I’ve been playing music with Ozzie Pérez for a few years now. But he’s a busy guy. Playing with a swath of bands in the South Florida music scene, including local Red Hot Chili Peppers’ tribute band The Chili Poppers. But I remember him coming into practice for a show he was filling in with for my band, (shameless plug alert) Alexa & the Old-Fashioneds, one random evening to announce he had a new top-secret project, and that I’d be hearing about it soon. Cut to just a few weeks later, in the summer of 2023, a logo, big, bold and electric: The Zappe Cats took over my Instagram feed.
Videos with cats flying through space. Rock and roll that seemed to have at least nine lives. And June is almost upon us, meaning The Zappe Cats are about to celebrate their two-year band-iversary. The Zappe Cats started as a meow-powered trio formed by Luis Irán, lead vocalist and guitarist; Ozzie, vocalist and percussionist; and Lucas Paredes, their bass player. Fernando Salinas joined more recently, contributing to the current four-member lineup. But how did they all meet? I sat down with Ozzie and Luis to talk about the band and what inspired the name, the music, and a little about their background in music overall.
Ozzie met Luis and Lucas in the Venezuelan rock scene, since they were both in very renowned projects, Los Paranoias and Los Mentas respectively, with multiple albums and awards and opening for local and well-known projects. Los Paranoias actually opened for R.E.M., Jethro Tull, and The Alan Parsons Project. “I used to hear his band [Luis’ band Los Paranoias] on the radio,” Ozzie said. Los Mentas participated multiple times in renowned music festivals such as Rock al Parque (Colombia) and Vive Latino (Mexico). The latest member, Fernando, is also from Venezuela and actually played with bass player Lucas, in a band called MHAL (Mary Had a Little Lamb). Everyone, essentially, was either in a band together, or attended each other’s shows at some point.
But the connection between drummer and guitarist is even more special. The official meet-up between Luis and Ozzie was through Ozzie’s father, who played in a Beatles tribute band called The Beat3, or Los Beat Tres, while Luis played in a different Beatles tribute band called Early Stuff. “The story goes like this,” Luis said. “Luis and Alejandro (Ozzie’s father) met at a Beatles tribute concert where The Beat3 and Los Paranoias were both part of the lineup. Years later, the drummer for Early Stuff got sick before an important gig. They asked Alejandro if he could step in, but he suggested his son Oscar instead.” Talk about a cool way to come together (yes, that is a Beatles joke).
Ozzie followed in his father’s footsteps and beautifully, in fact, the kit you’ll see Oscar out playing on belonged to his father. Suffice it to say, The Zappe Cats are more than just a band, they’re family and a great representation of the rock coming out of Venezuela. The comfort they have playing music together is actually pretty apparent in their music videos and online content, dancing and joking around and being generally comfortable in their own skin. “I love making music with them,” Luis said. “With them, with Oscar. We have good chemistry and [a great] level of creativity.”
The creativity actually started with their first band, Swan Swan. A cover band that played unique versions of covers, playing songs like A-Ha’s “Take on Me” like The Strokes, or Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” in the style of Oasis (one of those covers appears on The Zappe Cats’ debut record, “Song 2” by Blur). But perhaps the first of nine lives, Swan Swan broke up and then became The Zappe Cats. But what is the origin of the name “Zappe Cats”?
“In Spanish, it’s Sape gato,” Luis and Ozzie said excitedly. “It’s an expression of ‘I won’t do that.’ Like, no way. I’m not going to do that. But it has a touch of paranormal, you know? Like zap the black cat, like get rid of it… that room has a spirit or a ghost or something. Let’s go inside. No. Sape gato. Sape gato. We tweaked it. We changed the S to a Z, added a double P, you know, so it it’s not zap it’s zah-pay.”
The Zappe Cats sound is primarily influenced by the music the members listen to. Luis comes from the alternative/indie rock scene, but he’s always loved punk aesthetics. So this project was a great chance to explore the “punk” or heavier side of rock and roll, especially since Lucas’ riffs that you hear throughout their music are heavily influenced by punk, his favorite genre. But they aren’t married to any particular genre. It’s more a mezcla or mix of their life experience, even including the Beatles. “It sounds more like the punk scene, the old punk scene, the Clash,” they said – taking turns as they tried to describe the sound. “But I think it’s a mix of I don’t know, Nirvana and Oasis, maybe. It’s hard. I don’t even know how to describe it. We have sometimes, Queens of the Stone Age, you’ve seen the songs. You can see they have a hint of Queens of the Stone Age or Nirvana or…it’s a blend.”
No matter what the blend is, the music is fast and fun. And the first couple songs were based off those punk-influenced Lucas riffs (we called Lucas “the riff guy” for the rest of the interview by the way), molded by Luis’ experience in other genres.
“We just went to the studio and it was quick,” Ozzie said of the process of writing their first songs. “Seven songs in a couple months. And we immediately recorded it. We were really into that. The whole process was really, really fast.”
Their first track is aptly named as “Number One.” It’s their first song, and a dedication to what Lucas’ riffs evolved into. Their titles after that are as exciting and diverse as their music, including Baby Hurricane, Moonlight 15, Gotta Roll It in 2023, then additional releases until they released their first album “Smells Like Caged Kitty” in 2024, an 8-song album (7 originals and the Blur cover) with absolutely rockin’ riffs, including my personal favorite, that had an almost Foo Fighters-esque tone, Guy in the Mirror. And beyond the music, the imagery is cat-powered and cool thanks to Luis’ graphic design skills and one clear thread: retro meets kitty, meow vintage perhaps.
Their most recent release, titled CATNIP, was released on May 2nd, and is a love song told from a feline point of view. The song was born from one of Lucas’ riffs (surprise surprise!), which Luis turned into a full composition, later shaped and finalized by the band in the rehearsal studio. This song steps into a groovier space, capturing the strange, intense joy of being in love—claws included:
“Now your Catnip puts me running round in circles
Just like Catnip I get high when I hear your voice
I’m on Catnip let me get into your bedroom
Just like Catnip I get high when I hear your voice”
Continuously making music that’ll be much like the catnip they sing about, I’m looking forward to seeing what they release next. You can find their music on all major platforms.
