Drew Benton of Haunted Cat: “I’ll be recording until I’m dead”

ALBANY – Albany musician, Drew Benton, speaks of a creative compulsion he has which has kept him writing and playing music long enough to see the comings and goings of trends, facades, fragile egos, bands, venues, and the like in the Capital Region. 

The question is, is it enough to keep him out of prison? According to Benton, that’s irrelevant anyway. 

“If I were in prison, I would figure out a way to write a batch of 12 songs, sequence it, whatever, even if it was just entirely in my head. Somebody’s bound to like it, and that’s satisfying. But if that is not the case, and nobody likes it, and it falls on deaf ears, then there’s nothing you can do about that. You just do the next thing you feel compelled to do.”

Perhaps it comes with age or at least doing it long enough to prioritize why we do the things we do. Artistic maturity is facing any obstacle in life and deciding that you are still going to make art in spite of it – coming to terms with your human nature regardless of whether you are accepted or not.

Benton’s been involved in the region’s music scene since 2001. “My outlook on things has changed – I feel I’m younger now than I was 20 years ago,” he told me in a recent conversation. After a period of “going dark,” he returned a few years ago with an artistic vision that is Haunted Cat. 

Haunted Cat currently has two full-length albums out (2018’s Haunted Cat, and 2020’s Third Degree Moonburns). 

While the first record features other musicians besides Benton, their second record is entirely Benton, all recorded at home.

“I did a horn section in my basement, and you can tell.” 

I first saw Haunted Cat perform live at last year’s Halloween party for SUPER DARK. Even though everyone dressed up for Halloween, my impression was that as far as the wardrobe was concerned, this was a regular theme for them. The theatrics of it grabbed me – but if he sounded too much like Broadway, that would have probably turned me off. 

Instead, his voice is theatrical but more so of an underground variety; a post-apocalyptic, secret-society-after-hours-nightclub singer in a seedy venue where one has to show proof of extraterrestrial origins with an ID card in order to be allowed in.

Benton does not come off as self-important, but while he clearly takes his art seriously, he plays it off as an afterthought. His experience has taught him how to appreciate and treat his creative process honestly.

“I’m not sitting down and agonizing over what to do with a song; anything that doesn’t write itself, I don’t love, and I wouldn’t put out. There are some songs I put a little more work into it – that goes without saying.”

This was very surprising to me because of some of his intricate and seemingly well-thought-out arrangements.

Glam-rock sensibilities inform the quirkiness of Benton’s chord structures – some may point to David Bowie (a usual go-to reference for any glam-rock comparison). Along with the usual suspects of 1970s glam, he made it a point to reference Steve Harley and the Cockney Rebels as a recent but vital influence. 

He points to Marc Bolan of T-Rex as a lyrical influence.

What is most particularly “glam rock” about any of what Haunted Cat has put out are Benton’s impressionistic lyrics that paint surreal images of nostalgia, whimsy, sex, and satire – sometimes to the point of raising an eyebrow or two of his bandmates. 

“So you’re not trying to make any sense at all, right?” Benton laughed as he recalled a recent time when one of his bandmates could actually make out what he was saying while in the studio, as opposed to the muffled sounds they would hear in their basement rehearsal room.

In general, Benton’s songwriting is instinctual. 

“It’s not about that (making sense). If the lyric resonates with you in some way, and I don’t think I’m just arbitrarily doing a word salad, there’s usually some meaning even if it’s not explicit. It can be as simple as the way you like the order of specific syllables and consonants to appear in line with the music. That is often better in my estimation when writing, than, ‘did these lyrics that I wrote down in a notebook – can I shoehorn them into a melody I like?”

Your furnace works but I’ve found something else wrong
This particular diverter will murder your family
But I saved the day so there’s nothing to be scared of
And you signed your name for your daughter’s hand in marriage

“Your son has always been a cheater” – Haunted Cat (Third Degree Moonburns)

Haunted Cat is currently in the recording studio working on a third album – but the first as a full band. The current lineup is Seth Maset on drums, Nick O’Brien on keys, Ethan Griswold on bass, and Benton on guitar and vocals. The album aims to capture Haunted Cat’s live experience.

Similarly to his thoughts on songwriting, recording should be an act of joy – of creation – by way of staying true to your own tastes.

“The mentality being whatever you record should sound like you. That’s great if you have great microphones, a great room, and recording equipment. But at the end of the day, I’m going to sound like me no matter what. So if I’m going to record a horn section in my room, I’m not going to worry about correct mic placement on the horns.”

After a period of radio silence, Benton returned to Albany’s music world after getting sober. 

“I was drinking too much,” he told me of the days when he would hang out at Valentine’s in Albany. Now that he’s not wasting time and money, he finds himself exploring other mediums, and has found a plethora of creative synergy from the people around him.

“Haunted Cat entertains me, but there are other things that entertain me as well.”

“I seriously have an idea for a feature full-length which I don’t want to tell anyone the premise of because that would get stolen, and once you say something out loud, you’re not going to do it. You just got to keep it in your head and go through with it.”

For Haunted Cat, Benton and collaborators created a few TV specials.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiOUun_umX0.

It features guest appearances from Eric-jon Tasker, Wendolyn the Witch, Kay Brooks, Muffy Reyes, Connor Armbruster, and Ebro, an accomplished dancer.

“The Halloween one got super intense. Basically, we would go to shows every weekend, and anyone we’d be hanging out with who seemed game for something like this, we would create an idea/role for them.”

“This was when I started coming out of my shell more and met other weirdos out there who were into doing this kind of thing too, and it was so invigorating. It creates a true sense of a creative community.”

Haunted Cat performs tonight at No Fun in Troy with fellow collaborator Eric-jon Tasker and Film & Gender. It’s a free show put on by the SUPER DARK Collective.

“I fucking love it. I’ll be recording until I’m dead. There’s no doubt about it. I’ll be recording in my 70s.” – Drew Benton