Cat the Dog were an English

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band formed in

Brighton, East Sussex Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Ag ...

in 2005, consisting of Chris Melian (vocals/guitar), Andy Newton (drums),

Dan Logan Dan Logan (born 19 December 1985 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England) is an English musician. Formerly the bassist of Cat the Dog, he also briefly toured with The Kooks and played double bass for Brighton alt/blues band Sweet Sweet Lies as well ...

(bass guitar), and Daryl Pruess (lead guitar), all of whom attended

Brighton Institute of Modern Music The British and Irish Modern Music Institute, now styled as the BIMM Institute, is a group of eight independent colleges which specialise in the provision of creative education in Brighton, Bristol, London, Dublin, Manchester, Berlin, Birmingh ...

. Chris Melian and Andy Newton moved in 2004 from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The band signed with

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

after only three shows and BMG Music Publishing signed Cat the Dog to a long-term publishing deal. They were managed by Rob Swerdlow, Mark Nicholson and Dave Nicoll, who are also behind fellow Brighton band

The Kooks The Kooks () are an English pop-rock band formed in 2004 in Brighton. The band consists of Luke Pritchard (vocals/rhythm guitar), Hugh Harris (lead guitar/synthesizer/bass) and Alexis Nunez (drums). Their music is primarily influenced by th ...

. Cat the Dog supported The Automatic and The Kooks, and recorded with producer Jack Douglas at Hook End Studios in Reading. They released singles "I'm a Romantic" and "Gotta Leave", and managed to get airplay on MTV's '' Spankin' New Music''. In November 2007 the band were involved in a near fatal car crash while travelling to their gig and had to escape from their van by breaking a window and climbing out. They soon split up in December 2007 after a tour with

Zico Chain Zico Chain is a rock band from London, United Kingdom, formed in 2002. To date, they have released two full albums entitled ''Food'' and ''The Devil in Your Heart'', a self-titled EP and an EP called ''These Birds Will Kill Us All''. The ba ...

. Immediately after the split, in January 2008 bassist

briefly joined

in place of

Max Rafferty Maxwell Lewis Rafferty Jr. (May 7, 1917 – June 13, 1982) was an American writer, educator, and politician. The author of several best-selling books about education, Rafferty served two terms as California State Superintendent of Public Instru ...

; the latter would then form The Third Man with Cat the Dog drummer Andy Newton. In 2009, Cat the Dog vocalist Chris Melian joined the group The Hot Melts.

References

{{Reflist English indie rock groups Musical groups established in 2005 Musical groups disestablished in 2007