The Kat O Army is a 3 piece band from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Formed in June 2017 as a vehicle for Kat’s heartfelt punk songs.
The band released their single “I’ll Meet You At The Milk Bar” on the 26th of July 2019 but the song has been teased out so well that anticipation of listening to the whole band version was still high. We got our first taste of this song on a Flat Cap Productions video back in January this year as Kat performed it on an acoustic guitar.
The drums were recorded at ColourSound by Mat Robins, the rest was recorded at Regulator Sound, engineered and mastered by Mark Nowak who also contributed backing vocals. The milk bar photograph used as the cover was taken by Rowan Crowe.
The new recording of “I’ll See You At The Milk Bar” has already had radio play with Shock Treatment on 3PBS and Queens Of Noize on Phoenix FM giving it a few spins, Kat even did an acoustic performance of the song on 3CR Melbourne
The band has been promoted by the Female Fronted Punk Bands page on facebook and are the current band of the week in Punktoria.
Lyrically this song is an ode to the milk bars, which were a huge part of many childrens lives, I certainly still have fond memories of the milk bars I frequented as a child. The song starts off with a count in on drumsticks followed by some distorted power chords with a flanger pedal as the band sets in. The progression cycles through before the guitar drops out as the verse starts and the vocals chime in to a background of drums and bass. Kat’s singing is reminiscent of the great women of the alternative 90’s scene mixed with riot grrl with the vocal melodies changing 3 times during the song with simple but catchy lyrics adding to the soundscape of the song and keeping it interesting. After a repeat of the verse and chorus parts there is a bridge part, the breakdown is such a well executed piece of softness. A catchy vocal hook of “We wont buy the shapes, cause they’re out of date” will have you wanting to sing along during the following build up to get back to full speed with another chorus.
The band is playing a release party for “I’ll See You At The Milk Bar” on Friday the 23rd of August at Pride of our Footscray Community Bar. To sweeten the deal, there will be free lolly bags for the first 20 payers haha
Its actually a bigger lineup than I expected with acts and bands filling spots on an acoustic stage and a main stage.
Acoustic Stage Benny Alright- Skellem & Tuteri -My Twin Sister Lulu-
Main Stage Valley Of The Vultures- Dumb Whales- The Kat O Army- Joslyn Bosom -My Twin Sister Lulu
Event Link
The bands new single is out now and an EP “Songs In The Key Of Melbourne” is scheduled for release in early 2020.
The Kat O Army is Kat – vocals/guitar Jessica – bass/vocals Sami – drums/vocals
Spotify Link
Bandcamp Link
Facebook Link
Triple J Unearthed Link
Youtube Link
