Peter Cat
Peter Cat
Peter Cat
PETER CAT are the quintessential outsider pop band, bringing the restless formal experimentalism of Scott Walker and Frank Zappa together with a modern indie and synth-pop sensibility. Stylistically, they marry woozy, jazz-inflected guitars, warm analog synthesisers and a rhythm section with its roots in the DIY punk scene. Their live performances are energetic, unpredictable, and engaging, buoyed by vocalist and songwriter Graham Gillespie’s Bowie-esque baritone, imaginative lyrics, and dry sense of humour.
Formed initially as a solo project, Peter Cat swiftly signed with upstart Scottish indie MoFi Records for the release of debut LP The Saccharine Underground in 2020, which was distributed nationwide through Scottish heavyweight label Last Night From Glasgow. A full four-piece live band soon came together, and EP ‘The Magus’ followed in early 2022, receiving heavy rotation on Amazing Radio and support from the BBC’s Tom Robinson, Roddy Hart & Rapal shows.
When Tom played the title track on his 6Music mixtape, he commented that he'd saved “today’s oddest and most unsettling tune ‘til last,” and praised the track as the work of an “adventurous, leftfield songsmith.”
L-R: Kev Frew (drums), Beth Black (bass), Kyle MacNaughton-Wright (guitar & keys), Graham Gillespie (keys, guitar & vocals)
Peter Cat are equally at home making you laugh, as in songs like ‘Melon Dating Simulator!!’, a quirky cross-species love story set in a post-apocalyptic future, as they are making you cry – as in ‘The Day After The Funeral’, an arresting meditation on grief and the impossibility of mourning. Having toured widely across the UK since 2018, the band have built up a devoted audience around the country.
Gillespie says of the band's ethos: "we try to be as unapologetically weird as possible, but still within the format of what we think pop music is...we find kindred spirits with the likes of Pulp, Sparks and Joan As Policewoman: those sorts of artists who have no qualms asking their listeners to commit to entering their own world, and who make no bones about being a bit odd!"
Selected discography
Hand Through Hair (single, 2018)
Disappointing Lover (single, 2019)
I Don't Want To Come Back To You (single, 2020)
A.S.M.R. (single, 2020)
SO STR8 (single, 2020)
The Saccharine Underground (LP, MoFi Records, 2020)
Melon Dating Simulator!! (single, 2022)
Blue Raspberry (single, 2022)
The Magus (EP, 2022)
Nicholas (single, forthcoming 2023)
Selected Press
"...spindly, jazz-infused guitar lines, diseased ‘80s synths, crisp drum machines, unhinged vocals, and all manner of strange goodies. It is, of course, all rather brilliant too" – I Said Yeah
"I've saved today's oddest and most unsettling tune until last...from an adventurous, left-field songsmith" – Tom Robinson, BBC 6Music
"[Peter Cat] doesn’t go as far as Zappa when it comes to exploding the line between pop kitsch and experimental fervour, but he gives it a better go than most" – Is This Music?
“Features some excellent wordplay, and the finest use of ’cucurbitaceous’ in a pop song in recent memory” – SNACK Magazine
"An intriguing blend of upbeat, art-school, glam rock pop songs with catchy choruses and a fun sense of humour" – Scotland on Sunday
"A nostalgia-inducing glam-pop romp" – The Skinny
"Irreverent and smart pop music in the mold of Neil Hannon, Jarvis Cocker, Luke Haines and a sprinkling of Scott Walker...Peter Cat casts a wry eye over the world, and is moved to make music to match" – Scots Whay Hae!
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