Oh, hi there!
Whether you have come here of your own volition (unlikely), have been forced here because you are a friend of ours (more likely), or you have stumbled upon us while looking for cats on the internet (most likely), let us tell you a little about ourselves.

The Kootch Bible states:
’In the beginning, there was a band called Kootch. On the first day they wished to play traditional songs, they spake: ‘LET THERE BE BALLADS!’ And lo’! Beth and Dean got together and sang trad ballads, and they saw that it was good (but could be better). On the second day they saw that they weren’t quite being irksome enough, and they spake: ‘LET THERE BE ORIGINAL SONGS ABOUT MURDERS AND STUFF!’ and lo’! They started to write their own songs. They looked around the crying audience and they saw that it was good (but could be better-er). On the seven-hundredth day they saw that they were still being slightly appreciated by Beth’s mum, and there was space to be more irksome, and they spake: ‘LET THERE BE INSTRUMENTS THAT EVERYONE COMPLAINS ABOUT!’ And lo’! They added a fiddle (Katy Campbell) and a banjo (Ian Tilbrook) to the band, they looked around the now empty concert hall and saw that it was good, the best, ain’t no betterer. Amen.’

We try not to put ourselves in a box (we have weird dimensions, so we tend not to fit), but if we were to, we suppose, we might fit into the box of folk, indie-folk, folk-pop, folk-singer-songwriter, garage-folk, country-folk, psych-folk, folk only knows, what the folk?!

We enjoy what we sing, and our audiences seem to, too? You might see our little motto flying around: we make things for ourselves, by ourselves, of ourselves. We hope you like our music and what we do, but we also do it for ourselves, for the love of it. That is what we believe in the most. Do whatever makes you happy and you can never lose. Write what you want, sing what you want, love who you want and everything else can catch up or fall behind.

The origin of our band name is a bit of a twist. Kootch derives from our favourite Welsh word ‘cwtch’ (pronounced k-uh-ch). There is no English equivalent but if we were to try, it is a safe place in someone’s heart. Cwtch is more than just a cuddle. It is the entire, all encompassing, safe and warm feeling you get from the embrace of the one you love. We hope you all feel cwtch’d on our site. Warm, safe, and loved.

(Just to appease those that came to look for cats, DO NOT FEAR, our band mascot, Derek, is as folk-punk-rock as we are, and features heavily around our site, in our videos, on our insta and is generally, all round, more popular than we are, annoyingly, as he contributes nothing to the rent.)

Love and harmonies,
Kootch.