The Catheters

The Catheters are a scourge on pretty boy rock and roll, a festering wound in the ear of all things delicate, a hot razor blade slashing through tight knots of control. This is the band you listen to when your girlfriend leaves you cold, when you get tired of your boss using your spine as his sidewalk, when you want to put a fist through a wall. You grew up on the Germs and The Pagans, took a left turn into Pere Ubu, Electric Eels, and Pussy Galore, and injected 60s garage-psyche like The Yardbirds, Blue Cheer, and Love into your veins at a young age. The Catheters are your catharsis for maniacal living. So when frontman Brain Standeford screams, “I’ve been tied to the eyes of confusion,” on the new albums “Red Flags to White,” he sings it with that sweat-drenched, red-eyed resolution you understand.

If you listened to the bands last tumultuous release, 2002s Static Delusions and Stone-Still Days_, you know the Catheters don’t play the kind of music for gazing at your Converse. This is the band that jolted the British and American press to attention with Static, the boys that rocked London’s sold-out Electric Ballroom with Mudhoney on a tour through the UK when only half the Catheters were of drinking age. In the last couple of years, they’ve also shared stages with such critical darlings as Burning Brides, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Federation X, and Division of Laura Lee, among others.


Howling… It Grows and Grows!!! is the Seattle bands third full-length of pent-up brawlers, and they’re still radiating the same dark, perilous edge, working once again with respected producer John Goodmanson (Sleater-Kinney, Unwound, Blonde Redhead), only now they’ve coaxed out new textures to coarsen the mix. There is the guitar groove snaking into “Ravenous Animal,” the squalls of noise rock experimentation on “Between the Creases” and “Reaction,” and Standeford’s trademark alleycat howl, the fourth weapon in the Catheters’ arsenal. “It’s delivery rather than singing,” says Standeford, a frontman known for morphing into a human projectile during the band’s live shows. “You lend emotion to the song and your voice becomes more of an instrument.”


A sonically matured album that refuses to relinquish its venom, Howling…It Grows and Grows!!! offers snatches of archetypal imagery jutting out from Standeford’s delivery. Together his lyrics form a disheveled composite of struggle against the elements of stolen breaths, foaming mouths, and primal distractions compete for attention in these songs while the basslines shake like low-flying bombers, the drums rattle your core and the guitars grow claws that could scratch glass. "_Howling… It Grows and Grows!!!":http://www.subpop.com/megamart is alive, feral and twitching with energy.

Wikipedia: The Catheters From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Catheters were a punk rock band from Bellevue, Washington (Seattle area) that originally formed as a 4-piece in 1995 (Brian, Derek, Paul, and James who soon swapped bands with Dave and joined Damaged Goods), playing hardcore punk in the vein of Black Flag and The Circle Jerks. Over the years toured several times with bands such as Sparta, Mudhoney, Run Run Run, Division of Laura Lee, and very often with the Murder City Devils. Before signing to Sub Pop, The Catheters added a second guitarist in 1998 (Lars) and started culturing a more dirty, 70s glam-rock sound as heard on their eMpTy Records releases. The records sold well and gained them the attention of larger labels, such as Dreamworks and Sub Pop. Paul and Lars left the band in 2001 for other projects, and The Catheters’ long-time roadie Leo joined as bassist. In 2002, they scored an indie hit with the song Nothing from Static Delusions and Stone-Still Days and its accompanying music video. After a couple more singles and heavy touring in 2002 and 2003, the band released the excellent album Howling…It Grows and Grows!!! in 2004, using all their former sounds and infusing them with aesthetics of classic rock. The Catheters played their final show on October 15th, 2004 with a big blow-out at Seattle’s Sunset Tavern joined by friends The Vells and blackbelt (who played some old-school Catheters covers), ending the show with a mass sing-along to Fake ID that degenerated into instrument destruction and a minor brawl. The band dissolved amicably, with the former members, with the exception of Derek, going on to form the band Tall Birds.

  • Brian Standeford — vocals, guitar
  • Derek Mason — guitar
  • Dave Brozowski — drums
  • Paul Waude – bass (1995 – 2001)
  • James Lysons – drums (1995 – 1996)
  • Lars Swenson – guitar (1998 – 2001)
  • Leo Gebhardt — bass (2001 – 2004)

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