Today is the 20th anniversary of Cat Machine.The first tape,presented here in it's entirety,for the first time ever,was recorded on 9/25/1990,in the living room of what later became known as,"Cat Machine" house,it belonged to Gramps,Tony and Joel Rizzo's grandfather.The first eight songs comprise the "live" part of this tape,and consist mostly of instrumental jams,but there are some vocals on several songs.We were mainly just getting to know each others styles on this one,and it started as it remained for the complete tenure of the "Machine",a 1-2-3-go! style,where one guy would come up with a riff,and everyone else would follow.All the songs on the live segment,were spontaneous,and improvisational,with no overdubs or edits.There's a song on here,to try and cash in on the dance craze (of the early 60's),"Do The Scab".It never really caught on.The last track,"3 Dead Mice",is Tony,Joel,and I,all reading from different books,out loud,at the same time.
The e.p. titled,"3 Dead Mice",has 4-track recordings,done on the same day."Throw It To The Dogs",starts out with a mean dog growling,evilly,till the music and Tony's vocals kick in.One of our biggest hits,and a staple of our live sets,the second track,"Crazy Mary",is about this old cat lady that lived in one of the rooms in Cat Machine house.She had tons of cats,and was indeed,crazy.Kind of a weird,surrealistic view,of what she probably was thinking.Some of the lines,are things she actually said."86 Tony",is a take-off on one of the boy's earlier bands who did a tune called,"86 Whitey".And the final track is the one from whence we got our name."Cat Machine",is what the title says.We took a bunch of Crazy Mary's cats,put several in each of three pillow cases,and put the microphone by the sacks full of kitties.No harm was done,the cats sound angry,cuz they were all together in a pillowcase,like humans crammed into an elevator.Later,when we were thinking of a name for the band,I suggested it,because before we put the cats in the bags,I said,"Hey let's build a cat machine"!.Ifigured we could record it for the e.p.,didn't think it would end up being our name.The art above is the earliest logo and poster(dated 10-3-90) available,and was later used on a flyer for a live show.The tapes never really had art,so i will be adding some kind of picture to each release.This is the beginning of a year long series ,where i will post each tape on the date it was recorded,20 years ago.The second tape will be posted on ,October 2nd,2010.For more info,check out the lengthy post"Cat Machine-The Mystery,The History,and Shit",with a career-spanning 10 disc cross-section of their work.Also see our greatest hits compilation,wherein songs that were on our set list,are compiled,"Litterbox".Pleas leave comments,and wish Cat Machine ,a happy anniversary.!!!
Also for anyone out there in a band,or working solo,I am currently working on a tribute to Cat Machine,and would like you or your band's renditions of our songs.Contact me thru the comments box below!!Thanks, G O D
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First off ,this is dedicated to my friend, Food Fortunata ,a walking encyclopedia of baseball knowledge.And seeing how spring training has begun ,I thought it a good time to pop this up on the blog.This single ,from 1990 ,on Tried and True Music ,is the story of one of the greatest baseball players in history. Jerry Jeff a/k/a JJ ,wrote "Mr. Bojangles" back in the 60's , Brooks and Dunn did a song about him ," The Ballad Of Jerry Jeff Walker" ,and JJ discovered Jimmy Buffet. We'll excuse all that stuff ,and just focus on this country-tinged song ,about Nolan Ryan. JJ's son,Django (pictured on the cover ,by his dad ,wonder if he named him after Django Rheinhardt? probably so!) , is now also a country music artist ,often opening for ,or joining his dad on stage. Hey ,batter,batter,batter.....SWIIIING!!!!!
