Spotlight On Cactus 12
 
 
Nearly a year in the making, Cactus 12 is ready to unleash their debut LP “Stay” on the unsuspecting masses in late April. This may very well result in wide-spread shock because I doubt that anyone is expecting a record this good to come out of three kids from Cleveland.
You may not have run into C12 at the Grog Shop yet but they’re no strangers to the stage. Lead singer and guitarist Sam Getz frequently gigs at Fat Fish and Savannah with his blues band (Sam Getz Band). He and fellow C12 members Phil Palumbo (bass) and Mike Gould (drums) also make up the core of local singing sensation Kate Voegele’s backing band.

 

Cactus entered the studio with songs written and arranged to be performed as a trio but they also made it clear (to producer Michael Seifert) that they didn’t want to limit their recording to what could be pulled off live. “This opened the door for some really interesting textures, counterpoint melodies, and production ideas that I was able to weave throughout the album”, says Seifert. “The record was a lot of fun to work on. They had really well written material and they’re all great players… Nothing’s more important than that. They also gave me a lot of levity when it came to production decisions. Some people freak out if, say, you want to introduce an entire orchestral arrangement for 30 seconds in a rock song... It scares some people to make a record that doesn’t sound like every other record that’s currently on the shelf. With these guys, it didn’t seem to matter how simple or lavish an idea was… They were always open to new ideas and never concerned about needing to sound like anybody other than Cactus 12 which was really refreshing”. Some of the best examples of Seifert’s contributions can be found on tracks like “Dream” and “Gotta Find A Way”.

Other stand out tracks include the disc’s hard hitting opener “I Want” and the hook laden “Back Down”. In all honesty, there’s really not a bad song on the disc. Even the retro sounding “All I Can Do” is downright endearing. “We wanted to make a CD that sounded more like a record”, says Getz. Jimmy Weaver (who mixed the album with Seifert at Ante Up Audio) adds “Almost everything out right now sounds so bland. We wanted this record to be bigger, warmer, and deeper sounding”. Mission accomplished guys! Seriously, put this disc in next to any major label release and see if it doesn’t sound as good if not better.

“Stay” is already creating a buzz among industry types as one of the most solid and best sounding independent releases this year. I’d suggest that you keep an eye out for Cactus 12 but with everything they have going for them, I suspect that they’ll soon be hard to miss!

 

-Jonathan Brooks

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