TECHNICAL MUSIC REVIEW
Catalysis is releasing their debut self titled EP December 14th which is a total banger. I am honored to present the world this nothing short of stellar debut EP courtesy of the kindness of Catalysis. If you love groove and melody, you’ll really dig Catalysis. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did. TMR has you covered yet again on another fantastic piece of music! I hope you enjoy the interview with the band that is right below here, while you’re listening to their EP!
TMR: How did Catalysis form?
It originally started just as myself and our lead guitarist, Drew, deciding to jam for a bit of fun outwith our respective bands at the time, but then by the point that we actually got round to meeting up to jam, the bands that we were both in had just split up, so we decided to start Catalysis as our new project. We’ve had several line-up changes since then, but everyone that’s been a part of the band since it’s inception had all been a part of the local music scene with other bands.
TMR: Talk about your upcoming EP. Do you feel you’ve grown as a band compared to when you first started?
Absolutely, I feel like the main element of growth that we’ve had is that since we became a four piece band with the members we have now, our sound has become a lot more focused. Our last EP was a showcase of a lot of different influences that various members of the band had, and I think we all feel like despite being proud of that EP, it wasn’t very concise. Since then, and without much discussion about what we wanted ‘our sound’ to be, I feel like we’ve really come into our own, which is what we want to highlight with this new release.
TMR: What shows do you have planned coming up to support the release?
We’re playing an EP launch show at Beat Generator in our home town of Dundee on December 14th alongside some local talent that we’re happy to call our friends, asides this we’re also playing shows in Perth and Dunfermline on December 1st and 2nd respectively, though these aren’t in support of the new EP, I feel like they’ll help to generate a bit of excitement around what we’re up to at that time.
TMR: Go into detail about working with Mendel and how you hooked up. His solo work is spectacular, let alone what he has done in Aborted. What was your experience like letting him mix your EP?
Working with Mendel has been a great experience, and surprisingly smooth sailing as well given that all communication with him has been online due to him being in the Netherlands. I think I speak for everyone in the band in saying that none of us have been a part of a release that sounds as good as this one in regards to the actual mix and production, and any comments that any of us had about any element of the mix for the EP, Mendel was always happy to revise what he’d done and make sure that we were as happy as we could be with it, and I know we’re all over the moon with how its turned out. All credit goes to Drew for getting us hooked up with him as well, he’s the one that reached out to him after seeing that he offers mixing services to bands, and Drew’s the one that kept us all in the loop with what Mendel was doing as well.
TMR: How did everyone get into music? And did you think you would be doing it professionally rather than just for fun?
I think we’re all people who have felt a massive impact from music in their lives, and like I said earlier, we’ve all been a part of bands prior to Catalysis, especially our vocalist/bassist, Col, he’s been active in Dundee bands since the early 2000s. I’d say that we’re all quite driven people, and as lame as it may sound I think we all view music as one of the driving forces in our lives, so an interest in playing music just came naturally. We’re all aware of how hard an industry the music business can be to get into, so the way that we all view it is that Catalysis is something that is fun for us and is something that we can use as a form of expression more than anything else, cause we’re not under any impression that we’re going to become massive rock stars or anything like that, but we figured that we might as well do as much as we can with this band, and achieve as much as we can that we can all be proud of.
TMR: What new releases are you guys looking forward to?
Seeing as we’re almost at the end of 2018 now, upcoming releases is a bit of a tough one, but there are quite a few releases from this year that we’ve enjoyed, some examples being TerrorVision by Aborted, Overtures of Blasphemy by Deicide, As The Kingdom Drowns by Psycroptic, Catharsis by Machine Head and the self titled release from Jungle Rot. We all have varied music tastes, so I know that everyone in the band would have a lot of other albums they’d want to say so these are just a few releases that I know more than one of us has really enjoyed. Personally I think that 2018 has seen a lot of really stellar albums being released, I could go on for a while about that haha!
TMR: How did the writing for the EP go? Did you have songs planned from the past or were there fresh ideas? Explain how your band writes.
The way that we generally tend to write is that Drew or Sean will come up with a few riffs or even a whole song on guitar, and then present it to myself and Col. From there I’ll start writing my parts, and if it’s just been a riff or two that’s been shown to us then as a band we’ll write the rest of the song, or if someone brings a whole song to the table, we’ll usually give it a few tweaks based on how everyone feels about it. We’re not really into just jamming out at practices or anything like that, because improvisation isn’t always our strongest point, and we write our best music when we all have time to sit with what someone has written, and add our own elements to it. I think by writing like this, we are able to write quickly, while keeping the ideas and quality consistent. We’re actually already a considerable way through writing the follow-up to the EP
TMR: What 5 band’s discographies would you choose to accompany you on a 5 hour road trip?
This is a tricky one because of how different everyone’s music tastes are, so I don’t doubt this would cause some arguments, haha! Though I’d say that Machine Head, Chimaira, Sylosis, Dyscarnate and Wintersun would be 5 bands that might keep everyone happy.
TMR: What interests you guys outside of Catalysis? Any other bands you guys are part of, as well?
Drew’s the only one of us that’s a part of any other projects at the moment, he’s in a punk band called Overdose with his dad as well as this band. I know I’d like to be part of something else as well, something a bit less in your face and more progressive rock oriented, most likely. Sean has his YouTube channel where he reviews guitar gear and does covers of songs from bands that he’s into as well, so folk with an interest in that kind of thing should definitely go and check out his channel. Outside of other musical endeavours, Sean and Col are both married and have kids, so I know that quality time with their families is really important to them. We’re all fans of going to gigs as well, whether they’re local shows where we get to see some of the bands that we’ve become friends with over the years, or going to see bigger bands that we love.
- Nothing Left
- Cleansed
- Deadline
- The Other Side
- Fallen
Originally published on Technical Music Review. Republished with permission.
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