Staying true to their latest album title, On The Road Again , New Zealand reggae superstars Katchafire are heading back to Australia for the second time to a fan-base which guitarist/lead vocalist Logan Bell reckons rivals the one back at home. It’s not surprising when you take into consideration this one-time-Bob-Marley tribute band is now a platinum-selling seven-piece juggernaut with four full-length records under their belt.
“On The Road Again sounds like nothing we’ve ever done before,” states Bell. “It definitely sounds totally different to our very first album [ Revival, 2003]! We’ve got four studio albums now, so there was going to be an evolution over time. When I listen back to this album, all I can hear is how much better we have gotten as musicians, but also as songwriters. I really don’t like to blow my own trumpet, but the critics have really liked this album and the fans are loving it… and I love it too! It just sounds so much more slicker and more confident. The big difference with this album is that the whole band contributed to it. We’ve had a few more songwriters get involved now than on the previous album. It’s great to see a couple of the other blokes in the band starting to chuck in some of their ideas. It’s shaped it into something very unique.”
Although Bell claims that Katchafire’s fan-base in Australia is quickly evening out to be as big as the New Zealand one, he says that America in particular has caught on to the band and can’t seem to get enough. Back to the States again it is for the seven-piece later in 2012.
“Yep, we are going to continue our mission for world domination!” jokes Bell. “We’re taking off back to the ‘States as well as Brazil, Europe, Japan and Indonesia. America has really grown for us over the years, the word really seems to be getting around about us, so that’s been a big bonus. Europe has also been good for us, though we haven’t been back there in about four years. You know, reggae music is just huge all around the world wherever you go, so you’re not really likely to be playing to empty venues either way. For me, the highlight has been experiencing all the different cultures through our travels, trying out all this foreign exotic food, checking out the local scenery and stuff like that. It sounds pretty simple, but that’s definitely been some of the perks of getting around the world.”
And while Bell claims touring around the globe over the last decade has been an amazing experience, he reveals that fans can expect things to slow down somewhat for Katchafire in the next few years.
“We’re considering maybe slowing down a bit in about three or four years from now,” Bell says. “In the meantime, though, we want to make sure that we do a proper tour of New Zealand this year as well. We’ve been taking care of everyone else’s country so we’re going to try to stay at home a bit and enjoy quality time with the family. If we were ever offered the opportunity to move overseas, like maybe LA or something for a big hot shot record label, I’m pretty sure we would turn them down flat because for us family is pretty much number one. We couldn’t have done any of this without our families anyway. The good thing about the New Zealand festival circuit is that you can take your family out on the road with you for a change.”
At the same time, the band aren’t planning on slowing down before they release album number five, which Bell claims should be out by mid-next year. With the month of April in their sights, Bell says the band will be getting back into the studio after their Australian jaunt.
“The boys are actually doing some writing already at the moment! The fact that On The Road Again has done so well for us is pretty amazing in these times. I think everyone knows that it’s so much harder to sell records, let alone platinum records in the way that the music industry is going. The CD sales market is just terrible right now, so we’ve been definitely stoked with the way things have gone for us at home. For us, I think it’s also had a lot to do with our work ethic and the fact that we’ve been touring up to 70% of the year most of our career. There aren’t many bands that tour as much as us, unless they’re big-name artists who are doing show every night. I think being full-time musicians is not very common in New Zealand, maybe not even in Australia, so we’ve been very grateful and humble that we have been able to pay the bills doing this.”