Musician/producer David Catching has done a lot for our desert. Catching co-founded Rancho de la Luna, a recording studio that has produced works by famous locals Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age, as well as other music giants including Arctic Monkeys and Iggy Pop. After more than 30 years, the studio is still running, where Catching and his dog, Chunk, host both world-class acts and up-and-coming locals. Catching has also showcased his guitar wizardry in bands like earthlings?, Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of the Stone Age and Gnarltones. The desert legend is turning 65, and he’s celebrating with another birthday show on Saturday, June 6, at Pappy and Harriet’s. For tickets and more information, visit pappyandharriets.com.
What was the first concert you attended?
Chicago at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tenn., Aug. 17, 1970.
What was the first album you owned?
Tommy, The Who. I’m not sure why that was the first album I bought. I guess I thought the cover was cool. I did love “I Can See for Miles” (from The Who Sell Out), and still do.
What bands are you listening to right now?
Always Bowie and Prince, Paris Texas, Peaches, Courtney Barnett, all my favorite old albums from the ’70/’80s, and mostly all the cool bands I’ve been working with at the studio: Empty Seat, Jaded Ravins, Evan Gackstatter, earthlings?, The Ettes, Ecca Vandal and Jehnny Beth.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?
Rap country is pretty confusing to me.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsys.
What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?
Music is pleasure. Nothing guilty about it.
What’s your favorite music venue?
Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace. I always have the greatest time playing there, inside or outside.
What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love.”
What band or artist changed your life? How?
Alex Chilton. When my band Red Sharks played one of our first shows, we opened for the Panther Burns. Alex was the guitarist, and he played a hollow-body Silvertone guitar through a Black Panel Fender Super Reverb on 10, and was making the craziest noises. My best friend, Randy Chertow, introduced me to Alex, and we became friends. He had just released Like Flies on Sherbert, one of my favorite albums because of its great songs, great weird production, and sense of fun and abandon. I was already a huge fan of Big Star and The Box Tops. Soon afterward, another band I played with, The Modifiers, played our first show in New Orleans, and Alex had recently moved there. During our show, Alex joined us for a few songs, and later, we stayed at his house. I picked up one of his guitars, and it was an open G tuning, and he taught me some licks in open G tuning and slide guitar. I always loved his songwriting as well as his singing.
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?
Brian Eno: Would you like to collaborate on an album?
What song would you like played at your funeral?
Funeral? I’m gonna live forever.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Probably Eno: Here Come the Warm Jets. It’s an album I’ve listened to 1 million times and always hear things I missed the other 999,999 times I’ve listened to it.
What song should everyone listen to right now?
This question is almost impossible to answer with one song. There are so many perfect songs for so many different reasons. Songs heal your sadness, loneliness, despair, explain to you injustices, help you activate your happiness, love and sexuality, increase your creativity and make you shake your ass. Take your pick: “Slide,” Missy Elliott; “School’s Out,” Alice Cooper; “Breaking Glass,” David Bowie; “52 Girls,” The B-52s; “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” George Jones; “96 Tears,” ? and the Mysterians; “More Bounce to the Ounce,” Zapp; “Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings,” ZZ Top; “Bo Mambo,” Yma Sumac; “A Love Supreme,” John Coltrane; “Beautiful World,” Devo; “The Agfers of Kodack,” Wire; “Tomorrow Never Knows,” The Beatles; “Nightime,” Big Star; “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” Willie Nelson; “Killing Yourself to Live,” Black Sabbath; “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground,” Blind Willie Johnson; “Halleluwah,” Can; “Garbage Man,” The Cramps; “New Rose,” The Damned; “SOS,” Wool.
