East York resident Randy James might have to think twice – or even three times – about what band he’s anchoring on the drum kit at a CD release party Friday, Dec. 14 at the Hollywood on the Queensway.

One thing he won’t need to think twice about, however, is who his band mates are: from Rexdale lead vocalist Todd Sharman; from Mississauga bass player Paul Whiteside; and originally from Windsor, guitarists Stephen Ruppert and Mark Higginbottom.

The band mates have actually been together for many years. But the band’s stage name can change depending on the gig.

Call it a band with multiple personalities if you will, but the band is fairly well known in local circles as the Wheat Kings, a Tragically Hip tribute band that has been around since the mid-1990s. They recently gained good publicity by being part of a documentary on tribute bands that has aired on the E!-Channel a couple of times this year.

Every once in awhile another band personality surfaces, and the same band becomes Full Moon Fever, a Tom Petty tribute band.

In recent years, they’ve also created another front name – the Cat House Dogs – which is actually the name they would one day most hope to be known as since it’s the name under which they will record and perform their original music.

And it’s in this guise the band will perform and officially release their new 10-song CD called That was Now, This is Then.

Admission is $20, or $15 with a non-perishable food item that will be donated to a food bank. Admission also includes a couple of goodies, including a copy of the new CD, a T-shirt, entry into a draw to win Leaf tickets and, of course, a “wicked live performance.”

The three tracks previewed were immediately likable with strong songwriting and strong vocals lifting them above the ordinary fare. To describe what they sound like, it probably wouldn’t be too clever to describe them as a cross between the Tragically Hip (particularly Sharman’s voice) and Tom Petty (particularly in the songwriting withh straight-ahead but catchy rock).

James, who is married with three daughters aged eight, five and two-and-a-half months, has lived in the Mortimer Avenue and Linsmore Crescent area of East York for eight years and in his own home for three years.

By day, he’s a freelance graphic design artist and web designer working out of his home.
Naturally, he takes care of all the band’s graphic art needs, including CD design and band logos (all of them).

James has been a Toronto resident all his adult life, but grew up in Burlington to very understanding parents.

“They bought my first two (drum) kits for me. I think my college fund became my kit fund,” he said, laughing, in an interview at the Last Drop Cafe, corner of Mortimer and Sammon avenues. “That same kit I played for 20 years, and I just bought a new kit a month ago.”

His parents not only let him play in the basement, but his friends as well.

“My house was the practice house,” he said.

“We would drive them (his parents) nuts, but they were pretty happy, I guess, to have us where they could find us.”

He actually got his start as a pre-teen drumming in the Burlington Teen Tour Band, still one of that area’s more renowned youth marching bands.

That served him well, he said, until his mid-teens when he got the itch – like his favourite drummer, the Who’s Keith Moon – to anchor a rock band.

And he’s been doing it ever since, in one guise or another, as Full Moon Fever or the Wheat Kings or, as in the case for the official CD release party, as the Cat House Dogs, steadily averaging “about six to eight shows a month.”

One of the perks of participating in the documentary on tribute bands, he said, was that the show producers set them up with a big label record executive who came out to both a recording session and one live performance.

He offered up invaluable advice plus an intriguing carrot-stick that he would keep tabs on how many waves they can make locally with their new release.

Visit www.cathousedogs.com or www.thewheatkings.com for the CD or upcoming gigs.