Interview: Josh The Cat

Josh The Cat is a place, a state of mind, a portal through which Melbourne singer, songwriter, producer and guitar FX pedal addict Joshua Teicher travels to explore his personal musical galaxy. Dreamy yet pop, gentle yet bold, ambitious yet authentic, his music is defined by his sincere, disarming voice and his sharp production.
His fascination with music began as a kid avidly glued to David Bowie in Labyrinth, Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker and immersed in The Beatles CD box set, all of which inspired him to see music as a boundless medium of stories, fears and triumphs.
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What is your name and what do you do?
Josh The Cat
Some up the sound of your music in three words?
Dreamy, nostalgic, pop
Where’s your hometown?
Melbourne, Australia
When was the last time you went to a gig you weren’t playing and who did you see?
I went to an instore event at Oh! Jean Records, a record store on Nicholson St, Fitzroy. I came kind of late but managed to see Essie Holt and Nussy.
What’s your favourite music venue to perform in or attend a show at?
As much I appreciate a big spectacle I really enjoy seeing gigs in unusual or small places, I’m drawn to the immediacy and intimacy. Some of my favs for that in Melbourne would be Some Velvet Morning or LongPlay. Or Loophole or Donau115 in Berlin and house concerts anywhere.
What venue is on your bucket list to play at and why? (Can be anywhere in the world)
I would love to play at this big ol place in Berlin called Funkhaus. It’s the former GDR national radio station. But it’s not like what you are probably imagining – this place is huge! Like seriously huge multi-level building. From the outside it looks like a giant factory by a lake. But inside there are recording studios of all shapes and sizes, with wonderful old wood panelling and several are large enough to fit an orchestra (they used to record the state orchestras in there). People rent out the spaces short and long term. It’s magical. I’ve done some recording there in one of the studios and produced Phia’s album there.
It’s not so much a music venue as such but because of all these spaces I mentioned there has been an emergence of specially curated mini-festivals happening there. Bon Iver and some other people put one there with a lot of his favorite artists collaborating on new music for the audiences and the most recent one I saw (via Instagram) had Feist, Kings of Convenience and Gordi. I’d like to get to that level of being in demand for exciting collaborations.
And, your favourite festival? Why? Where, Who was/what was the highlight?
This is a tricky one to answer because I’m torn between seeing Pantha Du Prince at Meredith a long time that was an amazing experience because I was really vibing on his music at the time versus Fusion Festival in Germany.  Fusion Festival is one of Europe’s largest music festivals and is completely independent and feels more like a huge adult playground for a week with everyone participating in all kinds of things which I will leave up to your imagination.

Where was the most surprising place you discovered a big musical influence?
When I was living in Berlin I heard of studio assistant job going around for someone I was vaguely aware of. I went over to his house and he made me tea, showed me one of the projects he was finishing mixing and gave me one of his records. It was minimalist ambient pianist and composer Nils Frahm.
Name 3 bands/DJ’s/artists we need to check out?
Really enjoying Laura Jean, in particular the song Girls on the TV! She has just nailed a sound that and a feeling that is like my secret island. I’ve been watching a lot of live Moses Sumney performances lately online, very inspiring other worldly power. Really like seeing him reinterpret his own work. Also heard a few of the new Neil and Liam tracks, not at all what I was expecting, it’s really out there and brilliantly woozy.
Where was the last bar or restaurant you went to?
Rook’s Return on Brunswick Street has a pretty awesome chilled vibe, and often some really great local bands
What did you order and was it any good?
It was a cold night and I had mulled wine. Very nice, spicy 10/10
You’ve lived in Berlin, how does the music scene differ to that of Melbourne?
Berlin goes all night and sometimes for days and days and is very open, anything goes, there’s a very liberal artistic culture there. I think the after effects of a tumultuous 20th century of upheaval has had the repeated outcome of creating a vacuum, both culturally and socially, and creatives have often come to fill that space from all over the world. It makes it very exciting, spontaneous and thriving. Despite that, I would still argue Melbourne has a stronger local music scene. There are various reasons for this but one is we have to work really hard because we are geographically isolated compared to somewhere like Berlin and also because we have so many really good music venues of all sizes, particularly in the medium range. This provides an opportunity for artists to develop their craft and build an audience at the same time. We have an incredible and diverse music scene as a result.
You’ve just released a new single ‘I’ll Remember You’’ what location/city did you record it in?
It got recorded and produced all over. The vocal in it was recorded in Berlin at about 2am in the middle of winter and I recall it was heavily snowing outside the window of the studio. The original kind of basic structure and arrangement came together there too along with some of the synths. I went back to Melbourn to re-record bass (Luke Hodgson), drums (Graeme Pogson) before cutting it all up, re-sampling it and then adding even more epic samples (I love samples! But I love humans too) Then I went on tour in Germany with another act and on the road I came up with a new arrangement combining all this and new layers like the strings, glockenspiel and other elements. Then came back to Melbourne to wrap up the final pieces, record new guitar and more synths – but I knew something was missing: Sax! So my friend Ed Gould in Alice Springs sent down an epic sax solo from the desert to really take this song to the next level.
Where and when can we see you perform?
On Tuesday September 25th I will be playing my Melbourne single launch show at The Gaso Upstairs in Collingwood. It will be the debut of my full band featuring members of The Cat Empire, Meg Mac, Husky and Fraser A Gorman. I’m very excited. Then I’m going to strip it all back for a solo show in Sydney on Wednesday October 10th at a special night called FolkSwagon that takes place at Cafe Lounge in Surry Hills.