Though Catherine Kelleher now goes by the indie-electro alias of Catcall, she is often still remembered as former frontwoman of punk trio Kiosk.

Something she is slightly bemused by, “it’s weird because I’ve been doing Catcall for longer than Kiosk existed now so it’s really distant but it did start everything off,” she begins.

“It was the catalyst for me doing music and I think it gives people a point of reference [the punk style] especially in live shows or if they don’t quite understand Catcall.”

After parting ways with Kiosk in 2007 after the sudden loss of her father, Kelleher began the four year long process of grieving, rediscovering herself. T

Triggering a change in musical direction to escape from personal tragedy, which brought us her debut album, The Warmest Place this year.

After so long, she can reflect, “the build-up was intense and we did a tour and a run of shows and I just kind of went away. I went to Europe for five weeks and travelled and now I’ve come back to kind of close everything off. It’s been pretty intense but not in the way I thought.”

“I’d been working on it for so long,” she says, “it was my first record and you feel very vulnerable and don’t know what to expect. Then you put it out there and life just goes on. It’s been an amazing experience having the opportunity to even put it out, I was really grateful for that.”

While so many faced with a tragedy turn to angrier music as an outlet, Kelleher dealt with the loss of her father by discovering happy, pop music; setting The Warmest Place apart from most upbeat records.

“It came from a sad place but the whole point is that it’s escapism,” reasons Kelleher. “Pop and fun music is what helped get me through shitty times. Punk was what I turned to as an angsty teenager. [Pop music] made me escape and I felt kind of happy and it got me through. It’s weird but I think punk had already been so big in my life I needed something new.”“It came from a sad place but the whole point is that it’s escapism… Pop and fun music is what helped get me through shitty times.”

Any woman in music is subject to many comparisons and Kelleher is no exception. However, instead of being likened to mainstream pop princesses she is described in the same realms as MIA, Debbie Harry, or Stevie Nicks.

Artists she herself looks up to: “They just have a genuine attitude and their own style and vibe that they own completely. They are effortlessly cool, strong women with a lot of attitude with songwriting smarts as well.”

The process of composing pop music is also a completely different experience for Kelleher who has a different performing and writing background than most pop singers, “Compared to the likes of Nicki Minaj my songs come from a different place.”

“I’d probably call what I am indie pop,” she settles, “people get an idea of something that has more of an organic development. Those artists have a bajillion songwriters and a million producers and it’s still a lot of hard work but it’s different.”

A debut album doesn’t come without judgement and one in particular from American music juggernaut, Pitchfork caught the attention of Catcall fans.

The debate went on however without the knowledge of the artist herself, “I didn’t read any reviews, not even the positive ones, because if I only read the positive ones – that’s cheating. I felt so connected to the record that it felt too intense to read reviews. Almost like someone talking behind my back.”

She retells how she first caught wind of the negative write-up: “I was in Shanghai and I got off the plane and all these people were tweeting me. I got the score and didn’t read anything else but I let my boyfriend and my sister read it and they were like, ‘Well she didn’t get it’, and I can understand what a person who didn’t get it would say.”

Perhaps Catcall fans could use some of Kelleher’s level headedness when it comes to critics. “It’s unfortunate Pitchfork has such intense power and people think it’s such a big deal because I have never read it,” she says.

“For me, if my favourite artist was like ‘Oh Catcall’s the WORST’, I’d be more offended. It was annoying that everyone made a big deal because it doesn’t matter at the end of the day, I’m still going to make music and it doesn’t make me feel differently about my record.”

Kelleher adding philosophically: “you’re never going to win that war, if you get defensive you’re following your tail round in circles, you just have to develop a thick skin.”

Catcall is an escape for all, not just Kelleher, and her eclectic style, humour, and film clips enhance the image.

The video for ‘The World Is Ours’, where cheerleaders and killer pom poms take over the world, is another point of difference, setting Catcall apart from pop singers taking themselves too seriously.“For me, if my favourite artist was like ‘Oh Catcall’s the WORST’, I’d be more offended. It was annoying that everyone made a big deal because it doesn’t matter at the end of the day.”

“Yvette Paxinos who did it is a Sydney-now-London filmmaker with big ideas and I love the playfulness,” says Kelleher. “Everyone’s [clips] are so serious and moody or they’re really jokey like OK GO. I’m a pop culture junkie and that video clip reminded me of [cult Stephen King horror] Carrie and cheerleaders. It was great, so much fun.”

Kelleher is yet to decide on venturing overseas for a tour just yet, but one unlikely destination sure to be a success is Brazil, due to the mass of Catcall fans.

She elaborates, “’Satellites’ is always on this radio station, Antena 1 over there and I get a lot of Brazilian kids writing to me. My band’s like, ‘Let’s do it’, but I would have to organise a grant. I’m half expecting to get off the plane and be greeted by screaming Brazilians,” she laughs at the image, “I don’t think it’s like that.”

After the long road to put her debut album out, Kelleher is looking to speed things up the next time around. “I’m definitely going to do it in a more urgent kind of atmosphere,” she admits.

“I feel like it took a long time to learn and develop my studio and live performance over the last four years so I feel I have new things to learn but all the ground work is done so the next record should be out in a shorter time and I’m hoping to capture the punk thing a lot more.”

The punk ‘thing’ is most evident when experiencing Catcall live, something Melbourne and Sydney fans will get to experience from the Catcall shows this week.

Kelleher herself, is pumped, “I made sure to get interesting, eclectic supports for each show and all the bands are really exciting and bands I really like. I guess the show’s just going to be a different experience to the record – it’s punk!”

Both shows are to help launch the release of The Warmest Place on vinyl, which will be available for purchase at both gigs, something that delights Kelleher, “I’ll be signing and getting a whole bunch of them ready for the show, the test sounded great so I’m really excited.”

The Warmest Place is out now through Ivy League Records.
Catcall plays The Toff In Town in Melbourne tonight, with support from Forces & Special Award DJs and GoodGod in Sydney this Saturday 15th December, with Model Citizen, Four Door & DJ Del. Full details and tickets here.

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