Scene Point Blank: Who musically influenced you and who influences you now?
Steve Cataldo: Link Wray did it for me when I was young. I still have the album, and I’m surprised there are any grooves left on the LP at all. His simplicity and raw power telegraphed his message straight to my then-working brain where it remains to this day. Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf were keynote players. I always dug the primitive players, guys with the raw power switch built into their mental rig. Then when the Beatles hit, I went out of my living mind. My dad had an old Bogen record player, that Bogen played every speed known to man. It was the centrepiece of my attic hideaway surrounded by 78s, 33 1/3, and some 45s I got later on in life.
That’s why, to this day, I listen to a wide range of music. What I didn’t listen to was the Pat Boone, Fabian, fake Elvis dog shit that destroyed AM radio, which came and left, then came back again to ruin music until now. However, there is a giant surge of new bands from every city on the planet returning as the new scene emerges. If AM radio could make a comeback somehow, what a killer sound mono is…
Scene Point Blank: What other Boston bands were you most aligned with: Real Kids/DMZ, etc?
Steve Cataldo: We were aligned with Real Kids/DMZ/The Atlantics/LaPeste/The Neighbourhoods/ The Wild Snakes/The Shit Patties/The Pirate Kings and the Music Machine and the Mid-Night Dumpers.
Scene Point Blank: Thoughts about Willie Alexander and Jonathan Richman?
Steve Cataldo: Not one. Zero, Zippo.
We stole WA’s drummer and he ain’t getting him back. Willie is the real deal, an original talent for sure. He was a standout in the Lost (Capitol records). Richman was cool in the Modern Lovers then somebody shoved a bar of soap up his pearly white ass, which turned him into an anti-rock zealot. He has vowed to no longer hurt little bunny’s ears -- too bad because if he kept playing those tunes it would have stopped him from becoming the asshole he is today.
Scene Point Blank: The DIY: Mass Ave- The Boston Scene (1975-83) cd comp that came out in the early '90s included Nervous Eaters. Do you think it was a fair representation of the Boston scene?
Steve Cataldo: Yes, I do…Almost.
They left off, ”your lips-my ass,” “The Gene Ought-trees,” and “Bark Bitch Bark.”
Scene Point Blank: Are there any bands from Boston that you think were overlooked?
Steve Cataldo: Any bands that lived past Worcester or Springfield and, of course, groups like,” your lips my ass,” “The Gene Ought-trees” and, of course, “Bark Bitch Bark.”
Scene Point Blank: When you initially met with Lou Reed, do you remember what songs he played you?
Steve Cataldo: Songs from the yet-to-be-released Sally Can’t Dance? Lou sang the same song over and over -- as he was very blasted -- just to make sure I got it. He instantly realized I was born stupid. So he keeps repeating it. If you caught him on a good day, Lou was a great guy.
Scene Point Blank: What songs did you leave with him?
Steve Cataldo: Honestly, I left him, “The Hoods Man,” “Tough Guy” and a song called “Jerking Off,” which he dug very much... ...true story.
Scene Point Blank: When you moved to Chicago you hung out with some of blues' greatest?
How did you get in with that tight-knit group?
Steve Cataldo: Through my good friend, Jose Gonzales (God bless his soul, R.I.P.) He was very good friends with Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Wolf and on and on. Because at one time Jose’s parents owned an old bed and breakfast hotel that would always take in many of the blues greats as they traveled in Europe. Year after year, so Jose became great friends with all the bands, long story.
Anyways one day we went over to Buddy’s home, he had about 100 guitars in the basement given to him by a variety of companies to try out. Looks like Fender won. I was invited to Buddy’s original south side club to play. I loved that club, we went there many times. Buddy was always going back and forth from The Windy City to Bean Town, especially up to the North Shore where Jose lived. Jose was always putting on blues parties. All kinds of people who dug Jose showed up; a good time was had by all.
One day we found an old suitcase Wolf had left with Jose. Inside we found an old pair of big-ass shoes and a sawed-off shotgun. Anyways…another time.
Scene Point Blank: How did the current lineup of Nervous Eaters come to fruition? It is apparent that the the band is comprised of Boston’s finest!
Steve Cataldo: Each one of those guys coughs up $1000 bucks to hang out with me and dig on my “Mystical Off Planet Vibe Trip”…So, now, it’s an annual thing: $1K at the top of each year and you're cool to hang with the “Super Cat”...
Scene Point Blank: How did you land at Wicked Cool Records?
Steve Cataldo: We flew from Logan to JFK then we all split the cab fare to WCR. Just before that, Steven Berkowitz helped get us signed to Wicked Cool. Little Steven heard “End of The World Girl” and signed us that night. After that it was wheels up: both Stevens are excellent people. The record would never have been made without their trust, support, ideas, and constant blithering phone calls. Plus, the fact that they got the whole band free meal tickets to Murray’s Stein’s Barbecue Chicken Shack at 13th and Waco, Topeka, Kansas.
Don’t know when or if we will ever, ever get out there, but it was a hell of a nice thought on their part.
Scene Point Blank: Can you tell us how the recording process went for the upcoming release? How has the recording process changed for the Nervous Eaters over the years?
Digital or Analogue?
Steve Cataldo: We still use 2” tape…Somewhere towards the end of tracking depending on the console, it will get bounced to Pro Tools, which has to happen or no one in the industry will work with us.
Scene Point Blank: Typically, what gear does the band use? (Sorry, gearheads like this stuff, haha.)
Steve Cataldo: VOX-FENDER-AMPEG-LUDWIG // guitars are Rickenbackers, Strat’s, Burney-
(LS) - Les Paul Standard with super-hot VH-1 pick-ups, Acoustic 6 and 12’s,
Brad has a variety of basses you will have to check with him on that, my
keyboard is a Korg O1/WFD -- old but works great…I also made a microphone out of a very old telephone, which I use to sing the first and some of the third verse of “Evilynn.”
Scene Point Blank: How do you approach your subject material when composing a song? What is the process of writing? Do you typically write the lyrics first and then form the music around them or vice versa?
Steve Cataldo: Well, I wait until the process falls asleep and then I sneak up on it and beat it into submission. Me start jamming with I, and I starts mumbling anything, usually, someone famous from the void shows up and then lays the music on me. Since they never say hello it’s hard to tell who the “process” is. Some songs pop out intact quickly and others take a while. I might leave them in the can and come back to the song/songs, and get re-inspired to finish it. Also, a new instrument helps. I don’t have a room full of gear, so a change of sound is also a big help.
Scene Point Blank: Do you plan to tour this release when it [came] out on November 11, and will you venture into The Great White North at some point?
Steve Cataldo: We hope to. It depends on how much cash WC lays out in Tour Support. Or, a loaded-with-dough benefactor shows up and lends us a large mobile home.
There are many bored-to-death wealthy people who have absolutely nothing to do and simultaneously are stuck in super large sums of money. “THOE” is a tremendous medical tax write-off since part of my brain is missing, so I urge all the heavy, bread-loaded cash cats to come hang with the band and bring their brand-new tour bus along with them. All wealth is welcome in “The House of Eater.”
Scene Point Blank: How would you like to be remembered?
Steve Cataldo: I can always be found at Elon Musk’s Cyborg plant -- I will most likely will be in unit #783410092b in iCloud chamber 101 -- Village of the Stoned/Mars Colony 6 -- Elite Slaughter Corp. = ESC is dedicated to Elon and only Elon. The deal is we can only be created and updated, but never sedated. In turn, Elon gets one Steve C in good running condition, half-brain and all. It’s an equal trade: 1 male body for 1 cyborg, (as is) end of the deal.
Scene Point Blank: Parting thoughts?
Steve Cataldo: Ah….?
