Find My Way Home

Kiss Him Goodbye

Take Me To The Moon

These Are The Days

Who Were You

Control

Snow

Fall

Catherine McQuade and Peter Farnan doing a Retro classic in Casio pop style

The Ballad of Lucy Jordan

Grip

Sensuality, brutality, control, intoxication.   Singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, fashion designer  CATHERINE MCQUADE  sings of the darker sides of love in her album PERFECT STORM.

 With the melodic spaciousness of Ennio Morricone,  the drama of a James Bond theme and the smokey intimacy of a French chanteuse,  her music gives a nod to 60's jazz and Latin  while never landing firmly in either genre. It's the cool soundtrack to  dangerous  encounters.

From her early days as a teenage competitive ballroom dancer,  through television, recording, and touring Australia with an internationally released pop funk group,  to working  as a professional bellydancer,  playing bass with Cuban Salsa groups in Sydney and Melbourne,  and running a successful Australian Fashion Label,  Catherine's hunger for new experiences  has always been underpinned by a love of romance and drama. 

PERFECT STORM  explores themes of love and loss: nine tracks composed and arranged by Catherine,  with an impressive array of guest players from around the world. 

MUSICAL ORIGINS

Catherine cut her teeth as bass player and backing vocalist with Melbourne art punk  band 'The Ears',  recording  two singles and beginning her live performance career. The band achieved international notoriety when they were portrayed in the cult movie 'Dogs in Space' starring Michael Hutchence as the lead singer of the band. 

Catherine joined Deckchairs Overboard with a line up which included Paul Hester ( later of Crowed House) on drums.   Deckchairs recorded an EP, several singles and an album working with Australian producer Mark Optiz ( INXS)   and John Morales & Sergio Munzibai- (M & M productions) in New York.  Cathy's bass playing was a jagged and strident feature of the band's sound. 

After years working as a dancer and fashion designer it was in fact her exceptionally talented daughter Talulah  (now an orchestral cellist)  who drove Catherine back to music.    'Her passion for music jolted me.....made me ask why I had given up the thing I loved most in the world' 

And so,  after immersing herself in jazz harmony and picking up her old friend the bass guitar,  Catherine began to write again.  This time the songs were to include cello sections, flugel horn solos,  flamenco guitar, even a rhythm track played on the kitchen bench......anything which could give a filmic texture to the music. 

PERFECT STORM  has been co-produced by Catherine with COLIN WYNNE, at Thirty Mill Studios, Melbourne.

Catherine McQuade

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