The longer you work in the music industry, the more you realise that it is just that – an industry.
It’s a constant melange of deadlines missed and met, money exchanging hands and endless, endless itineraries. Just ask Logan Bell, lead singer of Katchafire and the group’s one-time manager. “I’m just sitting here going over a bit of fun admin stuff,” he says, spitting out the word ‘fun’ as though it were a bloodied tooth.
“Just going over a bit of business with the boys. I don’t manage the band [anymore]. I have taken that hat off and handed it over, but I still do find myself doing quite a lot of admin stuff. I’ve been trying to get rid of some of the management jobs, but I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of all of them, you know? I just want to be a muso and play shows. But things fall over if they’re not organised.”
Indeed, throughout his conversation with the BRAG, the sound of Bell’s phone vibrating with text messages is a near constant presence, as the musician multitasks, preventing the Katchafire machine from grinding to a halt.
And a machine it is. Though the group began life as a Bob Marley tribute band way back in 2000, it has grown exponentially over the almost two decades since. The band has dropped acclaimed album after acclaimed album, featured in chart-ranking compilations, and has slowly but surely accumulated one of reggae’s most dedicated fan bases. People don’t listen to Katchafire passively – they listen to Katchafire, consuming the music and elevating the band members to the status of legends.
Though Bell could never have guessed at the group’s success, he has always been driven to make music, and to hear him talk about playing guitar is to hear a man talk about his very life’s work. “As soon as I had access to a guitar, I got into it,” he says, simply. “I used to gravitate towards any instrument. Dad was in a band when we were quite young, when I was eight or nine, before I think mum told him to get a real job to make some real money. But that was kind of the first time we were around instruments, being young – through dad.
“Then, I think when I was about ten, our school got a couple of nylon-string acoustic guitars and man, that was me straight away. We could play them at lunchtime when the teachers let us. And that was me every lunchtime, sitting next to someone who could play guitar better than me, just picking their brain and learning.”
Despite Bell’s insatiable desire for musical knowledge, there was one part of the puzzle that didn’t fall into place for quite some time: the fine art of performing live. Bell says he was initially uncomfortable with stepping into the spotlight, no doubt a revelation for Katchafire fans who are used to the charismatic frontperson dashing and dancing about the stage.
“I never saw myself as being a frontman when I was young, so I did a performing arts course when I was about 18, 19. It was here in Hamilton, my home town. It was a two-year thing, and it focused on live sound, songwriting, drama and the performance aspects, as well as behind-the-scenes technical stuff. That was really good for me, the drama side of it. It pulled me out of my shell a lot more, and it sort of opened me up for performing in front of people.”
Aside from the extensive class, Bell also threw himself headlong into another form of craft-honing – that age-old trial by fire known as busking. “Busking is always a good way to really work on your talents,” Bell says. “When you’re busking, people have no obligation to listen to you. Some will – some will be gravitated towards your talents and your music – but some will walk on by. So it’s not as intimate as performing to an audience. When you’re doing it with musician friends it helps you get ready for performing by yourself.”
That said, Bell has never completely conquered his nerves. The spectre of stage-fright still haunts him, particularly when he has to stand up by himself in front of only a cluster of fans rather than a massive wall of spectators. How does he combat all that self-doubt before he steps onstage then? “A stiff double of Jameson,” he says with a laugh.
“I guess these days we are a lot more used to it. To me, it’s more intimate shows that I get nervous about rather than having 10,000 or 20,000 people in front of me. It’s a bit more nerve-racking that way. It’s more intimate: you feel like they’re listening more intently. When you’ve got the big shows, there’s a lot of hype and a lot of noise. It’s harder to zone in and focus in on an individual. It’s more like a mass: you’re performing to like a mass of people. You have to block a little bit out of the hype.”
Katchafire are heading out on the road again in less than a fortnight, bringing with them a brand new single, ‘Burn It Down’. It’s a song that took the band some time to refine, and they allowed the creative process to take them in a range of different directions before the tune settled on its final form. “We played with various forms of music,” Bell says.
“It was really interesting with [‘Burn It Down’] – we collaborated with a guy who has been playing keyboards with us internationally. His name is Stephen Maxwell and he’s from Jamaica. It was really cool to learn a lot of these amazing Jamaican techniques. It was just great learning off him.”
The song was assembled ad hoc, while the band were scattered across the globe. “I was sending mixes back to Jamaica while I was in different places in the world,” Bell reveals. “That’s the style of writing we have to do more and more these days. So I had fun. I hope the people enjoy the latest offering.”
Though nothing has been officially announced yet, Bell reveals that ‘Burn It Down’ is but the tip of the iceberg: the band have a whole bevy of material just sitting in standby, ready to be released out in to the world. Katchafire fans, prepare yourselves – this is going to turn into your year. “We’re really trying to get a lot of our studio work done and some of these projects finished before the end of the year, so definitely look for a barrage of singles coming out in the next couple of months,” Bell reveals with a knowing laugh.
But ultimately, though the musician loves recording and releasing material, for Bell nothing beats getting up onstage, pre-show nerves conquered, loosened up by a double whisky, and ready to meet his adoring fans. “The most fulfilling part for me is hearing an audience singing a tune a back to you,” he says, his voice softening. “I think that’s probably the most fulfilling part for most musicians – we all get our kicks hearing people sing our songs back to us.”
Katchafire playMax Watts Friday October 14, thenRooty Hill RSL on Saturday October 15.
