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Local Floyd-lover and musician Ian Cattell took his admiration to that level when he was asked to join what is now called Brit Floyd. The internationally known Pink Floyd tribute band will make their way to the Landmark Theatre, 362 S. Salina St., on Thursday, March 22, for an 8 p.m. show. Tickets are $29.50 and $39.50. For more information, call 475-7979.
For Cattell, who has played venues spanning the Royal Albert Hall in London, Fillmore West in San Francisco and the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, the Landmark still stands out as a homecoming highlight. “I’ve been dying to come back here,” Cattell says while home for a brief stay between tours. “I’ve been pushing for it years and years. I’ve played hundreds of theaters like the Landmark. There are so many nice theaters in so many places around the country that remind me of the Landmark, but this is something special. This is going to be great.”
Cattell, 42, started his path to Pink Floyd when he began violin and piano lessons at age 4. His parents were both musicians, although not professionals, with chamber groups often meeting at his family’s home in Cazenovia. The musical environment at home certainly helped breed what would ultimately become a career for Cattell.
But his growing interest in music and all things Floyd hit a wall back in 1980. Cattell, an avid music listener, would come home every day from school and dial radio station WAQX-FM 95.7 (95X) to request Floyd tracks. He says then-95X deejay Dave Frisina even came to recognize his voice thanks to his many call-ins. One day Cattell lived the dream of every kid when he was the winner of one of the station’s contest prizes: his very own copy of Pink Floyd’s The Wall (EMI, 1979).
“My mother went to go pick it up for me and when she heard what she called the ‘we don’t need no education’ song, she said, ‘You’re not getting that,’” recalls an animated Cattell. “So instead she picked me up REO Speedwagon’s Hi Infidelity (Epic/Legacy, 1980). I have very liberal parents, so the fact that it was practically a naked hotel room scene on the {Hi Infidelity} cover didn’t seem to bother her. But anyway, it wasn’t long after that that I got my hands on The Wall.”
Cattell was on the run from there. He studied trumpet and bass guitar performance at SUNY Fredonia, but left school in 1992 to set out as a musician. Cattell quickly discovered that it was much easier to score a gig on bass than trumpet and started playing around the area with various bands, beginning with Seconds Out, a Genesis tribute band. Later came Crazy Diamond and P.U.L.S.E., both Floyd tribute bands, as well as the disco-flavored United Booty Foundation. In 2002 Cattell helped co-found another Floyd tribute, Childhood’s End.
Cattell looks back on the times fondly, and with a sense of humor. “We toured {with Crazy Diamond and P.U.L.S.E.} about 40 states,” he says. “We lived in a space about this size {pointing to a 12-by-12-foot room}. It was a Penske truck essentially. We would throw in a couple couches and bedding and we’d put a plywood wall and all the gear would go behind that and the truck would run like this the whole time {motions demonstrating the front wheels lifted off the ground} and we lived in there and in hotel rooms. It was a lot of fun being in your mid-20s, driving around the country. I almost kinda miss it now.”
Cattell still tours extensively as he did in his 20 years earlier, but today it’s in one of two large tour buses that are followed by two tractor trailers of gear. It’s light years away from his modest tour beginnings, a change that came in 2005.
As Crazy Diamond formed in 1988, so did The Australian Pink Floyd Show (TAPFS). The groups were aware of each other, although on opposite sides of the globe, and in 1993 TAPFS emigrated to England. Touring cross-country in Australia was not as fruitful as the United States or throughout Europe, as the barren space between Down Under cities burned out the tours. Following TAPFS’ move, musicians in the band began yearning for a less-demanding tour schedule and new players were rotated in for the road gigs. Cattell was sought out by TAPFS to fill one of those gaps in 2005. He was contacted by e-mail, agreed to try out and was auditioning on the Royal Albert Hall stage just a month later.
Once he got the gig as bassist and Roger Waters-style vocalist, he spent much time in England throughout 2007 and 2008 before relocating his home base back stateside to Tully. He then toured with the group between four and seven months each year. In January 2011, TAPFS decided to make a split as more of the musicians decided to tour less, resulting in a mostly touring group and a stationary version of the band, which still exists as TAPFS today. So Cattell, along with Damien Darlington, who performs David Gilmour-like vocals and guitar, and others in the touring group broke off to form Brit Floyd.
Cattell is the only American in a group of British musicians, which sneaks out in his speech occasionally. “I tried to scrub the English out of my accent,” he says. “You might notice a couple things. But I spend at least six months out of the year in this bubble of English people going around and I lived there for the better part of two years.”
The group travels with nine to 11 musicians as well as a lighting crew, stage manager and guitar tech, making the production much larger than the typical tour entourage. Cattell also notes that the level of musicianship in the group makes the experience even more rewarding.
“I can’t say enough about the guys that I play with,” he says. “Every day it seems like I’m wondering when they’re gonna find me out. I’ve been in it for seven years now, so I feel like I fit in, but initially I was overwhelmed by how great these guys are. We’ve got some guys who are just absolutely top-notch musicians in the industry.”
When Cattell comes to the Landmark with his talented bandmates, they’ll bring a set list celebrating the new Floyd compilation album, A Foot in the Door: The Best of Pink Floyd (EMI, 2011) plus a few additional songs to round out about three hours of music with a 20-minute intermission. It’s a hefty program, but Cattell assures that the group has it down.
“To get all the transitions and details, one song flows into the next so it’s a well-oiled machine in that respect,” he says. “It’s a proper show with all the lighting cues done ahead of time and a lot of times it’s automated as well. They have spotlights that go in and out. It’s almost like a theater production when it comes to the lights.”
Audiences can expect a light-and-sound sensory overload that leaves listeners as invigorated and perhaps as exhausted as the marathon musicians. But Cattell says that the exhaustion is overcome by the excitement and love of the music.
“There are certain aspects where it’s the same over and over again,
but you run the risk of being a tribute to yourself if you don’t go back
to the source material and try to listen to new things,” he explains.
“Some gigs I’m so tired but you give your all anyway and you feed off
the energy of the crowd, and it doesn’t matter how tired you are. Of
course the majority of the time it’s just a pleasure to be out there no
matter what’s going on. You have to keep it fresh, just like any
long-term relationship.”
