Catalog Number: KAT002LP Color: Black Format: LP UPC: 20286248583 Tell Me I'm Ok was one of the first songs created on Katastro's visit to Southern California to begin writing their next album with Dirty Heads. With just a quick demo and rough vocal take the band moved on to begin the next track idea with the intention of finishing production after they returned to Arizona. 3 nights later lead singer Andy Chaves would end up passing in a tragic car accident just moments after leaving their final recording session. Jared Watson of Dirty Heads immediately reached out to offer his support and brought the remaining members back to finish what they had started. With the help of longtime dirty heads producer Ryan Ogren (Doja Cat, Maroon 5, The Kid Laroi) they began the process of finishing the song with Jared Watson filling in any unfinished vocals. Tell Me I'm Ok quickly became a band favorite on the new album with Andys unfinished vocals on the chorus left as he last recorded them. Finishing this project has been a testament to making the most of what you have because you never know when your time will come. It was just a little over two years ago that everything changed for Katrastro. May 10, 2022. The band had just begun what they'd hoped would be a busy summer. After performing at Denver's fabled Red Rocks in front of a scheduled tour with Iration, the Tempe, Arizona-based band repaired to the Orange County, California studios of longtime pals Dirty Heads and noted producer Ryan "OG" Ogren [Doja Cat, Maroon 5, Kim Petras, Saweetie, the Kid Laroi, Lil Wayne] to record a pair of new tracks, including "Good Time," the first release from a planned full-length album, and "Tell Me I'm OK." Just two days later, a fatal crash on the Pacific Coast Highway took the life of the band's lead singer and high school classmate Andy Chaves. Until the End of Time, the band's final album, which began to take shape as a way of paying tribute to their former band member and also of working through their pain, is now set to come out. "We just took the unfinished tracks and made the most with what we had, and it seemed to make sense," says bassist Ryan Weddle, one of four co-founding members as classmates at Corona del Sol High School in suburban Phoenix back in 2007. "It helped remind us of the good times, but also distracted us from the enormity of what had happened. "There is a small part of me that wishes I could hold on to this music forever and never stop working on it, but the time feels right. I hope it can help the fans heal the same way it helped us." "It was difficult," adds guitarist Tanner Riccio. "I wanted nothing to do with recording at first. It took me little by little each day to get back into it. To feel comfortable, to turn this tragedy into a positive." "I can't imagine having gotten through these past few years without having this album to work on," said the band's drummer Andrew Stavers. "It stands as a testament to our band and our journey through grief toward finding hope and light." Working on the new songs turned out to be both a healing and therapeutic process for the surviving Katastro members. Aside from the four Dirty Heads collaborations ("Tell Me I'm OK," "Move Forward," "Two Syllables"), the new recordings include "Light Up the Room," featuring longtime pals Iration, and "Muse," a completed track with a finished Chaves vocal track that was recorded for the band's yearly acoustic release, a dark, moody number that takes its cue from Katastro's most recent album, 2021's Sucker. "That one came together so well, we decided it was the best possible closer for the new record," says Weddle. "For months afterwards, we were just devastated, before we could go back in, listen and see what we had. We may not have been prepared for the process, but we knew we had to do it. Working through the pain, listening to his voice over and over... I'm just super-grateful we saved that much finished music with Andy. It gives us all something to look forward to." "I wish that we could stay right here forever/I wish that we could stay right here together," is a line that Dirty Heads' Duddy added to "Good Time" after Chaves' passing, a layer of poignance hovering over the otherwise upbeat dance party track. The late singer's vocals on the three other tracks were all culled from existing demos. "The chorus to 'Good Time' was written just a couple of days before Andy died," confirms drummer Andrew Stravers, whose garage was where the band first formed. "The day after his death, I remember sitting on a golf course listening to that demo, trying to process it. Five months later, Duddy and Jared [Watson] were back helping us finish it with that lyric. That's when I had to leave the room." There are intimations in some of Chaves' lyrics that are downright eerie in their prescience. In "Tell Me I'm OK," he sings, "Just lay me down in a different place/I really want it all." "Hearing that just a couple of days after he passed was crazy," says Stravers. "The album is filled with moments like that." Katastro will release Until the End of Time on October 4 via its own newly formed indie label. Other contributors to the finished release include fellow Arizona rockers The Maine ("Same"), Minneapolis hip-hop band (and early Katastro influence) Atmosphere's Slug with Mouse Powell ("What You Live For"), Rome Ramirez ("Call My Name"), Artikal Sound System ("Time Tho") and Grammy-nominated Orange County reggae/dancehall band Common Kings ("All My Life"). Like their fellow punk-funk-hip-hop brethren Sublime, who continued after the death of singer Bradley Nowell with Rome (Ramirez), Katastro is faced with deciding how to proceed, but for now, the three remaining members are taking it one day at a time. "Our focus is to keep our eyes on this album and see what happens," said Ryan. "To make the best music we can at the moment." A year ago, the Marquee in Tempe, AZ, held a memorial vigil for Chaves, which included placing a painting of him on their Wall of Legends, appropriately enough, in between Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell and Snoop Dogg. "That was the moment I realized how successful our band had become," admits Andrew. "Seeing all these people cry and hug together, we realized what we've created over the last 17 years. It's almost like Andy had to be taken away for us to realize what we've accomplished together as a group of kids who started this in my garage. To see that amount of love was overwhelming." For Katastro, the show of support from their local music community helped ease the pain of their loss. Working with Dirty Heads brings the band full circle, as they were the ones who first took Katastro under their wings, bringing them on tour with them in Arizona and California before national jaunts with Iration, Stick Figure and Pepper. "Iration has always had our backs as well," explains Tanner. "When we had to drop off their tour last summer, they still sold Katastro merch at the shows to help us out. The support from our fans online has been completely overwhelming." The band tweeted their appreciation, writing, "Andy completely changed our lives and we are so grateful to have been a part of something special. We are sitting on some music that we have worked on over the last few months and plan on completing them when the time is right for us.