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Katharine Cole (aka Chase) began performing in the San Francisco rock scene in 1994, playing in most of the major clubs, opening for groups like Cake, Engine 88, Heavy into Jeff, Pearl Harbour, The Paul Durham Band, Her Majesty the Baby and Flower SF as lead singer in the pop band Spanking Violets. Katharine released her first CD on Slot Records in June of 1995, which charted at over twenty college radio stations in CMJ and gained airplay commercially on Live105 and KFOG's local showcases.
This is some press reviews from those early days:
"Katharine Chase...has a voice to kill for: clear and powerful and devoid of fraudy nuances." - SF Bay Guardian, 1/11/95
"Katharine Chase sings 'em and writes 'em with a mix of purtiness and toughness..." - SF Bay Guardian, 5/12/94
"Katharine Chase hails from the fair state of Texas, home of Janis Joplin, that other power belter. Chase is a little lady with an incredibly huge voice that embraces an intriguing dichotomy of toughness and tenderness.... Her voice is rich with the rhythms of a life's travels and experiences and tinted with the ugly realities of punk." - American music Press 3/94
Continuing her solo career in 1996, Katharine opened at Great American Music Hall for Hootie & The Blowfish, Elliott Smith and Mary Lou Lord at Bottom of the Hill, as well as putting a new band together under her name. She completed a northwest acoustic tour in support of the band's debut CD "The Truth" released on local independent Slot Records, and was featured in a documentary film of American acoustic artists along with Victoria Williams, The Jayhawks, Tracy Blackman, and Beck among others. "The Katharine Chase Band" was signed to Marquee Music in spring of 1997 and their third CD release, also named “The Truth”, and was produced by Jeffrey Wood (Penelope Houston, Luka Bloom). By this time they were opening for national acts like Amanda Marshall, Jill Sobule, Tenderloin, Third Eye Blind, Holly McNarland, Tripping Daisy, Southern Culture on the Skids and with other up-and-coming bands like Emmett Swimming and Los Angelitos. By mid-1998, Katharine and her band had appeared at virtually every major venue in the Bay Area, performing up to four times a month throughout their three-year career together.
Here's some press from The Katharine Chase Band era:
“While predictions are a dangerous thing in the music business, you don’t have to go too far out on a limb to figure on Katharine Chase being the next big star to emerge from the Bay Area. After establishing herself as a major presence on the local club scene, Chase has started to create a national buzz in the past year with performances at key music industry confabs and opening-act slots for the likes of Hootie & the Blowfish. ...To her credit, Chase is still one of the most diverse and difficult to peg artists on the local scene. She’s equally confident and convincing whether stomping through a hard-rock workout or crooning a languid country-flavored tune, her iron-strong voice adapting to any extreme. ...”
- The Oakland Tribune
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