Hiya CATLEA, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today.
Thank you so much for having me! It’s lovely to be here.
Tell us a bit about where you are from and how you got into music?
I’m originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, but I’m currently based in London. As for how I got into music, I don’t actually remember a time when I wasn’t actively involved in it. The moment I showed an interest in singing and piano, my parents nurtured it with lessons, and I’ve been a professional musician since the day I graduated high school. Asking how I got into music feels a bit like asking how I got into breathing.
What’s the live music scene like in London right now?
It’s vibrant! London is overflowing with so much talent, and while you might expect that to create a lot of competition, in my experience the reality is quite the opposite. I think there’s an understanding of how difficult being a musician in a major city can be, so we all try to support each other as much as possible.
Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
I would keep an eye out for Marianne Leigh and Men Don’t Have Nightmares. They’re just early on enough that you can say you discovered them before they were famous, but I don’t think that luxury will last for very long.
Do you think it’s easy to become a victim of our surroundings?
Of course. The easiest thing to do is to let life get to you. As far as I can see, most of us spend a good amount of time doing whatever we can to get by, and sometimes it can feel like the only way to survive is the path of least resistance. Maybe it is, for a while. But I also think that everyone has a choice, however small, to fight against our circumstances in one way or another. We might not fix it all in a day, but we can be kinder, and we can take small, deliberate steps toward the next version of ourselves.
What are your ambitions for your work?
My ultimate ambition is to help people feel understood and less alone through my art. Beyond that, I’m constantly trying to grow both personally and as a creator. I wouldn’t be happy if I were just the singer, the writer, or the pianist. The more mediums I can learn, the better I can articulate the things I’m trying to say, which means I can do even more to help others feel seen and heard.
What’s your favourite social media platform to use and why?
Well, to be honest, I don’t really have a favorite. There are different benefits to different platforms, and there are several that hold value for different reasons. I think the most beneficial one for a lot of artists right now though is TikTok, since it’s so specifically tailored to push your videos out to the people who are most likely to enjoy them.
We believe it’s essential to have a presence on Facebook, Instagram and X to introduce yourself to all the different types of audiences out there, what’s your thoughts on that?
Social media is absolutely crucial for getting your art out there if your goal is to reach as many people as possible. It can be hard to strike the right balance between posting regularly and creating something interesting, but once you figure that out, it’s kind of impossible to deny how important that is for getting eyes on your work. That being said, I think another important thing to keep in mind is who primarily uses the social media you’re posting to. If you’re making music, in my opinion, Tiktok, Instagram, and YouTube are vastly more important to focus on than Facebook or X (R.I.P. Twitter).
What’s your view on the Music Industry today?
It’s a difficult beast, but that’s nothing new. It’s just a different kind of difficult now than it was before. I think one of the hardest parts of the industry today is how much more musicians have to do. Before, the struggle was with getting your work in front of an audience, but once you got a label to back you, they mostly took care of the rest. Now, you don’t need anyone’s permission to put your art into the world, but you do have to be your own manager, distributor, publisher, agent, etc. until you’re able to build a reliable team. It’s not impossible, but balancing business with actual creation is something a lot of us struggle with.
What’s your thoughts on AI generated music?
I’ve had a lot of time to form a novel’s worth of opinions on this subject, as you might imagine. I’m going to focus on one singular point and put the others aside for now, because otherwise we’d be here for the rest of the day and nobody wants that.
In my opinion, the entire point of art is connection. We create art, in all its forms, to better understand ourselves and each other. Even further, one of the most essential parts of how we process our deepest emotions is the time and effort we put into expressing them. That same time and effort is also what brings us a sense of fulfillment when we complete anything that we set out to do, artistic or otherwise.
If you like, you can go ahead and jump into a marathon in the final 10 meters. Insist you completed the race because you crossed the finish line. If you’re pressed for time, you can skip ahead to the last chapter of any book and read the ending. You can edit photos of yourself to have huge muscles and a smaller waist, or put your name on a group project that you barely even touched. But do you feel accomplished? Ultimately, would you feel fulfilled? I can’t speak for everyone, but I can speculate that the answer for the vast majority is “no.”
The immediacy of AI creation not only reduces connection to a surface level, it also eliminates personal fulfillment. It’s essentially fast food for art. Sure, it might create something quickly, but it’s impossible to reach the same level of quality and value. And I certainly wouldn’t refer to someone as a “chef” just because they successfully ordered a meal at a drive through.
What’s the biggest thing you have learned recently as you progress with your music?
I’ve been learning how to find my voice, both metaphorically and physically. There was a period of time over the last couple of years where my voice became noticeably weaker and as a result I struggled deeply with my confidence. Thankfully, it was a combination of very fixable things, and now my voice is the strongest it’s ever been, which is also giving me the space to take my music in a direction that I’m deeply excited for.
What’s currently in your ears and on rotation at the moment?
I keep lots of artists in my regular rotation, PVRIS, Nothing But Thieves, Half Alive, and Bring Me the Horizon to name a few, but I honestly like to spend a good portion of time just letting my recommendations play and discovering new songs and artists that way, so I end up finding something new almost every time I listen to music.
What was your worst experience on stage? Any funny stories to share?
I’ve been pretty fortunate that my performance experiences have been mostly positive, but obviously sometimes things go wrong and we have to improvise.
There was one show where one of my sleeves completely detached from my outfit mid-song, and another where my shoes kept falling off so I eventually just ripped them off and threw them to a friend off stage.There was a show where the soundboard glitched and made my voice sound like I was possessed by a demon with a mediocre passion for singing indie/alt rock. Oh and there was the time my drummer destroyed a kick drum mid-set and had to change the skin while the guitarist and I improvised, which was of course the same set where the whole band decided to surprise me by being shirtless for the whole show.
Got any fun, funny stories from life on the road?
A few months ago, I was heading back from Cornwall with Max (my guitarist and partner in crime) and our photographer. None of us had ever been to Stonehenge before, and through a series of discussions and Google searches, we discovered it was basically on the way. We also found out that while you can’t technically visit at night, you can go for a walk on a public trail that gets you close enough to see it pretty well.
We got to the trail at around 10pm when it was already pitch black out and had to walk through woods and past some fields for about 20 minutes, but eventually we were able to make out the faintest outline of Stonehenge.
After about 5 minutes, a night guard who was doing the rounds came up to us (Max nearly had a heart attack) and asked if we’d like for him to shine a flashlight on the stones so we could get better pictures, to which of course we said yes. It was a wild and surreal experience and I’m pretty sure that until the guard showed up, both Max and our photographer thought I was just dragging them into the woods to make them a couple of missing persons cases, which is fair.
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
My new song “Someone’s Got To” is about self-acceptance and overcoming unhealthy patterns and behaviors. It’s the first off a bigger project I have coming up called “Aftermath” about my process of grieving the person I thought I should be. This particular song represents the acceptance stage, where I finally come out on the other side both imperfect and ready to move forward.
What was the recording process like?
It was one of the most difficult songs I’ve ever had to record. It took several different attempts and sessions to get the final mix, in no small part due to the fact that I was actively struggling with alcohol at the time, and it wasn’t until I managed to get completely sober that I was able to finish the final vocals for the song. I think there’s something to be said about the fact that my songs have always centered around true stories from my life, and I just couldn’t complete this song until the subject matter was something I actually fully believed.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
I think my feelings on it are mixed. On one hand, I would love to get the chance to record the vocals again knowing how much stronger my voice is now, since only certain parts of the song were recorded sober. On the other hand, I think the fact that different parts of the song were recorded at different stages in my journey adds a depth to it, and maybe that’s more important than getting the “perfect” take.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
If you’re already nearby and you like my music, I have some UK shows coming up in September and I would love to meet you there. Either way, thanks so much again to RGM for having me today. It’s been an absolute pleasure.
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