JULY AUGUST 2017 BUZZ Magazine

ON THE COVER
Hey Alex. How are you doing these
days? (What’s been going on?) Hi
Constance! I’m good. I am currently
up in the Blue Ridge Mountains for
some r and r. I got to plays some
new songs for the folks up here, so
that was cool.
So I’m sure you get this a lot, but I
have to ask: What is the story behind
the name of the band? Are
you all kitty lovers, tiger fans? Haha,
well, it goes like this; when we
first all got back together playing
music again, we were playing at a
house party. I was wearing a t-shirt
that read, “I Heart Cats.” No particular
reason, I just put it on. Well,
throughout the night, someone was
yelling “I Heart Cats” after songs. It
was funny. And we like funny, so it
stuck.
What inspired you to play music? I
grew up in a house full of music. My
mom used to crank Pink Floyd, I
remember. I have three older
brothers and they all are guitar
players. It was just something you
did.
So how do you all know each other?
It’s a cool story. Scot, Jack and I
all went to high school together,
and played in bands together back
then. But, of course, time and circumstance
caused us all to drift
apart. Families, jobs, all that. Then,
haha, fate intervened. A few years
ago, we basically ran into each other
again. And it slowly took shape.
Though I had been writing and playing
my acoustically based songs all
along, I hadn't picked up an electric
guitar in about fifteen years! I still
had a few, just hadn’t played them
at all. It was kind of humorous trying
to get that feel back. I’m still
pretty terrible, my fingers are not
nearly as nimble as they were. Anyway,
we just started jamming, I
brought in some songs of mine, and
it went on from there. Thirty years
later.
What other projects were you all
involved in before forming this
band? Well, as I said, I had been
doing my solo stuff, mostly on the
beaches, and just a lot of songwriting.
I write a LOT of songs, haha!
Jack has been in many area bands,
and is currently in Tickle, a kickass
metal band that has been around
for about twenty years, I think.
Scott the drummer had been kind
of inactive, I think haha. He had
been in bands years ago like all of
us, but not too much recently, until
now. Scot (different spelling) has
been musical the whole time.
So I read on your website that you
enjoy performing songs from the
early 50s all the way to modern
music. So what musicians over the
years have inspired the band? Can
you name a few songs that you
enjoy to perform the most? It all
starts with the Beatles! Doesn’t it
always, haha? We love good, melodic
songs. Scot has a really amazing
voice, and the other guys are
good singers so we love to do harmonies.
But we are all old metal
heads, too, so we sneak some of
that in there as well. We’ve not
been quite bold enough to do a
Slayer song, which would be my
dream, but we have leaked in a
little Sabbath! A couple of favorite
cover songs would be Freedom by
George Michael, who was an unbelievable
songwriter, and U B Illin’ by
RUN DMC. Good, fun stuff.
You also perform original music.
Who is the writer in the band? Or
do you write as a team? I write the
songs, for the most part. Though
we have just added one from Jack.
I’ll bring it in pretty much complete,
usually on a quick demo. We might
add some harmonies or some other
element or texture, but I don’t feel
that it works for me if I don't have a
complete song for the guys.
How would you describe your original
music to somebody who
hasn’t heard it yet? I Heart Cats
Band is straight up guitar rock and
roll with an emphasis on catchy,
melodic song structure. Nothing
fancy. Turn up the guitars and rock.
My solo stuff, Alex Wald Music, is
much folksier, mostly acoustic, ob-
26 BUZZ MAGAZINE JULY-AUGUST 2017