John Cate

John Cate is a songwriter’s songwriter. More than 1,000 songs have poured out of him, many finding a home on one of the 13 albums he’s recorded in the last 25 years. Several hundred of his tunes have been featured in movies and TV productions. His work is intelligent and tuneful. He can rock you or soothe you. His music finds root in the rock renaissance of the ‘60s and ‘70s – Roy Orbison, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones. His songs have opened many doors for him and most artists would consider that to have been a full cup. But only one part of John Cate’s story in music. And music is only one part of John Cate’s story.

MUSICAL BEGINNINGS

When Cate told me that he was born in Liverpool, I had to smile. His ear for a melody is often compared to the work of others from that hard-scrabble city. His ex-pat parents came to the Boston area when John was still in single digits. Though he considers himself to have been raised in Boston, he did spend some of his teenage years back in Liverpool living with his godfather. The fact that George Harrison’s dad lived just around the corner was sheer coincidence.

Back in the States, Cate joined his first band at age 12, a group led by Mark Zamcheck. Their relationship continues to this day. Zamcheck was several years older than him and had some existing connections in the Boston music scene. So, unlike most kids playing in their first band, Cate’s first gig wasn’t at a summer dance at the swim club; it was opening for Al Kooper.

1970S, 1980S

The group matured and spent much of the ‘70s touring as Zamcheck, early leaders in the jazz-rock movement. They toured with Gary Burton. They played at the Newport Jazz Festival. When guitarist Pat Metheny left Gary Burton’s band and formed his own, Cate stepped in as tour manager for a period. Zamcheck was attracting a lot of industry attention and Cate found himself rubbing shoulders with the likes of Andy Warhol, Gore Vidal and the Hemingway sisters. He describes that period as “cool but impoverished” and characterized by a string of “near misses” with record labels and producers. By the end of the decade, he set down the guitar, got a degree in finance and spent the next dozen years in the business world. He “had a relapse” in the early ‘90s, as he puts it, and started writing songs again.

THE VAN GOGH BROTHERS, THE AMERICANA SHOWCASE

In the ‘80s, Cate had befriended members of Boston-based roots rockers The Swinging Steaks. That led to studio time, which produced a new single and eventually a full length LP in 1995. It was also at that time that he met lead guitarist Paul Candilore, beginning a brother-tight relationship that goes on to this day. John and Paul (I know, don’t say it) realized that they both spoke the same musical language, that they shared the same influences, had seen the same concerts, had breathed the same musical air.

In their studio work together, they saw themselves as co-producers. And as a tip of the hat to other legendary production teams, they thought they should give themselves a name. Figuring that they “both had one good ear,” they dubbed themselves The Van Gogh Brothers, a moniker that felt so right they adopted it as the name of the band they were building around Cate’s songs. Bass player Clayton Young joined the band in 2002; he too is still a Van Gogh Brother. As someone who listens to their records and has seem them live many times, I’d say this longevity gives the band a “Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers” kind of cohesion. It’s not a singer with some hired guns; it’s a band, which is an increasingly rare species these days.

During the 2000s, The Van Gogh Brothers built a following playing Boston and other parts of New England but focusing in on Central Massachusetts. Cate was looking to land a residency at club where they could play once a week in order to refine their skills as a band and build a word-of-mouth buzz. A friend steered Cate to Vincent’s in Worcester and the strategy worked for the band and the club. They still play there, though not every week.

Other important things were going on during these years. While getting The Van Gogh Brothers off the ground, Cate created an important showcase series at Boston’s original House of Blues in Harvard Square. Under the prescient banner The Americana Showcase, he hosted monthly shows featuring singer-songwriters, some of whom went on to be regional and national standard bearers of what’s now known as Americana, like Mark Erelli, Alistair Mook and Todd Thibaud.

BUSINESS VENTURES, MOVE TO LOS ANGELES, VOICES OF VAN GOGH

In the early 2000s, Cate made a major impact on the business side of the music business as a founding principal of eMusic, which introduced the industry’s first digital rights licensing strategy. He also co-founded Tunecore (now the world’s largest distributor of online music), Audiam (a digital music publishing enterprise) and developed a close relationship with Heavy Hitters Music (a publishing company specializing in films, TV and other media). His connection to Heavy Hitters resulted in over 200 of his songs being included in American Idol, The Young and Restless, NCIS, Dawson’s Creek and other shows.

Cate began spending a significant amount of time in Los Angeles, where he appeared in a showcase at the legendary Molly Malone’s on Fairfax that attracted players like Don Was, Keith Richards, Lucinda Williams and others. Those gigs helped his song-placement career and he moved to LA in 2013, forming the Van Gogh Brothers offshoot Voices of Van Gogh with violinist Scarlett Rivera (formerly with Bob Dylan) and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer John Durrill. Over the course of the next four years, Cate established himself as a respected member of the West Coast songwriter community.

Few things require more courage as a creative than to throw yourself into an entirely new pool of talented, accredited professionals. In a way, you’re asking for a dose of cold water, since “maybe that Boston boy ain’t so hot.” But Cate calls it the best thing he ever did because he learned more deeply what he had to offer as a writer.

In 2017, John Cate came back to us in New England. And you can bet that his prolific writing output will mean more Van Gogh Brothers records. There will be more shows at Atwood’s and Toad. And so the circle remains unbroken, there will be more shows at Vincent’s. Our own lad from Liverpool will still be writing songs that we can’t get out of our heads. Aren’t we lucky?

(by Chuck McDermott)