Visualizing the Sound: Cats Members

 Cactus Cats founder, Shel Van Taylor is a Seattle area born musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his versatile work in rock, original music projects, cover bands, recording engineer and contributions to the local music scene.
He has been active in the Pacific Northwest music community for many years, (Now relocated to Southern California), often performing and collaborating with other Seattle-area artists and many national artists. One of his notable projects is 93 Octane, a high-energy original rock band he fronted as lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist. The band, which also included Scott Nelson on lead guitar and backing vocals, and Mike Kosacek (among others) on drums, released music including the album Mirrors (around 2010), featuring tracks like “Mirrors” and “Power of the Moon.” 93 Octane was described as delivering driving rock with a focus on uniting rhyme and reason in their songwriting. Shel has written and recorded 5 original records with various bands.
Shel has also performed as a guitarist and front man in various other cover groups for events, clubs, casinos, and has traveled extensively performing. He was involved with Monty Smith and The Eccentrics, where he was highlighted as a versatile player and acknowledged his “eccentric” style in a 2019 feature. He participated in reunion shows and benefits, such as events tied to West Seattle alumni (including a 40th class reunion musical set with ‘40 Year Itch’ alongside classmates like Monty Smith and Jon Sleight) and charity performances, like a 2011 benefit for the family of a fallen soldier featuring West Seattle musicians.
His work spans live gigs at venues like Angel of the Winds Casino, Tulalip Casino, Muckleshoot Casino and hundreds of events, (with acts like High Voltage Seattle), The Bel Reds, a Billy Idol tribute named, "Rebel Yell" and he maintains connections through channels like YouTube for his project SVT (Super Vibe Trucker), focusing on original material.
Now relocated to Southern California, Shel Van Taylor embodies the region’s grassroots rock and indie spirit, contributing as a performer, collaborator, and band leader over decades in the local scene. 

Rising from the deepest, darkest and scariest depths of San Jose, California, Kevin Bligh is the driving force behind the Cactus Cats.  A 25 year veteran of the drum throne, Kevin has played hundreds of shows to thousands of people, with his snare-slamming, stick-twirling, high-energy signature style thrilling the masses night after night.

Starting in his younger, angrier days, Kevin broke into San Jose’s music scene with local punk rock sensation 5606, earning national recognition supporting some of the biggest global artists of the time including Yellowcard, The All American Rejects, Dashboard Confessional, OneRepublic, Neon Trees, Smashmouth, The Ataris, Hawthorne Heights, Pepper, Bowling for Soup, and more.

After melting every single face in the entire Bay Area, Kevin brought his talents to the music mecca of Los Angeles.  Stepping into the world of session work, Kevin expanded his musical knowledge by performing and recording with a myriad of artists throughout various genres including hip-hop, pop, country, blues, rock, and just about any other gig he could get his sticks on. Kevin also joined the blues/rock outfit Handsome As Sin, who he proudly recorded and performed with during his Los Angeles tenure. 

And just like that, as mysteriously and sexily as he appeared, he was gone…. 

Because of, like, life and stuff…. He’s not, like, gone gone. He got married, had a kid, coaches hockey, has a life outside of drumming, etc. etc. He’s fine, I promise, sitting right next to me, actually…

…And now, after several years away from the stage, Kevin “The Five Foot Fury” makes his triumphant return with the Coachella Valley’s own trio-of-destruction, the Cactus Cats, where he’ll be imparting his infectious groove and ferocious playing style on the biggest rock, pop and dance classics of the past decades.  But don’t take it from me, hear it from Kevin himself:

“I’m going to hit stuff with sticks and it’s going to be cool.” - Kevin