It has been said that one of the greatest composers that ever lived was Ludwig van Beethoveen. The year 2020 marks what would have been Beethoveen’s 250th birthday. Who better to honor such an occasion than The Great Kat? Oh, you are not familiar with THE ONLY guitar & violin virtuoso, The Great Kat? Well, at the end of this interview you will be!
I interviewed The Great Kat once before in 2006. Back then she wanted to expose the moron masses to classical shred by covering her favorite composers. She accomplished this by playing the guitar and violin faster than anyone I had ever heard before. Her full-length album at the time came in at 11 minutes. I thought it was way too short to be called an album. She even produced her own short form videos in 2006.
14 years later I realized The Great Kat was way ahead of her time. Today we get all our media in quick bites because our attention spans have shrunk. After seeing on Twitter that The Great Kat was still doing her thing, I decided it was a good time to see what she was up to now.
Metal Express Radio: When I last interviewed The Great Kat in 2006 you were a leather clad dominatrix covered in blood. Today I see that you are all cleaned up and dressing in bright vibrant colors. What happened?
The Great Kat:
First of all, The Great Kat Guitar/Violin Goddess IS:
-JUILLIARD GRAD Violin Virtuoso
-Concertmaster of the Juilliard School Pre-College Orchestra
-Carnegie Recital Hall Violin Soloist
-WINNER of Artists International Competition on Violin
-“TOP 10 FASTEST SHREDDERS OF ALL TIME” (Guitar One Mag)
-“Reincarnation of BEETHOVEN”
-The Only GUITAR/VIOLIN DOUBLE VIRTUOSO since PAGANINI
-METAL LEGEND & ICON!
The Great Kat is BOTH a BLOOD-DRIPPING LEATHER CLAD DOMINATRIX and a “CLEANED UP” CLASSICAL, JUILLIARD VIOLIN MAESTRO!!!
DOWN ON YOUR KNEES, GEORGE, and WORSHIP MY GODLY SPIKED HEEL! BOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MER: Your latest release is a series of singles in honor of Beethoven’s 250th birthday. Why did you choose the single format instead of an EP or full album?
HAPPY BEETHOVEN’S 250th BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!
I chose the single format because people are NOT TRAINED in the GENIUS of BEETHOVEN and CLASSICAL MUSIC to UNDERSTAND ANYTHING LONGER that a SINGLE!!!! NOW EVERYONE WAKE UP AND GET GENIUSIZED with THE GREAT KAT AND BEETHOVEN!
Collection of New Beethoven’s 250th Birthday CD Singles by The Great Kat to Celebrate Beethoven’s 250th Birthday Dec 16, 2020 AVAILABLE on iTUNES, SPOTIFY, KAT STORE:
Beethoven’s “Für Elise for Guitar, Violin and Piano”
Beethoven’s “Eroica Symphony for Guitar and Symphony Orchestra”
Beethoven’s “Moonlight Mosh” (for 6 guitars!)
Beethoven’s “Turkish March for Guitar and Symphony Orchestra”
Beethoven’s “Razumovsky String Quartet for Guitar and String Quartet”
Beethoven’s “Minuet in G for Guitar, Violin and Piano”
Beethoven’s “Violin Concerto” (CD & DVD Single)
“Beethoven Mosh 2”
“Chef Great Kat Cook Beethoven’s Macaroni and Cheese” (CD & DVD single)
PLUS: Beethoven’s “5th Symphony” on
“Beethoven Shreds” CD Album
“Beethoven’s Guitar Shred” DVD
“Digital Beethoven On Cyberspeed” CD-ROM/CD
UPCOMING:
Beethoven’s “Egmont Overture for Guitar, Actor and Symphony Orchestra”
Beethoven’s “Fidelio Overture for Guitar and Symphony Orchestra”
MER: Why did you pick these particular songs to honor Beethoven?
I picked Beethoven’s “Für Elise”, “Eroica Symphony”, “Moonlight”, “Turkish March”, “Razumovsky Quartet”, “Minuet in G” and “Violin Concerto” because these works are popular and famous masterpieces by Beethoven! The Great Kat is the ONLY CLASSICALLY trained Violin Virtuoso/Guitar Shredder who is a QUALIFIED to SHRED these works on Guitar AND Violin with SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. CHECK THEM OUT on SPOTIFY NOW
MER: While listening to the new singles I thought you displayed your violin skills a bit more than your guitar skills. Is that your preferred instrument?
Quoting you, George Dionne, in our last interview for “Rock Is Life” Ezine [2006]:
“The Great Kat is a guitar virtuoso that has made it her passion to resurrect classical music and combine it with shred guitar. I was quite impressed with not only how fast she could play the guitar, but that she was equally as fast on the violin.”
NOW SPREAD the word of The Great Kat’s New BEETHOVEN’S “EROICA SYMPHONY for GUITAR and SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA” with THE GREAT KAT’S GUITAR VIOLIN VIRTUOSITY: YOUTUBE
MER: You released a video for “Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.” Do you have plans to release videos for the other Beethoven 250th Birthday singles?
WATCH THE GREAT KAT’S BEETHOVEN’S “VIOLIN CONCERTO” MUSIC VIDEO on AMAZON PRIME
We are NOW FILMING the NEW GREAT KAT MUSIC VIDEO for BEETHOVEN’S “EROICA SYMPHONY for GUITAR AND SYMHONY ORCHESTRA”, starring Beethoven, Napoleon, Josephine and THE GREAT KAT! STAY TUNED for RELEASE DATE!
MER: The video for “Beethoven’s Violin Concerto” clocks in at 90 seconds and you have about 5-6 costume and guitar changes. How long did it take to shoot the video?
Several weeks of filming and editing, because The Great Kat is the GUITAR/VIOLIN VIRTUOSO performing on ALL my videos and ALSO the video EDITOR! WHO ELSE WOULD BE CAPABLE of EDITING a video consisting of BEETHOVEN’S CLASSICAL MUSIC SCORES??????????!!!!!!!!!
MER: Beethoven was taught by his father Johann van Beethoven and later by Christian Neefe. Who taught The Great Kat?
BEETHOVEN!!!!!!!
I was BORN listening to BEETHOVEN’S MUSIC 24 HOURS A DAY! MY INTENSE EAR-TRAINING and SOLFEGE KNOWLEDGE comes DIRECTLY from hearing Beethoven’s symphonies, quartets and genius works as a baby. At the age of 15, I was awarded a Full Violin Scholarship to study at The Juilliard School in NYC, where I perfected my craft of violin virtuosity, symphonic music, chamber music, theory, solfege, composition — all with the teachers at The Juilliard School.
You claim you are Beethoven reincarnated. Did you have to blow out 250 candles this year?
WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE GREAT KAT is the ONLY REINCARNATION of BEETHOVEN, the RESURRECTOR of BEETHOVEN, the REINVENTOR of BEETHOVEN and the ONLY BEETHOVEN SINCE BEETHOVEN! NOW BOW to BEETHOVEN!
MER: Is it true you have a new DVD in the works? What is planned for content?
The Great Kat’s new DVD Music Videos SINGLES are available RIGHT NOW on the KAT STORE at https://www.greatkat.com/katshredstore.html, including Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi, Rossini, Bazzini, Sarasate and more videos! You can also WATCH all these MUSIC VIDEOS RIGHT NOW FREE on AMAZON PRIME
MER: In 2006 you were cutting quick 1-2 minute videos and rapid-fire full albums that came in under 11 minutes. Today society gets all of their news and entertainment in quick bites. Hell, there’s a website that has 10 minute movies now. Should society be looking at The Great Kat as a major innovator in entertainment who was ahead of the curve?
YES! A good example of The Great Kat being an innovator is “BEETHOVEN ON SPEED” and “WORSHIP ME OR DIE!” albums, which were WAY ahead of their time and FINALLY NOW available on WARNER MUSIC on iTUNES.
MER: In 2003 you were ranked one of the top ten “fastest shredders” in Guitar One magazine… (Only The Great Kat could interrupt me in the middle of an e-mail interview)
The Great Kat is the only female on that famous list of “TOP 10 FASTEST SHREDDERS OF ALL TIME” AND the ONLY Violin/Guitar Shredder who is UPDATING AUTHENTIC CLASSICAL with SHRED on that list!!!
MER: Any chance of a Great Kat original material album or even a vocal album?
THE GREAT KAT’S MISSION from BIRTH was to bring the GENIUS of BEETHOVEN to EVERYONE!!!!!!
MER: No one today shreds like the Great Kat and the shredders that came up in the 80s. Do you think the art of shredding (or even soloing) is dying?
Thankfully, The Great Kat is SINGLE-HANDEDLY keeping SHRED, METAL and CLASSICAL MUSIC ALIVE with BEETHOVEN (and Mozart, Wagner, Vivaldi, Bach, Rossini and much MORE!)
MER: Who is Katherine Thomas?
Katherine Thomas IS The Great Kat, Reincarnation of Beethoven and Messenger of the Musical Gods!!
HAPPY BEETHOVEN’S 250TH BIRTHDAY! SHRED ON!
Become an OFFICIAL Great Kat THRASHDISCIPLE
WEBSITE
Good interview.
I 1st saw her on the Morton Downey Jr show. Shes one of a kind.