Greg The Bear Morris

═══════════════════ Krazy Kat (2016 - 2019) ═══════════════════

AS I MENTIONED the members of Mad Cow had a meeting which ended up being the end of the band and in effect the beginning of Krazy Kat.

Tony and I didn't want to lose too much of the momentum Mad Cow had built up over the years but we also didn't want to just replace some of the members of Mad Cow and continue that band. This would have been the quickest and simpler way to go but in a way we wanted a fresh start. As you can see the logo is very similar and this was done on purpose, the idea is to say "Hey, we haven't gone away, we've just changed the name!".

Chris Nagy was on board so we had half a band!! So we approached some people we had worked with over the years and who had done a number of fill ins for Mad Cow.

Peter Hamilton is a Bass player both Tony and I have known for many years, Pete is Viv's husband and he was in one of Viv's bands Shooga Katz who I had work with years ago doing PA & Lighting with Mark Laidler. Pete over the years had done a number of fill ins for Mad Cow so he was an obvious choice. Lisa Page is a singer I have known also from my time working with Mark doing PA & Lighting for her band Yesterday's Heroes and she had also done a number of fill ins for Mad Cow and I have been wanting to be in a band with her for many years if the situation came about. Luckily they were both interested in forming a new band and Chris had worked with Pete in their last band Party Express so he was wrapped to be working with Pete again.

Mad Cow had a few gigs still booked that Tony and I wanted to honour so with the help of Keyboardist Steve Tapai who was originally going to be in Mad Cow years ago we put a band together to do these gigs while we looked for a permanent Keyboard player.

Line-Up One
Tony Crisafulli – Lead Vocals/Percussion

Lisa Page - Lead Vocals/Percussion
Chris Nagy – Guitar/Vocals
Steve Tapai – Keyboards
Peter Hamilton – Bass
Greg Morris – Drums/Samples/Vocals

After advertising we found Keyboard player Kieran Fox so we had a finaised line-up, we rehearsed and then started gigging and all was moving along fine. Click HERE to see a list of all Krazy Kat's gigs.

Line-Up Two
Tony Crisafulli – Lead Vocals/Percussion

Lisa Page - Lead Vocals/Percussion
Chris Nagy – Guitar/Vocals
Kieran Fox – Keyboards
Peter Hamilton – Bass
Greg Morris – Drums/Samples/Vocals

As I mentioned earlier Viv Hamilton* retired from band management due to poor health (Lung Cancer) towards the end of Mad Cow's life and unfortunately it had gotten worse so Pete decided to leave Krazy Kat to help with Viv's needs and be by her side during this trying time and his last gig was Saturday 29th October 2016 at Warilla Bowls.

* Unfortunately Viv has lost her fight to Cancer and passed away 25th February 2017. She was a great friend and mentor to a lot of people, myself included, a very sad day indeed.

RIP my friend.

Both Chris and Lisa had also decided to leave the band due to other personal commitments and both played their last gig at Club Cronulla Saturday 7th January 2017 so things hadn't quite turned out the way Tony and I would have hoped.

But there is always a silver lining if you look for it and we found some more players who seemed interested and rehearsals have come along very well and Krazy Kat had a new line-up and started to gig again.

Line-Up Three
Tony Crisafulli – Lead Vocals/Percussion

Rachael Woodlands - Lead Vocals
Bruno Gerace – Guitar/Vocals
Kieran Fox – Keyboards
Charlie Lee – Bass/Vocals
Greg Morris – Drums/Samples/Vocals

It seemed Tony and I were destined to never have a stable line-up with Krazy Kat. Charlie left soon after joining, Kieran left to pursue a new venture in the food industry. Bruno turned out not to be as committed as we would have liked and we asked him to leave so by September 2017 we were once again in turmoil.

But the music gods decided to help us out again.

Both Pete and Chris returned and Chris knew a great keyboard player, Nick Iconomou so we are back in the game again and we were gigging by the end of October 2017.

Line-Up Four
Tony Crisafulli – Lead Vocals/Percussion
Rachael Woodlands - Lead Vocals
Chris Nagy – Guitar/Vocals
Nick Iconomou – Keyboards/Vocals
Peter Hamilton – Bass
Greg Morris – Drums/Samples/Vocals

It seems that all good things do come to an end ... again, and unfortunately Krazy Kat has finally finished.

Tony and I had a rough trot trying to get a solid line up to stay together and we had hoped this last one was going to be the one, and for a while it was. Pete decided it wasn't for him anymore, starting a new life with a new lady meant he had no time for the band. Some internal issues and Pete deciding to leave made me feel it was time I left as well. I could have hung around but sometimes things get said that hurt more than others realise and I just didn't want to hang around in that environment anymore. I was getting mixed messages and no matter how much I explained how I was feeling it was ignored. Sometimes it feels like you're flogging a dead horse trying to get your point across and to me it was just time to call it a day.

Tony agreed and decided it was time to pull the pin on Krazy Kat. Like Mad Cow Tony and I started the band and he felt he didn't want to continue without me. He probably could have if it wasn't for the internal issues so he felt it was best to just finish the band up.

Our last gig was Saturday 23rd March 2019 at St Marys Band Club so we didn't quite make 3 years. The last 18 months being the best line up and most consistent playing and gigging.

It's a shame it ended the way it did, it could have been a much better band and that is probably the most disappointing thing for me, it never reached it's full potential. As I tried to explain to them a number of times, we could have done better. Oh well, it is what it is.

So what to do next?

Isn't it obvious? ... why not give Mad Cow another crack!!

The fun times continue with Mad Cow Party Band