Catfish Music, Chicago, was officially launched as a music house by composers/ producers Joel Raney and Jeff Boyle on New Year’s Day, 1999. But the pair had been collaborating closely for three years, working out of Raney’s recording studio, also called Catfish, while they were both represented by Chicago-based Com/ track.
Raney says that he and Boyle realized they worked very well together, which—besides the fact that "it was time"—prompted them to break away from Com/track in late ’98 to go solo. "Our relationship evolved during the time we were at Com/track," explains Raney. "We just fit. We’re two opposites that make a nice complete pie.
"I’m classically trained and good at orchestral scoring and piano tracks," he continues, "and Jeff is a self-taught rocker and a fantastic songwriter. Those elements combined give you a lot of leverage in the commercial music business."
"[Raney] is this mad professor and I’m this sort of auto mechanic," adds Boyle, "but it works."
It clearly works for the clients who have supplied Catfish with a steady stream of work. Among its recent jobs are spots for Subaru, J.C. Penney, Bank of America, and Nationwide Insurance, all via Temerlin McClain, Irving, Texas; and a spate of projects for Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB), Chicago, for clients including Kraft, Sara Lee, Coors Light, Keebler, Tombstone Pizza, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Shout and Illinois Tourism. Additional credits include spots for Bud Light via DDB Chicago; McDonald’s and Dryel, both out of Leo Burnett Co., Chicago, and the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) via Fusion Idea Lab, Chicago.
In early January, Boyle and Raney were reunited with another former Com/track colleague—composer/ producer Gary Fry, who joined Catfish just as he is celebrating his 20th year in the commercial business. In addition to completing recent jobs for Kellogg’s and Nintendo, both via Leo Burnett, Fry composed 14 commissioned works for the Chicago Symphony and Chorus. He has also composed and produced six albums of children’s music for Warner Bros. and Kid Rhino Records.
Additions
Due to its increasing work volume, Catfish is in the process of opening a second music production room, highlighted by a 24-bit, 32-track ProTools system. The room will be tied to the other audio suite, which has just been upgraded with a 64-track ProTools 5.9 system featuring ProControl. The system includes an Avid Broadcast Video Board that allows them to work with and output broadcast quality video.
About 80-90 percent of the company’s jobs entail a collaborative work style that the partners believe improves the final product. "Even if it’s a big orchestral scoring job," says Raney, "Jeff usually pulls something into it that I wouldn’t have considered, that makes it better, and vice versa."
"I can give him the raw, raunchy, rock stuff and he can do everything else," Boyle adds. "I specialize in Heartland-kind of songs. There is a great need for people to connect a nice lyric with a good feeling to their product. There are a lot of composers out there that specialize in quirky sound design or edgy drum loops, and we do all that, but we really specialize in Americana-style music."
Raney, who earned a master’s degree in piano from Manhattan’s Juilliard School in the early ’80s, came to commercial scoring after working in a "variety of music ventures." He conducted and music-directed a number of Broadway and theatrical shows, including the national touring production of The Tap Dance Kid, Me and My Girl, as well as Pump Boys and Dinettes.
When former Com/track president/co-owner Bill Young called in ’89 to ask if he would be interested in a job, Raney, who was then living in L.A., accepted the offer. "A nine-to-five commercial job was really appealing to me at the time," says Raney, recalling that he was tired of being on the road all the time. "I was a concert pianist wannabe for a long time, but my problem was I liked all kinds of music and couldn’t focus on any one particular thing. So commercials seemed perfect for me, really, because I dabble in all styles."
A drummer since age six, Boyle went on the road with assorted bar bands after high school as a drummer/singer. In ’84 he landed an assistant job at now defunct Paragon Recording Studio, where he did jingles and would "get lunch for ad clients." But the job gave him a solid training in engineering and song production. "Around that time, I began playing guitar, and I became a good keyboard programmer right around the time that MIDI was invented." Boyle honed his playing and songwriting skills during late-night rock/dance music sessions at the studio.
In ’92, Com/track hired Boyle to sing on a McDonald’s spot, and soon afterward hired him to assist composer Sandy Torano, who is now at Scandal Music, Chicago. Boyle did programming during the day and worked at night to get his spot composing chops up. Before long, he was garnering ad assignments of his own, including the popular "Tap the Rockies" campaign for Coors Light out of FCB, Chicago.
The Catfish partners’ diversity ranges from orchestral scores for the aforementioned Bank of America and Tombstone Pizza spots, to the country-western styled tracks used in the two Bud Light spots, "Aren’t You?" and "Clerks." Both commercials were directed by Annabel Jankel of Los Angeles-based Morton Jankel Zander, and featured country singer Tim McGraw (who appeared in the spots, but didn’t sing on the tracks).
Another recent Bud Light spot, "Phone Call," directed by John Immesoete, a group creative director at DDB, highlighted two distinct scores: the first half was a jazzy, sultry tune that complemented a storyline seemingly about phone sex. But the second half of the spot, in which it was revealed that a guy was getting excited over the beer, shifted to a raucous, blues-style number.
Boyle’s brainchild, the recently launched Catfish Farm, is a division of recording artists and music composers/producers outside the jingle industry. The current lineup includes veteran R&B/soul singer/ songwriter Otis Clay; alternative-country singer/songwriter Robbie Fulks; punk trio The New Duncan Imperials; composer/sound designer Brian Deck; writers/producers David Sims and Andy Bryant (a.k.a. Dance Hall) and singer/songwriter Ingrid Graudins.
Boyle says he was inspired to open the Farm by the thought that clients would welcome the talents of Clay, who sang on a recent Kraft Macaroni & Cheese spot called "Watchin’ You," directed by Eric Steinman of bicoastal Headquarters for FCB, Chicago. "There’s so many soul/blues/retro tracks coming around these days, and everyone is trying so hard to make it authentic," says Boyle. "We thought we could plug Otis in [to the ad community], and he’d instantly be able to write a few versions that would be ‘it.’"
From there, they assembled the other talent, including Fulks, who called Catfish and offered his musical services if they ever needed a "pissed-off hillbilly"; and Graudins, a frequent Catfish session singer who does "Lilith Fair-esque" music, which Boyle says is often requested by clients.
Raney and Boyle have been busy with extracurricular studio activities as well. Boyle has completed his third Jeff Boyle Band CD and has produced several songs for local singer/songwriter Cathy Richardson, and Raney has just completed his second solo piano CD.
"Jeff and I have similar philosophies," says Raney. "We keep it light. Creative is more important than profitable."
"It sure beats working for a living," Boyle adds.´
