Originating from Boston and currently based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Jaya the Cat play an uncompromising and original mix of reggae, punk rock and ska music. Founded through a mutual love of 60’s and 70’s dub and punk by three friends (Geoff Lagadec - vocals/guitar, Dave Smith - guitar/vocals and Ben Murphy - bass), Jaya The Cat create songs ranging from booze fueled anthems to chilled out dance tracks to outright political commentary.
Following the 2001 release of their debut album ‘Basement Style’ (Gold Circle Records), Jaya The Cat were joined by ex-Shadows Fall drummer David ‘The Germ’ Germain and began a steady touring schedule of stages across the United States and Europe, playing major clubs and festivals such as Lowlands in Holland, Pukkelpop in Belgium, and the Warped Tour in the US. Their music has also been featured in numerous skate, surf and snowboard videos.
Summer 2003 saw their sophomore release, ‘First Beer of a New Day’ (4tune Records). Although both albums met with positive critical success and they had gathered a loyal worldwide following, personal differences saw the departure of Smith and Murphy that fall, which effectively left the band in limbo. After a freezing music-less winter working shitty jobs in Boston, Lagadec and Germain met up and decided to look for new members.
Temporarily joined for a spring European tour by dutch musicians Jan Jaap Onverwagt (Green Lizard) and Alejandro Londoño, they took a 3 month sublet on an apartment in Amsterdam with the plan of regrouping and figuring out what the hell to do with themselves. Three months turned into three years. In the interim, the band has continued to grow, playing hundreds of live shows to an ever expanding audience, as well as adding keyboards, samples, percussion and even the occasional live tiki bar to their onstage act.
An average Jaya the Cat concert usually becomes more of a party than a performance, with the audience singing, dancing and drinking right along with the band.
November 16th of 2007 saw the release of their third studio album entitled ‘More Late Night Transmissions with Jaya The Cat’ on I Scream records. Drawing on their experiences, ‘More Late Night Transmissions with…’ delivers 13 tracks filled with seedy bars, cheap hotels, dysfunctional love affairs and political disillusionment. Punk rock, reggae, ska and pop glued together in their own unique style.
Singer Geoff Lagadec: ‘I think the new record is a bit deeper than the last two and in my opinion we’ve progressed a lot musically. We took more chances on this one plus Amsterdam is a pretty international city, so it's exposed me to a lot of new influences’.
With a current line up including Jordi ‘Pockets’ Nieuwenburg on guitar, Jeroen Kok on bass, and Onverwagt keyboards, expect to see Jaya the Cat at a festival or club near you soon!
'More Late Night Transmissions with...' will be released march 10th in the US.
Hiya, I was looking around for some lovely music to put on my radio show (Mondays 9-10 pm GMT on www.oxideradio.co.uk) and then I remembered about you guys:
Very glad to hear you are recording a new album, I hope you will come and tour in the UK (especially Oxford) again soon. Thank you for having so many tracks up for free on Last.fm, it is very helpful for poor students like me :P
nooo why are you guys playin on friday in wolfsberg?? it would be much better if you were in klagenfurt or somewhere else. i'd love to see your show *-* but i think i can't come to wolsberg :/// so you're in carinthia and nevertheless i can't see you : ( hate that!
thanks for adding me guys! man, i was chilling in my backyard with my homeboy yesterday dranking some beers and having a puff and he put yalls cd on. i have to say i really liked it. Hopefully one day yall will find ur way to san antonio, texas. Good luck to you guys! peace.
