Interview with Rocket Cat

And welcome to no Studios Live, where we have the chance to get up close and personal with our amazing members who comprise the no Studios community. And so today, it is my pleasure to talk to Rocket Cat. We've got the members of the band Rocket Cat with us, so lead singer and songwriter Suzanne, and then we have bass guitarist Dave. I knew that. And guitarist Chris. All right, so tell us, Chris, since you have the mic there.

Oh, hello.

Just a little bit about Rocket Cat. The name, the inspiration.

Why the name is a story. No, the. A few years ago, I was just. I. I put out a Facebook post saying I'm interested in getting together some people to see if anybody who's interested in creating original music. And I had a mutual friend see that with a drummer in my neighborhood, and we talked for a little bit, had a lot of good mutual interests. I called up Dave, who is in a band that I was playing with at the time, another band, and said, hey, will you come on down and take a look? And we hit it off pretty good the first couple times. I recently went back and listened to a little of that, which is kind of funny. And, you know, it was always at that point, there were some musical ideas in the pipeline, but I always knew that they needed anything musical that I was going to create. Needed the. I always felt like it was sort of the heartbeat, and it needed the soul and. And needed words and melody in the form of human vocals. Didn't want to do an instrumental project or anything like that. And so we all agreed, hey, let's send out another Facebook thing. Let's see who we can rope into doing this. And that same friend who'd hooked me up with then our original drummer at that point said, hey, I got somebody else for you.

Facebook has kind of been instrumental with the whole band here.

That was the day.

But let me back up a little bit. Even before the Facebook posting. Did you grow up playing an instrument? Has music always been part of your life?

Absolutely. I started playing guitar in junior high school after my parents sort of made me do it, and that led me along a big path. So always been doing. Have been playing in rock and roll bands the whole time, but at what.

Point did it click from, oh, they're making me to you really started to enjoy it?

It was about two weeks.

Oh, there you go.

Yeah, no, I had a particular aptitude. Yeah, it was a classical guitar program, so I was learning Vivaldi and, you know, things like that. But, you know, I quickly found out that I could play Pink Floyd too, you know, and that made me popular.

And then there was never no going back after that.

Right, right. Yeah.

Got a couple girlfriends and, you know.

Well, and then there was that. Yeah, that was. I was probably the number one high school avenue was. Yeah. Girls. And it worked fabulously.

I feel like for a lot of men, that is like, their primary motivation and, like. But that's okay because, you know, women are wonderful, so they can support.

My wife never knew I did this because I had. I was on like, a big hiatus for years. So when in between the time that I met her and got married, it was 20 years and started this and. And she was like, what are you doing?

So why is that you had such a long hiatus from. Did you continue playing after high school?

Yeah, I was always. I've always been playing, but I was never not playing in rock and roll.

Okay, so your wife, literally, she knew that you played the guitar.

Yeah. But had no idea about the. The whole being on stage thing.

Interesting. And how did she take it when.

She realized what was happening? It was shocking. And there was a lot of laughter. There was a lot of, oh, my goodness. What exactly are you doing? This is really funny. And as you can imagine, it becomes a little more than a hobby.

Yeah.

And, you know, so there's a, you know, we all juggle the family life thing, but, you know, smooths out. One of the things we can say about Rocket Cat is that it's well organized.

Okay.

And that's very, very helpful.

Yeah. All right. So, Dave, then you saw the Facebook post, but before we. Sorry, what's that?

Chris and I were in a band together at the time.

Oh, got it, got it, got it.

Yeah.

So you didn't really respond to the Facebook post.

Right.

Okay. You knew each other. You music in your upbringing also.

Yes, absolutely. From early on, junior high again and started playing piano. My parents made me do that as I think a lot of kids start on and. But I knew early on that bass guitar was what I wanted to play. And so. And that was. You don't become a bass guitarist to attract the chicks. That's. That's a well known fact. But anyway, it was the instrument that I wanted to play and eventually stuck with it. Yes.

I'm glad that despite it not being a chick maggot, I guess I would maybe disagree. But, you know, because you're, like, holding the whole beat together, that could be very attractive. But regardless, without even like, very good prospects in your mind, you stuck with it, which is very respectable.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I knew from the beginning and I have stuck with it.

Yes.

And it's been fantastic.

Yes. All right, so then did you, too, like Chris, have a period where life just got in the way and you weren't really playing and.

Yes. Yeah. There was a period when my. When my girls were young where that really took priority, as it should, and. And I wasn't playing as much, but as they got to be a little bit older, I found some extra time on my hands, and so I knew I was going to get back into it at some point, and the timing was right to join the band that Chris and I were in and then kind of led to the Rocket Cat experience.

All right, so timing is right. The two of you, you're finding more time in your life to reconnect with your passion for music. You kind of hook up, and then you realize you need a lead singer. And then how does Suzanne come into the picture?

Right.

Oh.

I know. I feel like I've told this story so many times, but. Yeah, so I, much like Chris and Dave, took 25 years off actually from music. And much like Chris's story, my husband, he knew. He had heard stories that I could sing, but he had never, ever heard me sing. So that was quite a surprise for him.

So I do. There is a theme with Rocket Cat of reconnecting with your childhood passion and then your respective spouses not knowing who they married.

The rock star inside.

Okay.

Yeah. So I. My. It was actually through a connection through my son that I was able to meet the guys. So my son is also a musician, and he was performing with a group, and there was a young man in that group whose mother is the woman in question, who introduced Chris to the drummer and to me.

Gotcha. So you come together and kind of instant, you kind of clicked a similar vibe, or did you have to grow on each other after a while? And maybe each of you are going to have a different answer to that question.

For me, like, it was funny because I was corresponding with Chris before I met him, and so he sent me some tracks, and he was like, oh, can you. You know, do you. Do you write music? Or do you. You know, can you write? And I was like, sure. I mean, someone once told me, like, never say you can't do something. Just say you can and figure it out later. So I was like, sure, I write music. I can write songs. I didn't know if I could, but he sent me, you know, some little things that he had been toying around with. And, I mean, it just connected. I connected with it instantly. And I'M like, oh, I can talk. Like, I'm like, I have all these emotions and feelings and, like, things I'm thinking when I hear this song and I'm gonna put something together. But I was really scared to take it to them because I didn't know them. And it was funny because I thought you hated me, Dave.

Oh, it's just sort of that vibe he tends to.

No, it's funny when we practiced, because I was so scared because I didn't know any of. And I told you that story before. Like, I had to go practice with them, so I didn't know any of them, had never met any of them. And I'm in, like, some guy's basement. Like, I don't know who these people. I'm in some stranger's basement and I got to sing in front of them. And I was just so nervous and scared and. Yeah, I thought you hated me, Dave.

From your perspective.

I have no. That's the first time I've heard that. First of all, I have no idea why, but I do remember two or three practices in you specifically saying, can we all just, like, go out and get a coffee or get a beer or something? Because I don't know you guys, you know, you're bringing, you know, lyrics that you've written and that, you know, come from the heart, and you're just singing this in front of a bunch of dudes that you don't even know. And so I thought that was a great idea. And I think we all. It was that moment where we all kind of gave.

Kind of gelled a little bit more.

Yeah, exactly.

So you all have been together for how long now? Whoever.

Three years, Four years.

Oh, three years. Oh, that's a good. A good amount of time. And so tell me, though, the inspiration for the name Rocket Cat, how do you describe yourselves?

Like many band names, it was a joke, right? I was at Solo Ensemble Festival in Brown Deer High School. My kids were involved in solo ensemble. And they had student montages up on the wall, collage pieces that they had done in art class. And one of them had sort of this pensive, kind of forlorn looking young man with a star field behind him and over his head was a cat. But the back half of the cat was turned into a rocket. It was like flames coming out. And I thought, well, that's a. That seems a funny picture, you know, but it's kind of a striking image. And so I took a picture and because we were talking about band names and you know what? We're going to call this a pyramid with all y's, Right. What are we going to. And I said, oh, let's call ourselves Rocket Cat. And then we. I think then we went and had that time where we sat down and tried to get to know each other.

Yeah.

And we're talking. That was probably the same time.

Yeah.

And it was just like. No, Rocket Cat's good.

Yeah, I love it. All right, so have you. Do you think that the type of music that you do together has changed over the past few years as you guys get to know your style better? Maybe you're pushing and challenging yourself. Where would you say you came from style wise? And where do you see yourselves going in the future?

Can I answer? I think one of my favorite things about this project is that it's hard to nail down in that if you take a look at both of the recordings, both of the albums, that there's a definite arc to them that moves from genre to genre and in between, it all still sounds like us, which I think is really neat. You know, it has that identity. But, you know, once.

How would you describe that? If you could give me a couple adjectives of what is the Rocket Cat sound?

I, you know, I think it's definitely in the. In the pop alternative world.

Okay.

But it's also. But the songs from themselves, from one to the other, each one is really unique and different and in fact, you can get left fielded, you know, at times, I think. And that's something I'm particularly proud of. You know, I think it makes the listening experience more interesting.

And who are your fans? Do they run the gamut in age? Are your kids and spouses fans? Who is showing up for your shows?

That's an interesting question. You know, you never know. I think there's a definite appeal for that probably 35 to 50 year old range of people who are contemporaries that identify with it. I think if you really look back on it, you can find influences definitely from the 80s, where we grew up, into the 90s, maybe even a little bit before that, into some punk rock elements that resonate particularly with that crowd. But I do, you know, catch my kids singing the song.

Oh, your songs.

Yeah. Which is a little, you know, that's interesting from time to time, you know. And so far, I think the kind of events that we've played haven't been targeted at a particular, you know, you.

Have a little bit of an eclectic mix crowd, which is really nice.

I think you never know.

Very nice. You never know who's gonna show up.

Well, you never know who's gonna. Who's gonna appreciate it.

Right.

You never know who's gonna not care for it either. Right?

Yeah. Dave, a little bit about, like, what is it? Like, how much does this band occupy in your life now? And has that been an adjustment because, you know, your family, people, you've got day jobs. How does this fit in? And how do you make it fit in with all your other responsibilities?

First and foremost, you have to have a supportive spouse. My wife is very supportive of everything that I do musically. And so that's number one. Number two, it's with the kids getting older, like I mentioned, there is more time that's free to do this kind of thing, more time that I can spend on things that I like to do. And so it is a balance, though. You have to find a balance between, you know, living life, taking care of the kids, getting them where they need to go, and then the music. But we've. We've found ways to work around that in that our writing process is done. A lot of times when we're not even together, we'll. We send a lot of ideas back and forth electronically, work on songs that way so we can do it when we have free time. We don't all have to be together in the same room to necessarily write a song.

And have you noticed since engaging in the band that. Does it have benefits to you at work? You know what I mean? Like, you're doing something that is really fulfilling for you. Does that translate into the other aspects of your life?

Sure, absolutely. Yeah. When you're taking care of yourself first, I feel like you can do a better job just in life in general. So at work, at home, all of those things, I think, have a. It's a positive influence on all of those areas, definitely.

And then, Suzanne, so you had mentioned that your inspiration from your son that had an interest in music that spread, sparked your interest to reconnect to music and singing in your life. And where do you see this going? Do you have any future hopes and dreams for yourself in Rocket Cat, or are you just sort of taking it day by day and enjoying the experience?

Yeah, I think from the beginning, we didn't have any solid goals in mind. We just wanted to see what it could be and what we could do. And in fact, after that first meeting where we had to try to get to know each other, we followed that up pretty quickly with, what are we doing? Like, you know, we started talking about getting professional photos and setting up a website, and it was like, what? Wait, hold on, and we went into the recording studio right away that first year. We had enough songs to do it, and everything took off very, very quickly. And suddenly your goals start to change. You know, when we got. I think our first big break was Bucks game.

Okay.

And it's like, you know, and then you leverage that, and then we get, you know, 88-9414 live. And then you leverage that to get the next thing on.

No studios live.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

And then, you know, then we got Summer Fest. You know, this is all within the first year. So, you know, then it starts kind of snowballing. If you know how to.

To work those contacts with fame and success, how do you guys keep the band together and stay balanced? And, you know, because you hear so many horror stories of bands that they end fighting, they turn on one another, and then they implode. And so how do you. As this takes up more of your time, maybe it started as a hobby. I don't know if it's becoming more like a second job, or it could even be the primary job. But how do you guys stay balanced and centered? And still it seems like you guys really actually enjoy being together as a band. How does that mean?

Yeah, definitely. And I would say. I mean, I don't know about fame, but I feel like we have. We've had. We've had, you know, a lot of personal successes. I think to us, there's success and as far as how much time it consumes and how much of our lives. So we. We're actually part of another band as well, called Mixtape, and it's a tribute to the 80s. And between those two bands, you could definitely say this has really taken over a huge part of our lives, and it's become more than just a hobby. It's a business now. But we wouldn't do it if we didn't like each other. I think because we're older, we are at a different stage in life. And, you know, some of the infighting and things like that that happen at younger ages doesn't happen as much at an older age because. I don't know, you know, I think in a lot of younger bands, there's ego involved because someone. One person in the band thinks they're gonna be the next greatest thing. I don't think any of us have the aspiration to be on the Billboard charts, so we're just kind of happy to. To do what we're doing. And I think to be able to.

Do something that you really love without any pressure, it has to be more than that. And we're.

We're totally. We've been very flexible with each other, too. You know, there's times where someone's on vacation, it's like, okay, you're on vacation. You know, we can't play at that time. Or, you know, work schedules come in, or people go out of town for work, or, you know, so we've, you know, we've had to be flexible with all of that. And again, it's. This is fun.

Yeah.

And if it's not fun, I don't. I don't think we're going to do it. I don't know if one of you guys want to.

I love how you all came together, and I love the journey that you're on. Can you do me one favor? Do you promise. Can you do me one favor? Will you just trash a hotel room? Because you can. Please. Can I read about Rocket Cat in the business journal that you trashed the Kimpton?

I don't think the Kimpton's gonna appreciate that.

Misplace a few things and throw a shoe across the room.

We were at a hotel last weekend where we did a couple of shows up north, and I spilled a 7Up bottle in my room.

You're on the right trajectory.

I wiped it up.

You cleaned up. I mean, I didn't say you couldn't clean up after yourself. I just said maybe trash it a little bit, you know? I mean, you gotta, like. Don't you feel like you have to get that out of your system? I mean, to be genuine rock stars? Come on. It comes with it, right?

I'm gonna steal the TV before I wreck it.

Well, on that. Not.