The Family Cat

The Family Cat
Origin	Stoke Newington, London, England
Genres	Garage punk, indie rock
Years active	1988–1995
Labels	Bad Girl, Dedicated, RCA
Website	Official website
Members	Paul Frederick John Graves Kev Downing Tim McVay Steve Jelbert

The Family Cat were a British independent band, formed in Stoke Newington, London in 1988. Three members were originally from Cornwall, one from Plymouth and one from Southampton.

The band played live for five years and recorded three albums, the mini-album Tell 'Em We're Surfin', (produced by The Jam's drummer Rick Buckler ) released on South London independent label Bad Girl Records, and its full-length follow-ups, Furthest from the Sun and Magic Happens, released by Dedicated. The band never quite capitalised on the momentum generated by the success of debut single "Tom Verlaine", which was named 'Single of the Week' by the NME, although the band's final LP, Magic Happens entered the lower reaches of the UK Albums Chart and "Airplane Gardens", lasted for one week in the UK Singles Chart. The Family Cat placed several singles on the UK Indie Chart including "Steamroller".

They also grabbed headlines by naming one of their songs "Bring Me the Head of Michael Portillo". Their music was melodic and radio friendly, but in spite of critical acclaim the band were unable to reach the heights of Britpop acts Oasis and Blur.

Amongst their cover versions were The Beatles' "Across the Universe", The Rolling Stones' "Rocks Off" and Scott Walker's "Montague Terrace (in Blue)".

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Wikipedia