Catch 22 - The History.

The Band Catch 22 was formed by Murray (Vocalist) over 17 years ago, after accepting an offer to tour throughout the country, as part of a contract with Lion NZ. After 5 years, with the sale of Lion Nathan hotel contracts into private ownership, and Catch 22 members no longer wanting to constantly tour, the band underwent the transition to the current lineup you see today.

This lineup, with now over 11 years, and some 1500 performances together, has become one of the most tight nit and professional acts available in the country today.

The last 10 years have seen Catch 22 finish a lengthy residency in a venue synonymous with the band, East Auckland’s premium venue ‘The London Shed’. A contract the band held for over 5 years, playing every weekend to a packed venue of over 500 patrons a night.

Their top live performances and popularity during this time saw the band get nominated and win best NZ Cover Band, as voted by the NZ public for the 2003 NZ Entertainment Awards.

It was not unexpected that the band was quickly snapped up and signed into a new residency contract with ‘The Reef Bar’ Mission Bay, when the band decided to part ways with the ‘London Shed’ due to a pending sale process. The Reef Bar with its clientele, is an up market bar over looking the Auckland waterfront and Catch 22, with their constancy of performance and huge repertoire, have transformed The Reef Bar over the last few years into the new place to be seen at, every weekend.

2008 see’s a slight change to the bands exclusive, one venue residency deals, as Catch 22 has accepted a offer to join the ‘Cock & Bull’ chain for Saturday’s, while continuing their loyalty to ‘Reef Bar’ and its clientele on Friday nights. A change the band is really excited about due to being tied into just one resident venue at a time for over the last 9 years.

Catch 22 are a fantastic asset to any company or special event. The band with their huge repertoire of material, can cater for just about any audience taste and age spread.

Catch 22 also have on offer fully themed performances, amongst these is a fantastic 80’s show, a 70’s show, even Robbie Williams or U2 tribute mini concerts.

Catch 22 even look similar to U2 in the flesh. So much so that Murray (Bono), was recently on C4’s Pop Goes the Weasel, appearing as his alter ego Bono, with many shocked on lookers at the TV station having to double check that Murray wasn’t the real deal!

Catch 22 also have an their own original music and were chosen to open for the 2003 NZ Entertainment Awards playing alongside top kiwi bands Augustino, Opshop, Stylus and The WBC. Performances of their original material on the ‘Good Morning’ show on TVNZ during 2004, saw a debut self funded EP “The Story So Far” sell more than 1500 copies locally in a limited run.

A local TV documentary crew also followed the band to see how young NZ musicians saw the industry after ‘XLR8 your lifestyle’ entertainment newspaper had picked up their story and ran with it for 4 months.

Catch 22 have also played many specialist industry events. ‘Jim Beam’ ran a huge release night at the ‘London Shed’. Over 1000 invited guests from all over the country were entertained, in a real carnival event, which saw the band playing live, while a Crusty Demons type motorcycle stunt team were performing massive midair jumps, and wowing the crowd with death defying tricks.

Catch 22 were also selected by the winner of a nationwide ‘Coruba’ promotion to play along side ElomenoP in a 50k product release party. This was a extremely sort after event. To the amazement of organizers, the winner, with such a huge budget, wanted Catch 22 a local cover band to perform. Not interested in taking up offers from some of the other major NZ recording artists that were lining up to play. The proceeding performance by Catch 22 was noted by event organizers to be ‘Outstanding’ and the highlight of the event.

With a current play list of the best songs from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and today’s latest radio hits.

Catch 22 can cater to any audience taste

let us make your next event unforgettable!