The Family Cat

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The Family Cat was a British independent band founded in London in 1989. Three members were originally from Cornwall, one from Plymouth and one from South Hampton. The band played live for 5 years and recorded 3 albums, the mini-album "Tell 'em We're Surfing", released on South London independent label Bad Girl Records, and its full-length follow-ups, "Furthest From The Sun" and "Magic Happens", released by Dedicated Records. The band never quite capitalised on the momentum generated by the success of debut single "Tom Verlaine", although the band's final LP, "Magic Happens" entered the lower reaches of the album chart and "Airplane Gardens",about the same for a week on the UK Top 50 Singles. Mainly the Family Cat would place many singles on the Indie chart. They would also grab headlines by naming one of their songs "Bring Me The Head of Michael Portillo."

Influenced by the last 30 years of popular music from the Beatles to Scott Walker to the Velvet Underground, their music was very melodic and radio friendly, but in spite of critical acclaim the band were unable to reach the heights of "Britpop" bands like Oasis or Blur.

Paul Frederick later formed Pure Grain, who made one EP for their own Supple Pipe label, entitled "Here Come The Millionaires".

Choosing to concentrate on studio work, Pure Grain changed their name to Jack Adaptor [1] in 2004. Their first, self-titled album was released on Schnitzel [2] records in November 2004, with a single "No Logos" on the same label. The Internet-only "Right Royal", released on Supple Pipe followed in early 2006, while "Road Rail River" is due out later in the year. The band is now Paul Frederick (vocals) and Christopher Cordoba (all instruments/production).

The Family Cat were as well known for their intense homoeroticism as they were for their music, particularly McVay and Downing's 'will they won't they' relationship.

John Graves is now a wine expert resident on the South Coast of England, while Stephen Jelbert is a freelance journalist based in London.

Tim McVay and Kevin Downing are working at Zebedees, a youth development centre in Truro, Cornwall. The project is heavily musically based and amongst other duties they both teach instruments, and help develop young bands. The real tragedy of the failure of the Family Cat to crack the mainstream is never knowing why. Their music was incredibly inventive touching on as many influences as possible to offer something different