Hometown: Calgary, AB
Label: 604 Records | Website: http://catthomsonmusic.com
Cat Thomson is a girl on a mission.
With her darkly ethereal vocals and a knack for dynamic arrangements, Cat Thomson is ready to tackle the charts with her debut single, “Sticks & Stones”, set for release tomorrow (October 22nd) on iTunes. The singer-songwriter has been paving her musical path from the moment she started piano lessons at age five to studying opera for five years at Louisana State University on a full scholarship.
Now signed with 604 Records, Thomson is shaping her music with the depth of her voice and lyrical intuition, and this was evident in her performance at Safefest earlier this month. Her full-length debut album, Puzzle, is slated for release in early 2014. I had the opportunity to chat with Cat at Safefest about shooting the music video for “Sticks & Stones”, her songwriting process, and ‘Cassica’.
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asapmusicblog.ca: So in relation to Safefest, which you are playing tonight, what was the first all-ages show that you attended and what was the first legal age show you attended?
Cat Thomson: The first concert that I ever went to that would have been all-ages was actually Britney Spears, and it was the Baby One More Time… concert. I remember I was never a big Britney Spears fan, but we went, and it was so fun! I was in grade nine, I think, when that came out. The first non-all ages show I went to – you can see how the tastes have changed – I went to Three Days Grace at Cowboy’s Bar in Calgary, I was just eighteen.
a: This past week, you went to LA to shoot your first ever music video for your debut single, “Sticks & Stones” – which is very exciting! What can you share with us about your experience?
CT: You always hear stories about how long the days are and stuff like that, but it wasn’t too bad. It was thirteen hour day, we started at about 6:00am and we had a really fantastic crew. There was only about ten of us, and it was back-to-back, non-stop, lots of running. There’s going to be really cool, different themes in the music video, like light versus dark, and I think it’s going to come together really, really well. So tons of styling, and lots of hair and make-up – you kind of feel like you’re getting pampered and wanting to fall asleep at the same time, but it was fantastic. It was really fun, and something that I’m excited to do again.
a: So from what I’ve heard of your music, you definitely have a particular intuition with your vocals and your music. What’s the songwriting process like for you?
CT: It’s a bit different for every song – it kind of depends on the mood I’m in. A lot of the times, it most usually starts with me just getting a feeling, I can’t even really describe it. It’s not like I’m like, ‘Oh! I need to go write a happy song, or a sad song!’ – it’s just a feeling I need to go write. I’ll sit down at the piano and I’ll kind of just play a bunch of different chords, and something that will stick out will stick out to me, and that’s kind of the way the song will come.
If it’s kind of a really melancholy chord, then I’ll know that maybe I’m in kind of a sad mood, and that’s kind of the song that needs to come out. I don’t sit and think about who it should be about or what it should be about – I usually realize by the bridge who it’s about in that moment. It’s kind of like poetry that comes out, and you don’t really know, and then you kind of realize, ‘Oh, that’s who this song is about. I get it!’ – and then it takes a shape near the end. It is a bit different every time, but I would say that it mostly starts with a melody, and then the lyrics come afterwards.
a: You’re signed to 604 Records, which I’ve always observed as a very tight-knit family. In particular, you’re really good friends with Jessica Lee, who is also on the label. You guys actually record and do covers of songs – also known as ‘Cassica’. How did that collaboration come about?
CT: It was interesting! We had a mutual producer, Kevvy Mental, who’s the lead singer of Fake Shark – Real Zombie! and also on Light Organ Records – this little incestuous family, I guess! Jessica had heard some of my stuff and really wanted a ballad for her album, we had never met – this was about a year and a half ago, and [she] asked Kevvy if I’d be interested in co-writing with her.
I jumped at the chance because I love her voice. I remember I was visiting family on the East coast, and I asked what she wanted it to sound like – very influenced by Christina Aguilera, etc. I wrote the melody to ‘Carry On’– the whole piano that you hear on it is what I sat and wrote, sent it to her and she loved it. We met about a week later, and her and I sat down and came up with some lyrics.
It was one of those weird moments, kind of like a kindergarten moment, where you’re like, “Do you want to be friends?!” – and we just really bonded. We’ve been best friends ever since, and we kind of realized that even though we have completely different genres – I’m more of an adult-alternative and she’s pop, our voices sound very similar when you put them together and it’s really freaky.
So we just started doing covers and got a really great response, so we’re starting to do more Cassica stuff. Be on the lookout for that!
a: So instead of having best friend necklaces, you pretty much have your voices!
CT: Yeah! Pretty much! That’s a good way of thinking about it, I’m going to tell her that!
a: Your debut album, Puzzle, is going to be released next year. How has the experience been in preparing and recording the album?
CT: It’s been amazing – it’s something you dream of, ever since I was little. I always say to people, there was never a Plan B, music was always a Plan A. I didn’t know what area in music I was going to go into, but when I got this opportunity to get signed to 604 and work with such phenomenal producers – being able to just write my own songs and to record them was such a learning experience for me. Learning to work with different people, getting the songs down, figuring out which songs need to be put on the album.. I named it Puzzle because they’re all very different, but they’re all very similar in a weird way so there’s all these little pieces. I’m very excited to share it with everybody. Early 2014, I think.
a: Switching gears a little bit, you’ve mentioned that you listened to Broadway musicals growing up. Do you have a particular one that is your favourite?
CT: I think I’m in love with anything Andrew Lloyd Weber – I know that’s a really easy way out, some people will think it’s an easy answer, but the first opera I ever went to was Phantom of the Opera. My parents brought my sister and I, I think I was six, and I just loved it! There’s a lot after that, but I remember in the car on family vacations we’d have Phantom of the Opera on tape – we would just belt it out in the car. That’s my favourite, and it’s stuck with me.
a: If you could narrow down a single message that you would want your music to convey, what might that message be?
CT: Overall, I think it’s just about experiencing and understanding yourself. A lot of my music… well, I would say all of my music comes from a personal place but I think people can really get in touch with that, and it can always go to something that they’re experiencing in their life. I would hope that the message my music brings across is that it’s okay to feel sad, it’s okay to feel happy, and it’s okay to feel mad about something. I want people to listen to the album as a whole and kind of go through a flood of emotions through it and know that’s okay – it’s okay to feel that way.
