Catbite

History

Brittany Luna started out training as a jazz singer before shifting into punk and ska. Tim Hildebrand had been a driver and non-show support for The Interrupters and also played in The Snails. Luna and Hildebrand formed Catbite and brought in their friend Chris Pires on drums. About a year after the band started, Ben Perry joined.

Perry, who had also been in The Snails, initially filled in for the original bass player after that person left, then became a permanent member. Catbite came together just before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the members later admitted they doubted the band would last three years. Their first album, a self-titled release, was recorded in four days for roughly $400. Interest picked up around 2018 as ska saw a revival.

The band gained a national following thanks to promoters Jeremy Hunter of Skatune Network and Mike Sosinski of Bad Time Records. Bad Time Records was founded specifically to support ska acts, and Catbite was one of its first signings, as well as the first new release after the label reissued older albums by Kill Lincoln and We Are The Union. The album Nice One took four months to write. In July 2021, Catbite played songs from it live during a WXPN Free At Noon concert, and NPR’s World Cafe podcast later featured that performance in a mini-concert series.

On May 9, 2025, the band put out a six-song EP called Doom Garden, produced by Sarah Tudzin and featuring Patrick Stump and Sweet Pill.