Catch Fever

I’ll be honest, there are so many things happening right now in Houston, that a person can get swamped. Though I knew of the band’s existence, I had actually been behind in getting in touch with one of the members of Catch Fever, for a chance to review their album. So, when I went over to Warehouse Live to watch them perform at their release party for “Shiny Eyes,” I was a little blown away from what I saw. For a band that’s been around a little over two years, the live performance was just the beginning.

Usually, when someone tells me that I’ll like something, I’m a bit skeptical. I always wonder how they think they know what I do and do not like. So, after I was introduced to Josh from Catch Fever and we exchanged pleasantries, I was handed a disc. “I think you’re gonna’ like it,” he said. Even after watching the band perform complete with a crazy mix of professional lighting and screen designs; I was still the skeptic. In my life, I’ve seen so many bands who have an almost bipolar existence between performance and recording. Since I was coming at this from the reverse direction in which I was used to, I should start by saying that I was impressed with Catch Fever’s live show. Away from the fact that their music sounded great and that they had the appearance of a band who had practiced to perfection, the little things are what impressed me.

For starters, when a band utilizes backing vocals correctly in that they come in when they’re supposed to, I’m always a little impressed. But, Catch fever is a three piece, where they utilize piano as well. So, that means that their bassist, would have to play piano in lieu of playing bass at certain times. I’ll just save you time in saying that it was done with precise accuracy. So, it’s not too hard to play live with accuracy and plenty of practice. Though I don’t see it too often, I know that it can be done by most acts with enough time. However, the precision based performance the band offered up on their “big night” wasn’t the most impressive factor.

There aren’t too many times when you can listen to an album that hits all of it’s ambitions in a way that’s impressive. A great album is so much more than well written songs and catchy hooks. The greatest albums have a dynamic ability to sound amazing, and hit all of the ambitions of the artist. “Shiny Eyes” might be one of the most quality sounding albums I’ve heard since “Siamese Dream” by The Smashing Pumpkins. I mean that as sincerely as I can type it, as every note, every composition, and every aspect of how the album is structured is remarkable. You almost get that goosebumps feeling when you hear a recording done in the guise of how it should sound. If I hadn’t had seen the band perform the album live, I would have written the record off as studio trickery. However, the only trick here, is that this was made by a band who hasn’t been around for a full two years. From the perfect pop structuring of the opener, “Stay Tonight” the album shines in almost every way. The opening song is followed by two slower but still well crafted gems, to be segued into the first single, the pop rock gem “Naysayer.” Of the seven tracks within, it’s almost a page turning manual on how to make the perfect sounding album. The most standout song on “Shiny Eyes” is easily the second to last track, “Fool For A Con.” The way the drums enter the song alone is pure magic. If you count the overly hooky chorus mixed with how the backing vocals are intertwined with the pop based melody and pace of the song; what remains is truly somewhat short of pop mastery. Having Mike Thompson at Ivory Tower production mix the album alongside being mastered by sound guru Emily Lazar, is just the icing on the cake of an already well made release.

I don’t think I’m overselling Catch Fever’s introductory release by saying that if you found out that someone had built robots who perform pop rock; you’d think this album was the result of their work. The mix of Motion City Soundtrack song structuring mixed with the pace of a Dashboard Confessional song; Catch Fever has upped the bar for their genre. There’s not a song on “Shiny Eyes” that you won’t find yourself humming the lyrics to even after the first listen. Luckily for you, it’s worthy of more than just one listen. Hopefully for Houston, this is just the beginning of good things coming from Catch Fever. You can see them perform acoustic versions of these songs at Cactus Records on April 12th, and in their original sense at Warehouse Live on April 17th when they open for TEAM*. - David Garrick

Okay, back to Catch Fever: they brought it. First off, singer Taylor Huffman has an amazing tenor voice. That alone is enough to carry this band, but fortunately, they also have good songs and an excellent rhythm section (bassist Josh Wilson and drummer Doug Andreano). I was excited and surprised to find out they were only a three-piece (being in a three-piece band myself, I gravitate toward the “power trio”).
catchfever6When I listened to their songs on Soundcloud, they instantly brought the band Dredg (a five-piece band from the San Francisco area) to mind. If you’re a Dredg fan, you will go immediately one way or the other with Catch Fever — you might like them because of the similarities (that’s what I felt), or you might be turned off and think their sound walks the line a little too closely to Dredg, which would be understandable.
Of course, if you’ve never heard of Dredg, then you won’t have to worry about that. In that case, you might compare them to other mid-2000s emo bands; Cave In comes to mind. God, I loved Cave-In during their “not too hardcore” era (Antenna is a must-hear!).
Anyway, Catch Fever played a relatively short set, leaving me wanting a little more — which is a great way to get me back to see them again, hopefully soon. - Jason Smith

Last month, Houston-based indie-rockers Catch Fever made their New York City debut at The Texas Takeover at the CMJ Music Marathon. On October 23, more than 20 artists from all over the Lone Star State took the stage at The Delancey on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. But before the festivities began, AXS was able to catch up with Catch Fever for an exclusive interview, where they talked self-releasing music, how they got started, and more!

AXS: Just to get started, could you each state your name, your role in Catch Fever, and a random fact about yourself?

CATCH FEVER:

Taylor Huffman: I'm Taylor, I play guitar and I sing, and a random fact about me is I love the Hot Dog Eating Competition that happens in Coney Island. I'm a Joey Chestut fan- he's the eight-time world champion or something.

Josh Wilson: I'm Josh, I play bass and piano and sing backup in Catch Fever, and I can tie a mean bow tie.

AXS: Why aren't you wearing a bowtie right now?

Josh: I don't like to show it off- it's a secret.

AXS: Will you wear one for your set?

Josh: No- I'm waiting for the Grammy's.

Doug Andreano: I'm Doug, I play drums, and my random fact is I collect the weirdest things. I'll go to antique shops, and whatever I think is cool, I'll buy. My wife will kick my ass, but it's all good.

AXS: You're in New York for CMJ- have you played New York before?

Taylor: First time. We did one acoustic song yesterday. It was private, so I don't know if that counts as playing in New York, but it was good- it was fun. We're very excited to play tonight.

AXS: You released your album Shiny Eyes back in February; how do you feel having it out?

Josh: It's pretty awesome. It took a lot of work on us to put everything together so it felt like a huge accomplishment to get it out there. Just to see your stuff on iTunes is really cool.

AXS: Could you see yourselves self-releasing your next EP or album, or are you looking for label support?

Taylor: We're definitely looking for support from the backing side but we know how to do it ourselves. We want to team up with the right people to get bigger.

Doug: It's hard for any band to really work for a label, but we know what we're capable of and we're gonna work hard for it.

Taylor: We have some business background in the band, so we try to do as much as we can in-house and when it gets to a point that we need help, we'll bring in people.

AXS: When it gets to a point where you need help it's good to have a background of business knowledge so then you know, "Okay, this is or this isn't a good decision."

How did you get started as a band?

Taylor: Doug and I have played in bands on and off over the years. We started this project and I happened upon a random game of golf with Josh. He had played in a previous band with us and I showed him some of the tracks we'd been working on and he was like, "Man, this sounds really good- are you looking for a bass player?"

AXS: What has made Catch Fever different from other bands you've played in?

Taylor: We've all matured as people. We have a huge focus on the team and making sure we're all on the same page to work through our conflicts and move in the right direction. We've always said, even when we were teenagers, "We've just got to stick together." One of the hardest things as a band is to continue producing and doing things. Our work ethic increases daily, and we become better and better friends every day and work through our problems.

Doug: Our family and our friends are telling us to go do this- my wife is telling me, "You gotta do it. This is it."

AXS: Are there any other up-and-coming bands from Houston, Texas that people should check out?

Josh: There's a lot of great ones on this showcase. BLSHS is awesome. [Check out AXS's interview with BLSHS here.] Featherface is great. The Suffers are phenomenal.

AXS: Is it kinda cool being in a new city with a bunch of bands from back home?

Josh: Oh yeah, it's awesome. The opportunity to come up here presented itself and we jumped on it without knowing where we were gonna be playing-"Wait, we have a chance to play in New York? Yeah, sign us up. We're in." We play all the time with these bands in Houston so it's really cool to be in another city with them.

AXS: Halloween is a week from tomorrow- what are you going to dress up as?

Doug: I'm going to dress up as Ash from Army of Darkness. Ash's girlfriend turns into a crazy zombie lady so my wife will dress up as her.

Josh: I'm going to be James Dean and my girlfriend's going to be a tattooed Marilyn Monroe.

Taylor: I don't think it's been decided yet, but I'm currently going as bacon.

Doug: My baby daughter is going to be a witch.

AXS: How do you respond to haters or anyone who doubts your band?

Doug: It doesn't matter.

Taylor: That doesn't really phase us. We just keep doing what we do.

Josh: We try our best to find things that we like in other people and support everything and see the good in it, so when someone hates on us we just realize that they're not seeing things that way, and that's cool. Everything we do, a ton of people are gonna love it and a ton of people are gonna hate it.

AXS: Thank you so much! Is there anything else you want to say?

Taylor: Check us out on CatchFever.com. - Molly Hudelson