Harvey Pekar Reviews Shake This!

Getting Around

Cats On Holiday Yowl At Moon On Saturday

Cleveland Plain Dealer June 26, 1998 If you go to hear the Voodoo Kings at Wilbert's tomorrow be sure to pay attention to Cats on Holiday, who open the program. How good are they? Good enough to have been picked as the representative Cleveland rock 'n' roll band by the producers of "Whad'ya Know" when that nationally broadcast show appeared at the Palace Theater on June 13, and to have delighted the audience with their performance. They were chosen solely on the basis of their recently issued, independently produced CD "Shake This!" (CohTone Records). Cats, which draw inspiration from the Kinks, the Talking Heads, Elvis Costello and Cajun music, doesn't have a booking agent, a press agent, or anyother kind of agent. All of the group members have day jobs. But individually they've been part of the Cleveland rock scene since the 1970's. Guitarist Denis DeVito, an ex-Lucky Pierre member, button box and saxman Steve Frieg and bassist Chuck Ellis, formerly with Modern Art Studio, and vocalist Avril McInally found themselves in 1993 unaffiliated with bands and decided to form their own. "We were all song writers," recalls Chuck. "We weren't doing anything and it seemed like a natural thing to join forces." The band took a name from a London bar pictured on the cover of a Kinks album, "Muswell Hillbillies." Drummer Rich Ellis, no relation to Chuck and formerly a member of Dr. Bloodmoney, joined a year later wen Cats began to play out. Meanwhile Chuck had left town and was replaced by Bill Fury on bass. Then Avril left and Chuck returned in 1997 to take the bass spot while Bill moved over to lead guitar. "The best thing about that," recalls Chuck, was to get "Bill, who likes Robert Fripp, on lead, where he belongs. He gives the band an edge it hadn't had." Like the Utah Jazz, Cats on Holiday owe a lot of their success to hard work, teamplay, and intelligence. In fact DeVito remarked that with them "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts." Certainly "Shake This!" is very much a collective effort in which everyone, including engineer Chris Keffer, contributed significantly. Denis wrote six of the original tunes, Steve three and collaborated with Rich on another, and Chuck two. All band members except Bill sing. Their music appeals to various age and social groups, but especially to those who've paid some dues in life. Their often moving compositions refer to dead end jobs, ex-party girls who've grown up, failed relationships. Check out the opening lyrics on DeVito's "Leather and Lace": "It's six AM/ the lights are down on this quiet town/ a child tumbles in the crib/ his tiny clock strikes, it's time to rise/ down the hall the baby cries/ Mama's not so spry to rise/ her younger years have slowly passed her by../ She was a party girl/ had a bout with booze and drugs�" Frieg's "Rustbelt Rut" ought to strike a responsive chord in many area listeners: "Why can't I leave this dirty city?/ Why can't I strike out on my own?/ Why can't I find a job with peace of mind/ In a place that's somewhere far away from home?" It's refreshing to find lyrics that deal with a relatively broad spectrum of human experience rather than, say, only referring to male-female relationships. The band's instrumental work also deserves praise and attention. Rich kicks them along strongly without getting in others' way. The players balance and blend their work nicely, and Frieg's button box gives the group a fresh texture. Although they play six to eight times a month at venues including Wilbert's and Barking Spider, band members aren't quitting their day jobs. What they're looking for now is a booking agent and recording company to help them with distribution so they don't have to do everything themselves. Chuck notes, "You come home from work, you want to kick back, grab a beer and watch the game, but you've got to make phone calls." He and his band mates have been living like this for years. It's rough, but that's the live of a Cleveland rock 'n' roller.