Cat Like Thief - Sound In The Signals Interview
I recently had the opportunity to interview Lyle Chastain of Cat Like Thief. We discussed why he started playing music again, musical influences, writing and recording new song “Let Go”, the current state of pop/punk, and more. Check it out below.
First, thanks for the interview.
Of course! I really enjoyed the last interview we did a couple years back now and thought this would be a great chance to talk about what I’m working on lately.
This is your first new band in a while. What made you want to start this band and what are some of your goals with it?
It is my first band in a lot of years haha. When I left Nashville back in 2021 I also gave up music. I thought it was for good. There was a point where I hadn’t touched a guitar in over 2 years. I wasn’t sure if I would again. I’ve had a great experience and life with music, but there was also a lot of hard stuff and trauma that I experienced with it as well. After I started healing from a lot of that I began to find my passion for music again. I remembered what I loved about music and how much I loved and missed how I used to live for those moments going to a punk rock show or being on stage with my band.
So at the end of 2022, I made several goals for the following year. I wanted to start playing and writing music again, and I wanted to start a band. I hadn’t been that excited about music in years. So towards the beginning of 2023 I grabbed the only guitar I had left and started writing. The first song that I wrote, the very first time I sat down to play guitar again is one of the songs that will be on the new EP too!
When I started out, the only goal I had was to have fun and write music I loved and that people could connect to and have a fun time watching at a show. I missed the old small town punk rock shows where nothing else mattered when you were there and the music just connected everyone. I wanted to bring that back. The more I wrote and got into things, the more goals I have though.
Who or what are some of your biggest influences sonically for this band?
So when I left music behind I even stopped listening to music. When I started getting my passion back and diving back into the music world I listened to a ton of blink-182, alkaline trio, angels and airwaves, box car racer, the transplants, jimmy eat world and fugazi. Bands I really loved back in the day and wanted to create music like again. All of those bands, including the original Run Kid Run and the more popular RKR, are both still there as well in my writing. I think my love for Tom Petty and his storytelling style of writing is there a bit as well. The name of the band actually comes from a box car racer song because it was one of my favorite songs I was listening to and connected with the story behind the song.
You recently released the band’s debut single “Let Go”. Can you tell me about writing that song?
The funny thing about this song is that it wasn’t even a song I was that excited about at first. After I showed my drummer my initial demo of the song, he loved it and said it had to be our first single. So I really put some more work into it and I am really proud of how it turned out. When I started writing the lyrics for “Let Go” I just had a melody idea in my head and the words “let go” in the chorus. I was going through therapy at the time and still on my healing journey so I started writing with a lot of my and others’ experiences in mind. The song in a nutshell is about letting go of the hurt people have caused you, but also letting go of people who don’t deserve to be in your life anymore. I think a lot of people can connect with the words and it’s also a ton of fun!
I think it features some of your best songwriting. How has your writing evolved over the years?
Thank you so much for that compliment! I think it is as well! Song writing for me has been a journey for sure. When I first started writing many years ago, song ideas would come to me like breathing. Later on in life I think I just wasn’t having as much fun with music or what I was playing and had a lot harder time coming up with things I was happy with. After I did this hard reset my song writing has returned like it was back when I first started. Every time I pick up a guitar I’m writing a new guitar part or I’ll have a song written in my head on my way to work. I definitely think the years of experience and just life have given me a lot more to pull from and so my writing has matured but also still feels like me.
Where did you record it at? What was that process like for you?
All the song demos I record at home, but the first single we put out we recorded with Richard Hodges at Golden Cloud Studios in Corbin, KY. It was really great working with Richard. He’s worked with a lot of bands from different genres and really does a great job of capturing the sound you want. We really connected well and he was right on the same page with me as far as what I heard in my head, the ideas I wanted and making them come to life.
I know that you’re currently working on an EP. Do you have a tentative release date in mind and/or what can you tell us about it so far?
We are still working on the EP. I don’t have a concrete release date because we’re still working on figuring out some studio dates. I’m hoping for later this year but my focus on all this has been not to rush anything and just enjoy the process and to make sure it’s how I want it. I have a ton of songs written so a lot of it has just been trying to decide which ones to put out first.
Is there any chance that you’ll have a physical release for the EP such as cassettes, CDs, or vinyl?
Oh, definitely! I would love to have all the things haha. Seriously though, I definitely plan to have physical copies in several formats I hope.
You’ve been playing and writing pop/punk or emo music for over 20 years. What’s your opinion on the current state of the genre?
Man, I feel like I have this conversation a lot. I think what people call pop punk these days is totally different than the pop punk that I grew up playing and listening to. That is one of the reasons I started Cat Like Thief. I was tired of there not being any bands like that around here. I can really enjoy a lot of the newer bands in the genre, but I feel like when people tell me to listen to such and such pop punk band, and I do, it doesn’t sound like I expected it to. On the flip side of that, it seems like a lot of the old bands are coming back to the scene. So that’s cool to see.
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else that you would like to add?
You are so welcome! Thank you for another great interview! The only thing I’d like to add is that I would love for anyone who hasn’t already, to follow us on our socials and give our new single “Let Go” a listen!
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