Tedium is overcome/From obscurity, through melody” “Karaoke Queen”
Atlantic Records now properly introduces Catatonia to America with the long-awaited U.S. release of the Welsh pop quintet’s highly-praised third album, “EQUALLY CURSED AND BLESSED.”
Hailed by Melody Maker as “one of 1999’s most accomplished albums, the sound of a big-boned band unbuckling the belt of its talent,” “EQUALLY CURSED AND BLESSED” is branded not only by songs of remarkable craft and emotive depth, but by the extraordinary voice and one-of-a-kind presence of Cerys Matthews. The Cardiff-based band’s second consecutive U.K. #1 platinum hit, the album shows off Catatonia’s exuberant guitar-pop in all its many forms, from the swooning majesty of “Dead From The Waist Down” to anthemic rave-ups like “Karaoke Queen,” and “Storm The Palace.” Throughout, Matthews invests each and every lyric with an idiosyncratic razorblades ‘n’ honey vocal style that’s equally ripe with alluring innuendo and a looming sense of danger. Hers is a miraculous voice that can either kiss, cry, or kill, all depending on the singer’s mood of the moment.
Atlantic’s special American edition of “EQUALLY CURSED AND BLESSED” also includes the stunning pair of hit singles that is, “Mulder and Scully” and “Road Rage” which originally appeared on the quintet’s 1998 breakthrough, the U.K. double-platinum chart-topper, “INTERNATIONAL VELVET.”
“I just want people to have the chance to hear it and see if they like it,” says Matthews of the Stateside release. “I know it’s quite hard for us to find a niche on the radio because we’re neither as alternative as we could be, neither pop. We’re a bit of a mixture. We can rock heavy with the Metallica people one moment and be as soft as Petula Clark the next. We like a lot of influences and I think that comes out in our music.”
Catatonia assembled back in 1992, when guitarist Mark Roberts first encountered Cerys (pronounced, she explains, “like terrace”) as she busked a rendition of The Jam’s “That’s Entertainment” on a Cardiff streetcorner. They joined up with bassist Paul Jones (who played with Roberts in the Welsh punk combo, Y Cyrff), guitarist Owen Powell, and drummer Dafydd Iuean, and just a few short months after becoming a group, were signed to the Welsh indie label, Crai. In 1993, Catatonia made their recorded debut with the “For Tinkerbell” EP, which received instant acclaim and was honored as NME’s prestigious “Single of the Week.”
The band also proved themselves an immediate hit with the seen-it-all U.K. music press. With her bristling, bluesy voice and spitfire persona not to mention a tight white T-shirt emblazoned with the unforgettable slogan “fastrisinglagersoakedriproaringpoptart” Cerys became the object of instantaneous press affection and attention. Two more indie singles followed, including 1994’s “Whale,” which saw Catatonia notching yet another NME “SOTW.” After Ieuan departed the group (eventually hitching his wagon with the great Super Furry Animals) and was replaced by Aled Richards, the band signed to Blanco y Negro and set about recording their debut album with producers Stephen Street and Paul Sampson. The resulting “WAY BEYOND BLUE” featured a profusion of 1996’s best and most biting indie-pop, including the singles “Bleed,” “You’ve Got A Lot To Answer For,” “Lost Cat,” and the band’s theme tune, “Sweet Catatonia.” The group crossed the pond for a trio of showcase gigs in New York, L.A., and Austin, Texas, but alas, bad luck and record company chaos intervened, and “WAY BEYOND BLUE” never received a U.S. release.
In late 1997, Catatonia struck again with the viciously witty “I Am The Mob,” which was quickly followed by the X-hilerating “Mulder and Scully.” The latter song proved an instant pop classic, entering the U.K. singles chart at #3. “INTERNATIONAL VELVET,” the band’s second album, followed suit with unanimous critical applause and popular success, making its chart debut at #11. Catatonia had finally become the pop stars of their dreams.
“Right after we finished recording, I think we knew that ‘INTERNATIONAL VELVET’ was a special album,” reflects Matthews, who says her claim to fame up to then was having the same hairdresser as Bonnie Tyler. “We had stumbled an awful lot until that point and we had been working so hard. There was a desperation about it. We’d been on the road pretty much solid two years. When it came time to record, we were just spilling our guts, really.”
The next single the vengeful, irresistible “Road Rage” entered the chart at #5 and grew to be an even bigger sensation than “Mulder and Scully.” As a result, “INTERNATIONAL VELVET” rose to the very top of the charts, giving Catatonia their first #1 album.
“We’re all subliminally living with a lot of what America offers,” says Matthews, referring to the album’s hit singles. “‘Road Rage’ you get in every modern city where time is precious and life’s too short. And at the time ‘Mulder And Scully’ was written, the show had gotten to be like Star Trek. It was just blanket coverage of the X-Files. So it’s not a surprise that those things sneak into your brain. They’re reference points to modern life.”
Two more singles “Strange Glue” and “Game On” would also be released, keeping Catatonia and “INTERNATIONAL VELVET” in the spotlight throughout 1998. “INTERNATIONAL VELVET” was eventually named Melody Maker’s “Album of the Year,” while “Road Rage” picked up the “Best Single” trophy at the 1998 Q Awards. The band also scored a trio of Brit Award nominations, including “Best British Group,” with “INTERNATIONAL VELVET” included in the “Best British Album” category, and “Road Rage” receiving the nod for “Best British Single.” In addition, the album was honored with inclusion on the shortlist for the 1998 Mercury Music Prize. An always-effervescent live act, Catatonia toured like demons in support of “INTERNATIONAL VELVET,” including a sold-out headlining tour, and festival appearances at Glastonbury, T In The Park, V98, Madness’ Madstock, and Pulp’s Finsbury Park spectacular , plus a short trek through the U.S. with the ’98 H.O.R.D.E. Festival.
“There was a lot of jamming in C for ten minutes and we can’t do that,” says a smiling Matthews of the H.O.R.D.E. experience. “We were on a learning curve there because it wasn’t a festival as we know it. You weren’t even allowed to bring cameras or food or drink onto the premises and you had to have three different forms of ID, plus a microchip imbedded in your brain to even attempt to buy alcohol and when you did it was only two per cent. And it tasted foul!”
The band ended 1998 touring U.K. arenas with their Welsh compatriots, Manic Street Preachers, followed by their debut tour of Australia and New Zealand. The band used the opportunity to roadtest their new material, including what would become the first U.K. single from “EQUALLY CURSED AND BLESSED” the string-laden anthem, “Dead From The Waist Down.” Another immediate top ten hit, the single released in March 1999 paved the way for the album’s #1 chart debut. Much of the album had been written and demoed during the band’s time touring America. The group set up a portable studio at the back of the bus and took the time between cities to cut new tracks.
“There was a microphone that we’d hooked up and over from the bus ceiling,” says Matthews. “It kept swinging and you’d have to move when you were singing to catch up with it.”
“EQUALLY CURSED AND BLESSED” which, like its predecessor, was produced by Catatonia with Tommy D (Sugarcubes, A Tribe Called Quest, the Shamen) found the band growing increasingly confident in both performance as well as songwriting. The album’s songs as always, largely penned by Mark and/or Cerys feature an increasingly introspective lyrical POV (as is the case on the wounded “Bulemic Beats”) and an expansive range of musical stylings, a product of Catatonia’s considerable time on the road.
“It’s a much more reflective album than ‘INTERNATIONAL VELVET,’ says Matthews. “It’s a lot more thoughtful. That sort of made sense at the time because everything was happening so quickly and ‘INTERNATIONAL VELVET’ had gone so madly. So yeah, they’re more thoughtful songs altogether darker maybe even.”
As befits a band with Catatonia’s restless nature, the album was recorded in a variety of locales throughout Britain, including studios in Cornwall, North Wales, South Wales, London, Surrey, and Coventry.
“We’re very cosmopolitan,” Cerys laughed in Select. “Probably the highlight of the recording time was when we went canoeing in Cornwall and I was listening to the mixes as I paddled into this gorgeous sunset.”
As ever, the band seemed to constantly be on the road throughout ’99, headlining a 12-city U.K. tour to ever-larger sellout crowds, as well as three massive “Home International” gigs in their native Wales, a pair of triumphant Main Stage sets at the Reading/Leeds Festivals, and an celebrated spot at the NetAid benefit concert at Wembley Stadium. Catatonia also took their show around the globe, performing to huge audiences in Australia and Japan, in addition to sharing a stage in Holland with the Rolling Stones.
“The past year has been quite a learning thing, to see these old timers, people who have been in the business for so long,” says Matthews. “It kind of surprises you because you hear all the rock and roll myths and legends stuff about the drinking, the drugs and the chicks. That’s what people like to think rock and roll is about. But you also need to put in an awful lot of discipline, which can be a bit of a shock, really.”
While “INTERNATIONAL VELVET” saw a small U.S. release via Neil Young’s Vapor Records, the new Atlantic edition of “EQUALLY CURSED AND BLESSED” serves as Catatonia’s first legit shot at capturing the hearts of the former Colonies. The album has already been hailed in a number of U.S. publications, including the Los Angeles Times, which declared “EQUALLY CURSED AND BLESSED” to be “a near-flawless pop record, a shimmering meditation on love and pleasure.”
“I’ve got absolutely no expectations,” Cerys said recently of breaking the States. “Two or three years ago, I wanted to come here and mesmerize everybody. But its a big country. It’s mad, but hopefully we’ll fit in. I just want to enjoy it.”
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