Award winners face hurdles on the road as All-Queer-Trans band

You found Wisconsin's local music authority.

This is MagSync Radio.

We are local music.

Sorry that I'm like this.

That is cat and hurricane.

You know, cat and hurricane.

We've been playing them probably

since they were almost had started

back in 2015.

I know.

I have enjoyed them so much

from the very beginning.

Yeah.

To see where they have come.

Wow.

They've been through us through

three studios with MagSync Radio Ray

and the internet radio stage.

That's how long we've been playing.

Probably that song.

Founded in 2015,

Cat and Hurricane is an all-queer

in Transynth, Rock,

Indy band based in Madison

and composed of guitarist vocalist

Cat Rhapsody,

keyboardist vocalist Benjamin Rose

and drummer Alex Nelson.

And they're often accompanied

on stage with singer Candice Griffin.

And the band has stirred up a storm

across the Midwest and beyond.

Thanks to their energetic live shows

strong sense of community

and gendered genre-defying songwriter,

which could be gender-defining songwriting as well.

Oh, yeah.

Winner of many awards in the past years,

Cat and Hurricane won an astonishing

five Madison Area Music Association Awards this year.

And still out on tour.

And on the phone with us tonight,

Cat Rhapsody,

Benjamin Rose and Alex Nelson together,

they are Cat and Hurricane.

Oh, Hurricane.

Welcome to Magic Radio.

Hi, Rocker.

Hi, Terry.

Hi.

Hi for having us.

Oh, my gosh.

I just, I want to hug you every time I see you.

The music is just so impactful.

You are always so much fun.

And congratulations on those five

Madison Area Music Association awards this year.

So deserving.

So very much.

We're hugging you to the phone right now.

That is amazing.

Thank you.

You're on tour right now.

Where are you?

Uh, we actually literally just got home from Apple 10.

We played the Fox Valley Pride event today.

Oh, wow.

The traveling suitcase and other great performers.

So we literally just got home in time

to talk to you both of you right now.

Wow.

Excellent.

How cool is that?

Hey, before we get to the Mamas

in your awards and some upcoming shows,

tell us a little bit about Cat and Hurricane

for our listeners who may not be familiar.

The band is growing quite a legacy in the music scene.

What's the backstory?

Yeah, I mean, we're just a group of queer kids

that have always wanted to be in a band.

And we found community within one another.

And, you know, we really got going in 2019.

And then we saw the pandemic come.

And we lived through that.

And we've just pushed through.

And we are, you know, quote-unquote on the other side of that.

And we are grinding harder than ever.

Booking shows, booking tours,

doing community-based events.

We released an album last year.

So we've really been truly busy.

And every day is another step forward

in the direction of just being touring artists.

And we really love it.

That is so great.

I know, I want to ask you about this.

Last year, I believe it was last summer.

This is so cool when you see bands do this.

You went out and played a show with some friends

from Madison who now live there in New York City.

How was that?

Because I know there's a lot of that kind of trading.

Hey, you come play with me.

Then I'll come out and play a show with you.

Did that work out okay for you guys?

Yeah, yeah, like we have a lot of friends

all across the country in the indie

and like DIY music scene.

And so we always try to do whatever we can

to like help folks out.

And of course, like being able to

do shows in places that we've never played before in New York

and we got to play at the place of the first time in 2023.

We actually just got to play a really amazing

sold out show in DC because we befriended this band.

Pretty bitter who was playing in Madison one time

and cat brought them cheese curds

because they really wanted cheese curds.

Wow.

You know, little acts of kindness goes a long way.

It does.

Like, you know, swapping shows or anything like that.

Like we host bands all the time when they're touring.

And like on the road,

having a place to crash is like gold.

Yes.

Like, uh, so yeah, that's just kind of like our ethos

and we support the heck out of our friends

and we're so lucky that they support us too.

I love that.

Now, of course, you know, you've got a collection

of mama awards.

Last Sunday, you won five.

Well, where are you going to put all these by the way?

The list is worth reading and so well deserved.

Okay, so you got

performer of the year, song of the year,

caffeine and alcohol.

That's like one of my favorites.

Rock performer of the year.

Pop album, got it out and pop song,

caffeine and alcohol.

What does this mean to you to have this come to fruition

and be recognized by those who think

that you guys are pretty spectacular?

It is a huge honor.

I feel like we said something along these lines

when we won best artists back in 2023,

which is the last award and now to get five more

is just really, really special.

And I think for us, we're especially blown away

because we do this for like our people

and that is like the other queer and trans folks

and especially getting to play like pride festivals today.

That's really what we try to do this for.

But we also want the music to be good

and to be creative and to be something new.

And so to have the music seen as a whole see us.

Like that's just like an added benefit, I think.

And so we just try to put our heads down and work hard

and put the positive energy towards other people

like Alex was saying and it comes back to us in big ways.

So I think anyone else who's listening

that's like how do you do that?

It's just learn to surround yourself with the right people

and like be around the energy that's coming back to you

and you'll be amazed at what could happen.

I love it. It's manifesting what you want and what you need.

Yes.

We're here with Kat in the hurricane on Maxing Gradio.

Kat in the hurricane have done a lot of quite a bit

of touring across the United States.

And as an openly all queer and trans band,

what is used to you face on the road as a result?

Ooh, yeah, this is something that we talk about a lot.

I mean, like we are an openly queer and trans band

and that's not by accident.

Like we like mentioned with saying we like always try

to be the representation that we needed

when we were like aspiring musicians as youngsters, right?

And we are also like depending on who you talk to,

like visibly trans.

Sometimes we can like go a little low-key, right?

But like it's a dangerous time.

Yeah.

Like we have to think about where we're like doing anything,

like where we're playing, of course,

who we're playing with, of course,

but like where we're going to the bathroom,

like what laws are like like enacted

in some cases really recently,

so that restrict our ability to just exist.

They're even performance-based.

But like where are we going to sleep?

Where are we going to like stop to eat?

Are people going to like do like stare at us?

Sure, but like, or is anything worse going to come to us?

And like we have a lot of privilege too,

so like we know that like we get it not as bad

as a lot of our, for example, black and brown,

trans and queer siblings, right?

So like, I don't know, like we think about those things a lot.

And so this is definitely something that we,

I don't know, like kind of have to be proactive

about in thinking about.

And I think like, yeah,

it's really important for folks who are on the other side

to also kind of know that we're really lucky

that we always are working with bands and venues

that are either queer or trans

and it depends in terms of venues

and like the staff usually like cares

and it's usually a safe space.

But once we leave those places,

like we never really know what's going to happen.

Is it a chance to educate and create some awareness too?

I mean, obviously today is a pride event.

So it's a, it's a perfect opportunity,

but do you ever get to use other music opportunities

to try to share a message with people?

Or is it just kind of something,

that's just a difficult thing to do right now?

Sure, I mean, I think like us just being out in the world

and existing as we are, like, honestly, that's really huge.

There are a lot of people who like don't know

that there are non-binary people

making really, really rockin' music.

I've got a lot of fun to do, right?

Yeah, you're kidding.

Like by leading, by example, in the sense of like

we try to like leave a positive impact wherever we go

and of course like we have, like we have our dignity

like we're gonna say like no,

we'll walk away from certain things, right?

But like we, like I think that yeah,

it's just kind of existing and doing what we do.

You just never know the seeds that are planted in folks, right?

So I think yeah, like, and we like talk about what's going on too.

So I think that absolutely we try to like

be good representation for the trans community in particular

at this moment in time.

Yeah, what do you think would be something that could affect change?

Is there anything that you say,

if this could change things would be better?

Oh my gosh, well we can talk about that for a long time.

Yeah, absolutely.

Just doing what y'all are doing right now,

what you like ask trans people how they're feeling

and like ask trans people what they need.

But there's a lot of like just to use one super specific example.

Like venues don't always think about like

is there a gender neutral bathroom in the venue?

Like that's such a small thing that could make someone feel

like welcome or safe in the space or not.

And it's just like the little things that someone,

that if that's not your experience,

you wouldn't necessarily know to think of that.

Right.

I think asking the people who are actually being affected

can go a really, really long way.

And that's like them on the micro level,

on the macro level, call your representatives.

Perfect.

Perfect.

Upcoming shows include June 30th at the Gamma Ray Bar,

right off the Capitol Square in Madison in June 12th

at the full mile beer company in Kitchen in Sun Prairie.

And then high noon saloon on July 25th.

Tell us about your performances and what's coming up

for Kat and Hurricane in the future.

Yes.

So June 30th, we're going to be opening for Gully Boys,

which is one of our very favorite bands.

And we're very excited about it.

With local band Heather the Jerk.

And then Gully Boys is on Heather the Jerk.

I'm really excited to check this out.

Yeah, no kidding.

The band that is traveling with Gully Boys is careful gaze.

So it's going to be a heavier punk rocking name.

Good for those and the service industry

that want to make it out to see some live music on a Monday

night.

Very excited about that one.

Full mile is going to be three hours of Kat and Hurricane.

Wow.

It's going to be us playing some background music

while people enjoy dinner and some drinks.

And will Kat us be with you that night?

I think Candice is going to be with us that night.

That's a live extra special.

And then on July 25th, yes, we are going

to be playing with our dear, dear friends from the band line

from here in Madison.

And our friends kiss the tiger from Minneapolis.

And we're really excited to play with them.

That is amazing.

Hey, how do we keep up best with you?

I love following you on Instagram.

But what other ways can we keep up?

So we can be sure to catch an event or just some news

from Kat and the Hurricane.

Absolutely.

So Instagram is where we're most active.

Like on social media, you can see Kat and the Hurricane.

All one word, Kat with a K. We're also

on Kat and the Hurricane.com is where there's

always any of the shows we have coming up are linked there.

And then lastly, because we know that the world of social media

is constantly changing, we also have

been trying to invest more in our email list,

because that's like the one thing an artist can actually

own and control, even if a social media platform just

disappears one day.

So let's go to Kat and Hurricane.com.

There's a sign up form.

To get on our email list, we send about one email every month

to just say, hey, here's where our shows are coming up

and new music that's out.

So that's a great way to stay in touch, too.

Perfect.

And I love that.

I'm going to do it.

And everyone else should do it, too.

This has been awesome, you guys.

Speaking with Kat, Rhapsody of Kat and the Hurricane,

and everybody else with the band, too.

I'm so glad you were all able to be on with us.

Thank you.

We're going to now pull.

Yeah.

We're going to listen to the award-winning song,

now, Caffeine and Alcohol.

Benjamin sings it.

And Rocker says, it just passed 250,000 streams.

What?

OK, tell us about this song before we take a listen.

Caffeine and Alcohol, which was just

a voted song of the year by the Madison Area Music

Association Award, it is a song that is about learning

to find your people.

It's a song about being in the thick of feeling

like you don't belong.

And we sing it and play this song

because we want people to realize

that there's an other side of it, having recorded it.

So it is a song both about the hard times

and also a reminder that the hard times don't last forever.

So we hope people can see themselves

and be encouraged by it.

I know they can.

I love this song.

And let me say, happy pride to you.

Happy Pride Day.

All right, let's check it out.

Caffeine and Alcohol, the song of the year,

cat in the hurricane.

You're listening to Maxine Credio, we are local music.

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