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THE GREAT KAT interview


Fall to your knees before the virtuosic guitar violence of the Great Kat. This prolific shred goddess has mesmerized the world since her 1987 debut album Worship Me Or Die!  Since then, she has rocked hard in the style of Beethoven On Speed, with dazzling guitar and violin renditions of classical pieces by the masters like Ludwig Van, Vivaldi and Rossini. 

December 16, 2020, will be Beethoven's 250th birthday. The Great Kat, the self-proclaimed reincarnation of the composer, is busy recreating his songs note for note on guitar and violin, available to the world on her web site and youtube channel leading up to that momentous anniversary. 

Always the consummate professional and a hell of a self promoter, The Great Kat took a short break from shredding to answer this Q and A.

With Beethoven's 250th birthday coming up, what is your favorite piece by the composer? What was it about Beethoven's music that captivated you to shred?
Happy Beethoven's 250th Birthday (December 16, 2020)! As a Juilliard violin virtuoso, I ALWAYS LOVED to perform BEETHOVEN, because every Beethoven work is genius! Now, as a guitar and violin virtuoso, The Great Kat takes Beethoven masterpieces and edits, arranges and reorchestrates the scores and recomposes them note-for-note for guitar and violin. Plus, The Great Kat adds speed, energy and intensity to his genius music! Beethoven has the most exciting music, the most technical virtuosity, and the only music in history that can wake you up, break you down, and force you to be a genius, whether you want to or not! 

THAT’S why THE GREAT KAT IS GOD!!!!!!!!!!!! NOW BOW, NECRO SEXUAL!!!!!!!!!!

You consider yourself the reincarnation of Beethoven. Why do you state such a bold claim?
The Great Kat is the REINCARNATION of BEETHOVEN,  the RESURRECTOR of BEETHOVEN, the REINVENTOR of BEETHOVEN and the ONLY UNREPRESSED MUSICAL GENIUS SINCE BEETHOVEN!!!!! THE GREAT KAT IS BEETHOVEN!!!!!

GOT IT????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


As the NEW YORK TIMES’ FAMOUS ARTICLE on THE GREAT KAT & “BEETHOVEN ON SPEED” states:


“The wave of the future might well be heavy-metal Beethoven by way of Juilliard. Ms. Kat's ‘Beethoven on Speed’ album elevates furiousness to a would-be world view. It is built on speed-rock electric guitar solos (fast, virtuosic, nearly everything articulated with frenzied right-hand strumming and manic left-hand skittering up and down the fret board, the general esthetic being more-notes-per-second equals better). To which she adds hoarse imprecations for her ‘slaves’ to grovel before her and her overpowering genius.” - John Rockwell, The New York Times


Your YouTube channel is filled with rapid-paced playthroughs and mini music videos. What inspired you to create this manic output?
I DON’T HAVE TIME TO GO SLOW and WAIT for people to UNDERSTAND my music!!!  THE GREAT KAT is on a MISSION to RESURRECT BEETHOVEN and ALL of CLASSICAL MUSIC for all civilization to GENIUSIZE and ENGERIZE WITH!!!!


I JUST finished another Great Kat MASTERPIECE BEETHOVEN’S “BOLERO MOSH” which will be out DEC 1 on CD, DVD, DIGITAL VIDEO AND SINGLE!! My new music video was JUST filmed this week with the shred temptress GODDESS of METAL, THE GREAT KAT, DANCING THE SEXY BOLERO and TANGO with her partners Roberto and Antonio, while SHREDDING GUITAR -- BRINGING BEETHOVEN’S GENIUS MUSIC to the WORLD of DANCE & METAL! STAY TUNED!

 

Of all the classical pieces you've learned to play over the years, do you have one that you consider to be the most challenging?

ALL Beethoven works are challenging, because he is the MOST COMPLEX musical architect in history! Beethoven’s counterpoint and technicality is supremely genius! And The Great Kat does not just play a little Beethoven melody on guitar. I ACTUALLY TAKE his COMPLEX ORCHESTRAL SCORES and EDIT ALL THE NOTES to a fast 1 MINUTE MASTERPIECE to bring you the ESSENCE of Beethoven’s work. IT’S UP TO YOU to go listen to the original and START WAKING UP TO BEETHOVEN!!!

 

The Great Kat, Juilliard grad violin virtuoso and “Top 10 Fastest Shredders Of All Time” (Guitar One Magazine) is the only guitar/violin double virtuoso shredding Beethoven’s masterpieces at high speeds and bringing his genius music to a whole new generation with metal.


What do you think makes the perfect guitar solo?
The perfect guitar solo is: FAST, NO-NONSENSE, SHREDDING, HYPERSPEED AND NEOCLASSICAL! In other words, THE GREAT KAT’S GUITAR SOLOS!


What else is on the horizon for The Great Kat that you're excited about?

NON-STOP SHREDDING BEETHOVEN until DEC 16—BEETHOVEN’S 250th BIRTHDAY. THEN it’s NON-STOP SHREDDING ALL THE OTHER COMPOSERS (BACH, MOZART, VIVALDI, and more) who are BEGGING to be SHREDDED by THE HIGH PRIESTESS of GUITAR SHRED THE GREAT KAT and update their genius music for future generations!!!!


Thank you Great Kat for going One On One With The GRIM-1. What would you like to say in closing to all the heavy metal hellraisers out there?


ATTENTION METALHEADS!

HAPPY BEETHOVEN’S 250TH BIRTHDAY!

Become an OFFICIAL Great Kat THRASHDISCIPLE at http://www.greatkat.com/fan/greatkatdisciple.html

 

LISTEN to The Great Kat on:
iTunes
Spotify

YouTube

Vevo

Great Kat CDs, DVDs, T-SHIRTS & MERCH on the KAT STORE at https://www.greatkat.com/katshredstore.html

 

The Great Kat IS "TOP 10 FASTEST SHREDDERS OF ALL TIME"! (Guitar One Magazine)/JUILLIARD GRAD VIOLIN VIRTUOSO!

Website: http://www.greatkat.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/greatkatguitar    and https://twitter.com/greatkatviolin   

 

SHRED ON!


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