Phoenix’s Caterwaul Draws Wails, Applause : People Tend Either to Love or Hate the Group’s Noisy, Arty Rock

The Phoenix-based band Caterwaul has become a favorite in Los Angeles’ underground rock scene, and the quartet’s 1987 independent-label debut album has received enthusiastic notices from alternative rock publications and college radio stations around the country. The group has even gotten fan mail from Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Does that impress the hometown folks? Not a bit, at least judging by a write-up by rock critic Andy Van De Voorde in the recent “Worst of Phoenix” issue of the weekly paper New Times.

“An avant-garde nightmare . . . (which) played paper-thin music that revolved around Betsy Martin’s flighty lyrics and grating nasal caw” is how Van De Voorde described Caterwaul, which will perform tonight at Club Lingerie in Hollywood.

To cap it off, he concluded, “Naturally, the group immediately signed to L.A.’s (Primitive Man) label and became the darling of the city’s hopelessly befuddled underground scene.”

Martin’s response?

“I think in a sense what he said was accurate,” the singer said, acknowledging that people tend either to love or hate Caterwaul’s noisy, arty rock.

But, speaking by phone from the house she shares with her band-mates, the 25-year-old singer added, “I’d like to punch him in the nose, though I wouldn’t do it.”

If Martin was prone to violence, she’d have a lot of noses to punch in Phoenix, as Van De Voorde isn’t alone with his opinion.

“We don’t play here much,” admitted Martin. “It’s really not a market for us, I guess. I don’t want to cut down the music scene here, because a lot of people do want stuff that’s not available. There are a lot of musicians out here, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they play here either. The media cuts down the new acts so much that they’re not welcome.”

Nonetheless, Caterwaul has been quite welcome in Los Angeles. With a tense, vibrant sound that has been compared to Siouxsie & the Banshees and the Cocteau Twins--particularly because of Martin’s wail, her impressionistic lyrics and nothing-held-back stage presence--the band meshes neatly into the the dark underworld of the Scream and other local late-night rock proving grounds.

The approach, Martin said, reflects influences ranging from drummer Kevin Pinnt’s love for industrial noise music to her own fondness for American “hillbilly” folk.

“I think there’s a pull between aggressiveness and trying to keep innocence in our music,” she said.

And, naturally, Martin disagrees with Van De Voorde’s assessment of the L.A. scene.

“I love it,” she said. “I’d love to see all the shows out there, there’s so much variety. We played with Jane’s Addiction and made friends with them, and we played with Kommunity FK. They’re really nice, too. There’s definitely different scenes there.”

So why doesn’t Caterwaul just turn its back on the desert and move to L.A.?

“Phoenix is a nice place to live,” Martin said, insisting that despite its reputation there, the band (which also includes guitarist Mark Schafer and bassist Fred Cross) will always consider Phoenix its home.

However, she said with a sigh, the band will be moving to L.A. temporarily next month to record its first album for the Primitive Man label before embarking on its first national tour, and may wind up settling here permanently.

“It’s certainly not hard to go back and forth (between L.A. and Phoenix),” she said. “But right now financially it’s not possible, so we’re going to be out there for a while.”

In the meantime, Martin is willing to forgive critic Van De Voorde, though she labeled his words “cruel.”

“He just loves to pick on us,” she said. “He doesn’t want us to be pretentious. But then again, he doesn’t hang around our house every day. If he did he’d see we’re not pretentious.”