Cat TV - Fun in the Ghost Town

​Cat TV

Fun in the Ghost Town
self-released; 2026

​By ​Dino DiMuro​​​
​

Cat TV is a punk-alternative band based in Lowell, Massachusetts with their debut EP titled Fun in the Ghost Town. They're four guys backing a female lead singer named Caitlin Malcuit, and her vocals took me all over the map from the B-52's to Belly, Bikini Kill and The Runaways. The other players are Steve Herdegen (drums), Quinn Lawrence (bass/lap steel), Jesse Buday (bass/guitar/keyboards) and Dino (bass/guitar/weird name!). As the band confirms: "Nearly everyone plays bass."

The group describes this EP as "six tracks of raw, original, fist-pumping energy; the arrival statement of a band that has spent years earning it." Malcuit and Herdegen began writing songs in 2019 and jammed with Buday just before the Covid lockdown. They used the isolation to their advantage, making demos with GarageBand through a MIDI keyboard and a podcast microphone. The band's goal is to "occupy a specific and welcome space: music that has bite, atmosphere and a wicked sense of humor."

"Spiders" almost clears the room before the band has even started, with a jagged guitar-string scrape down the neck bathed in echo. The song itself is one of the more B-52's-like tracks (especially "There's a Moon In The Sky") with single-string riffs, retro-sci-fi keys and vocals that nicely recall Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson. "Girl" is more straight-ahead alternative pop with a simple, catchy and somewhat sneering chorus of  "Girl, girl!" with some early Debbie Harry attitude. 

"Baby I'm Down" is a Beatles-like title that the band describes as "pure attitude: a punky anthem about ditching the grind and embracing freedom, driven by relentless drumming and collective noise." Truth be told, pretty much all the songs have some serious attitude, and that's part of the charm. As they sing here: "Fuck them all, you're still with me!"

​The next track "Imposter!" has a sophisticated arrangement with the vocals and guitars running along parallel tracks, sometimes intersecting and other times diverging. The harmonies reminded me of Belly's "Witch." Apparently there's a whole back-story to  "JAG U R" where Herdegen was stuck behind a luxury car at a maddening crawl, but the song itself is an amusing imitation of a stuck-up socialite: "I'm guaranteed a thrill in my Jaguar!" This track is a crowd favorite, as the most basic but relatable tracks can often be. 

Though just six songs, this EP turned out to be almost as satisfying as a full album and it got better each time I played it!

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