Scott:   First question goes out to the singer.  When did you start to love singing?  and how did you and bandmates start songwriting, what are your methods?

Jeri:  I don’t really recall when I started to love singing. When I started out I was really bad at it and school “friends” would tell me to quit. It took me around a decade before I was any good. I love singing now, especially if the microphone is loaded with reverb!

Songwriting..hmm…sometimes it takes me a really long time to make a song. A stupid amount of time. Other times, and of course more rarely, a song will just come to me fully formed. Like it was written already. It isn’t a precise science. I try not to stick to formulas and I am very sensitive to songs that sound too much like another one. I started writing songs when I was around 10. Bandmates probably something similar.

 
Scott:   As somebody who has the word "time" in his own artist name myself, I must ask where the name Time Cat came from?

Jeri:  It’s a funny story..it was Summer 2012 and the drummer (Sam) and I had this manager guy who was like “You guys NEED to pick a band name. NOW.” We had until that time called ourselves “Sun Dog”, “The Yonge Ones”, “No Shoes” (ha!). One day I was in my parent’s basement looking through a box of books I’ve had since I was a little kid. In it, I saw Time Cat. So Time Cat is a children’s book about a talking, time-traveling cat. I had gotten it at a book fair when I was like 8 years old or something and never read it. I was unemployed at the time so I figure, why not read a children’s book right now? I’m already at rock bottom… A few days later I wrote our song Boozled and the lyrics were all written in one of the cover pages of Time Cat. My good friend saw this and suggested I just name the band that. So I did.

 
Scott:   Okay your song Victory struck me as sort of an updated Janis Joplinesque song.  Is Janis an influence?  What other artists played a part in that very unique sound?

Jeri:   Janis was never a big influence. People compare me to her all the time. Which is totally cool and all, I just don’t think I sound like her. I think we both have a lot of the same influences which is why we may have a similar approach melodically. I just wrote the song… it isn’t based on anything. I think it sounds like a mellow soul song or something. Sam wrote the chord progression for the chorus on piano. It is actually the only Time Cat song that we really worked on together.

 
Scott:   I've done a lot of work in Ohio, it's a sort of salt of the earth place.  Do you love Ohio or hate it?  Have you gotten out of the state often?

Jeri:   I love it and I hate it. Sam loves Akron and doesn’t want to leave! My problem with it is the weather. It’s always dreary outside and winter lasts for about 6 months. We have a great tight-knit community of people up here and that is what makes it livable. When there isn’t anything to do or anywhere to go you either get creative or really, really bored. I get out as much as I can…I thrive on adventure. All I want to do is tour and travel around.

 
Scott:   Do you do live shows?  What's your greatest moment thus far as a band?  Your lowest moment?

Jeri:  Of course! Live shows are where we really shine. Greatest moment…hmmmm…probably playing at a packed house at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland or our recent Akron release show where it sold out. That was a pretty great feeling. Our lowest moment..that has happened more than once, ha! One time recently we played a show after this weird animal fashion show where a goat took a shit on stage. I was in a terrible mood and halfway through the 4th song I started crying and left the stage. Totally weird.

 

Scott:   Have you experienced yet that frustration in trying to raise your visibility out of indie oblivion? 

Jeri:  Yeah, we get frustrated for sure. I happen to think that if you are amazing enough you can rise through all the rabble. We believe in what we do so it gets us through all of that crap.

Scott:   How does the singer keep her voice so loose?  Do you use a mixture of glycerine, lemon juice and water or something else?

Jeri:   I smoke cigarettes and drink whiskey. Hahaha. Another Janis thing, I guess. The only way my voice is like this is through practice and that’s it!

 
Scott:   I saw that you describe your music in some places as psychedelic.  Are you hippies?  :)

Jeri:   I think there is a small hippie element going on. Very small though. I just love the psychedelic rock of the 60s. Tons of reverb, trippy lyrics, etc.

Scott:   Bands with both men and women as members can get tricky.  Any complications there?

Jeri:   In the past I’ve played in bands where maybe some one gets a crush on me…but clearly that isn’t what this is about! We’re musicians, plain and simple. Time Cat as a whole has nothing to do with gender or messing around with band mates. When Sam and I traveled in our van as a two piece on tour, people would ask if we were…fooling around with each other. Just because we inhabit female and male bodies doesn’t mean we have to want to practice breeding with each other. We aren’t Fleetwood Mac.

 
Scott:   Do you have any thoughts on the overall quality of indie music in comparison to mainstream top 40?

Jeri:   Top 40 is generally complete garbage. There are a few new bands I like but I generally just listen to older music.

 
Scott:   I ask all spotlight subjects this question - any experiences of high strangeness like UFOs, the supernatural, etc?

Jeri:   There has definitely been some strangeness but…I’ll save that for a book that won’t come out for a few decades. Hah..

 
Scott:   What role does music play in your lives?

Jeri:   It’s all we care about. Speaking for myself though, it saved me. I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t have this. It wouldn’t be pretty, that’s for sure.