A Conversation with The Kittyhawks

A Breath of Fresh Air | By Diane Schnell

“It’s been incredibly fulfilling for us.” Michelle, one half of the Kittyhawk’s lead singing duo shares as her face lights up. “When you see something you’ve created being enjoyed by other people… they know the words and they’re singing them back to you. That still surprises me.”

Formed in 2023, the Kittyhawks are a seven member strong Melbourne based ska band. It was originally founded by a pair of brothers: Joel and Elliot Dawson (sax and keys, and drummer) and Nathanael and Tim Kitingan (lead vocals and guitar and bass, respectively). Rounding out the lineup is Nathanael’s wife, Michelle Carlin (trumpet and vocals), Simon Tan (baritone sax), and Basil Rizopolous (trombone). As an American familiar with the Wright brothers and their Kittyhawk flight, I wondered what the Australian connection to the word was. It turns out, the band name comes from joining the family names, Dawson and Kitingan, together.

“As a joke, we were like why don’t we call ourselves Kitty Dawson?” Nathanael says, smiling. “Then Elliot said, if we’re on a lineup and someone sees Kitty Dawson, they’ll think we’re like a female singer/songwriter. So it became the Kittyhawks,” He explains.

“It was also the imagery,” Nathanael adds. “You don’t really get a logo out of Kitty Dawson whereas the Kittyhawks has really great opportunities for cool imagery.”

Their debut album, From Brass to Bullets, features an image, designed by Pat Fox, of a grinning cat flying a shark-faced plane, somewhat reminiscent of the old painted warplanes of World War Two. Nathanael admits the debut album originally had a military theme, but it was largely abandoned by its release. The album title is one element that remained— “We had the play on words of ‘from brass to bullets’ from the military thing.” Nathanael says. “Bullets made out of brass. It was all tied in— our instruments are our weapons. Music is our weapon.”

Nathanael has been involved in the Melbourne ska scene since the late nineties. Along with the Dawson brothers, Nathanael was in the band Sounds like Chicken from 1999-2007. “The scene was quite good in the 2000s. It was healthy. There were a lot of young bands who were really into both third wave and two tone ska. Unfortunately, it has deteriorated over the years. There are still bands around, but they’re older now. There isn’t the same input of young, fresh talent coming in.”

“I think it’s representative of what’s happened to music in general.” Michelle adds. “When we were growing up I think people were more likely to put themselves in a certain group. It was their social group as well as their music group, and their music taste lent itself to their demographic— their preferences, the way they dress, all that kind of thing.”

“Now I’ve noticed with a lot of younger people, they’ve got really broad taste in music. So people are less inclined to put themselves in a scene specifically because it’s just about what they like as opposed to it being tied to a subculture and the identity that goes along with it.”

The Kittyhawks embody a unique mix of both old scene and newness.