American Catapult Interview


 Americana music group, American Catapult!

Where did you all grow up? Well two of us (Shawn, Tom) grew up about 20 miles from each other in the foothills of the Sierras in Northern California; the others (James, John, Mike) grew up in close proximity in So Cal. We’re all Californians. 

What inspired you all to get into music? (Tom) listening to great music growing up, particularly on the radio attached to my Stingray bike. 

How did the group get together? Shawn and Tom played in other bands for a number of years before AmCat, and Mike joined in when the band was formed in 2003. John replaced the original bass player in 2011, and James became the perfect addition about a year later. 

What is a songwriting session like for you all? The bulk of the ideas come from Tom, who would slip in song ideas in between rehearsal takes of other established songs. Some ideas come mainly from spontaneous moments as a band, which are really moments where the band is playing what they are comfortable doing. And those moments sometimes reveal what the band should really be playing. This past year has been playing online, but those moments still come along and are gold. 

What are some of the struggles being in a group? A struggle may be that we rarely meet together, not just in the past year but for years now. It hasn’t affected our ability to play together well or make something special, it’s more that it limits our times together as friends. It’s less of a struggle and more of a regret.

What is your local music scene like in California, is it over-saturated?
I don’t think so. There’s so much going on and not nearly enough places to play and share it. For what we play (a sort of alt country roots rock thing), there are not a lot of others to commiserate with around us. There are small pockets of country rock in northern L.A. and the Valley (since the 60’s, right?!) but it’s far away from us. We’ll never get friends to drive out there to hear us (we’ve tried) and don’t play out there often enough to gain a following. We’d have better success in Bakersfield or No Cal or Texas, or anywhere other than here. At least that’s how it feels. We got a lot of radio play in other states in the past that affirm that. 

Do you collaborate with other artists? We have tried on occasion. We’ve had songs that seemed would be better served for others (we wrote Wrecking Ball from Band. Not the Weapon and offered it to another band, as example) but we end up doing them ourselves. We don’t spend enough time with each other, much less with other groups. But we’d love to, mostly because we value community. 

Has Covid19 affected your music at all? Yeah sure. We’ve worked hard at figuring out how to play together online and it’s still less than satisfying, but it is something. Right now all of our recording is happening there. I’d say it has affected our music specifically in that our tempos are slowing down, a result of latency issues! It’s not hard to work on mid tempo or slower tunes, but nearly impossible to play upbeat rocking tunes. Sigh.

Tell us about your latest project. It seems easier to write and record than it is to prep a live show, and so we’re recording more. We are currently putting 4-5 song collections together and releasing them, which in theory will happen much more often than releasing a full album. The next EP we’re just starting on now will be the first collection of songs we’ve never played live together. Whatever. Weird. 

What can we expect from you in 2021? More recorded material. Better communication. A physical reunion?!

http://amcatmusic.net

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