The Cat Heads were an indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 band from San Francisco. The band formed in 1985 with a later line-up recording as The (ex) Cat Heads.

History

The original line-up of the band was former Love Circus and Leaches singer Mark Zanandrea (vocals, guitar), former Ophelias guitarist Sam Babbitt, former X-tal

X-tal

X-tal was a San Francisco-based rock band that existed under various incarnations from 1983 until 1996.-History:The original line-up included frontman J. Neo , bassist Alan Korn and drummer Michael "Mick" Freeman...

 bassist Alan Korn, and Donner Party drummer Melanie Clarin. They signed to Enigma

Enigma Records

Enigma Records was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. It was initially a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/distributor, which it split-off from in 1985 to become its own company...

/Restless

Restless Records

Restless Records was started in El Segundo, California in 1981 by Enigma Records and primarly released alternative, metal and punk records. Restless also licensed and released records from Bar/None Records, Metal Blade Records and Mute Records...

, and released their debut album, Hubba (produced by Matt Piucci of Rain Parade

Rain Parade

The Rain Parade was a band active in the Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles in the 1980s.-History:The band was founded by college roommates Matt Piucci and David Roback in 1981, originally as The Moving Sidewalks. David's brother Steven Roback joined the band shortly thereafter...

), in 1987, described as a mix of "punk, post-punk, folk-rock, and country". They followed this in 1988 with Submarine, this time with David Lowery

David Lowery

David Lowery is an American guitarist, vocalist and songwriter; he is the founder of alternative rock band, Camper Van Beethoven, and co-founder of the more traditional rock band, Cracker...

 producing. Zanandrea and Clarin then left, to be replaced by Barry Hall and John Stewart, continuing as The (ex) Cat Heads, although Clarin returned to guest (on "Anti-song") on their 1989 album Our Frisco. Clarin and Zanandrea, meanwhile had joined It Thing. Zanandrea and Babbitt later worked together in The Androgynauts. Babbitt and Korn re-emerged in The Mudsills.

The band have reunited a few times since, including opening for Camper Van Beethoven

Camper Van Beethoven

Camper Van Beethoven is an American alternative rock group formed in Redlands, California in 1983.An eclectic band, Camper Van Beethoven mixes elements of pop, ska, punk rock, folk and alternative country, as well as various types of world music. Their aggressive musical pluralism created a...

at the latter's 25th anniversary reunion gig at The Fillmore in 2008.

Discography

• Hubba (1987), Enigma/Restless
• Submarine (1988), Restless
• Our Frisco (1989), Twitch City - as The (ex) Cat Heads