Amanda B: Amplifying Voices Through Community, Creativity, and Cats

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In this episode, Gemma chats with Amanda B., a musician, podcaster, and creative force behind 6 Degrees of Cats. They explore the significance of investing in artist communities, how embracing your true self can empower creators, and why misunderstood cats (and people) are at the heart of Amanda's work. Plus, she gives a sneak peek into her work and her passion for celebrating the quirks that make us unique. She also shares a bit about her three feline friends at home. A must-listen for artists, podcasters, and cat lovers alike!

Resources:

• Subscribe to Amanda’s Podcast: 6 Degrees of Cats
• Featured Episode: Cool Cat: How Cats are the Soul of Rock'n'Roll
• Listen to Leathered: Bandcamp 
• Career Coach: Caroline Kim Oh

Connect with Amanda: 

• Follow Amanda B. on IG: @catsuitband
• Follow Leathered on IG: @leathered4ever
• Follow 6 Degrees of Cats on IG: @6degreesofcats

Get in Touch:

• Instagram:@tailsandtasselspod, @gemmasmithnyc
• Email us at: TailsandTasselsPod@gmail.com
• Leave a comment below!

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Transcript

Amanda B. (00:01.034)
and having a better understanding of what's really influencing your perception of our world. are such a good catalyst for this because these little fellas, they're so... she's just... you are so cute.

Gemma Smith
Hi, kitty cats. Welcome back to another episode of Tails and Tassels, the show where you learn about the lives of burlesque and nightlife performers, their craft, their cats, and how the two worlds intertwine.

I'm your host Gemma Smith, also known as Gemma Stone when I'm performing burlesque. And by day, I'm a manager at a kitten nursery. And by night, I host The Cat baret a cat-themed variety show in New York City. Today, we're joined by the amazing Amanda B. And we've got so much for you to take away from this episode. You'll learn how she crafted her mesmerizing stage persona, the secrets behind building a strong and supportive artistic community,

and her unique creative process for her podcast, Six Degrees of Cats. Plus, Amanda shares why cat naps are a game changer and advice for creating content in a crowded digital world. Get ready for an episode full of inspiration and advice. Also, I have some exciting news, everybody. Starting January 2nd, I'm kicking off a brand new format.

with mini solo episodes featuring my own tips and tricks for cat loving creatives, alternating with the guest interviews. So make sure to tune in every week for a new episode. Okay, kitty cats, today's special guest is a multi-talented musician, podcast host, producer, and proud cat mom, Amanda B.

She rocks both vocals and guitar in the band Leathered and is known as Captain Kitty on her podcast, Six Degrees of Cats. On the show, Amanda explores fascinating connections between cats and their humans, uncovering heartwarming stories and unique feline facts. Today, we'll dive into her musical journey, her podcast, and of course, meet her beloved cats. Get ready for a fun and furry conversation.

Thank you so much for being here, Amanda.

Amanda B.
I'm super delighted and I'm loving Tails and Tassels. It's been absolutely a joy since day one of meeting you, Gemma, at Catbaret last year. And I'm super pumped that you've joined the podcast world.

Gemma Smith
Thank you, Amanda. Yes, it was such a pleasure meeting you at Cat baret and getting to be a guest on your podcast. But today I'm thrilled to really get to know more all about you.

So starting with your musical journey, how did you get started in the music scene and what inspired you to pursue it?

Amanda B.
All right, I'm holding on to Peanut. She is going bonkers. Okay, Peanut you're going to be a good girl. Well, so your question was what got me into music and how did I start? You know, it's such a great memory lane journey because I've always

been a musician. I think I've always loved music. It's, it's, I started out really wanting to be an artist and visual arts was a big thing for me, but we're practical in West Michigan where I grew up. So I kind of was talked out of not by my parents, but just the vibe was like, yeah, it's not a practical career. but I did, I studied classical guitar a bit as a teenager.

And then I, yeah, but I really didn't become a, you know, a rock and roll musician until I cut my teeth on using my electric guitar when I lived in Japan. So I actually moved there right out of university and, lived in Eastern Japan for about five years. And there I just fell into a group of wonderful people who just love to jam and meet up for late night sessions. And I just kind of developed myself as a guitarist and as a singer through just

jamming and rocking out and that also really helped me pick up the language because You know, I didn't speak any Japanese. I was going to I know and I'm not ethnically Japanese I'm actually Korean and I wasn't raised speaking any of the language but you know how people there thought I was and When you have a passion and you find a common language outside of you know verbal spoken English or whatever your native tongue is you will

find a way to communicate. And that was just such a beautiful, glorious connective tissue. I carried that through when I moved back to the States, was hired into a role that brought me to New York city, which wasn't really in my sight lines, but immediately I had, I started a band through Craigslist, which I thought I mean Craigslist, it got me my first apartment. I got hired to my first happy job in New York through Craigslist. found my first roommate through Craigslist and I've good luck.

yeah, yeah. mean, I, you know, I think that there's definitely some caveats there and it's changed a bit, but I started a band and made friends with a few folks. And then through that, I was connected to other communities. And that's kind of how I met my life partner who designed the logo for my podcast actually. And who is my bassist in my band now. I actually joined his band first. Then I decided to start my own band, left that band, and then he...

He came on eventually as my bassist. So music is my whole life. It's infused throughout everything I do.


Gemma Smith
that is so inspiring to hear. I love the fact that you moved to a foreign country where you didn't know anyone and then you decided to really throw yourself into a new passion. And you're right, because if you found something you're passionate about and you can play music together, you're going to, of course, learn the language as well. But you don't need to know the same language to play music either, which is really cool.

Just side note, my older brother lived in Germany for a while and he joined like a traditional German music band and he didn't speak German and everyone else did. So he played like the French horn. So it's very different vibe, not as, you know, rocker, but an interesting story.


Amanda B.
That is interesting. I'm just curious. Is it, was it like klezmer oriented music? Like one of those bum bum bum bum? Yes, it's like umpa. He would call it umpa music.

Isn't that, you know that music influenced certain genres in Mexican music? Like there's a reason it all kind of sounds like polka or some of those rhythms do. I mean, music really does connect cultures, connects people across disparate lived experiences. It's just a wonderful thing, isn't it?

Gemma Smith
 Yes. And it brought you and your partner together. And now you're in his band. He's in your band. He did your polka. So it did a lot of positive things for you.

 (06:55.478)
And I'd love to hear about your persona when you're on stage. Do you have a stage persona and how would you describe your style, both vocals and guitars?

Amanda B.
Well, let me self-introduce because this is a perfect segue into what brings us here together. So I am at Six Degrees of Cats for the podcast on Instagram. And I'm also, the band is at Leathered Forever for Instagram.

for my public presence, my handle is at catsuitband. And I'm wearing a cat suit, which I think kind of like is the style that I wear. You know, it's interesting. I was talking to some music friends and I think I have a pretty, you know, quirky, goofy stage presence, but my friend was like, no, it's very sexy. And I was like, wait, what?

interesting thing that you know when you're a woman your sexuality and gender is always racialized as well. Specific to mine there's a lot of stuff that I carry onto that stage so you know I've really had to kind of come to an understanding of myself on who and how I'm presenting myself as. I love any person expressing themselves authentically how they want to present their body.

how they are commanding that stage and that presence. There's been a lot of dialogue in the world across history about how women should or shouldn't present themselves, how their sexuality plays into their onstage personas. And it can either be empowering or it can be kind of disempowering depending on the context within which it's being presented and the audience receiving it, et cetera, et cetera.

So my initial response sometimes was like, you know, that's interesting feedback because I don't, in a mandolin inside of my head, I'm not sexy. I'm this goofy, quirky, funny person. But of course, when I'm wearing a cat suit, it's a very form fitting. It's signaling a certain type of space that you're wearing it in. Just like you as a burlesque performer, of course, appearance factors into my performance. know, I'm going to wear, sometimes I'll want to go more punk. Sometimes I'm feeling a little tougher.

Sometimes I'm feeling more like I want to be able to move around on the stage. It's also hot. I'm not going to wear as many layers or clothes. So that's my persona. I will say tying to our favorite animal. I definitely feel like there's some like very feline movements that I'm inspired by. try to, you know, as a guitarist, you're told to stay relaxed so you don't hurt your wrist. You're not forcing positions. And I always kind of take inspiration from my cats to just be

Just be loose, just be, just inhabit your body, move across the stage as you feel comfortable. So that hopefully answers your question about my stage persona, you know?

Gemma Smith
It absolutely does. And I had a thought while you were saying, which is a really good point of how everyone should be authentic to their art and how they want to express themselves. But sometimes people are hypersexualized in a way that's not intended.

And also sometimes people do find others, like musicians or artists, very sexy when they're just doing their art and they're confident and they're doing something maybe that, like, I've never sang punk music or rock music or my husband's a guitarist, I don't play guitar. So I find that very cool that you're up there.

talented, skilled, and you're also wearing a cat suit and like feeling empowered. So it's just interesting, yeah, to think about like your intention and the way you feel on stage and how sometimes others perceive us differently than we realize. Absolutely.

Amanda B.
Yeah. Thank you for validating that. And I just wanted to reflect back to you what I find so empowering based on our conversation when you're, guess, on my podcast. I'm so excited to produce those episodes is how burlesque really does

very intentionally, thoughtfully, and I think, sensitively address those dynamics and subvert them, which I find is the key to empowerment. It's when you are 100 % engaged in and driving that conversation. It's disempowering when somebody else is putting that on you or you're being placed into or restricted or contained into something that you haven't yourself chosen.

And I think those are, honestly for performance in general, and as Shakespeare said, life's a stage, we're all performing our appearance, our gender, our race. We're all grappling with those narratives that are put on us or that we are aware of and that we are exploiting for what hopefully will benefit us. That's all such a meta thing that I think art helps us sublimate.

Gemma Smith
Yes, I agree with you with burlesque. It's kind of like the powers in the artist's hands. And what's important is feeling like you're in a safe space, any kind of event, whether it's a concert, a burlesque show. I think it's really important for who is ever hosting. I know there's so many great events here in New York at House of Yes. It's all about consent, respecting the artist, do not touch anyone without consent. so

I think it's all about creating a safe space for artists too. Have you experienced that at your shows? Do you feel like there's a real camaraderie and respect between artists and audience?

Amanda B.
Well, along with our favorite other C word, kitty cat. Well, that's it, Casey. Community is key. Community conversation and communication and consent. All the good words start with C. There's probably bad ones too, absolutely. think

One of the things that any new musician, you know, looking for places to perform encounters is that you are in New York City, any large market, entering such a hugely diverse world of so many incredibly talented people. I don't see it as competition, but what you should do, and this is advice to any listeners who are looking to like explore a new art form is

invest in community. Think about say when you, you know, your work, you've worked really hard on building something and somebody else new comes and says, I can do it better. And I know everything about it. That's not going to be as well received as somebody saying, Hey, I'm coming in. have something to share. would like to appreciate and support you. I think you, Gemma exemplify that spirit. You too. You know, I do my best. mean,

Gemma Smith (13:33.422)
It's understandable that people are like, this is my lane. I'm going to dedicate to it. You I, have the right to feel protective about your space and your community. And I think there are important guard rails and boundaries. don't think that's gatekeeping. think that coming back to your word of safety, but as, as I grew myself as a musician and played out more, I found and met people who had values that, that I shared and I've grown to kind of set myself some ground.

You know, the difference between an ultimatum and a boundary is that I'm setting a boundary for myself. I know what my behaviors will be if a line is crossed. I'm not going to impose that on others, but I know what spaces I'm going to go in and if they meet my needs then I'm going to stay in them. If not, I'm cool. I'm happy to excuse myself out the door. Wishing everybody well.

And so one of those certainly has been, and this is again a community thing, because I can't build community if they don't have shared values with me, is I am never going to accept a bill where I'm the only woman on the bill. I'm never going to be accepting a bill where I am the only woman opening the show. I'm not going to be accepting a bill if I'm the only person of color.

because well, my husband is Filipino American and I just, I've had so many weird experiences where it's like, I'm responsible not only for myself, but for my band. would never put knowingly myself or my bandmates in harm's way. This is music is meant to be joyous and connective. Of course things happen, but if I don't feel like the trust exists and I don't have a relationship with the community where I could even open a conversation if something did go weirdly, that is not a space.

where I should be bringing my time, talents, energy and expertise. know, it's just, it's by default, it's not appropriate. So I'm proud and thrilled to shout out all the wonderful musicians. A lot of them, femme, a lot of them people of color, a lot of them on the LGBTQ plus IA spectrum, a lot of folks across the age spectrum and ability spectrum. mean, I think that those are the spaces where I know that I can grow.
and that I can support others and that my voice and time will be valued. So that's the community that I am part of.

Gemma Smith
I think that's really valuable, especially for people maybe starting out as musicians and artists to hear, because when you're first starting out, sometimes you're like, I'm new. You might have imposter syndrome. Or you're learning and growing and might accept any gig that comes your way.

But we do have to have boundaries for ourselves to keep ourselves safe, to protect our mental health and professionalism of the people we're working with, right? Like your band. So I think that's really wise and admirable. And it's just self-care. So I hope our listeners, who may be new artists, can take that into consideration of what kind of community they want to build.

Amanda B.
Absolutely. And it's just, you know, it's a growth process. Every community has its...

strengths and its growth points, if you will. As you can kind of maybe some listeners are picking up some language. I used to work in gender-based violence prevention and that was really affirming for me to just recognize the things I couldn't put my finger on that weren't quite right about fit. know? Yeah.

Gemma Smith
So you have some insight in that area so you can kind of get some green flags or red flags before accepting a gig and then at least you know you're on the right foot.

So speaking of your music, I'd love for you to walk me through your creative process as a musician. I believe you are also the songwriter. So I'd love to know how you translate, you know, your ideas into music and concepts into reality.

Amanda B.
There's two different ways. Usually it's I'll have a scrap of or a fully flesh skeleton of a song with the structure and the idea and the inspiration, and then I'll bring it to the band and we'll work it out. Or

Occasionally there are jams where, wow, this magical thing emerged and let's go with it. I like that. Yeah, those are great. The latter are so much more fun. They just require an amount of time and flexibility that, that, you know, Carter has children. I have three children. Eddie has the thriving guitar building business. He's called Totally Wired Guitars. He's getting pretty big on Instagram.

Gemma Smith
I have to share that with my husband Allan. He's a jazz guitarist. I'm going to follow him.

Amanda B.
offset guitars. My signature guitar is a Jazzmaster and actually I was Eddie's primary investor. He built the Jazzmaster that I play, which is just a dream. that's very interesting. So cool. Yeah, we're a creative family. so that's kind of how they are formed. I probably would depend on the song to really get a story out of it.

Gemma Smith
Well, I would love to switch gears just a little bit or learn how your experience as a musician influences your approach to podcasting. You have two huge projects here. You're in a band and you have a podcast. So do you find any crossover between the two in terms of creativity? yeah.

Amanda B.
Absolutely. love that question. Well, 6 degrees of cats, my cat themed culture, history and science podcast is entirely end to end full cycle produced by me. I do all the writing. I'm the host. I do all the sound design. do the audio engineering. I market it. It's, it's the whole thing. so that is like Athena burst out of my cranium, you know, fully formed really. think.

When people listen and you're, think you're self included. People really comments and respond to the sound design. You know, I'm growing myself there. There's just things that drive you bonkers when it comes to timeline based tools. I know you can empathize with this where you're like, I need to perfect this thing, but it's taking so much time. just need to get the thing out. Yes. I relate to that. my God.

I mean, that's kind of like what it's like as a musician too. You really at some point have to be like, chef, step away. This is how it's going to be.
 
Gemma Smith
I like to say sometimes perfect is the enemy of good because if we to get something to be perfect, it's never going to get out there. And sometimes you just need to put things out there and that's good.

Amanda B.
absolutely. Maybe we can say perfect might look and sound different than what you originally thought it did. Yes, that's good too.

Yeah. And I, so, so I think that that translates. mean, I, I'm not an audio engineer by training. you know, I, I have a passing familiarity because I've had jobs in instructional design. there's, there's like transferable skills on the technical side that, that passed through. I think really the biggest thing, and I shared this in Tink Media's, interview with me, which was just lovely. Highly recommend. I have to check that out.

yeah, Gemma, know, know, Tink they're just wonderful advocates of independent podcast creators, great agency. I told them, you know, I see each episode almost as a song when I'm, when I'm thinking about the cadence and the pacing and even the emotional arcs of the storytelling, because my podcast isn't like yours. It's not a discussion podcast where there's that natural ebb and flow and that balance there, what you're doing as a narrative designer when you're telling a story is, and I mean, writers can probably correct me on this, but there's always this flow.

There's a symmetry in that that you have to balance out too and an energy to maintain throughout. And with a song, it's kind of similar, you know, although three minutes is very different than 30 minutes. So I'm just trying to think, you know, how do I want people to experience this? For me, it's all about the feelings, you know, how do I want people to be listening and to engaging with it? And how does that inform my sound design?

 
Gemma Smith
 I've listened to your podcast and I can just tell the amount of like
You're writing, you're taking these interviews with so many amazing guests like the Trap King, Sterling Davis, Jackson Galaxy, so many people in the cat world that if you're a cat person, you follow these people on Instagram. You know they're doing good work. And you're interviewing folks and then creating a narrative or you already have questions planned. Can you share a little bit about that process of when you have like a concept, like one of your episodes was about, I think, Valentine's Day.

Like, you come up with a concept and then do you think about who you want to interview and what you want to learn? And you said how you want the audience to feel.

Amanda B.
I knew exactly what I wanted to sound like because I'm a pretty avid podcast listener. It's kind of NPR-y and I mean, they kind of set the structure of a narrative, nonfiction investigative. I can't claim the journalist title in the sense that I'm not holding myself to the journalistic standards of reporting. I have a very clear agenda. I have a clear bias. I have a clear thesis statement. But I do hold myself accountable to being very evidence informed. I actually used to work in clinical research. And one of my, I think, passions through this project is getting people to think more critically about their assumptions and having a better understanding of what's really influencing your perception of our world. Cats are such a good catalyst for this because these little fellas, they're so, she's just, you are so cute. They, you know, they're just being cats. They're just catting. And we put so much crap on them across history and time. We come, we've come to rely on them, despite the fact that we don't really have a common language. mean, there are definitely like researchers such as my season one guest, Dr. Kristin Vitale, who's doing amazing work to, to finally build up an actual data set of research for cat communication and cognition. Yeah, for Valentine's Day, hey, cats are cuter than babies. That's actually what started it all, Gemma, because it was like a little joke, I would say, of course, except for all my friends' Your babies are cuter than my cats. And anybody I know, you listener too, you're the exception to the rule. But you know, it was really just like deeper into that, what's the history of Valentine's Day? And then incidentally, I happened to know that

cats are a symbol of fertility. So it actually makes more sense that kitty cats represent sexuality. And geez, doesn't that also tie into how they're perceived with respect to the gender they're tied into? as you can see, this constellation of ideas comes together.

Gemma Smith
And your podcast is so unique. I think you say the number one and only, but really is the only cat science culture history podcast. So folks need to listen. They need to follow at 6 degrees of cats.

on Instagram and TikTok. And then also you, speaking of Valentine's Day, Galentines or Palentines is coming up where we celebrate felines and friendship at Cat baret. And so Amanda, you're going to have a segment where you maybe do a little audience participation or tease a little bit of your podcast, right? Yes, I am. I'm so excited. I know this is going to be such a hit. It's funny, Gemma, I wanted to share on air. I was in the park near my home, which is not near you. And I was just talking to these people randomly. And literally they were just people we ran into and I happened to, I think they saw that I had a picture of my cat on my phone. That's being cute. And they I heard that there's this really great Halloween cat event. You need to come and guess the heck what Gemma, they finally, got it in stress, it was yours.

Gemma Smith
that's amazing. That makes me so excited.

Amanda B.
Yeah. Yeah. You're, you've got.

You are really just an incredible, incredible community leader for this stuff. So I was proud to say, I know, I know, I'm organizer. I'm going to be at the Valentine's Day one. You should definitely come to that one. But yeah, I'm really excited because we're going to have just a little audience work. And if you're lucky and or consenting, you might have your voice on the podcast for one of those segments.

Gemma Smith
How exciting is that? So listeners, if you're in New York City, you can come. If not, we'll have live stream tickets. And either way, you're going to follow and listen to Six Degrees of Cats.

Amanda B.
Thank you so much, Gemma.

Gemma Smith
Now, I want to know all about your actual cats. You've got a few there. We've kind of seen one of them. Can you share their names? How did they come into your lives?

Amanda B.
my gosh. Thank you so much for asking after my co-executive producers. It's kind of a running joke. If you check out the podcast, you can hear those are their actual voices when you hear a cat sound for the most part. Discerning ears will start to be able to tell who's who. I love them so much. So this is Binky.

he is, this is Binky, handsome little silver tabby. Very handsome. He is 14 years young. He was adopted from what was known as the Broadway Animal Clinic, but then has been bought up by one of those chains. They did have this like giant cage kind of near the window where kittens would be playing, which got them adopted quickly. will say that I felt bad for the kitties, but you know, they seemed okay. So Binky was playing in there.

And so this was my first or second, no it was my second year living in New York. I had just moved in with my now husband and I was so pleased to know he liked cats. He had taken care of cats. I would have definitely been a deal breaker for real. Of course, I don't think I would have had chemistry with somebody who hated cats. I can, I'm cool with it if it's like, you you have trauma or like you have an allergy, but I am, I'm stepping seven steps back. you say you hate cats and you
want to wish them harm. like you are, you are, no, no, that's a warning sign. But anyways, so that's Binky. He was adopted. And then about three years later we were like, well, are we ready for a second? And we got this little girl that is Snuggles.

Gemma Smith
she's so pretty. She's so snuggly in the picture. So we're looking at a photo of a little pretty cat.

Amanda B.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the funny thing is she's not snuggly at all. She's like, I hate you.

Step back. is funny. It's really hard because she's just, she's chubby and has that white muzzle and the pink. No, I mean, she's very cute. Everybody comments on it, but she, she hides. She's, she's got a lot of trauma. She's a little fearful. How old was she when you adopted her? You know, she was really young. I want to say she was maybe three.

three to four months old, maybe younger than, I can't remember if I'm a bad mom, but the way that we met her was we went into the same Broadway animal clinic in Astoria, Queens where we used to live. She was just rescued. I remember actually saying, I've never had a girl kitty. I would love to rescue a girl kitty if that's possible. And they were like, sure. know, one just came in, they brought her out. She was fresh from a flea bath and she was so terrified. She fit in,

you know, little bit, one and a half handful, and she burrowed her face right in my arms. And I was like, okay, this is my, this is, let's, let's take this little baby. You know, she was really fearful. I think that we didn't, I didn't know about the kitten lady. I didn't know about Trap King at the time or anybody. I didn't know about Jackson Galaxy. So I didn't really, we just kind of left her alone and I don't think she ever really got comfortable with human touch. She's not scratchy or bitey, but she's super fearful.

Gemma Smith
I understand. have a cat that I rescued from outside when she was like three months and she just didn't get that socialization around like 6 to eight, 10 weeks. how does, yeah, how does she do with Binky? How's her cat to cat relationship?

Amanda B.
They never had issues integrating and they have a very like healthy power dynamic established. He does kind of like, like to test her boundaries, but he's a, he's kind of a skittish. curious guy. He's very different. He's, he's a lap cat, but he's also getting older and I think arthritic. So he's a little lashier. We have to be more careful when guests come in the house. So those two, they, they're okay. And then I think I was sharing with you with little Peanut here. me see. Yes, you have a new kitten. Do you want me to go grab? If you'd like to, yeah, go ahead. on. She's so cute. This is Peanut. She's about, I want to say 6 months old and

is she was everybody's like I didn't know you got it I realize that was a new cat because she looks a lot like Binky but she's such a coddle bug. Thank you Peanut. And she was rescued in Jersey City by my brother-in-law who could not get permission to keep her and my husband fell in love with her when he was visiting Peanut and then they had to go away so I was still gonna be cat-sitting her and of course I fell in love with her. course. And now the cats are like

A new guy. So we're adjusting, but it's getting better every day. It's getting better every day. Yeah.

Gemma Smith
So what was that like initially? So she's 6 months now. I know she was a bit younger when she came to you. Are they fully like integrated? Like they're all in the same rooms and no hissing or how's that going now?

Amanda B.
They're swatting. It's kind of her fault. She's a kitten. She like really loves to test binky snuggles.

Not so much. This is actually something where I should call upon my expert, like Jennifer van de Keef, who was on season one, who's a cat behaviorist. Cause snuggles is like charges her sometimes. Snuggles usually just stays under the couch or does her normal thing, but she will come at the cat. Now I've noticed that when the swatting from the grown cats happens, the claws are not out. But.

that terrifies Peanut when she gets charged. you know, I'm, we're still navigating that. We've tried to follow all the best practices, keep, give them separate stuff.

Gemma Smith
Yes, yes. It's a hard thing. You can follow all the best practices and it's still like almost a daily part-time job to do all the things. And she's learning her boundaries, it sounds like. So maybe just little by little, day by day, they'll accept it.

Amanda B.
Thank you. Yeah. The other thing I need, I need to clarify with any potential listeners here is that I'm not a cat behavioral expert myself. So sometimes I've gotten a couple emails from listeners saying like, can you give me advice? I'm like, I would love to, but I don't actually possess that knowledge. I will recommend these experts. They're very accessible. And then here's some resources, but I can't get that reputation as like a clearinghouse for that. that's just not my lane.

Gemma Smith
Yes, absolutely. Sometimes I fall into the trap when I'm chatting with folks like, I do, you know, I work for a kitten nursery by day. I do know things about cat behavior, but I am not an expert either. So yeah, I can commiserate and validate and offer an idea or two, but that's about it.

Amanda B.
Yeah, exactly. And I mean, also coming back to the original premise, we just don't, we really still don't know enough about cat behavior. We have vast swathes of information about

the big domestic animals like cows, pigs, sheep, because there's a whole industry dedicated to commodifying them. We know a lot about dogs because dogs are servant animals that were brought into the home. And the only behavioral research we really have that's of any significance is based around dogs.

So cat experts are fantastic, and it's a newer thing that we're finally getting some pretty evidence-informed, validated scientific information. But if you look at, like, do a lit review, you still don't see a lot about it. So I don't know. I mean, it's all about just being patient, kind, caring, and doing your best.

Gemma Smith
Yes, absolutely. And not being too hard on yourself, knowing that you gave Peanut a great home. speaking of your home.

What are some of your daily routines or special rituals that you really cherish with your cat?

Amanda B.
I love this question, Gemma. well, I had a career coach. She's wonderful, Caroline Kim Oh. There's like different ways that we can use our energy, but not all of them, even if they're fun and enjoyable, are replenishing. like some, I'm very high energy.

And I'm very passionate and I love, I just enjoy doing stuff, but I do drain that battery quick. And so she was like, you should, you know, take your kitty cat's leads. And so, I, anytime I'm like overwhelmed, try not to feel bad about taking naps, which is my number one all time favorite thing to do with peanut. She is unlike Binky and snuggles who we didn't, we didn't let them in the room and they didn't have interest in it either. So they didn't sleep with us, but peanut.

loves snuggling and cuddling and taking naps. I'll just like, when it's nap time, I'll be like, pee pee pee pee. And she'll come and follow me into the room and then she'll snuggle up. And sometimes late at night, she'll look at me as if, are we going to bed yet, mom? It's the cutest thing. So yes, that's one thing. The second thing is, well, everybody who loves kitties has a little song time.

Yes, we like to sing to especially a musician too. my gosh, everybody has cat songs. I tried to actually get people to send in audio clips of them singing to their cats, but nobody like really sent any in. you'll to try that again. Maybe I'll be brave and send one. I would love that. I mean, that's I want to know what's the most common like melody that you follow.

It's weirdly Christmas carols for me. you know, let it snow for whatever reason is, it's like so perfect for making up impromptu songs to my cats. But the funniest thing I'll share with your listeners is for peanut, I have a little song. I'm not going to do it on air. That's literally that, that song. I think it's the chronic. It's like baggy, baggy, baggy.

Gemma Smith
I remember that. I'm at that time.

Amanda B.
That's the song that's like the foundation of a peanuts theme song. Binky has one that we wrote to get. Anyway, sorry. OK, so that's another ritual.

Gemma Smith
Your second ritual totally like goes into my next question, which was how do your cats, you know, inspire you, your creative projects? And maybe they don't necessarily specifically inspired songs in your band, but they clearly inspire you to sing and create all the theme songs. gosh. Wow. Well, the

I it's kind of obvious there. They are the theme of the podcast. You know, you'll meet a lot of musicians who are big time like my dog, you know, they take them on tour. I think cats are like the number one musician's companion. You know, aside from a few issues like they fuck with your guitar strings, they'll bat around your tools. It's a little annoying. They're really, really fantastic. They keep the same hours as you. If you're a nightlife person, having a cat is great because they're crepuscular just like...

Musicians of Nightlife people. Dusk and Dawn. Exactly. Stephen Quant, his episode's coming out. He brought that up as well. I think also, I mean, there are, I have a Spotify playlist because I've done season two, I produced two music focused episodes. One was about the history of the banjo and the other one was on rock and roll and cats.

There is a not insignificant amount of pretty well known musicians who loved kitty cats. mean, number one, certainly is Freddie Mercury. He wrote a whole album dedicated to his cat several. Yeah. I mean, cool cat. Come on. That's such a great song and such a good song. you know, cats have always been, I think, amused to, you know, creatives, especially musicians, I think. So they inspire me daily. They inspire me when,

I see him sleeping and I'm like, you know, I need to rest a little more to be able to unlock those creative energies. They inspire me when they're staring at me, judging me for sitting out and watching Netflix instead of being productive. I know that too well. Yeah. Yeah. There's so many ways. I would love to hear how other people are inspired by their kiddies and their music, know? And I think our listeners will love to hear that episode. link it in the show notes about.

musicians and their cats. I'm very interested to listen as well.

Gemma Smith
And now we're in the segment of the show where I'm just going to pick your brain personally for some tips that I think myself and our listeners may like to learn from you. With so much content out there nowadays, it can be overwhelming for artists and creators to stay motivated. Do you have any advice for fellow creatives on how to keep pushing forward when the content landscape feels oversaturated?


So in a perfect world, which we don't live in, I guess let's say in an ideal world, art stands alone. It doesn't live on any timelines. There is nothing about it that is a must besides you must do what you feel is your art. We, however, live in a world driven by limitations and parameters, such as we need to make a living. We are

all human beings with only so many hours in the day so we are competing against other people's attention capacities. We have so many barriers to access. And all of this, in my opinion, is driven by capitalism because capitalism brings into it a certain sense of competition.

And I think that's what's driving a lot of what we call imposter syndrome. I don't belong here. I don't fit in. I'm not invited. I'm not included. I'm not seen. I'm not visible. This is a crowded landscape. If you look at art as being intrinsically tied to the creator and also belonging to everybody, that's in contradiction to the principles of capitalism. So to bring it all home here, when you start

really deeply understanding where are these feelings coming from this urgency, the sense of, my God, my voice is going to get lost. It's really coming from messages that are being really socialized to us. That's not you. It's truly the systems. And the second thing I would say is with that knowledge, understanding that you should push harder to be more you, niche down.

You know you are attracted to people who you immediately connect to that you sense. I'm talking to the real person. I'm not talking to the representative. The only way for you to signal that to the people who are willing to receive you is to really niche down. Find your special sauce. There's only one you. There's no competition. That's just a plain fact. So I think that like really taking it to that direction helps for me.

I, it's as, it's a joke in the tagline, but it truly is the world's number one and only because even if somebody else came and took the concept and did it 10 times better than me, I'm kind of weird. And that's probably going to drive certain listeners away. Word will draw in the ones, it's going to draw in the right ones. Cause they're here to have a relationship not only with the content, but with the creative. And I, I, I alone can deliver same for music and same for writing.

It can feel like it's not the case because you feel like, content is king and it's a crowded landscape and all those messages. Stop thinking like an advertiser, divorce yourself from those systems and your creative. Keep that side of yourself full of joy and replenishment and every single disappointment will feel like a success. That sounds really corny, but it's, that is the only way to avoid burnout and to keep believing in what you're doing.

and to know that you're doing what you're asked to do by a greater power than who you are.

Gemma Smith
This really resonates, Amanda. Thank you so much for sharing. hope our listeners who are fellow creatives or people who appreciate the creative process and art are listening to this. it resonates because sometimes I think.

I'm also a little, I think I'm a little weird too. this, it's a very, you know, sometimes we're doing things and we're scared somebody might not like this, but if we please everybody, we're not really finding our real audience or really making a statement or really being true to ourselves. Cause not everyone's for everything. We have to be, like you said, niche down. So I think that's very valuable. Yeah. I'm glad it's helpful. mean, I think you have such a

perfect brand. You know it's effortless right Gemma when you know you're flowing through. You don't have to change anything. don't have to edit yourself. You're just like this is who I am. This is what I'm going to do. You don't have to expend the energy to like curate yourself or polish yourself for somebody else so that you might be more palatable. Obviously if you're doing it from a place of kindness and care you know even if you make mistakes you're always coming from the right place and if you do that. So I mean keep doing what you're doing. I mean I love I'm so good.

I'm so excited to be connected to you, Gemma. Me too.

Gemma Smith
I love collaborating with you and I'm so excited to have you on this podcast and for our listeners to follow you, see you perform live. Thank you so much for being here today, Amanda. And before we wrap, is there anything else that you wanted to share that we didn't get to?

Amanda B.
well, I'll just close by thanking you for your time. I celebrate all the misunderstood, the marginalized and the weird. That's my closing tagline on Six Degrees of Cats. And also Leathered, hopefully we'll tour like the world and that would be amazing. But Leathered is on Instagram and Bandcamp and Spotify and all that. So it's just a privilege and a joy to be able to create and to connect with wonderful, wonderful people like you, Gemma. So thank you.

Gemma Smith
Right back at ya, and can't wait to see you at the Cat baret! And that's a wrap for this episode of Tails & Tassels. So if you have any questions, comments, or just want to say meow, feel free to send us an email at talesandtasselspod at gmail.com. Thank you for listening, and don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. Also, join our community on Instagram at Tails & Tassels Pod for more updates and behind-the-scenes fun.

See you next time, kitty cat.