First, let's introduce the band:
Scot Givens-keyboards, bass, guitar,
vocals
Nick Mitchell-guitars and vocals
Marty Romie-bass
Jay Scott-drums and vocals
And occasionally, Albert Ramnath-guitar
and vocals
Some Recent News Bits
Although the core members Skeptical Cats have been playing together for over 20
years--starting out as Mind Blue in 1986, evolving into The Mirrors in the early
1990s, and settling on the Skeptical Cats moniker in 1995--recent years have turned out to be the most active for
Skeptical Cats concerts and recording projects. Nick
walked away from a career in
the IT field at the beginning of 2005 to focus on music 100% of the time, and
has been performing 260+ live solo dates per year in the U.S. and abroad.
The band has become one of the top live acts in the region,
performing annually at the incomparable
Fraze Pavilion in Kettering.
The band also performs regularly in area at places like
The Trolley
Stop, The Dublin Pub
and Gilly's in the Oregon District in Dayton,
and large festivals like the Dayton Oktoberfest. The band has also
performed countless times at the legendary
Canal Street Tavern. Cheers to
Mick Montgomery!
After a bit of a lapse in writing over the past few years, there has been a
renewed focus on original material. The band has been working in the
studio on material for a new full length Skeptical Cats release; a retrospective
of material from the late 90s/early 2000s; and Nick is working on his first solo
album. The new Skeptical Cats release is tentatively scheduled for
Christmas 2010.
The band has recently added 40-50 new
"Deep Tracks" cover tunes to the catalog for shows that feature cover songs,
along with
focusing on original material at live shows for the first time in a few years (click here for a sample set list
of what you might expect to hear at a Skeptical Cats show). Scot has
completed a solo album demo under the name of
Joey and the Marsupials entitled
"All God's Children Have A Uvula".
Many of the songs from this solo project will be worked into the live show by
the band and will be on the new Skeptical Cats album.
Nick and the band have long been strong supporters of local Police
and Firefighters, and have played many Police and Firefighter
events over the years--F.O.P. conventions, the annual Policeman's Softball Championship
Tournament after party at Skarkey's at the Marriott,
the Dayton Policeman's Ball, the Dayton Firefighters 9/11 memorial concert and
many others. Recently Nick performed the National Anthem at the Nutter
Center to kick off a Dayton Firefighters benefit event for fallen firefighters.
Major highlights of 2007-2008 were Nick's
solo Pub Tour of England, Wales and Scotland in April of ‘07, and the
band's show at the Fraze
Pavilion in Kettering on July 18.
Albert joined the band on stage along with saxophone player Danny Sauers.
The band played a wide ranging
set in front of hundreds of happy people at sunset...it truly was a memorable
evening! The band returns to Fraze on Wednesday, July 21 2010 for a full two hour
show.
Speaking of Albert has moved to the
Scottsdale, Arizona area and is working with his brother Erik on many new
projects in Erik's Highland Studios.
Their band, Random Karma, is doing quite well out west, performing regularly at
major festivals and venues in the Phoenix and Las Vegas area, and at Circus
Mexicus in Mexico.
Ye Olde News
Bits
And now...let's recap some ancient history, shall we? Click on a band
member's link at the top of the page to read more information than you would
ever hope to know about the musical history of the individuals that are Skepcat!
The late 1990's were good to Skeptical Cats. If you'd like to go
even further back into the past, click here for a history of the
band and all of it's past incarnations. Hats off
to past members of the band--Sean Zellers,
Michael Homyk, Tom Jensen, Jeff Robinson--all great friends of the band, all put
in great performances years. Cheers!
The band kicked off 1997 by releasing Record Record
at the New Year's Eve concert at Bogart's
in Cincinnati, sharing the bill with Howlin' Maggie
(Sony) and Chainsaw Kittens (Mercury). With the tune "Upside
Down" from this release, Skeptical Cats were chosen out of 180 bands to be
included on the WOXY 97X XPOSURE Top 20 Compilation CD. The song
"Slight of Hands" was included on the compilation "Metal Machine
Muzak" on the super cool Italian record label
Gamma Pop. Gamma Pop is sold out of this recording, but Nick still has a
handful tucked away!
The band has received repeated airplay locally on WOXY 97X, WYSO and WTUE,
and on Cambridge University Radio in England by the legendary Jimmy Possession.
Record Record charted on the Elitaire 40 (Elite Top 40) list on Radio Centraal in
Belgium, peaking at #14 after 6 weeks on the chart (Albert screams,
"we're HUGE in Belgium
and Italy!"). The album received
repeated airplay on radio stations in the U.S., Europe, China and South America
as well.
Some old show highlights from the mid-late 90s (watch out for the
cobwebs here folks):
Howard's Club H, Bowling Green, Ohio
The Union, Athens *with Ditch and Norton's Orchestraville
A set of the band's music appeared on the "Canal Street Live" TV
series on the MediaOne Network
Barley's Underground, Columbus *With the acapella
group Forte
Swindlefish, Athens, Ohio
The Garage at Caddy's (remember Caddy's?) Cincinnati, *opening for The Why
Store
Hoster's Brewing Company (remember Hosters?), Columbus
Disc-Go-Round Grand Opening, Beavercreek, Ohio
Canal Street Tavern, Dayton,
Ohio *with Rubido
WTUE's Livewire
Concert, Dayton
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