Hello Kitty

Music evolves.\nIn many cases bands evolve to find a niche and an audience. \nFor the past fifteen years, Fredie Shaw Anderson and his band Roses for Kitty, has evolved in the Bloomington music scene. A graduate of the IU School of Music, Anderson lives in Bloomington, but travels the midwest honing his trade and displaying his talent. The band recently released their second album Zinc Heart, and in conjunction with the release the band held parties at Vertigo and the Bluebird to celebrate. \nIn those years, Anderson has learned to deal with the loss of bandmates. His band has lost musicians to death, graduation and even freak occurrences such as a horn player fracturing bones in his heart before a concert. Before the release of their self-titled debut album, Roses for Kitty's long time keyboardist, Tom Moeller, passed away.\nCathy Sue Kern, the band's stage manager, has been friends with Anderson for over a decade. She has seen the evolution of the band and musicians first hand. \n"Horn players don't tend to stick around Bloomington," Kern said. Most musicians around town tend to graduate from the School of Music and then move on, she said.\nAnderson is the front man, songwriter and lead guitarist of Roses for Kitty. The band contains a consistent core of drums, lead guitar and bass. Many of the songs feature guest artists who play different and more exotic instruments.\nKern has used his skills and experience to teach other musicians.\n"Fredie helps make young kids into performers," Kern said. "I have seen him take kids that were green and pull the best out of them."\nAnderson believes one advantage of the Bloomington music scene is the School of Music. \n"The wonderful thing about the music school is that you can get subs any time you need them," he said.\nHaving such a loosely organized band structure means many talented musicians have played with the band. Josh Wall, the band's drummer, has been with Roses for Kitty for the last year and a half. \n"I've always enjoyed making music, and I have enjoyed just playing," Wall said.\nAnderson has all his performance music written on sheet music. He goes to the trouble because he likes to be able to find artists to play with while traveling. While written music is restrictive to some performers, Anderson has taken this into account, and during live shows allows guest musicians an extensive amount of time for individual expression during the numerous solo times allotted. \n"You cannot really give that much structure to rock 'n' roll, it's a feeling," Anderson said about the problem of playing scripted music.\nThough Roses for Kitty plays rock 'n' roll, the band's music does not fit neatly into any one genre. "Fredie is an artist," Kern said. "He is not trying to go in a certain direction. He simply wants to entertain people."\nThe band's desire to play to a different audience leads to a lot of traveling in search of venues to play. They play shows at bars and at parks running the gamut between diverse audiences. \n"Playing is a high for me that I can't get anywhere else," Wall said.\nThe music the band plays has also evolved through the years and across albums. On the Roses for Kitty album, reggae is a major genre that comes through in the music. \nThe influences on the newly released Zinc Heart are harder to pin down. Each song seems to be an experiment in a new style and genre, and the one common denominator on most of the songs is Anderson's voice. Two of the pieces are entirely instrumental.\nAnderson's goal whenever the band starts recording is to produce an album that fits together as a story. On Zinc Heart, the story is about love relationships. The band explores the full range of emotions associated with love, and the songs progress in the natural evolution of a relationship.\nIf this record was produced in the hey-days of vinyl it would definitely have a B-side. The second part of the album deals with death, and the mood of the music becomes much more somber.\nBy design, Anderson has put the album together that way. \n"In the middle of the album you get to transition pieces," Anderson said. "They allow the listener to decompress after experiencing the emotions of the songs."\nBloomington has produced scores of bands, but the very nature of a college town dictates that many of these bands do not last longer then four years. Anderson has found a way to deal with the constant migration of artists from the scene, and he has managed to develop a niche in the music and heart of Bloomington.