Thanks so much to Robert and Jeff for the interview! The Catburgers is one of my favourite discoveries this year. Terrific pop songs and a story that’s super interesting with connections to the TVPs, Dreamworld Records, and the Edinburgh 80s scene. And there’s even more exciting news, the band is releasing the “Dreamworld Sessions” 7″ soon! It will include 3 of their songs! And there is also an accompanying cassette, “The Rocking Horse Demos“, with more songs too! So yeah, keep reading the interview and you will find out how to pre-order a copy. Now sit back and enjoy!
Thanks for inviting us both to be interviewed. Before answering your direct questions I should clear up some of the questions you have on your web page.
The Onion Cellar was club started by Stu Cant, Lind Irvine and myself Jeff Duffy. It much later morphed into Speed3 with a change of venue. There is a Facebook of the OC here https://www.facebook.com/onioncellar
Stu Cant wasnt in The Catburgers but he was in The Mysterons. The Mysterons were a band I created with Stu Cant on bass and Robert Jones on drums. And later Lenny Helsing (Green Telescope / Thanes) on keys. The Mysterons did play Queen Margaret Union with The Fizzbombs and We Free Kings.
Jeff And The Hasbeens is a name new to me but I can well understand it being synonymous with The Mysterons. It must have been the name used behind our backs !!
++ Hi Jeff and Robert! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Are you still involved with music?
Robert:I play mandolin these days. I have only played live a handful of times since the early nineties. I occasionally write songs on my acoustic guitar.
Jeff: I am taking somewhat a backseat from music at the moment due to ill-health but I have a third LP with my band JS International ready to record. I also played second guitar in Edinburghs Shock And Awe for 7 years until recently.
https://www.facebook.com/JSInternationalSuperStars/
https://thejeffsnipergroup.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063558757857
++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what your first instrument was? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen to at home while growing up?
Robert:I remember my mum and dad listening to The New Seekers and Frank Sinatra when I was very young. The first song I remember being aware of when it came out was Mouldy Old Dough by Lieutenant Pigeon. My first instrument was the drum kit. I started thinking about being a drummer long before I got a drum kit – I had a pair of drumsticks and figured out drumming patterns on my knees. I was obsessed with Stephen Morris from Joy Division and Pete de Freitas from Echo and the Bunnymen. I finally got a drum kit when I was 16.
Jeff:My first instrument was guitar. I paid a friend 50c to show 7 chords and I picked it up from there. I was brought up on a wholesome diet of punk rock. I still consider myself a punk. I played drums whenever I was allowed by the drummer. This was my drum grounding for The Catburgers
++ Had you been in other bands before The Catburgers? What about the rest of the band members? Are there any recordings?
Robert:As soon as I got the drum kit I began making music with school friends. This was around 1981. We spent our time figuring out how to cover Joy Division songs. We got hold of a portastudio and so there are some recordings. The band was called Rejection Level. We never played live, and stopped when most of us went to uni. When I got to uni I spent a year separated from my drums. I got them shipped up in second year, and joined a band of schoolfriends from St Andrews. We were called A Walk Through H (named after an early Peter Greenaway film – pretentious or what!). Stuart, the Catburgers bassist, played bass in that band. He and I went to see the TV Personalities at a gig in Edinburgh in Autumn 1985 at Moray House, and we were both totally blown away. We came out of the gig and basically said to each other immediately “we need to quit the band we are in and start making music like that!” I was a drummer, but I figured out some guitar chords, plucked up the courage to start singing and started writing songs.
Jeff: I was in a band called Neoteric Noyade prior to The Catburgers. No known recording thankfully. The then bass player Mark Shade now roadies guitar with The Proclaimers. The then singer Stu Munro now drums for JS International after a gap of 30 odd years.
++ Where were you from originally?
Robert: Harpenden in Hertfordshire, England
Jeff: Clermiston, Edinburgh also known as the Jungle
++ How was Edinburgh at the time of The Catburgers? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?
Robert: Jeff will have a very different take on this to me. Stuart and I loved the TVPs and took them as our inspiration. We didn’t know anyone in the music scene initially. We got a rehearsal room in the legendary/infamous Niddry St rehearsal rooms. It was only once we met Jeff (and Stuart Cant) that we began to get to know other people in the scene. The rehearsal rooms were a series of damp, dingy cellars. I literally had mould growing on my Vox amp. Every Edinburgh band I knew rehearsed there, and the pub The Green Tree was 50 yards down the road, so we all used to drink there.
Jeff:While running The Onion Cellar there were too many bands to choose from in likeability. The Shop Assistants were Edinburghs darlings while Avalanche Records was a must store.
++ During those late 80s there were many great indiepop bands from Scotland. You were part of the great scene in your town that included Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes and The Fizzbombs. But would you recommend some obscure bands I might have missed?
Robert:The Thanes, of course. Beeville Hive Five. The Vultures. The Stayrcase
Jeff: For indie -pop jingle jangle why not check out The Holidaymakers.
++ How was the band put together? How was the recruiting process?
Robert: I already said about how Stuart and I started. We then got a guy called Andy Benton on drums. I have no memory of where he came from. I think Stuart must have known him. He was not a drummer, but he was keen and we didn’t have anyone else to ask. We played live with him, and recorded a demo, but he had an “unusual” style. When he went for a drum break Stuart and I had to kind of pause and wait to see when the drum break would end and the next bar would start.
++ I read that Angus McPake from Jesse Garon and The Fizzbombs played drums for the band at some point. But you were the drummer, right? What happened? Maybe you were on holidays at the time?
Robert:I think Angus played for us briefly after Andy left and before Jeff joined us. We knew Jeff through the Onion Cellar and we were delighted when he offered to join.
Jeff:From what I remember Angus stood in for two gigs while I was getting up to speed.
++ What instruments did each of you play in the band?
Robert: I played guitar and sang, Jeff on drums and Stuart on Bass. We later recruited Keith Burns on lead guitar.
++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?
Robert:I already said about Niddry St rooms. I would usually write guitar parts and lyrics then take them to the band (although Stuart wrote some lyrics in the early days). If Jeff and Stuart approved, we’d finish the songs together.
++ What’s the story behind the band’s name?
Robert: A drunken night in The Pleasance Bar. It seems hard to believe but we had a lot of ideas and we really thought this was the best. Must have been very drunk!
++ On Soundcloud Robert Jones uploaded a bunch of songs by The Catburgers. Where do these songs come from? Demo tapes?
Robert:Yes demos, Dreamworld recordings and an album worth of tracks we recorded ourselves.
++ How many demo tapes did you release? Did you use to sell them? Or were they mostly for promotion purposes? To send to radio, promoters, and so on?
Robert: For promo. We never sold any.
++ Three songs, “The Acid Tree”, “Holiday House” and “Driving for the Brick” were produced by Jowe Head in London. How was your experience working with him? Were you fans of his music already?
Robert: Jowe is a legend. He was so kind to us when we went down to London. He put us up in his squat, and came to the studio with us. We used to call him Uncle Jowe. I was a big fan of some of the Swell Maps songs, like Cake Shop Girl, and loved the TVPs and the Househunters.
Jeff:Jowe Head is my Dad.
++ The recording session was paid for by Dan Treacy from the TVPs. I was wondering how this connection with Dan happened? Did you go all the way to London just to record the songs?
Robert:Well I think Dan was supposed to pay for the recordings! I doubt that he actually did. Jeff and Stuart knew Dan, having put the TVPs on at the Onion Cellar. We sent a demo to Dan (before Jeff was in the band) and he mentioned to Stuart and Jeff that he had got it and liked it a lot.
Jeff:We went to London to play a couple of gigs and record these songs. Dan paid for these recordings because no-one else did.
++ I believe these recordings were in the hope of releasing a record, no? Why didn’t it happen? Was it going to be released on Dan’s label?
Robert:They were recorded for release on Dreamworld, but Dan was losing it by this stage, and the label never released anything else.
++ Was there interest from other labels to put out your music? Maybe big labels?
Robert:We sent loads of tapes out, but got no interest. We were approached to record a track for a Simon and Garfunkel tribute album. We worked up a version of “Here’s to you Mrs Robinson” but nothing ever came of the album. Then The Lemonheads had the same idea as us a bit later!
++ On your Facebook I’ve seen an image of a Catburgers record, a 7″ perhaps. With a catalog label FELT 003. I am terribly curious about this. As far as I know you didn’t release any records. What is this about?
Robert: Felt Records is the record label my son has set up. He is a DJ and electronic/ambient music producer living in Copenhagen. For reasons I struggle to understand he has decided to release the three tracks on his label. It’s coming out on 4 November.
Jeff:I believe there is now a release date of 11 November.
https://soundcloud.com/f_e_l_t/the-catburgers-dreamworld-sessions?fbclid=IwAR07t1zfpDP1kX79ANNfusw5JZkvm1v6pTgqI_x4x2xa9SqBpWE3dbmRZrI
++ And there’s a tape that is coming out as well, can you tell me a bit more about it?
Robert: Yes the tape is a copy of the first demo we recorded back in 1986. None of us have a copy of it, but it turns out the music journalist Simon Reynolds kept the one he was sent by Dan, and we got s low quality digital copy from that. We’re only doing a tape release because the quality is not the best, although it does sound good! We may do a full release if we ever get hold of a decent copy of the recording.Yes the tape is a copy of the first demo we recorded back in 1986. None of us have a copy of it, but it turns out the music journalist Simon Reynolds kept the one he was sent by Dan, and we got s low quality digital copy from that. We’re only doing a tape release because the quality is not the best, although it does sound good! We may do a full release if we ever get hold of a decent copy of the recording.
++ Are there more recordings than the ones that are on Soundcloud?
Robert: No that was it. Maybe some live recordings.
++ My favourite song of yours is “Children’s TV”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?
Robert: I love that you like this song! It does make me smile when I hear it. It was a nostalgic song about how we used to watch these classic TV shows when we were young, whereas kids in the late 80s were playing computer games instead. It was a song I wrote early on, and we had stopped playing it very often by the time we came to record the “album”. But Keith, the new guitarist, loved the song so much that he convinced us to include it. We had a lot of fun recording that track I remember. Lots of laughter, and playing around putting the wee glockenspiel on it.
++ If you were to choose your favorite The Catburgers song, which one would that be and why?
Robert: I can’t pick one. Jeff might be able to. Maybe some of the slower more dreamy songs like “Holiday House” and the early one “Cat Coos”.
Jeff:Too many to mention but “Darkness Before The Dawn” is a favourite.
++ What about gigs? Did you play many?
Robert:Yes we played lots of gigs, from Aberdeen to London.
++ I read about two venues you played at, The Queen Margaret and The Onion Cellar. What do you remember about these places? Did you have a favourite place for playing?
Robert: I don’t remember playing Queen Margaret. The Onion Cellar was amazing. It was just the place to be. I can vividly recall the excitement of going down the stairs into the venue. I was so excited when we got to play there.
Jeff:See above re QMU. The Onion Cellar was the place to be.
++ And what were the best gigs in general that you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?
Robert:Supporting the TVPs was always great, mainly because it meant that Dan was out there, and I idolised him! If Jeff remembers some gigs that may jog my memory!
++ A gig that comes to mind is the one supporting the TVPs at The 100 Club in London on Aug. 27, 1987. A few days ago my friend Dave Driscoll uploaded the complete gig to Youtube! So cool! Was listening to this a surprise for you? What do you remember from that day?
Robert:I don’t know if you noticed, but Dan is not singing! He didn’t turn up for the gig, so Jowe sang and Jeff played guitar! I think there were about a dozen people in the audience. It sounds like we went down quite well.
Jeff:There was more than 12 Robert, I recall it was well attended.
++ And were there any bad ones?
Robert:There was a gig in Galashiels that was both very bad and very good. Jeff was very sleepy for some reason, and only seemed to be able to drum and half speed. The gig was in a huge sports hall and the audience were tucked away by a bar far away from us. We played the whole gig feeling mortified at our poor performance, but when we finished and walked over to the audience they were super enthusiastic about us. We maybe should have learned a lesson and slowed down all the time!
Jeff:Im still sleepy. Stay away from drugs now kids.
++ When and why did The Catburgers stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards? The Mysterons I believe?
Robert:Stuart (now professor of Chemistry) left the band when his academic career became more demanding. He was a unique and brilliant bassist and I didn’t want to keep the Catburgers going without him. Jeff and I were joined by Mal Kergan (ex of Rote Kapelle) on bass, and we became Howl. Howl ended when I became a teacher and no longer had time to rehearse.
++ Has there been any The Catburgers reunions?
Robert:No
++ Was there any interest from the radio? TV?
Robert:Peter Easton played us on Radio Scotland
Jeff: I remember being played on Belgian Radio.
++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?
Robert:Nope!
++ What about fanzines?
Robert:I think there were some reviews of gigs.
++ Looking back in retrospect, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?
Robert: Hard to say. Going down to London recording for Dreamworld was amazing I guess. Going down well live was always a buzz. I also just loved rehearsing and writing new songs.
++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?
Robert:Whittling.
++ Do you follow football? What’s your team? Hibernian?
Robert:Nope. And your 50/50 guess was wrong for Jeff!
++ Visited Edinburgh once and for such a short time that I want to return. So I’d love to ask you what would you suggest checking out in your town, like what are the sights one shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks that you love that I should try?
Robert:I don’t live in Edinburgh any more, so all the things I would recommend to check out probably got demolished a decade ago!
++ Anything else you’d like to add?
Robert:I’d just like to thank you for asking the questions. I have enjoyed this trip down memory lane.
Jeff: Thanks Again Roque
One Response to “:: The Catburgers”
Thanks for this interview Roque, this is an amazing discovery and I’ve since ordered a copy of the 7″ single and would love to hear more of their music and that album’s worth of songs they recorded. I’m hoping someone releases them. Also I hope they put the demo tape up on Bandcamp for people to purchase just like the 7″ single.
Wally