Difference between revisions of "Chris Catalyst"

Revision as of 23:32, 18 October 2020

Chris Catalyst on stage with The Sisters of Mercy
- Rock'n Coke Festival, Istanbul, 2006 -

Chris May, commonly known as Chris Catalyst aka Robochrist was recruited as The Sisters' second guitarist for the 2005 Tour and has since been a steady member of the band. Besides his activities within The Sisters of Mercy, he started a first solo project in 2016 (more information down below).

Before that, Chris Catalyst had been kicking about Leeds' music scene for several years. Given the incestuous nature of said scene, it can hardly be surprising that someone who had worked at Joseph's Well, the notorious scene of the 1997 Near Meth Experience gig, has joined The Sisters of Mercy.

Chris had also worked with then Sisters-guitarist Adam Pearson at Adam's studio in Headingley, Leeds, before. Together they played a one-off gig by The Elvis Presleys From Hell in 2005. A video of this is available on YouTube. A full list of Chris' musical activities can be found here.

In 2016, Chris Catalyst initiated a Fundraiser Gig for former long-time nurse to The Sisters' Doktor Avalanche Si Denbigh at Leeds' Brudenell Social Club on November 27th, 2016. He opened the show with an acoustic set. Further performers were The Membranes as well as the Utah Saints, who did the accompanying DJ set that evening. As special guests Near Meth Experience were seen on one of their rare and special days off. For more information see FB Events and The Heartland Forums here and here.

In 2019, Chris Catalyst did not tour with The Sisters of Mercy as he was involved in other activites.

  Solo Projects

  When the corona crisis hindered musicians worldwide from touring in spring 2020, Chris Catalyst
  looked for other ways to please his audiences with his music. After a first free or pay-what-you-will
  stream on Facebook @ChrisCatalystMusic on the 22nd March 2020 with all donations going
  to British food bank organisers #Trussell Trust, Chris has played further live gigs from his home
  @You Tube every second Sunday with 50% of the proceeds going to another charity each time.
  The last online gig (for a while) has taken place on Sunday, 18 October 2020 with MND-ridden
  @Rob7Burrow and his family being the beneficiary of incoming funds this time. Please check
  here... for contributions to the current or former donations.

  In September 2020, Chris compiled a digital mini-album of acoustic reworkings of formerly released
  stuff from his first solo LP. The album is titled Life Is Sometimes Acoustic   and is available
  for purchase and prior listening @bandcamp.

In February 2020, on the occasion of his 40th birthday, Chris Catalyst released the two-track EP Happy and a video of the title track (see here on the left side) to celebrate
the event and to thank all his friends and supporters. The EP is available for free download (or a sum of your choice) at Chris' Bandcamp page.

In 2016 between touring with The Sisters of Mercy and Ugly Kid Joe, Christ started working on a solo project. A PledgeMusic campaign for an album was launched and
a first song, Sticks and Stones, including a video produced by Thunder And Lightning was published in October 2016. A second song and video, Same Old Sun, followed
two months later. The resulting album was Life Is Often Brilliant.

In parallel to the release, Chris also introduced his new website, featuring all the album lyricsand a blog with an extended review of The Sisters' 2016 November Tour.
Life Is Often Brilliant was issued with PledgeMusic on February 2nd, 2017 and since 31 March 2017, it is commercially available from all the common sources like
Amazon or iTunes .

Eureka Machines in 2016

Eureka Machines

Apart from playing guitars with The Sisters of Mercy, Chris Catalyst is also a founding member of the Eureka Machines. Various promo videos about the band do exist, for example this one titled Chris Catalyst Cribs. More such videos from the band can be viewed at the bottom of this page

The Eureka Machines are, however, by far not the end of Chris' musical activities, the entirety of which is perfectly listed at Wikipedia.... We recommend you also check his discography@discogs.

In October 2012, the Eureka Machines launched their first Pledge Music campaign featuring their third album Remain In Hope, which reached the target amount within 2.5 hours. Remain In Hope was released on February 21st, 2013 and is available for a listen at eurekamachines@bandcamp.com

In 2014 the Eureka Machines started a further Pledge Music Campaign for their fourth album, tentatively entitled ‘BRAIN WAVES’, that also included a double DVD featuring 6+ hours of live and promo footage from the former six years. All of the band's albums are available from their online merchandise store, where you can find shirts and stuff as well.

BRAIN WAVES was released on March 26th, 2015 and, most remarkably, entered the BBC UK Rock Album Charts at No.3. Everything you need to know about the album, the recording process, the artwork, etc. PLUS various sample tracks can be found @EUREKA MACHINE'S BRAIN WAVES MINI SITE. An offical Brain Waves Video was also produced, see down below...

To celebrate the end of the Pledge campaign of 2014, and to look into the future, the Eureka Machines did a "frankly embarrassingly huge interview with the nice people at Team Rock, in particular with Matt Stocks, see Do or DIY - The Story of Eureka Machines... Due to the fact that the Pledge Campaign has long finished, the album is now available here or here.

Another pledge campaign for their fifth studio album VICTORIES and the 2CD-album RARITIES, a "double-disc compendium of rare stuff" was started in January 2018. The according Pledge Music campaign reached its goal within hours after the start and both albums were released at the beginning of March 2018. Enjoy here on the right side their video for the track Misery from the album Victories. In addition, some tour dates followed in September 2018.

The Eureka Machines are currently touring Scotland and England again and have produced an according tour video of their song 'Revolution (see here on the right side). For detailled and up-to-date information on dates and venues, please check out the Eureka Machines' Official Gigs Site or their page on facebook. Chris Catalyst and the Eureka Machines can also be found on Twitter @Chris Catalyst.

Eureka Machines Videos

Further External Links

Some interviews with Chris Catalyst:

• June 3rd, 2014 from Cack Blabbath about the Eureka Machines gig at Sonisphere and more here...
• March 7th, 2014 with The Midlands Rocks ...

• March 2nd, 2014 conducted by Johnny H for Uber Rock Online Magazine ...
  

• May 3rd, 2015 with Chris by ÜBERROCK's Ben Hughes...

• April 24th, 2020 - Podcast Interview "The Moment of Proust" by Elliot Vaughan, Episode Two

Other informative links:

• Chris Catalyst @Twitter

• Chris Catalyst's YouTube Channel

• Chris Catalyst's Discography @discogs

• Eureka Machine's Discography @discogs

• Spoiler: The new ghouls are ...