Fantastic Cat

Fantastic Cat almost died. Each member also individually (but at separate times) faceddevastatingheartbreak,went to jail, got sober,almostquit musicentirely,reconnected withalong-estranged family member,started making music again,hit rock bottom,had a chanceencounter with a mysterious stranger who changed their perspective on life, almost quit musicentirely a second time,reconciled their progressive, liberal ways with theirstrict,conservativeupbringing, and embracedtheraw power of theirsexuality.It was quite a summer.And sure, you may be reading this right now saying, “Wow, thatkind ofsounds like the band justbasicallyjammed everybio clichéthey could think ofintoa singleparagraphwithout anythingto back it up in a pathetically transparent attempt to generate press coverage.” But that kind ofcynical thinkingis exactly whyGQownsPitchforknow(or whatever thehellhappened there).Anyway,it’s all real, andifit makes for the kind of inspirational headline thateditorsandadvertisers alikeboth find highly clickable, then so be it.You see, two years ago, Fantastic Cat was nothing more than a little-known rock and roll bandwithacult following (their fans were primarily members of Heaven’s Gate).That all changed withthereleaseof theiraward-eligibledebut,The Very Best Of Fantastic Cat, which garnered thekind of press you simply can’t make up.USA Todayproclaimed, “we don’t have a music writeranymore,”whileNPRreceivedmultiplecopiesof the albumin the mail,andThe New York Times’Jon Parelesdeclared, “I’m currently out oftheoffice and will respond when I return.”Success went to thesupergroup’shead, though, and through a series of dramatic events almosttoo unbelievable to recount in specific, verifiable detail, they nearly lost everything, only totriumphantly overcome theirseemingly insurmountablesetbacks in a way that just begs for aJudd Apatow-producedHBO Maxdocumentary(or at the very least,a decent Spotify playlistplacement somewhere closer to the top than the bottom).Today,Fantastic Cat isbackand older than ever,taking America(and the nicer parts of Europe)by storm with their smash hit new album,Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat,which, as of thiswriting, hasn’t technically been released yet, but seems almost certain to be a huge successbased on industry trends and corporate forecasting.Galvanized by a transformative journey into the spiritual vortices of the Pocono Mountains, theband found inspiration for their sophomore effort in the world of mind-expanding psychedelics:they dropped antacids, experimented with mushrooms (primarily porcini), and even beganmicrodosing a variety of hard seltzers.Theresult was an album that could only be described as“Christopher Cross crossed with Kris Kristofferson,”abewildering blend of stepdad rock and in-law countrydestined to solidify their status as your leastfavorite songwriter’s favorite songwriters.Butno one hit the record button,and thesessions went mercifully undocumented.Instead, the albumthey turned in to the labelis an entirely different collection, one that meets(but does not exceed) the minimum Grammy® eligibility requirements in all major televisedcategories.Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat!