Pet Sounds #95: London Queer Indie-Pop Duo SassyHiya Adore Their Kitty’s Sassy Antics
Cooped up in a flat in South London, partners Kathy Wright (vocals, guitar)) and Helen Skinner (vocals, bass) decided too take the big plunge around 2014 and embrace another member of their modest family: a cat adoringly and uniquely named Crayon. While the indie-pop group has made no secret of their biggest fan and booster, they recently reached out to The Bad Penny to rave about their lovely little companion. Trust us, both their remarks and the song SassyHiya pale in comparison to the smoosh-ability of their priceless feline.
How did Crayon enter your life?
I saw a Facebook post about 12 years ago and a friend of a friend was trying to rehome their cat. I’d always grown up with cats (and Kathy with cats& dogs) and we were starting to think about getting a cat together. And there on the screen was the silliest most beautiful cat I’d ever seen. Her previous family were having a baby, and they couldn’t keep Crayon as she can be quite bitey and scratchy. We chose to ignore this red flag and went round to visit her. I’d never had a long-haired cat before and was amazed at how soft her fur was. Softer than angora! It was love at first sight (for us) and mild toleration on her part.
I try not to ask about dog names because owners get it all the time, but Crayon is too good to pass by. Do tell how you came up with that handle for your pooch.
She was already called Crayon, and this was from her previous but one family so we never got to find out why she was called that. In a way, I love the mystery of not knowing. It’s such a random and silly name and just a perfect fit for her. We knew we couldn’t change it, why mess with perfection! I think that was a large part of the draw to getting her too. It’s exactly the kind of thing I would have come up with…or wish I’d come up with.
Does every single person who encounters Crayon remark on her strikingly beautiful eyes?
Pretty much! When the light catches them, they glow like beautiful sapphires. I think some people might find them a bit scary, but they are definitely one of her best features. We are big fans of 30 Rock and to us they’re like Jack Donaghy’s eyes – “like a Mykonos sky”
Has she been approached to appear in any advertisements?
She hasn’t, but that might be for the best, as Crayon will not do anything she does not want to do. There’s no way she’d eat on command or anything useful like that. And anyone who tried to wrangle her would get a swipe of the paw or worse.
What’s the most amusing anecdote you can share about Crayon?
Like many cats, she seems to be drawn to people who don’t like cats and we joke that she lives with a lesbian couple but longs for male company. Sometimes our pal Bart comes round and he’s a man who doesn’t really like cats so of course she loves him. She particularly likes smelling and rubbing his backpack. It really makes us chuckle; he’s Crayon’s crush!
What’s the naughtiest behavior she’s gotten up to? I know you mentioned biting and scratching … have any pieces of furniture or precious items of yours fallen victim to her?
Where to start? Haha. She always seems to make sure to get on our nice rug before she’s sick. She’ll move from the nice easily wipeable wooden floor onto the rug before doing it – very cat. She also likes to drink from any glass of water left around the flat. She’ll sometimes come and sit on us in the morning and likes to put her bottom on our faces.
Is Crayon aware of how gorgeous she is, and does that translate into her having an attitude?
She is a total diva, but I think she would be that way whatever she looked like!
Has Crayon inspired any of your songs?
She certainly has. We like to sing her little tunes off the top of our heads. One seemed pretty catchy, so we ended up making it into a whole song. It’s called Crayon Potato and it’s so funny now to hear people singing along with it at gigs, when it was something we kind of did for a laugh! It’s probably one of our most popular songs too (more popular than the ones we slaved over writing and arranging).
Has she made any guest appearances on any of your tunes?
If you listen to the very end of “Crayon Potato,” you’ll hear a little meow which Crayon performed herself. It was pretty fun following her round the kitchen with a microphone and we really enjoyed getting to give her a credit her on the album. We also did a cover version of [The Cure’s “The] Lovecats,” which she featured on – that was more of a purr on that one.
What was your life like before Crayon and what’s it like now?
She’s been part of our family so long now it’s hard to remember a time before her. We love her so much and so much of our time is spent making a fuss of her and talking about her. We’ve seen her grow old, she was maybe 7 when we got her and she must now be about 19 so she’s got slower and a bit wobblier, but it just makes every day with her that bit more precious.
Go to SassyHiya’s Bandcamp page for much more on the band.
Check out the Pet Sounds archive, which features cat-owning musicians of and bands including Sleigh Bells, Blood Lemon, Blag Dahlia, ex-Queens of the Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri, Friendship Commanders, Brokedowns, Products Band and Black Heart Procession.
(Pro tip: Snag SassyHiya’s 2022 EP, Live at Paper Dress Vintage, at no cost on Bandcamp. That is, if you’ve already tossed the pop-music and cat lovers some coin for their November 2024 album, Take You Somewhere.
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