat’s history dates back to 2002 when guitarist/songwriter Gregg Mandel began working with Chicago-based vocalist Susie Lofton.
“I always knew what kind of sound I wanted,” Mandel told The Pioneer Press publication Citylife. “Originally my idea was to record an album with my friends from other local bands. I wanted something similar to the approach Santana used on Supernatural where I gathered together an impressive list of guest musicians to realize that vision.”
Mandel recruited violinist/keyboardist Nathan Syfrig to write string arrangements for songs such as “The Letter,” and Digable Cat soon attracted the attention of Chicago radio station 94.7 FM “The Zone,” which quickly asked the group to participate in its January 2003 “Back Porch Sessions,” a series of acoustic shows at Chicago’s world-famous House of Blues venue.
Less than two months later the venue was calling them back but this time it was for a show on the main stage.
“I was hoping to play out again but I wasn’t thinking it would be so soon,” Mandel recalled in his interview with Citylife. “How many bands can say their first gig was at the House of Blues?”
But Chicago was just the start. That same year the band recorded a three-song demo with engineer Jeffrey Wood at the legendary Fantasy Studios in Berkeley Calif. It was a heady time for Digable Cat as their songs were being recorded in the very rooms made famous by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Later that year the band released a full-length album Skratch Traxx, and completed an acoustic tour of the U.K. The Berkeley EP was released in January 2004 a year that also saw Lofton’s departure from the group. It was a time of creative exploration and assessment for Mandel who realized the necessity of a permanent lineup.
Mandel assembled a group of like-minded musicians with talent and ambition—and a new more collaborative Digable Cat began to take shape.
Drummer Dr. Brad’s worldbeat explorations have much in common with the music of the legendary Sting accented and complemented by Romanian pop vocalist Alina Giurgiu’s rich musical background and sultry delivery. Syfrig’s violin and keyboards continue to provide a link to the original heartbeat of Digable Cat’s acoustic beginning while bassist Dylan Schwartz (whom Mandel met at a blues jam only two weeks prior to a showcase performance!) and guitarist Ritch Valadez bring an even more diverse palette of colors to the group’s new electrified sound.
As Dr. Brad said in a recent interview “I guess you could say I’m a bit of an ethnomusicologist. I listen to a lot of world music and if I hear a little bit of zydeco that I like I’ll put it in my back pocket and wait for it to come out in a song like ‘Moonstruck.’”
Other influences such as jazzmen Wayne Shorter Chet Baker, and Cassandra Wilson can be heard in the care taken with song arrangements while the classic folk-pop of Paul Simon Cat Stevens, and Neil Young anchor the group’s sing-along melodies.
July 2005 saw the release of a new EP that reveals how Digable Cat has transformed into a strong voice beholden to no genre and contained by no musical boundary. Though the band’s album and two EPs hold together chronologically each is a stronger more focused musical statement. Digable Cat is no longer one man’s muse. It is about six unique musical voices sounding their barbaric yawp and harnessing our primal urge to sing and make merry.
The group’s commitment to its craftsmanship has earned them praise from the likes of The Chicago Reader’s award-winning music critic Monica Kendrick who said Digable Cat “achieves a soaring interplay … that transcends mere wankery.” The Gazette in Cedar Rapids Iowa, was quick to jump on the bandwagon as well: “Six top-notch musicians locking in to create something transcendent,” was how writer John Kenyon put it.
The band has carved out a strong regional presence including recent performances at the Midpoint Music Festival in Cincinnati Ohio, and the Wells Street Art Fest in Chicago.
“We’ve really solidified and grown into a more unified collaboration while keeping that original versatility,” Mandel concluded. “We’ve always had a vision.”
And we could all use a little bit of vision in such an uncertain time.
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Spanish Translation by Google
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