Cat On The Wall is a worldwide music and culture webzine with its home based in Cardiff, UK. We feature all types of creative arts from music to poetry, digital art to fashion design!

History:

Cat On The Wall first made its official online debut in 2007 having been a work in progress throughout 2006. Born out of the ashes of the Bristol based music webzine Funky Mofo, Cat On The Wall aimed to step away from the mainstream PR pressured world and into a more traditional small zine format. Initially launched as a magazine style website on www.catonthewall.net the site moved over to blog.catonthewall.net in 2008 opting for a more blog-like feel enabling us to update the site more frequently and easily. www.catonthewall.net is still used for archives and anything else we can’t find a home for on the blog. Cat On The Wall moved to Wales in 2007.

Ethos:

We only feature what we like. Our opinions are displayed through the artists we choose to feature rather than via reviews. We feel that finding out about an artist is more interesting than reading a critic’s opinion of whether something is good or bad. It’s all subjective in the end anyway.

We do however feature live reviews which include art gallery showings. We feel live performance is a true representation of an artist as opposed to a portfolio or a CD. Attending a live performance, a gallery exhibition and/or conducting an interview is a much better way for us and for the readers to give back to the artists. Plus reviewing a CD is easy and everybody does it.

Co-founders: Jo Whitby & CB Lux

Contributors: Emma Levinkind, Jordan Mooney, Ciaran Jones, Conor Killick, Ian Lewis, Emma Fitzgibbon, Phoebe Amoroso, Elisha Lewis, Ranvir Singh Bassi

Interview by Jo Whitby

Imagine a warm summers day, relaxing in the garden with a glass of wine and in the company of good friends... sounds good doesn't it? These are the kind of images that floated across my mind when listening to the London based folk group Skinny Lister on their myspace page. It's interesting to note that many of the lyrics refer to winter, perhaps singer and songwriter Daniel Heptinstall was wishing for brighter days. I caught up for a quick chat with Daniel via e mail...

Cat On The Wall: How and when did Skinny Lister come about?

Daniel Heptinstall: Skinny is basically a bunch of friends. We’ve done various musical things over the years, with each other, and others, but Skinny is the coming together of all of our influences and musical passions. Prior to Skinny, Max and myself often gigged around playing foot stomping Jigs and Reels, while Sam was often found drunkenly belting out sea shanties in the old Cricketers pub in Greenwich. Max and Lorna also have a proper cross-generational family folk band heritage - their father George Thomas often joins us onstage for a tune or two. Skinny Lister was a natural progression.

COTW: Who or what triggered your interest in music and what was the first instrument you picked up?

DH: The guitar was my first instrument. My interest was initially triggered by desperately wanting to be Buddy Holly, so guitar was the natural choice. The simplicity of his three chord songs was also a big plus for a beginner musician.

COTW: Was there a particular event or song/album that influenced you to play folk music or was it a natural progression for you?

DH: It’s always been there with me. Even when I’ve been involved in none folky projects. I would say that James Yorkson’s ‘Year of the Leopard’, was quite inspirational, and an album that helped make me want to take my folky side more seriously. My priority has perhaps shifted from trying to achieve some sort of commercial success to simply trying to make songs as beautiful as I can.

COTW: What are you views on the future of the music industry? How do you think it will be possible for artists like yourself to make a living from music? What has been your experience so far?

DH: Doing it for the love of it is always a good starting point. The general feeling is that performing live is where the money is going to be. The live experience is something that can’t be downloaded.

COTW: Do you enjoy performing live? Any memorable experiences that you can tell us about? What was one of the best gigs that you've attended as a member of the audience?

DH: Performing live is one of the main and most enjoyable aspects of what we do. Some of the smallest gigs, where we play acoustically without a PA, can often be the most enjoyable. I maintain that the most enjoyable gig I ever attended as an audience member was David Bowie at Glastonbury festival in 2000. Amazing!

COTW: What are you listening to/reading at the moment?

DH: With Spotify it's something new every day. Today I’m listening to The Unthanks and reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.

COTW: What are your plans for the near future?

DH: We’re gonna be spending a bit of time recording and we’re planning to release an EP of new stuff. We’ve also gonna be gigging about the place over the summer, including slots at the Isle of White festival, Winterwell and Camp Bestival. Other dates will be going up on our myspace page as they come in. Looking forward to it!

http://www.myspace.com/skinnylister

There's a great gig coming up in Cardiff, not that there aren't usually great gig's on in Cardiff but this one is going to be particularly great. We've been waiting very patiently for The Woe Bedites to play Cat On The Wall's home town and finally they are here - and there is much rejoicing to be had!

If you're unsure what The Woe Betides are about it might be worth checking out an interview we did with them last year.

So make sure you head over to Buffalo in Cardiff's city centre on Thursday 11th March, 8pm. There's some pretty good bands on the bill too so don't be late!

THE WOE BETIDES
MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY
TOY HORSES (SXSW warm up)
RESCUE PARTY
followed by Bethan & friends djing until the early hours

Thursday 11th March
£3 entry / £2 NUS
8pm-3am
2-4-1 cocktails until 10pm

Buffalo Bar, 11 Windsor Place, Cardiff

http://www.myspace.com/thewoebetides

Article by Ciaran Jones

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then art need not take account of text. Or should it?

Witch Hunt by Delaine Le Bas debases the cliché by using a multi-sensory approach to convey how persecution is often rooted in the erosion of language as well as the physical displacement of a group.

The exhibition focuses not just on visual art but comprises installations, sounds and representations of the written word.

Delaine, who is a member of the UK Romany community, said she uses these multiple techniques because the visual form is not always the best way to convey the ideas she is addressing.

“Within the Romany culture there is no written history from the community itself, it is purely of oral tradition. It is only now and in the past few years that the written word is being expressed from within the culture,” she explained.

“The work I produce is visual story telling in that sense but with the inclusion of written text… I see art as being an all senses experience by working across practices the works develop different aspects and ideas that may not work on a particular level in one area take on different life in another.”

For Delaine, language is an important factor in the way a community maintains and preserves its unique identity and culture: “Language is very important as it also contains customs and traditions, but as well as having the historical content it also continues to develop over time yet still maintains its originality.”

The inspiration for the work, according to Delaine, was reading accounts of the earliest witch hunts and looking at how people behaved – something which she does not believe has changed much since.

She said: “Over history nothing has changed the same behaviour happens under certain circumstances and ‘pack’ mentality determines how people behave towards those who are on the ‘outside’ or ‘different’ in any way.

“Reading what happened in the original witch hunts, it got to the point where anyone - man, woman or child - who was considered ‘different’, or just because someone had a grudge against them, would be accused of witchcraft.”

As an observer, Witch Hunt looks like a work of protest, a fight back against suppression manifested through the arts but embodying a deeper message, too. But Delaine stopped short of describing the work as such: “There are many ways to protest. Art for me is a way of me talking about how I feel in the world that I live in. Other people use various methods to do the same thing.

“The arts in general is a huge area where discussion and ideas can take place but also involve and inform the general public. Governments and regimes know the power of art and often it is the first thing to be suppressed because of the power that it holds to inform and engage with such a huge audience.”

Showing Until March 20th

Review by Ciaran Jones

Collection Seven is a diverse and compact exhibition showing the work of seven female Cardiff-based artists. With a multiplicity of media and no central theme, the works are dynamic and bold: rather than feeling rootless and discordant, there is a delicate balance to the pieces on display.

Beth Sanders’ felt scenes and slippers are quietly beautiful, with the bright colours of Starry Starry Night evoking a childlike, fairytale-esque feel which is continued with Judy Foote’s wonderful Crazy Daisies. Simple yet novel, their striking colours and casual setting in the window provide a beautiful and understated backdrop.

Lisa Tann’s paintings and prints are somewhat more serious, with an almost ethereal or supernatural undertone to the Spider Lilly pieces. Her paper clay panels are stunning: the blue hues are texturised with small emerald blue splashes, and the subtlety of the clay makes them look different from each perspective.

Textile installation The Great Escape is Lucy Lilley’s first piece of exhibited work and its rough-around-the-edges, haphazard feel nicely offsets some of the more serious works. Alice Smith’s silk and felt creations feel a little anodyne – they lack the creativity and vibrancy of Sanders’ work and there is a feeling of incompleteness about them, as though they were hurriedly created or somehow stifled.

Kate Rigby’s rural images are breathtaking, with the fusion of Indian ink and gentler watercolours combining to create sharp, angular shapes and gentle colours. The scenic views are tinged with stunning off-pinks and greens, and the harmony between the landscape and the sky is fascinating.

Helen Malia’s black charcoal piece, Germination, is a subtle and intoxicating work which merits lengthy attention. What at first appears a piece of environmental art, showing the budding growth of a plant, gradually unfolds to be littered with small rockets and guns and a heavily-armed soldier. Its distinctive yet unprepossessing flair is the perfect metaphor for the whole exhibition.

http://www.olacanfas.co.uk/