The Native Cats

The Native Cats formed around 2007. Julian (bass) had been recording some four track instrumentals in the closing days of his previous band the Bad Luck Charms, and suggested to Chloe Escott, who was a solo artist who had played with BLC several times, that it could be interesting to collaborate on these ideas. They played their first show in January 2008, eschewing a lot of the live instrumentation of previous ventures, stripping it down to vocals, melodica, bass guitar and a rhythmic/synthy backing track, which was then replaced by various drum machines and most importantly, a Nintendo DS with a Korg MS-10 synth emulator, powerful and diverse sounds that could be carried in a hoodie pocket.                    

The first album Always On was recorded pretty soon after the first shows and released early 2009 on Hobart label Consumer Productions. The album found instant fans locally, and later internationally which led to a standalone 7" single on Philadelphia's White Denim label, and then the album getting reissued on vinyl by Boston's Ride The Snake Records, which then was followed by the Process Praise album in 2011, again on Ride The Snake.

Through this the 'Cats were playing locally in Hobart heaps, making tentative treks to mainland cities, and in 2012 were asked to play Gonerfest in Memphis, so the band organised a 13 show USA tour around the festival date. After they returned to Australia they recorded the Dallas album, which came out on Sydney's RIP Society in 2013, which led to shows at the Sydney Opera House for the LIVID Festival. The band have also been regular performers in their home town's MONA FOMA and Dark MOFO festivals. In 2018 their fourth album John Sharp Toro came out on RIP Society, making album of the week on RRR and Edge Radio. The band finished the year with another 7" Spiro Scratch on Rough Skies Records and a slot at the legendary Meredith Music Festival.

2020 started with another 7" Two Creation Myths, and plans for a big year, snuffed out by the pandemic.

Now they release fifth album The Way On Is the Way Off on Chapter Music in November 2023.