Nightmare and the Cat Flash ‘Blackbird Smile’ – Premiere
British-American indie-rockers Nightmare and the Cat turn out an alluring video for “Blackbird Smile,” a song from their recent EP Simple. And while the black-and-white clip finds the L.A. based five-piece in the company of ghosts and the canvas of underground artist Gary Basemen (an early and ardent supporter), the group’s sharp guitar lines, forceful percussion and distinct, soulful vocals are what endure.
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“We wrote it a year or two ago in a little studio in the valley,” says singer Django Stewart, who formed the band with his brother Sam on guitar in 2010. “It started with me on the piano actually, which we would never do live! It’s about loving someone you aren’t really supposed to love.”
“Blackbird Smile” was produced by Eric Valentine, a veteran of Queens of the Stone Age‘s Songs for the Deaf. Valentine will also oversee Nightmare and the Cat’s debut LP, which is due out on Capitol next year.
Aside from the Stewarts – who are the offspring of the Eurythmics‘ Dave Stewart and Bananarama’s Siobhan Fahey – the band is rounded out by vocalist and instrumentalist Claire Acey, drummer Spike Phillips and bassist Scott Henson. In press materials accompanying Simple, Sam said an original goal of the group was to sound like a mixture of Jeff Buckley‘s vocals and the Pixies‘ music. If that hasn’t exactly been the end result, Nightmare and the Cat have come up with a sound that is as worthy as it is distinctly their own.