A sampling of articles about The Katies.

From nashvillerage.com:

From The Tennessean:

Perhaps The Katies' self-titled debut album should be plastered with a warning sticker. No, not the typical Parental Advisory Explicit Content" warning. Rather, the album by the Murfreesboro trio that'll play The Exit/In Monday perhaps should sport a "Warning 'J' word enclosed!" advisory. That's "J" word as in "Jesus." After all, as U2's Bono once famously observed, spirituality is more taboo in rock `n' roll than sadomasochism. "Oh, it is, man," agrees Katies singer-guitarist Jason Moore. "That's the weirdest thing to me, because music to me is the most spiritual thing. That's the whole gig of it. It makes you happy. It can move you. It's powerful. So to make it that you can't sing about God, that's crazy." And so it is that The Katies' debut, due in record stores Tuesday, includes such songs as Jesus Pick ("a conversation between me and God," Moore says), and Shisiedo (key lyric: "You look like Jesus, and you talk like Jesus, and you dress like Jesus, so you must be Jesus"). But don't get the idea that The Katies are a Christian rock band. Such a notion will likely be dispelled by one listen to Noggin' Poundin', their slamming, erotically charged debut single about a stupefying babe. Then there's the album track She's My Marijuana, which takes that supreme iconic moment of teen romance, the kiss in a car, and gives it fresh energy. "I'm not preaching about anything, any kind of doctrine," Moore says. "I'm a humanist who feels like, `Yeah, I'm a creature and I can look up and say there's something amazing about life.' And I'm going to write about it. I'm just a dude, man, who's trying to figure it out." 

The Katies deliver these tales of girls and God over music that sounds like a Gen-X version of Cheap Trick. Released on a co-label deal between the Murfreesboro-based Spongebath Records and the major-label Elektra Records, the album features melodic power pop and poppy alternative rock. It's all propelled by the sweet, clear vocals and semi-ragged guitar of Moore, the bass of Gary Welch, and the drumming of Josh Moore, Jason's brother. The band will showcase the album when it plays the free gig at 10 p.m. Monday at The Exit/In. Also on the bill is Self, the Murfreesboro band whose new album, Breakfast With Girls, will be released Tuesday under a co-label deal between Spongebath and DreamWorks Records. As for mixing tales of girls and God, Jason Moore says, "It's got to be a balance. It's the human experience you're writing about. That's just my life. I'm a married dude. I'm in love with my wife. So there are love songs. I think about spiritual stuff. I write about that. I write about my life." Bassist-singer Welch says he agrees totally with Moore. Nevermind that images of God don't exactly come to mind when one spies Welch's biceps. It's there that the snarling faces of Angus and Malcolm Young, those bruise brothers of the heavy metal band AC/DC, are tattooed with a surprising Michelangelo-type artiness. It's those skin portraits of the brothers Young that serve as a reminder of another side of The Katies. 

While their album is a polished (but not slick) affair, their live shows are another matter. Onstage, their rock becomes more raw, ragged and frenzied, with some of the fury of Led Zeppelin and the punkish sneer of Nirvana rearing their ugly heads. "You want to make a record to sound good," Welch says. "I think making a record just to make it raw is stupid, and people who go that deep into thought about it need to hang it up. That's really a silly way to think about it. "But it's not like the record is all that different. The record is still all plugged in. There are no loops or samples. I'm not downing that, so please don't print it like I am. God forbid these fucking electroids out here should think I am." 

Hearing Welch talk, it's easy to see the complementary chemistry at work in The Katies: Jason the quick-to-laugh frontman with the boyish charm, Welch the good-natured yet cantankerous, opinionated bassist, and Josh the shy, taciturn drummer. The band formed in Murfreesboro almost three years ago, after Knoxville native Jason had dropped out of the recording industry program at Middle Tennessee State University, and Slidell, La., native Welch had dropped out of the music program at Belmont University in Nashville. The band lineup was completed after Josh graduated from high school and joined his brother and Welch in Murfreesboro. They first signed to the Murfreesboro-based Spongebath Records, with the Elektra co-label deal coming after the band had already recorded the debut album. "It seemed like everything I was told in those (MTSU) classes about `this is the way the music industry is,' was pretty much the opposite of what the music industry really is," Jason says. When talk turns to the pressure of major-label expectations and of how a rock band has never exploded onto the national scene from Nashville, Jason shrugs. With part swagger and part nonchalance, he says, "Who cares, man? We're not from Nashville." "We're from Murfreesboro; has there ever been a band to explode from there?" Welch asks rhetorically. "So we have even less of a chance there. But it doesn't matter. We got lucky. We got a record deal. Most bands don't. So we're going to ride it out. But it's not like we started a band to get a record deal. We started playing in a band because we thought it would kick a.. to be in a band. We're in it to win it. We want to do well and play big huge rock shows. But if it doesn't do well, we're still going to play." 

Here's another little blurb we ran about the Katies: Katies get a boost, right off stage In what can only be viewed as a fortunate, career-boosting event, the Murfreesboro rock band The Katies were kicked off their recent tour after only two dates. Matt Meeks of Spongebath Records, the Murfreesboro label that released The Katies' debut album in a co-deal with Elektra Records, says the band was a little too boisterous for the tour. Indeed. Consider that the headline band on the tour, My Friend Steve, is a Matchbox 20 clone. In other words, the Steve boys play tame Gen-X granola rock. As for The Katies, their sterling self-titled album is packed with cool Gen-X alterna-pop and power pop. As delicious as the album is, it's in concert that The Katies go berserk. The time yours truly witnessed the trio, they played like Tasmanian devils that had been sprayed by napalm. We're talking alterna-pop juiced by punkish grunge frenzy and Led Zeppelinish thump. So you can see why the sedate My Friend Steve didn't want to make friends with The Katies. As we used to say back in the '60s, it sounds like The Katies "blew them off the stage." "The management of My Friend Steve told The Katies they move around too much on stage," said a disbelieving, and smiling, Meeks. 

You can see The Katies' live fury for yourself when the band plays at 7:30 p.m. Sunday 18 3rd & Lindsley Bar and Grill, 818 Third Ave. S. Also on the bill: that most excellent, mod, techno-pop band Self at 9 p.m. Information: 259-9891