"KTM" EP by catpuke

catpuke finally transfer all their energy and rage in digital form with their EP - KTM! Much like their live performances, the band charges out the gate on a relentless assault on your senses with barely any time to rest. 0000 sets the tone for the whole EP serving as a wake-up call to the listener. My favorite song Pulse is next with a depiction of an omnipresent figure out to get anyone. Head-banger and mosh-starter Eat The Rich gives a grim depiction of what happens when greed is not kept in check. Warsuxx describes the horrors of war - dead parents, misplaced childhoods, destruction, and blood. The EP ends with a call-to-arms in KTM - reminding people that there is a revolution brewing and that the power of their voices are powerful enough to combat against the guns and tanks of the man. All in all, the EP is a sonic and moral must-listen in times of persecution.

I was able to have a quick chat with the band.

JANLOR: How did the band formed, especially given the musical background of the members?

CATPUKE: Short version: We were often tagged together in music posts by our friend, Paeng, and it was later suggested, too, that maybe we should start a band together because we all like punk music. This seemed like a cool idea since we already knew each other somehow--Grois and Ten were former band mates, and Jamie's and Papat's former bands recorded with Paeng where they also met Grois. We ran in different circles and used to play different genres in different bands, but, as aforementioned, we all like punk music, so it just made sense.

J: How was the recording and production process during the pandemic?

C: We actually started recording late 2019, and we were actually lucky to have completed recording everything just before the lockdowns started. Like all bands recording, the experience, while stressful at times, was also extremely fun, and it was such a great experience recording with JR Jabla of This Is Where I Make Music. By 2020, we mostly worked with our sound engineer, Dwight Galang of Kuwago Nights Studio to make sure that the mixing of KTM adhered to how we envisioned the album. We picked to work with Dwight because based on his past works, he would really get the sound we were going for, and we weren't wrong. Looking back at it now, this was very important because it made working together easy despite the lack of face-to-face communication due to the lockdown.

J: Why release the EP now with the current political climate?

C: Funnily enough, we never really planned to release KTM the exact moment that we did. We had no set date yet as to when the release would be even after we had received the finished mixes (In fact, when we got the final mixes, we were still talking about one of the songs over and over again). The release and announcement of pre-orders happened pretty fast after the consecutive typhoons hit the country hard. We were thinking of the best way to gather donations, the best way to extend our help being a band stuck in lockdown, and we thought, "hey, we have an EP here; let's release it, and we can donate," and that's what we did.

Thinking about it now, with the songs the we are writing and the political climate in the country, there is never a wrong time to release KTM--in fact, ANY time is the right time to release KTM. The Filipino people have always been terrorized by a fascist government (they're just their changing names), and there is always a need for progressive artists to contribute to the roaring calls and fights of the masses. We released these songs now because we can and we have to.

Grab your copy below!