10 Questions With The Sewer Cats

Ferocious, fuzzy, feline-inclined… The Sewer Cats are an explosive Manchester-based punk duo delivering riotous tunes of patriarchy-smashing fury. We’re very excited to welcome them to the TNSrecords family. Their short and snappy songs have been described as ‘catchy and scathing’, bursting with hooky riffs drenched in fuzz and aggressive riot-grrrl vocals, all served up with a big helping of sass. You can pick up their debut album ‘Cute Aggression’ now.

TNS: Please introduce the band?

Cass: The Sewer Cats are me on vocals/drums and Josh on guitar. We play energetic garage punk/riot grrrl infused with whatever takes our fancy. Expect visceral patriarchy-smashing fury combined with ample fuzzy riffage. Oh, and we love cats of course!

TNS: Which of your releases should people check out first and what track is your definitive song?

Josh: Definitely go straight for the main course, our debut album – ‘Cute Aggression’. Our songs have a lot of variety, but I would say ‘Answer the Question’ (the first single from ‘Cute Aggression’) gives a flavour of some the sounds of The Sewer Cats – fuzzed up political garage punk with a slow Sabbath-esque ending.

TNS: Which member of the band is guaranteed to make you late getting to the gig and why?

Josh: Definitely Cass – I don’t think she has been on time for anything in her whole life! The only time she was going to be early, she had to rescue a pigeon from the middle of the road. Fact.

TNS: What is your favourite venue to play?

Conroy’s Basement in Dundee – it’s a great venue they have there, and the crowd is always crazy!

TNS: Tell us about something ridiculous that has happened to you whilst on the road.

Cass: Weird shit happens at pretty much every gig we play, but that’s part of the fun! We once played with a local prog band whose sound check was longer than our entire set! Ridiculous. Thankfully, we don’t do crappy pay-to-play gigs anymore. 
Josh: Another one that springs to mind is when we ended up playing to a crowd of young Tories in Shrewsbury. Needless to say, we did not go down well there…

TNS: What are the best and worst bits of being in an underground/DIY band?

Josh: The best thing about being in a DIY band is being able to play in whatever weird ass style you want and be part of a community. We love the DIY punk scene, it feels like a family that all support each other and when you play gigs up and down the country you get to catch up with your mates. 
Cass: There are parts of the punk scene that are far from perfect though and we need to strive to improve diversity and make sure we create safe spaces for all. It’s annoyingly common to be the token woman on an all cis-male line-up. That and packing up a drum kit at the end of the night are the worst!

TNS: What up and coming bands should we all be checking out?

There are loads… Alldeepends from Dundee are amazing and you need to catch them when they tour south of the border. Talking down south, we love Comeback Clit and Riviera Kid who we’ll be playing with on tour. In the North West our faves include Animal Byproducts, Bruise Control, Piss Kitti, Tits Up, Slab, Electric Press… The list could go on and on and we’ve probably missed someone now!

TNS: Any advice for emerging bands/bands just starting out?

Cass: Just give it a go and have fun. It doesn’t matter if you’re not perfect at your instrument or you don’t feel ready. I know I wasn’t when we played our first gigs and I still suffer from imposter syndrome now. You learn a lot from getting out there, so if you’ve got something to say you should just go for it. 

TNS: What’s next for you guys in the short term and the long term?

Our debut album ‘Cute Aggression’ will be coming out on 15th April and our album release show will be at MPF, which we’re so excited about. Then we’ll be going on a UK tour in May/June – stay tuned for the dates and venues. After that, more gigs and who knows…

TNS: Finally, and most importantly, what is the biggest animal you could take down with your bare hands? Hypothetically, of course. We like animals. We often put them on t-shirts.

Josh: We couldn’t even take down our cat…she’s 6kgs of pure terror! And she’s on our t-shirts!

Check out their singles ‘Answer The Question‘ and ‘Delia‘ on YouTube.