Catch 22

Bobby: Ok, starting with the basics, can you please state your name and what you do in Catch 22.

Kevin: Hi, my name is Kevin and I play the trumpet and I sing.

Bobby: How did you guys all meet?

Kevin: It’s pretty boring actually. We just kind of actually met in a random sort of way, through different bands. Some of us were friends when we were really young and that’s pretty much it. Not really a great story unfortunately.

Bobby: Ok, “Catch 22”, where did you guys get that name from?

Kevin: It definitely came from the book. A couple of the guys in the band had read the book and just thought it was a cool. “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t”. It actually probably came even more from the saying, which I guess came form the book. I guess it just kind of came from that. We just thought it was kind of a cool idea for a band name.

Bobby: Your new CD, “Dinosaur Sounds”, just came out last week. How does it feel to have it out?

Kevin: It feels good that it’s out, and the feel of the record is that it’s kind of a fun, bouncy, ska-y, poppy, reggae, jazz, funk, R&B record. And it’s kind of a typical Catch 22 record and I think it’s pretty awesome. I think if people listen to it and give it a chance, I think they’ll like it a lot.

Bobby: “Dinosaur Sounds”, where did you get that name from?

Kevin: It’s kind of a little bit of a play on how ska is kind of like dying out right now. We’re one of the last ska bands. We’re definitely not THE last band, but there’s definitely not a whole lot of ska bands left. But obviously right now, it’s a lot of pop-punk bands you know? So we’re definitely feeling like, whether it’s Catch 22 or ska in general, we feel like the dinosaurs.

Bobby: What’s your favorite song off the album and why?

Kevin: I think my favorite song off the record is probably “Chin-up”. I think I just like the song. It’s got a really strong feel; it’s got a cool little breakdown in the middle with a reggae feel to it and I just think it came out really nice. I think it just sounds really nice on the record. It’s just a cool song in general.

Bobby: Ok, what would you say to convince someone to buy the record?

Kevin: It’s good. It’s cheap. Come to a show and buy it for ten bucks. It’s worth ten bucks.

Bobby: How do you guys like being on Victory Records?

Kevin: It’s awesome. You know, we have a good time on the label. All the people are cool and we’ve always gotten along good with them and we think they like us too.

Bobby: What have they been doing to promote this new album?

Kevin: You know, obviously what we’re doing right now: we’ve been doing a lot of interviews that they’ve been getting for us. They did some spots on on MTV2 and Fuse, some commercials and that was pretty cool. They’ve been doing some prints, you know, advertising in the Alternative Press. Stuff like that, so it’s been going really well. They’ve been doing a good job.

Bobby: How did you end up meeting them?

Kevin: Just kind of like we sent them a demo and they heard it. They were really into it and it just kind of went from there.

Bobby: All right, if you could pick one person or band, who would you pick to start a band with and why?

Kevin: O God. Who would I want to start a band with? Billy Joel would be kind of cool to start a band with. Don’t you think?

Bobby: Ya.

Kevin: Ya, Billy Joel. And Miles Davis would be kind of cool too.

Bobby: Ok, now imagine if you weren’t in a band, what would you be doing for a job?

Kevin: I’m really into band booking and band management, I’m really like the music business. It’s really like the only thing I know how to do and I’m kind of good at it I think. So I’d probably be a manager, a band manager or a booking agent, maybe even a promoter.

Bobby: What was your worst job you’ve ever had?

Kevin: Haha, the worst job I’ve ever had… ummm… Probably working in a bagel store. “Manhattan Bagel” in New Jersey. It wasn’t that it was the worst, it wasn’t really that bad; it’s just that I had to wake up about 4 in the morning to get into work at about 4:30 – 5 o’clock. It was either super, super cold in the freezer where they stored the bagels or it was like super, super hot next to the oven. So it was kind of hard to get comfortable there *laughs*.

Bobby: How has being in a band changed your life?

Kevin: Definitely, it’s changed it significantly as far as you know traveling and being on the road, meeting a lot of cool people, talking to a cool people on the phone, you know, stuff like this. You definitely see, even the smallest band see glimpses of rock stardom.

Bobby: Why did you decide to become a musician?

Kevin: It was always just fun. That’s why anyone plays music, I think. It’s just a fun way, there’s a lot of people who are just good at it and I was always pretty good at playing. I think that’s pretty much the reason. It’s just a fun thing to do in my free time which, like I said, I was pretty good at.

Bobby: Do you have any tips for young musicians who are just starting out?

Kevin: Ya, I mean, I’d say, obviously hard work is the most obvious. If you work hard, then you can definitely do some really good things. If your really lazy, you’re not going to get very far. You know what I mean?

Bobby: Ya. Who would you say influenced you musically?

Kevin: Musically, definitely my music teachers. And my parents were always very musical. As far as like bands go, I love Green Day and Less Than Jake and NoFX, Mighty Might Bosstones; those are some of the bands. Right now I’d say I’m a little influenced by hip-hop in general, I just think it’s an awesome form of music. So that’s pretty much it.

Bobby: If you guys, as a band, could change on thing, one decision, one choice, in the past. What would you change and why?

Kevin: I don’t know,. It’s kind of hard to say. I don’t really think we’ve made many bad decisions, you know what I mean. I guess, the most obvious would be… I don’t know. I can’t really think of anything I would change, I’m pretty happy with the way things have gone.

Bobby: Ok, cool cool. You guys are currently on tour with Slick Shoes, Boys Night Out and Worthless United right?

Kevin: Ya, actually Slick Shoes, a couple days ago, dropped off the tour for a unknown reason. So right now we’re plugging away with Boys Night Out and Worthless.

Bobby: All right, so how has that been going so far?

Kevin: O, it’s been really awesome. All the bands are cool. I mean, even Slick Shoes was really cool until they left unexpectantly. It’s been a really fun tour, we’ve been having a good time. Even if the shows aren’t great at times, most of the shows have been pretty fun but there’s been a couple that has been a little poorly attended, but even the shows which aren’t huge are still really fun with the bands that we’re playing with.

Bobby: Has there been any memorable moments so far from the tour?

Kevin: We have fun playing dice. That has been one really fun thing on the tour. Playing a lot of dice games, losing our money but it’s always fun to give your money to your friends. You know what I mean? So it’s not so bad.

Bobby: Now a days you can download songs all over the internet. Kazaa, Morpheus, things like that. How do you feel about that? It is good, is it bad?

Kevin: I think overall it’s okay, it’s fine. I think if the kid downloads a song or two, or even the whole record and then goes out and buys it or comes to a show buys a T-shirt or something; you know, I think that’s fine. It kind of sucks when people just download ever record they’ve ever have because it just hurt the artist in the long run. But it doesn’t really effect is that much. We’re pro-download because we think it helps us more then it hurts us.

Bobby: I recently read an article in Alternative Press magazine and one of the main themes was “Through Music, You Can Live Forever”. What do you think about that?

Kevin: Interesting… Ya, it’s probably true. You know, look at Elvis, look at John Lennon, those guys are still pretty popular dudes 20, 30 years after they die. So ya, I think it’s absolutely true. I agree with that.

Bobby: Okay, the year’s coming to an end soon. What would you say your top 5 CDs off the year have been so far?

Kevin: Well, I’ll tell you, I’m a little out of it when it comes to current CDs but I think one of my favorites CDs is definetly The Roots CD, I don’t know if it came out this year or last year. The Taking Back Sunday, I think that might’ve come out last year, but I’ll put that in the mix too because that’s an awesome record. I like the Lil’ Kim record a lot and our record, “Dinosaur Sounds”. Just cause it’s ours.

Bobby: All right, what would your top five of all time be?

Kevin: Definitely the Chronic, the original Chronic record. Dr. Dre and Chronic 2001. Face to Face, Don’t Turn Away. Green Day, Dookie. I’ve got one more, I’ll throw Eminem into it because the second Eminem record is pretty awesome.

Bobby: If you could have have one thing in the world right now, anything in the world, what would it be and why?

Kevin: Sorry? Change one thing?

Bobby: No, have one thing.

Kevin: Oh! Have one thing. It would definitely be a Mercedes. *laughs*. It would be a car. I’m a very superficial person.

Bobby: Okay, well now I’ll go onto your question. If you could change one thing, what would it be?

Kevin: If I could change one thing, I would say any kind of pre-judgement. When people judge things because they think they know what they’re talking about. Whether it be racism or something as stupid as “I don’t like that movie because Keanu Reeves is in it”, or something like that. People are a little impatient. They need to give everything a chance.

Bobby: You said this earlier, that ska is slowly dying out. That’s how you named your CD because ska is not as popular anymore. Why do you think that is?

Kevin: I just think that the radio kind of killed it a little bit. You know, commercials and video games and TV shows all had so much ska so that eventually people were just like “I’m just not this happy all the time”. So I just think they got sick of it.

Bobby: I guess that’s about it. Thanks a lot.

Kevin: Cool man.

Bobby: Do you have any shout-outs before we end?

Kevin: Um ya, just check out the record, check out the website (www.njcatch22.com). It’s got all the tour dates on it and stuff like that. And thanks a lot for doing the interview.

Bobby: Ya, thanks to you too.