5 Minutes with…Dead Cat Bounce

Dead Cat Bounce are a quartet of Irish comedy rockers armed with tight trousers, the knowledge that Will Ferrell likes them and songs about pigeons and pirates.

Like everyone else in this comedy biz they’re headed up to Edinburgh next month with their show ‘Caged Heat’ but before they migrate to the north Comedy Central caught up with them to talk about their smelly tour ‘bus’, dodgy tattoos and synchronised sh*tting…?

Who came up with ‘Dead Cat Bounce’? Is someone in the group a bit of a Wall Street fan?
One minute we were considering names like Boner Contention, Dolce & Ga-Gangbang and TreeHaus when it just came to us- Dead Cat Bounce. Outside of stock broking it kinda means nothing and hopefully won’t make us embarrassed when we’re still called it ten years later. It was the kind of flash of inspired genius that happens to us a lot actually.

Where did you guys meet and when did you realise you were spending an ‘uncomfortable’ amount of time together?
We met in Dublin years ago. I suppose we knew we were spending too much time together when our crapping cycles aligned.  We’d be sitting around eating dinner and everyone would stop talking and lower their chopsticks at the same time. Then there’d be a Mexican stand-off before we all bolt for the jacks. I think it’s a similar kind of synchronicity that girls experience. That or it’s a terrible Chinese and we should have at least some of our meals elsewhere

Who’s the brains of the operation?
It’s a headless marauding beast; like a gigantic headless chicken terrorising the streets of Tokyo. Actually, that’d be a great album cover…

Do you have a tour bus? If so what special features does it have?
We have a Dihatsu. It doesn’t have a windscreen at the minute but it has four bunk beds and a hot plate. It’s incredibly dangerous to use while driving but it used to be a fish van and if someone isn’t frying bacon at all times the stink is unbearable.

You’ve been likened to Spinal Tap – can we expect a musical film extravaganza anytime soon?
Unfortunately the answer to your second sentence may lie in your first.

Edinburgh’s coming up soon, what are your best/funniest moments from some of the festivals you’ve played?
Two years ago in Edinburgh one of the Jim Rose Circus invited us to take acid and play ping pong in a castle. I now think he actually meant it and it wasn’t a really complicated euphemism.

What’s the most rock n’ roll thing you’ve done together. Are we talking trashed hotel rooms or actually seeing if dead cats bounce?
Damo got a tattoo recently. It’s reasonably rock and roll. We’re just glad he didn’t go with his first idea – a puppy with a thermometer in it’s mouth on one arm and a puppy sneezing on the other so he could say ‘call a vet, these puppies are sick’… Cos you know he would have said it a hundred times a day.

If Will Ferrell asked to be in your band would you let him? What would be his initiation?
Absolutely. We’d make him dress like the drummer from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to prove what we’ve been saying about them being separated at birth. Does no-one else see that?

To those who have no clue what you guys do, what can audiences expect from you’re your current show Caged Heat?
It’s a stadium rock comedy show with massive tunes about things like hiphop firemen who aint got no hose. There’s some arguments within the band as to whether it’s a conceptual masterpiece or a novelty hour gag train. Either way, we’re throwing the house at this one. The tagline could be: ‘Now with production values!’

What’s your favourite song from the new show and why?
The Weeping of the Willows – it’s a searing indictment of the Reagan administration featuring the characters of The Wind in The Willows.

Will your trousers be tighter than ever?
Yeah we’ve upgraded a lot of elements- the hair is bigger, the trousers are tighter. Damo has some brand new leggings. Tights. Brand new tights. Second hand tights. One careful owner… They were his mum’s.

Who grew the best tache for Movember?
Shane did alright but no-one else looked good. Jim grew a Rett Butler, Mick looked like a muscahound and Damo had the faintest smear of ginger around his mouth. It looked like he’d been eating spaghetti.

What would you call your greatest hits album?
‘Legacy’. Or ‘You’re Welcome For The Music’.

Would you rather be invisible for a day or be a woman for a day?
We’d like to combine all of our features to make one woman. Actually, thinking about what she might look like maybe we should be invisible…

Dead Cat Bounce are performing at the Leicester Square Theatre on Saturday 30th July and nightly throughout the Edinburgh Fringe at Pleasance One at 10.30pm.