Understandably, some folks are a little puzzled by the personnel behind Catpower. For now, all I'm going to tell you is that Catpower is one Chan Marshall, a 24 year old female 'singer-songwriter' (yikes) based in New York and signed to Matador. I'll let her fill in the rest in a minute. However, in order to satisfy those of you who were as curious as I was when a bizarre press release arrived trumpeting the release of Catpower's debut album "What Would the Community Think". The garbled and confusing document in question was apparently stolen from the back of the first Janis Ian album. Now Janis Ian fans are a bit thin on the ground in indie rock circles (for the record she was the 70s folkie who sang that song about 'valentines that never came' - clutching at straws Trivia Ed) so the result was that most people wondered why good old Matador were releasing records by a 16 year old folk singer!
Blinded by irony, I finally catch up with Chan (pronounced Shaun) drooling over a cute picture of Beck in Blah Blah Blah and ready to tell me her life story while coming down from a caffeine overdose. So let's set the record straight....

"OK, I'll go back over some recent history. I guess I'm from Atlanta, although my parents separated and I ended up going to 12 different schools. I've lived in Georgia, Memphis, North Carolina and Atlanta. I got a band together ages ago with some friends just to goof around - we had four guitarists and a drummer. We did five shows just to play together, we had no real songs. I got a bit sick of it as I was more interested in writing songs in my bedroom rather than playing live for a laugh. I got some songs together, called myself Catpower after a friend saw me wearing a Cat Diesel Power hat and released a 7" single on Making of American records ("Headlights").
I moved to New York with my friend Glenn, who was a drummer who was editing a fanzine called Lowlife. We did a few shows with musos, a lot of jazz crap in squats and lofts, then Glenn moved back home and I quit playing music for ten months, as the idea of playing alone just seemed laughable.
"I ended up playing my first solo show in April 1994 in CBGBs Gallery as support to God Is My Co-Pilot after they suggested I "show up". I eventually showed up about an hour before the gig as I saw my name billed in a listings mag! I didn't really want to play without Glenn but I went ahead and I ended up doing some gigs with GIMCP and Truman's Water outside New York. Things really got going when I opened up for Liz Phair and the Raincoats, as Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) was playing with them at the time. Tim Foljahn (Two Dollar Guitar) saw me at the soundcheck and both he and Steve came up after the show and introduced themselves. It was scary because it was my biggest show, there was 1000 people there and I was used to dozens! In fact I didn't realise who Steve and Tim were at first! "Steve initially approached me about releaseing something on Smells Like... records, his label, and I was totally flattered that they wanted to put my songs out, and then they asked if they could play with me! We played a show together in September 94, and as I was too scared to release a solo record I asked them to record with me. I was used to home recording, but I was really impressed with the 8-track we were using. I got insecure when people said they didn't like the sound so I spent my entire Matador advance at Easley Studios in Memphis getting it just right. Tim and Steve are really good musicians, they picked it up really quickly."

Are you happy playing with a band or do you like solo gigs now?
"Yes and no, it depends on my mood, I can swing between the two extremes if I'm in a weird mood! I really like working with Tim and Steve but they have other commitments. I have to fit Steve around his day job with Sonic Youth, I wouldn't ask him to give them a miss, and besides I couldn't afford him! I've also have done some gigs in Boston and New York with the Dirty Three which I was really excited about. Bob Pollard from Guided By Voices asked me to play some shows with them last June, and although I LOVE their songs and their writing, I thought, "how am I going to keep up with those rocking guys!" It was a tough audience for a solo performer but it was real fun."

You've done a cover of the Smog song 'Bathysphere' on the new record. Are you a big fan, and what other music inspires you?
"Usually I hate playing live, someone said do you want to play live with Smog, so I've done that a few times cos I love them. I wrote to Bill (Smog) after their 'Julius Caesar' record came out in '93 and it really clicked with me when I saw them live. Other musicians? I also love Peter Jeffries ('Human Carbine'), Fuck, who are on Esler/ Walt records and have been around for ever. They only played one show last year cos they live so far apart. I love a band from Atlanta called the Rocketeers though they're unsigned in Europe, as well as older stuff like Can, Leonard Cohen and so on."

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