Sounds of The Big Cats

Austin, TX, USA

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About

Paul and Jon had already been in two different bands together, The Stands and Wayne's Moon Wax, when we decided to just do some stuff on our own. Paul could already play drums, and Jon couldn't really play guitar, but he'd always wanted to. We worked up a few songs with stolen minutes (and borrowed guitars) here and there. One day, we packed up our equipment and some friends--Amy Allen, Chris Allen, Clint Cornitius, Jennifer Murray, and Julie Wade--and set up a makeshift studio in a trailer on the lot of Paul's dad's John Deere dealership. We recorded a few songs, using our friends as backup singers a couple of times and dubbing them the Back Fence Chorus. Months later, we recorded "The Nose Song" in Paul's living room, using no other instrument than Paul's old four-pad drum machine. Our friend Allen "Bigal" Brister provided the punctuating exclamations of "Big!" As usual, Paul recorded and mixed the whole damn thing. We put all of our songs on a cassette, called it Beware the Monkey after something we saw on a Chinese restaurant menu, and handed it out to a few people. In 2006, Paul put all the Stands', Wayne's Moon Wax's, and The Big Cats' songs on CD. In celebration, Jon developed, finally, a cover for Beware the Monkey.

Now, years later, Paul and Jon are recording again. Jon is no, or at least not much, better on the guitar than he was. Nonetheless, we've decided to create new songs using the miracle of recording software. Modern livin'.

Our new stuff is going to sound quite a bit different from the old stuff. For one thing, our recording software allows much greater flexibility than the old four-track Teac we used to use. For another, Paul now plays the bass, so we'll get some more low end in there. For yet another, Jon has electric guitars, so no more putting effects on an acoustic and pretending it's an electric. And for one more, our tastes have changed in the many years between now and then. No surprise there.

Anyway, we finally have some new stuff starting to show up here. We hope you enjoy it. Thanks for popping by.

Member since: 6 years