#brett hammann

(photo by Tim Duggan Photography)

Gathered around an outdoor fire on a wintry night in Salt Lake City, Sol Cat heated themselves up after their show at Kilby Court. I met them there, shivering in the cold, to discuss bad jokes, Nashville's music scene, & importance of variety.

Mads Jensen: Why do you call yourself Sol Cat?

Brett Hammann: The name came about in the Bahamas. I was playing roulette & had a cat on my t-shirt. The guy who was spinning the ball around the wheel kept whispering “sol cat” for no apparent reason. So when we all got together & struggled with finding a name, that memory resurfaced & we became Sol Cat.

MJ: Have you ever gone back & thanked this guy?

BH: No, I haven’t! But I do know his name is Everett, so maybe one day I can find him.

MJ: How did you guys meet?

BH: We met up about this time last year, but have had a lot of people come & go. I met Johnny first. We drank a lot of Goldschlager at a party, got really sick, & have been friends ever since. Johnny, Jeremy, & Jon (pronounced Yon) all knew each other years before I transferred to Belmont. Not knowing anyone else, I basically just stuck with them. As for Tom, he actually went to Berkeley in Boston & just started playing with us in January.

MJ: With your band members shifting around all the time, has your music changed at all?

BH: Totally. Before we were more “jammy” because of our bassist. When he resigned, we went from a very jammy rock ’n roll vibe to a more synthy one, & had to change some of our songs to be more accommodating. Our new music isn’t as articulate, & it seems like people have been attracted to that. Pretty much anything electronic seems to reign over rock ’n roll nowadays. 

MJ: How do you feel about that?

BH: I’m pretty bummed out about it. It’s not really my thing, you know, & I don’t think it’s necessarily making music listeners any smarter. It just seems a bit generic & unscholarly… But we’re all pretentious because we’ve been around music & have studied it for a while. Oh, by the way, you've gotta hear Tom's story about Austin! Get over here, dude! 

Tom Myers: So we were in Austin a few weeks ago & may or may not have been drinking when…

BH: You don’t have to include all the debauchery!

TM: Basically I slipped on a puddle & came down on my elbow pretty damn hard. So right now I’m playing through a lot of pain. Basically being in a band is like playing in the NFL.

MJ: Hopefully not as corrupt.

BH: Hopefully.

TM: Well I don’t have any children to beat.

BH: Tom, don’t say that!

TM: I blame it on the pain.

MJ: So you guys are from Nashville, Tennessee. Have you noticed a shift in the music scene within the last few years?

Jon Chattman: (shouting from outside the room) Oh yeah!

BH: Turbo Fruits have really been pioneers in changing shit up in Nashville. They started the DIY, garage sort of vibe. The whole garage rock scene has kind of taken over.

MJ: Are you planning on doing this for the rest of your life?

BH: Personally, no. I’d want to stop touring after a while. I don’t really see any of us on stage long term, even if we had the opportunity to keep going. Lately I’ve been realizing how hard it actually is to be on the road. I bow down to anyone who does it for a long time.

MJ: I’ve always wondered how some musicians can maintain long-term relationships while on tour.

BH: I’m trying to do that right now! When you start out, you end up meet all of these other people who are doing it & all vent to each other. Eventually girlfriends meet girlfriends, & they begin venting about how weird or hard it is as well. But yeah, there’s definitely a community of long-distance relationshipers, & I think it’s pretty cool when they actually pull it off! Of course, it sucks, but it’s definitely a unique sort of relationship between two people. 

MJ: If your’re not planning on playing music together down the road, what’s the motive behind your desire to make music?

BH: First of all, none of us wanted to do something that required us to have a set schedule. We never liked the idea of being apart of the machine, so to speak. There’s something that feels pretty damn good about knowing that you don’t have to hop in a car & drive the same route to work every day. 

MJ: You all thrive on variety.

BH: Absolutely! That’s a great way to put it. Too many people run by the system, & never really consider that there are other ways to thrive or make a living. We all just really love making music, and figured that, for the time being, we could definitely make a living off of doing what we love. That’s where it all started. Now, we’re trying to learn to like performing & touring.

MJ: What does your average pre show look like?