SPIll Your Guts: A Ska Punk International Fest interview with Catbite

Ska Punk International‘s SPI Fest will return for another weekend of ska and ska-punk in 2024. This year’s event taking place on 17 May and 18 May, has relocated to a new, all-ages venue known as 25 Central Street in Windsor, CT. Tickets can be purchased here. The annual festival will feature Mutiny, Stop The Presses, PWRUP, Call Me Malcolm and our SPIll Your Guts interview guest and headliner: Catbite. Check out out what Brit, Tim, Ben and Chris have to say below.

Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview! You are gearing up for SPI Fest in the coming months, what does the festival circuit mean to individual artists like yourselves?

TIM: Festivals are cool because it’s a great way to get in front of new people, while also having high intensity from the crowds. It’s also really cool to meet a bunch of other artists and see them play all at once.
BEN: There’s the old cliche about artists getting paid in exposure, but when it comes to festivals exposure is part of the deal. With club or venue shows it’s not too uncommon for people to skip the openers and just come for the headliner, but at festivals people show up early, and get exposure to artists they may not know anything about.
CHRIS: Playing festivals is also a great experience when you have so many bands/friends/friends bands all in one place at the same time. Everyone supporting each other’s art and hanging out makes the festival circuit something we look forward to being a part of.

I won’t call it a ska revival because ska is something that’s never gone away, but there is a massive rejuvenation of the scene with We Are The Union, The Kilograms and JER.  What is going on out there that has gotten so many people back on their boards to ride this latest wave of ska?

TIM: Idk, it seems like there’s a lot of reasons. First reason is that there are a lot of really good bands and they are all doing really cool things, but especially the use of collaboration and community between the bands.. It takes an army. I think the younger generation latched on to ska during the pandemic because of all of the cool stuff that was going on online, it was something a lot of younger people never really heard of, so it was exciting to experience. 
BEN: Music taste is also not nearly as cliquey or stigmatized as it was during the last surge in ska popularity. These days if you like a genre you just like it and no one judges you for it.
CHRIS: I think these days people just want to have fun and going to a show, particularly a ska show, is just that. I think that, not only the folks who have been a part of the ska scene for years, but the younger generation is seeing how welcoming and inclusive the ska community is which I feel keeps them coming back while also exploring new bands. 

What does Catbite have planned for us beyond SPI Fest?

TIM: writingggggggg 
BRIT: We’re currently working on our third LP and writing some new tunes! I think with this next record we now know what the “Catbite sound” is and we are really having fun working on keeping that sound and going even further with it! Hopefully, we will be putting that out soon and getting back out on the road for a headline tour.

What have been some of the most memorable moments or experiences with the band so far? What’s been the most unexpected? The weirdest?

TIM: it’s all been extremely cool and surreal. I’ve been playing in ska bands since I picked up a guitar, it’s just the thing that makes me happy. But, the amount of cool things that seem to be happening to catbite is just really a bonus. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d get to this level of cool shit, so I’m just living it one day at a time, and never taking any of it for granted. But, not gonna lie, going to japan was the coolest thing of my life. 
BRIT: There’s been so many really cool things that have happened over the last couple years with all the heavy touring we’ve been doing. I think most recently I’d have to say playing MPF in the UK with a packed venue of ppl singing our songs and dancing like crazy was a highlight for me. Something about being in a different country but it feeling like being back at home was truly amazing. It feels like we’re really doing it! 
BEN: I feel like we’re doing something memorable every time we go anywhere. Kind of counterintuitively, I’ve had to start a tour journal to keep track of all the memorable things to share with my people at home. If I had to pinpoint one thing that was unexpected -besides just the entire experience so far -it’d have to be recording in Laura Jane Grace‘s home studio. I’ll count that as the weirdest too, but in like a cool way.
CHRIS: One of the weirdest experiences we’ve had for sure is a gig we played in the middle of Pennsyltucky with the Pilfers and Rude Boy George. The people “running” sound were two cracked out meth heads and every thirty seconds or so the entire PA system would crash and turn off and then come back on like thirty seconds later. So after this kept happening we would just vamp on whatever chord we were on when it crashed and then when it came back on we’d just continue the song. Coolie Ranx commented that we played “a very courageous” set. 

Speaking of live shows, what are you most excited to bring to the SPI Fest audience? What do you want those in attendance to take away from your set?

TIM: I’m excited to bring live Catbite songs to the audience, I hope they like them better than the last time they heard it, or I hope they like it (if it’s the first time hearing us). 
BRIT: I want everyone in attendance to remember music is healing and to have the best time possible!
BEN: A little bit of that Bad Time flavor babyyyy
CHRIS: What I hope folks take away from our set is the desire to come out and see us again. We all want to continue to make music as long as we can and we can only do that if people keep coming to shows and hopefully bringing their friends with them.

We’ve all got a few, what is your biggest regret? A gig you turned down, advice you didn’t take, what one thing do you wish you handled differently as a musician?

TIM: No regrets, sorry!! 
BRIT: No regrets really. The only thing I will say is that I wish my memory was better! We meet LOTS of ppl and sometimes ppl come up to me asking if I remember them…. It’s a sweet thing because they’re excited but in my head it makes me feel like shit if I don’t remember them! Plz stop asking me that everyone lol
BEN: It’s all led us to where we are now, nothing to regret about it.
CHRIS: One time, with another band I was playing in, we played a gig with Wheatus and I left before the show was over because my parking meter was about to expire and then they called us up to sing “Teenage Dirtbag” with them on stage and I missed it. I’ll regret that forever. 

The ska scene gets a lot of flack from every genre of music (including ska itself) but is also almost always at the forefront of inclusion and diversity within the music scenes.  What is it about the scene that attracts such a welcoming fanbase?  What is it about ska that leaves itself so vulnerable to mockery in the music world?

TIM: ska was created in Jamaica as a creative outlet for the poor working class, and then as a movement for diversity and inclusion during the 2 tone movement. So, the backbone of the genre is about inclusion. As it moved to the US it was all of the above, plus a place of acceptance for the kid with nowhere to belong. I think people don’t like it and trash it cuz they’re insecure?  Whatever nerds, i will never turn my back on ska lolllllll 
CHRIS: I think one of the things that is most welcoming about it is that any person, from any walk of life, can show up at a ska show exactly as they are/want to be and are accepted and welcomed without question. The diversity of folks at ska shows is something to be proud of in my opinion. One could make the argument that there is no other scene like it in that regard. 

We are living in a “just deal with COVID” world and everything about this timeline is some level of completely fucked, and the upcoming election sure as shit isn’t cooling any temperatures.  What impact, if any, does the current cultural and political landscape have on the band and the scene in general?

TIM: Yeah, idk everything is fucked. The way I’ve always lived my life is to be empathetic to all, and to never stop learning and adapting, and to always put the welfare of others first. We have a lot of steam right now, so we gotta push on and just do what we think is right, and always adapt and learn and be the best band/best people that we can be. 
BEN: Times like these stir some people to action to make things better while some people turn to escapism. This band and this scene have something to offer for both of those sides of people; a message to acknowledge that shit could be better as well as some tunes to just have fun with.
CHRIS: I think it reiterates what the ska community has been doing for decades, which is you have to take care of and look out for each other.

Catbite is from Philly. It’s such an interesting, diverse and generally under-appreciated place that has bred so much amazing music.  Why do you think the area churns out so many brilliant musicians and songwriters?  How does the area feed into the music you are writing, if at all?

TIM: It’s a very eclectic scene, but not tooooo clique-y I guess, so that helps melt the genres together. Melting pot = good. Catbite is a big ol conglomerate of 42031169 musical influences, so that all definitely influences our writing. Also our bread is good here, idk. 
BRIT: Philly has this energy about it! So many creative artists, musicians, people! I think there is something for everyone to get into here which allows a lot of creativity to fill all these different spaces!
BEN: Anything goes in Philly. Nothing is too out-there and artists feel free to be themselves and try whatever they want to try. Philly folks are just authentic almost to a fault.
CHRIS: Philly is a very blue collar working class city, and I feel that it’s that mindset and those shared experiences that contribute to genuine and honest music, and art in general, being made and appreciated. 

One of my favorite things about Catbite is that you are a uniquely political band, in that your politics are out in the open but they don’t define the music or lyrics.  Its a really incredible balance.  Was that something you had consciously set out to do when forming the band?   How do you maintain the fun and optimism in your music with the seriousness of some of the things you believe in, especially in this age of intentional unenlightenment?

TIM: Thanks for the kind words about this. It’s difficult to find the right balance, while also not trying to focus on it too much. We want to write music that helps your brain because we all have fucked up brains and this is a way to cope with it. We also want to give our friends and fans an escape from reality at our shows. We want them to have fun and remember that music is what brings all these like-minded people together. BUT at the same time, we are all empathetic and educated and aware human beings, we know about all the injustices and problems in the world, so if we can get a following from our fun, dancy, feel good music, we’re gonna use that platform to the best that we can to let ya’ll know that there’s some fucked up things going on in the world. Our typical way of doing that is by lifting the voices of those who need it, whether by directly sharing the words of the oppressed, or by sharing resources to directly help the oppressed. We also do what we can to raise funds when we can. It’s hard, cuz this is like our job, but we’re also lucky enough to have a job that has the power to directly influence others for the greater good. 

There’s a karaoke machine at the SPI afterparty, what song are you playing?

TIM: I don’t do karaoke sorry (not sorry)
BRIT: I like to do some Amy Winehouse or Avril Lavigne or Michelle Branch or Eminem or Paramore or Sheryl Crow or LIT or Puddle of Mudd or The Killers or Shania Twain or Kelly Clarkson. That’s probably enough for now.
BEN: I only do duets
CHRIS: I’ll leave the karaoke to Brit and Kayleigh

SPI Fest is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see?

TIM: I’ve been #blessed to have seen most of these bands. But some I’m very excited for are KMOY full band, Mutiny, and Eevie Echoes 
BRIT: KMOY FULL BAND!
BEN: Stoked to hang with the Call Me Malcolm fellas again
CHRIS: I know this is cliche but literally all of them

Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into  with our readers?

TIM: love potatoes 
BRIT: Go on spotify and like and follow all our shit bc spotify is annoying but those things are helpful for us please and thanks!!
CHRIS: Check out Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters and Del Paxton‘s Live from the Philadelphia Jazz Junction record.