We had the pleasure of interviewing the very charismatic and humorous, Jack Cattell for this issue of Issue Reset. Jack originally got in to music when he joined a band at school. He said his family has always had instruments around the house, yet he was quite late to picking one up and learning. Jack started playing bass at the age of 15 and “never looked back”. After quickly developing his love for music, he started performing as a solo artist in 2017, and then recruited Ally and Josh in 2019 followed by Anton in 2020. Jack told us that it is hard to pinpoint a specific inspiration for a song, each song is different and tells its own story. “Some come from personal experiences where the meaning is obvious, but others come from just singing random melodies or lyrics until something works which can make your songs more open to interpretation,” he tells us. Jack classes himself as “a song writing nerd” who is always looking into new ways of writing and listening to how other people talk about writing songs. In his opinion he would say that “being open minded and trialling new techniques is the best way to improve yourself as a musician”.
When we asked Jack who his biggest music idols are, he replied with “that is always a tricky question.” He grew up listening to a lot of music that his dad played in the car including, The Kinks, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Springsteen. “I think all of those have a massive influence on the type of music I write and my style for sure.” More recently artists like Tom Grennan, Sam Fender and Blossoms stick out. He said that there is so many more names he could list “but the magazine would end up like the Yellow Pages”, which earned a laugh from us!
If you have not listened to Jack’s music before and “Indie/Alternative Rock/Folk Rock” sounds like a bit of you, you should definitely check his music out!
When we asked him what his goals for next year are he replied with, “as cliché as it sounds the biggest goal is always to improve on last year.” He wants to up his numbers and reach a wider audience as always, and to get him and the rest of his band out and about around the UK! “We live for playing live and we feel like we can mix it with the best when it comes to live performance!”
We asked Jack what the biggest challenge he has faced in his music career has been and he started off by saying, “The music industry is tough for everyone. We all know what we sign ourselves up for, but it doesn’t make it any easier.” He added, “Sometimes you can get yourself bogged down by focusing too much on how well other bands/artists are doing rather than focusing on yourself.” He thinks the biggest challenge he faces is focusing on the progression him and his band are making. He finds it is a lot easier to focus on what you’re not doing well, than what you are doing well and sometimes he is guilty of not giving himself credit for how far they all have come as a band.” Additionally, “Despite the mental challenges that come with this I think long term it’s the mentality you need to strive for better. So, it’s both good and bad in that sense.”
If Jack and the band could collaborate with any artist, alive or dead, he would want to collaborate with Chuck Berry. He believes he was a “pioneer of rock and roll”, being incredibly talented and one hell of a performer too! “I find it impossible to skip a Chuck song.” If it was somebody alive now, “it’d have to be either Ray Davies or The Boss (Springsteen).” He tells us that Ray was his first ever concert and wrote my favourite song of all time ‘Waterloo Sunset’, as for Springsteen he rightfully claims, “don’t think that one even needs explaining”. Icons.
In five years, Jack and the band hope that they can call this their career, “that’s the goal!” He would love to be touring the UK in 5 years and selling out shows up and down the country. “If I was little less realistic, I’d love to change the UK to the world but maybe we’ll save the for 10 years HAHA!”
If Jack could go back to the start of his music career and tell his younger self something he has learnt now it would be to work harder, to invest more time into it, also to be open to learning more. He states that when you start out its easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of the industry and the buzz of playing shows. While he still gets that buzz, he also knows that he “puts in the hard yards that nobody sees.” He also thinks he would have tried to get a band involved much sooner because Ally, Josh and Anton have all improved the sound astronomically.
As we are also a fashion magazine, we asked Jack if he would class himself as a fashionable person, he answered with “If you’d asked me this question as little as 2 years ago, I would have categorically said no. I had about 5 different outfits in my wardrobe and that’s pushing it!” Yet, now he’d like to think that’s changed! He thinks he has finally found his style and now loves clothes and finding new staple pieces to fill my wardrobe. “Luckily most of the pictures from my youth are now hidden away and my more fashionable side is all that’s visible!”
When we asked Jack what the song, he is playing on repeat right now is he said that “Through All The Fighting” by the band, Candid, “is a truly beautiful tune that pulls on your heart strings every time you listen.” Which we would definitely agree with him on!
We would like to say a big thanks to Jack, it was lovely to speak to him about his and the bands music career! We look forward to their next releases!
By CAITLIN
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