Photo courtesy of Jed Mottley

The UA grads in Feed the Kitty find some time on tour to celebrate. The band is currently on a tour of Arizona and California.

Monday October 15, 2001

A band that got its start in the Old Pueblo got a chance to come back and play where it all began.

The Newport Beach, Calif.-based band Feed the Kitty (FTK), which was in town last Friday to play O'Malley's, was recently named Best Rock 'n' Roll/Blues/Funk Band of Southern California 2001 by CyberRadio.com.

The band's influences range from Stevie Ray Vaughn to Widespread Panic to the Black Crowes and Sublime.

FTK consists of University of Arizona alumni Tyler Newhausen ('01) on vocals and guitar, Chris Hagerty ('99) on guitar, Jed Mottley ('99) on bass, and Jon Shumway ('99) on drums.

The band is currently touring Arizona and California. Playing live shows remains the band's constant interest.

"Our main goal will be by next fall to be completely touring full time through Phoenix, San Francisco, San Diego, the West Coast," Mottley said, "If we are making enough money through that, then great - maybe we can come to Tucson more often."

FTK plans to return to Tucson "around Homecoming," Mottley added.

Since graduation, the band has been busy touring mostly Californian areas such as Orange County, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Hollywood, playing in such historic, famous rock 'n' roll clubs as the Whiskey A Go-Go, The Roxy and Coconut Teaser.

"The tour has been going good; we usually get booked everywhere we go," Newhausen said. "We never really go play and that's it - they usually have us back."

The band members met while attending school at UA.

"Most of us were friends before we even started doing this," Mottley said.

The band members said they get a warm response from former UA students and grads who come out to see them play.

"We have a strong fan base and friends from the UA," Shumway said. "They come out and support us a lot in the different cities that we go. There are a lot of reunions."

Support from UA grads is especially helpful when it comes to word-of-mouth promotion, on which the band heavily depends.

"The UA people are everywhere," Mottley said "We have a good amount of friends who we went to school with that are in San Francisco, and they bring all their friends, and their friends bring their friends."

The UA connection also works in the band's favor when it comes to finding gigs.

"We have friends up in San Francisco that literally promote for us and book shows for us," Mottley said. "People in Phoenix do the same thing."

Tucson, however, remains a sentimental favorite stop for the band.

"Tucson is paradise, I think," Newhausen said "We played here in college and are still fortunate to have a couple friends here. We definitely miss it and look forward to coming back here every time."

The band feels strongly about the sincerity of the Tucson music scene and what it has to offer.

"What I like about it is the authenticity of the music," Hagerty said. "The music in Tucson seems to be honest. The good venues down here are fun. It's definitely fun playing for the college kids."

According to the band's manager, Jason Austin, FTK members could not be more serious about their future prospects than they are right now.

"Feed the Kitty is not some band to be toyed around with," Austin said. "This is the real deal. If you watch them live, you will understand this."

For more information on the band, visit their Web site at ftk.cyberradio.com.