Published July 26, 2011
(Photo: Scott Braun)
In the Green Room with Cats in the Basement
Fun fact: “Herb Crust†by Cats in the Basement was named after a line frontman Greg Ferris spotted on a box of Hot Pockets.
While attending Ringling College, aspiring artist and musician Greg Ferris started writing songs under the pseudonym Cats in the Basement — derived from the feral cats around his house whose meows would occasionally find their way onto his recordings. The project took a backseat after Ferris joined locals Mike and Erin Murphy to form The Equines, in which Ferris plays xylophone, and to eventually launch Sarasota indie label Finch House Records. (more…)Category: In the Green Room
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In the Green Room with Cats in the Basement
Published July 26, 2011
(Photo: Scott Braun)
In the Green Room with Cats in the Basement
Fun fact: “Herb Crust†by Cats in the Basement was named after a line frontman Greg Ferris spotted on a box of Hot Pockets.
While attending Ringling College, aspiring artist and musician Greg Ferris started writing songs under the pseudonym Cats in the Basement — derived from the feral cats around his house whose meows would occasionally find their way onto his recordings. The project took a backseat after Ferris joined locals Mike and Erin Murphy to form The Equines, in which Ferris plays xylophone, and to eventually launch Sarasota indie label Finch House Records. (more…) -
In the Green Room with I.G.O.R.
Published Aug. 2, 2011
In the Green Room with I.G.O.R.
“It was always an acronym, we just had to come up with what it was†says Mauricio Blanca, keyboard player and vocalist for Sarasota dance band I.G.O.R. The acronym they settled on was Intelligent Good Old Robots, derived from the small machines we rely on for almost everything we do. The name is a fitting tribute to the trio’s music, which stands out from the barrage of guitar-centered alt-rock, straddling a balance somewhere between 80’s dance pop and various modern electronic genres, with Blanca’s Moog synthesizer leading the sound.
Blanca and IGOR drummer Victor De la Garza both grew up around the same people in Mexico City, but the two never actually had a conversation until they met up in New York in 2007 while De la Garza was attending NYC’s Drum Collective and Blanca was studying music business at Boston’s Berkelee College of Music. They actually found bassist David Cornicelli in a Craigslist ad after moving to Sarasota. (more…) -
In the Green Room with Fancy Rat
Published Aug. 12, 2011
(Photo: Scott Braun)
In the Green Room with Fancy Rat
“I’ve always written about serious things taken lightly, because that’s who I am as a person,†says Fancy Rat frontman Brian Yoder. That sort of light-hearted absurdity is a common sentiment taken from one of the most sung-along-to live acts on the Sarasota circuit. And it’s no wonder, as anyone who has popped in a copy of the band’s debut self-titled EP (released last year on Finch House Records) is usually driven to impulsive participation not long after the “hee-haws†and “wees†of opening track “Join the Club†begin.
Yoder, along with guitarist Toby Norton, bassist Adam Marret, and beat-boxing tambourine man Dan Demerin, penned most of the band’s happy-go-loony tunes sitting on the front porch of their Gillespie Park pad, affectionately dubbed “The Rat’s Nest.†With infectious slap-happy hooks and silly dance-tastic indie-pop beats, the content of the songs can range anywhere from poignant love-struck heartbreak to adoration of transportation. “Call it synesthesia,†says Yoder, “inanimate objects just have a personality.†(more…)