Catalina is a 4 piece based in Connecticut USA with Ryan Cady on drums and percussion, Keith Morey on guitars, Roy Scaturro on bass, and David Rizzo on vocals. We’ve been a band for 5 years. As for our sound, we cover a lot of ground, have a lot of songs that vary in tempo and dynamics and we’re comfortable with a lot of genre influences – we paid our dues in metal, alt country, punk, and even soul and disco bands. Although we’re a hard rock band, our songs reflect those roots. It’s a very classic rock way of seeing music – bands like Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and UFO, KISS and Grand Funk brought a lot of genre-blending to the table. We won’t leave a good song off a record because “it doesn’t fit our sound” - rather, “our sound” is our songs, and they’re diverse.
2. Who does the majority of the writing? Is it a group thing or does someone handle the writing
duties?
Typically Keith and I will work on something, putting the guitar rythym together with the vocal melodies, and kind of sketch it out. Then we bring the other guys in to flesh things out, refine and arrange parts.
3. Where is the band based out of ? Where did you want to the band to end up? What was the
dream city to have as your home base once you got out of your scene?
We’re based in Connecticut, but we’re relatively close to New York City and we consider that our scene about as much as we do Connecticut and New England. We play in Manhattan and Brooklyn about as much as we do in Connecticut. This may be news to people, but New York City is not the fertile ground for rock and roll that it used to be. It can be harsh, and there are other places around the US and Europe where the rock scene is much more supportive, from the audiences to the fellow bands. But for better or worse this is where we are – Connecticut and New York City – and we’re trying to improve things here at home rather than complaining and running somewhere else. We organize our own shows to keep things going and getting better.
4. What is your genre? What bands do you use to explain to people what you sound like?
We’re rock, some might say hard rock and few of our songs are straight up metal or punk, but we are definitely genre-bending band. I know that sounds cliche, and a lot of times bands say that and you listen to them and you don’t hear this big mishmash of genres that they hyped up. But for us it is the honest truth. Look at bands like Zeppelin who put “Tangerine” on the same album as “Immigrrant Song” or listen to some of that early Judas Priest or how Black Sabbath fell into a Afro-Latin type jam on “Supernaut” and you will get a sense of our sound. On our lastest record “Reel to Real” we have songs like “Here She Comes” which is this circa 1977 NYC punk inspired tune and along with “Set My Horses Free” which has this country rock vibe, and then there’s “Love to Weep” which has a very pillowy Pink Floyd-ish feel and “Can’t Come Back” which has got that British Steel-era Priest vibe along with those metal screams at the end of the song. They’re all on the same record. But one thing unifies those songs – it’s their them, which is dark and intense.
5. Can we buy anything from you Cds shirts etc and where can we buy them?
Our last three records are on iTunes and Amazon and all the streaming outlets. We have some pretty cool shirts, mens and women’s cuts with two-tone styling just like those old rock shirts from the 80s – we call them “baseball” style here in the states. We sell them at our shows.
6. Do you have studio time lined up anything new coming soon?
We are in the middle of recording an EP that we intend to release in the fall and I will say that it will be as diverse-sounding as the records that came before it, maybe more so. One tune is super-hard and dark and pounding and another is a blues and soul tinged ballad, almost like a southern rock, Black Crowes song. There are a couple of others that go in that late 70s/eary 80s Rolling Stones direction. We’re excited about it. We have our own recording studio and so we can take the time to experiment.
7. Have you ever been on tour? If so where and with who?
We’ve all been around the block a few times. We’ve toured with various projects, in the States or in Europe, and Catalina does short runs within a day’s drive of New York City, so New England and the Middle Atlantic states. We all have day jobs. The benefit of that is that we have our own recording studio filled with analog stuff, the not-so-good part is that it makes it hard to go on tour for 3 months. Anyway, it’s a different world now. There are all sorts of ways to get your music to new listeners, although they’re absolutely not as fun as being on the road.
8. What is your favorite band? Who are the bands who influenced you?
So I can only answer this for myself, but I learned to sing by imitating classic soul singers like Wilson Pickett and blues-rock singers like Paul Rodgers. I love all that old soul and classic rock. I am also huge fan of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, AC/DC and UFO, Deep Purple and Rainbow, Monster Magnet and Guns-N-Roses. All those bands influenced me in one way or another. It doesn’t end there. I lived through that whole 70s-80s punk/new wave scene, the whole 90s grunge scene. I soaked it all up.
9. Do you have a website? And do I have to verify that I am 18 to enter it?
Our website is www.catalinashortwave.com and we have a Facebook page. They’re not age-restricted.
10. What about your music do you want people to remember? What is the quality you want to hit
people when they hit play?
The songwriting. The diversity and intensity of the songs and the performances and the imagery and storytelling in the lyrics.
11. Name a person who is integral to your band that nobody knows about , what person drives
your band like they are part of the band? Who is the extra member ?
We don’t really have that one person, but we get by with a little help from our friends.
As I’m the singer its all about the mics. I like warm mics that can handle high stage volume and a singer like me who moves around a lot, so they have to have good feedback rejection. I typically go through a Sennheiser 945 or an MD431 for a balance of warmth and clarity, and lately I’ve been digging the Miktek PM9 and the Shure’s new KSM8 Dualdyne which is really cool.
13.What is your musical guilty pleasure that you are ashamed of?
Ugh. Well ’ll tell you mine, and it’s 70s soft rock, what they call “AM Gold”! For me it’s part nostalgia but its also because a lot of those artists were incredible songwriters and were a diverse lot.
14.If you could custom build a band who would be the members? How many times will I be allowed to change my mind?
15.Message to the fans? What is it?
Yes - keep finding new bands. In fact, go out and see a band you’ve never even heard of. A new golden age of rock and roll is coming, and Catalina Shortwave is part of it.
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