If you grew up anywhere within the New York TV viewing radius in the Eighties, you probably remember the commercials advertising the Poconos’ “beautiful Mount Airy Lodge.” Fantastic Cat sure do.
The band’s new video for “All My Fault” is rich in shameless cheese — and gloriously fun. Structured around a video-dating-for-singles conceit in Pennsylvania’s mountain playground, the clip casts all four members of Fantastic Cat — Anthony D’Amato, Don DiLego, Brian Dunne, and Mike Montali — as hapless dudes looking for a connection. It doesn’t go well.
But that’s what makes the band of songwriters, lead singers, and multi-instrumentalists such a breath of fresh air. While they take their music seriously, everything else is an ego balloon ready to be popped. Even how they announce their new album, Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat, is fair game. In an off-kilter press release, they describe themselves as such: “Think CSNY if none of them were famous, or The Traveling Wilburys if none of them were famous, or the Eagles if they really didn’t get along.” Hey, if the cat mask fits…
While the band’s last album, The Very Best of Fantastic Cat, was essentially a collection of solo songs written and recorded by each member, Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat is a group effort. Last summer, the musicians decamped to DiLego’s Velvet Elk Studio — in the Poconos — to write and record 11 new tracks. First release “All My Fault,” with shades of the Clash’s “Train in Vain,” is a blast of power-pop jangle.
Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat will be released June 7 on Missing Piece Records. The band will hit the road for headlining dates and in support of Low Cut Connie, starting March 28 in Denver.
Fantastic Cat Tour Dates:
March 28 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater *
March 30 – Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Hall *
April 1 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The State Room *
April 3 – Prosser, WA @ Brewminatti ^
April 4 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern *
April 5 – White Rock, BC @ Blue Frog Studios ^
April 6 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom *
April 7 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theater *
April 10 – Livermore, CA @ Almost Famous ^
April 11 – Healdsburg, CA @ Little Saint *
April 13 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore *
April 14 – Hollywood, CA @ The Troubadour *
April 15 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah *
April 18 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Rhythm Room ^
April 20 – Dallas, TX @ The Kessler Theater *
April 21 – Houston, TX @ The Heights Theater *
April 23 – Austin, TX @ Antone’s *
April 24 – Austin, TX @ Antone’s *
April 27 – Lowell, MA @ The Town & The City Festival
May 2 – Atlanta, GA @ The Garden Club *
May 24 – Boulder, CO @ Roots Music Project ^
May 25 – Colorado Springs, CO @ Meadowgrass
May 26 – Denver, CO @ Globe Hall ^
June 7 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Made ^
June 8 – Amagansett, NY @ Stephen Talkhouse ^
June 12 – Hershey, PA @ Englewood ^
June 13 – Hagerstown, MD @ Hub City Vinyl ^
June 14 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern ^
June 15 – Asheville, NC @ Pisgah Brewing Co ^
June 16 – Decatur, GA @ Eddie’s Attic ^
June 18 – Elkton, MD @ Elkton Music Hall ^
June 19 – Wayne, PA @ 118 North ^
June 20 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair ^
June 21 – Greenfield, MA @ Green River Festival
June 27 – Pawtucket, RI @ The Met ^
June 28 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground ^
June 29 – Katonah, NY @ American Roots Music Festival
June 27-29 – Sisters, OR @ Sisters Folk Festival
^ Headline
* w/ Low Cut Connie
