The local band has been performing since 2004 in various venues, including the prestigious Penang Jazz Festival and World Youth Jazz Festival.
Consisting of the band’s frontman and guitarist, NR Lohan, bassist Eu Gene, drummer Ashwin Gobinath and keyboardist LK Wong, the band launched their single in December last year to an appreciative crowd at Merdekarya.
And the key person in ensuring the success of this endeavour was their leader, Lohan.
“As a band, people have heard our cover songs. But we needed a step further in writing our own songs. We needed people to hear our songs and our styles,” he told FMT about the album that is due out this July.
Drawing inspiration from Led Zeppelin’s studio album ‘Houses of the Holy’, Lohan said their album was influenced by the various music styles of the English rock band.
Forming the band
For Lohan, who founded Cats in Love, their first single was a culmination of years of practice and adapting to the succession of musicians that joined and left the band.
“We’ve had different musicians bringing in their talent. But then, when the time came for them to pursue their studies, they bid us farewell. And that was when we had to scour for new talents.
“So, we had to take a break from our recording and resume when a new keyboardist or drummer joined us,” he said.
Despite the comings and goings, Lohan never gave up on the dream of working on an album, believing that anything is achievable if you put your heart and soul into it.
Were there other prerequisites to joining the band apart from being an excellent musician? Lohan said yes – aspiring band members were required to familiarise themselves with the music of the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, among others.
He said he’d usually invite his bandmates to his house to listen to his CD collection – over 10,000 CDs mind you, spanning various genres. He’d been collecting the CDs since his teens.
He said some of the music dated back to the 30’s, and others included the 40’s doo-wop, and even music of Jimi Hendrix.
He added that he has always been intrigued by the kind of music his idols listened to. So he researched their music or randomly listened to songs from different eras.
And because he dedicated so many hours to listening to music, he said that in a way, music loved him back. He also developed an ear for music – which enabled him to play a certain tune after listening to a particular chorus or verse from a song.
“The more music I listened to, the more attuned my ears were to pick up sounds and imitate the melody on a guitar or keyboard.
“And I think my bandmates knew that they had to do their ‘homework’ of listening to songs so that they could diversify their musical skills in whatever instruments they were playing,” he said.
Lyricist, guitarist and lead singer
Having worked as a journalist for almost 20 years, it was easy for his bandmates to pick Lohan as the “guy who writes songs” due to his natural way with words.
But for Lohan, writing long journalistic features and thinking up lyrics that rhyme were two different things altogether.
“I learned the art of songwriting over the years – and yes, having a knack for writing helped me become more observant of the world around me and to pen it down into words.
“Stories of my friend’s break-up inspired me to write it down, or just experiences as citizens of the country that can help me string together words to form something creative and real,” he said.
On how he came to be ‘the voice’ of his band, Lohan said that he was ‘chosen’ for the part as the others weren’t keen on it.
But singing took hard work as well and over time, he learned to be more confident about his voice, improving his vocals after feedback from gigs.
Despite being able to write lyrics and sing, his first love has always been his guitar, and his ability to strum random chords to make magic with his compositions.
Lohan said the band’s first album will be their passport to perform internationally, so that they can showcase their love for music to a wider audience.
Listen to Cats in Love’s songs on YouTube.