Step inside the wild and funky minds of bassist Jesse Miller, keyboardist Eli Winderman and drummer Charlie Patierno as they form the infectious grooves of Octave Cat. The fusion trio started out of a mutual appreciation for vintage keyboards and analog synths between Miller and Winderman, and the two Philly area musicians got together last May to test the waters.
“I put various keyboards in front of Eli to play, and kept a recording running as we went,” says Miller, “Riffs and melodies from that session became the basis of both ‘Limber Up’ and ‘Spar.’ We had not planned on starting a new project, but the music seemed too good to leave to languish on a hard drive.”
Once the two realized they had something with their sound, the next step was finding a live drummer to complement it. Patierno was a perfect fit, as he “captured a great groove and interesting sounds in his home studio.” Miller continues, “With no intention, we had started a new trio.”
The three have been working throughout the summer, working with Miller’s extensive collection of instruments and equipment. “We continued recording, writing, arranging and mixing relying heavily a slightly out-of-tune electric piano, a few Moogs, various tape delay machines, my modular synth and drum machine systems and our namesake synth, The Cat by Octave, a rare 70s synth that can be tough to keep in tune, but makes some incredible sounds.”
“The music is funky, catchy, melodic, jazzy. There’s definitely inspiration from late-70’s fusion, but also some analog techno and dub approaches to the sound and arrangements.” Keyboardist, Eli Winderman adds (most importantly), “all the melodies can be sung with meow sounds.”
Meow along with the band’s debut compositions, the songs “Limber Up” and “Spar,” streaming exclusively below!
Octave Cat will make their live debut on September 3rd, performing at the SummerDance Festival at Nelson’s Ledges Quarry Park in Ohio!
When not with Octave Cat, Jesse Miller can be found holding down the low end with Lotus and performing solo analog synth sets as Beard-o-Bees. Eli Winderman is the keyboardist for Dopapod, who are gearing up with a major fall tour with Pigeons Playing Ping Pong in just a couple short months. Charlie Patierno is the touring drummer for pop artist Mike Taylor, and has also worked with groups like Blue Method, Melody Gardot and The Roots.
For fans of Eli Winderman, you won’t want to miss him performing alongside members of Dead & Company, The String Cheese Incident, The Disco Biscuits, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Lettuce, Soulive, Medeski Martin & Wood, Snarky Puppy, and so many more at the second annual Brooklyn Comes Alive – in the heart of Williamsburg – with over 50 artists spanning three venues in just one day: October 22nd. [Get tickets here]