How music helped Katastro heal after Andy Chaves' death: 'It was the most comforting thing'

Tempe rockers Katastro were getting their groove on in an Orange County studio with kindred spirits Dirty Heads, recording tracks for their next album, fresh from playing Denver’s Red Rocks on a bill with hip-hop legend GZA and Sublime with Rome.

As bassist Ryan Weddle sizes up that moment in their history, “It just felt like things were going great.”

And that’s exactly when it all went south.

On May 12, 2022, Katastro lost their singer, Andy Chaves, who died in a car accident on the Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach, California.

Chaves was 32.

The friends he’d spent his final days recording music with were devastated.

“We all joined this band in, like, 2007, 2008,” Weddle says.

“So we really grew up with each other. And just seeing everybody change so much over the years and turn into who they are, it was more than just losing a band member. It was like losing your brother.”

Also like losing your band.

“All of us have been working on this goal for as long as we can remember,” Weddle says. “So the fear of losing that as well, it just kind of hit us in so many different ways.”

'Good Time' is Katastro's first new music since the death of Andy Chaves

“Good Time” is the first new music Katastro have released since the death of their singer, whose final vocals were recorded on that trip to California and fleshed out on the single by Jared "Dirty J" Watson and Dustin "Duddy B" Bushnell of Dirty Heads.

On the chorus, Chaves sings, “And if you want to live the good life, well, this is what it looks like/ And if you want to have a good time, well, this is what it looks like.”

It’s Duddy who captures the bittersweet essence of the whole endeavor with “I wish that we could stay right here forever/ I wish that we could stay right here together.”

The upbeat reggae track was written just a couple days before Chaves' death.

“We were in the studio with Dirty Heads the night that Andy passed away,” Weddle says.

Jared and Duddy volunteered their services to bring the music to fruition.

“They called right away when they found out the news and were pretty much like, 'We want to do whatever we can to help you guys make sure you finish this record,’” Weddle says.

“And obviously, it just made perfect sense. It was a song that we started with them. So we ended up going right back into the same studio that we were at when we lost Andy and we finished up the track with Dirty Heads and their producer Ryan OG.”

Finishing this music was 'completely necessary' for Katastro

Returning to the work they’d started with Chaves was “super difficult” and yet “completely necessary,” guitarist Tanner Riccio says.

“I think it took us a few months after the fact to even dive in,” he says. “But once we dove back in to see what we could do, it just turned into much more of a healing process for all of us.

"It was essentially the only positive thing we could take from the situation. I think we all knew it had to be done. It's just that we weren't sure if we were ready.”

As it turns out, they were more than ready.

“I remember after the first two days, Tanner or Ryan, one of you guys, looked at me and you were like, ‘It doesn't really feel like he's gone when we're working on this because the three of us are sitting in here listening to his voice on a loop while we're writing,’” drummer Andrew Stravers says.

“So for me, it was the most comforting thing ever to finally just be back doing what we do as a band. It was. finally, a sense of normalcy. And there were definitely moments there where I was breaking down, but yeah….”

'He was just the sweetest': Memorial honors Katastro's Andy Chaves, killed in car crash

'You're doing fine one second. Then you'll hear his voice'

The first session back was especially moving.

“The first thing we did after the accident, two or three months later, we recorded some string players at our studio in Tempe,” Stravers says.

“And I don't think the three of us had any idea what listening to a violin for eight hours would do to you, but I remember after everyone left the studio, I stayed behind and I just lost it. I don't know, you kind of block it out. You're doing fine one second. Then you'll hear a song or hear his voice…”

The more they worked on those recordings, the better they began to feel.

“At first, it was really uncomfortable, very weird and just different, but once it got going, it kind of felt normal and natural,” Weddle says.

“The three of us have obviously been through something really rough together. So it's kind of comforting in a way knowing that you're in a room with other people that know exactly what's going on with you.”

In the end, bringing Chaves' last recordings to completion helped them through the darkest time they’d ever known.

“You get into a groove and it feels the same as it always does,” Weddle says. “Then you kind of realize the whole reason that you're there and doing all that work, and it hits you again.

"But I also think having the music to focus on and listening to his voice a lot for so many days in a row, just being in a room, the three of us, that's part of what helped get us through it and kept us sane — or kept me sane.”

How Katastro built a full album around Andy Chaves' vocal tracks

“Good Time” is the first taste of a full Katastro album they plan to release in 2024 with guest appearances from Dirty Heads and other longtime friends on the local and national scene, including Iration, the Maine and Rome Ramirez of Sublime with Rome.

Stravers says they didn’t know how much material they had until they started opening the files and listening to what they’d captured in those final sessions with Chaves.

“The only problem was that Andy didn't finish all those songs,” Stravers says.

"For a majority of the songs, we had his vocal for the hook, or we had his verse and a hook but were missing the second verse. Or we didn't have a bridge. There were just missing pockets in every song because we were still in the beginning stages of writing an album.”

They more than likely had another six months’ worth of writing sessions left to go when they lost Chaves.

“So we started building the songs out together as a band, just doing what we would always do,” Stravers says. “And as we began doing that, we could just hear certain friends in the scene. A lot of the artists that are collaborators on this album are our friends that we've known for a decade or maybe even longer.”

As to how they went about deciding which friends would be right for which songs, Stravers says they let the songs decide.

“For me, I feel like the artist that was supposed to be on the song would, like, reveal itself to us,” he says.

It’s been an interesting process hearing what those other artists brought to the proceedings.

“We'll be like, 'Oh, man, I don't think this person is gonna send a feature; we asked, like, four months ago,” Stravers says. “And then, the next week, the feature will come through. They'll send it in and we're like, ‘Dude, it's all happening when it's supposed to happen kind of.’”

'Andy was such a great singer ... there were super awesome takes'

It helped that Chaves was able to capture a vocal track worth using on the fly.

“Once the accident happened, it's not like the week after, we were looking through the vocals,” Stravers says.

“We were just in a daze for a few months, you know? So when we found out we actually had some awesome (expletive), that was kind of a cool thing. Andy was such a great singer that even though these were his first couple takes, there were still, like, super awesome takes.”

There were moments of doubt along the way.

As Weddle says, “I think there was a fear, for me, of what is gonna be the right move? What's not the right move? What would Andy want? And what it came down to it was just thinking, everything that we decide has always been the way our band has worked. And I know anything we choose to do is gonna be the right move. It's gonna be good for his legacy.”

Celebrating Chaves at Kamp Fest was 'super healing'

Another huge breakthrough in coming to terms with the loss of their friend was the Kamp Fest show they did at Mesa Amphitheatre in February, a celebration of Chaves’ life with friends from Dirty Heads, Sublime with Rome, Iration, Artikal Sound System and Pacific Dub standing in for Chavez in Katastro's set.

“That was one of the craziest and most important things I've ever been a part of,” Weddle says.

“There was so much that had to go right in order for it to actually work and everyone fully showed up for us, supported us and we got help with every aspect of the show. It was beautiful. There was just a different feeling once we were on stage. It's one of the most special things I've ever experienced.”

Stravers says that show was “super healing” for Katastro and the fans.

“It was the most overwhelming amount of love in one amphitheater with everyone singing and dancing and laughing and crying,” he says.

“We edited video for the entire show. So we had video of Andy playing behind us and different clips of us, just showing the camaraderie of the band. And all the artists that flew in, for that to work out was just insane. Iration, Dirty Heads, Rome, all these bands that have busy touring schedules."

What does the future hold for Katastro?

Now they’ve got a new Katastro album in the pipeline, one they’re billing as a final album..

“Those are the last takes that we have with Andy, and Katastro was the four of us,” Weddle says. “It's the last things we have with Andy's voice on every track, and it's really special. So we want to make sure we do everything we can to make this album great.”

Could they see themselves working together again?

“For sure,” Stravers says. "We're homies for life, brothers for life. We don't really know what the future holds.”

For now, they’re more concerned with doing all they can to honor their friend’s memory and get his voice out to as many people as they can.

“His dream was to be one of the biggest artists in the world,” Stravers says.

“And as a group of friends, that's a really meaningful thing for the three of us to be able to finish this music together and get it out there to honor Andy and just show people what Katastro is all about.”

They’ll figure out the future when it gets here, Weddle says.

“For now, we're very focused on this project.”

And they’re definitely thrilled to share this first song with the world.

“Obviously, this last year and a half has been the hardest time of all three of our lives,” Stravers says.

“But I feel like finally, now, with the timing of putting out our first single off this album, we are in this place where we're finally coming out of the hole of just dealing with the insane amount of grief.”

It’s been “super healing,” Stravers says.

“I do want fans to know that we're doing OK. And I hope when people hear the new music, that it can inspire them to work through whatever situation they're going through.

"Not to sound cheesy or anything, but I think in a lot of ways, people are gonna see the three of us coming together and finishing this album for Andy, even though it was insanely difficult to do, and hopefully, that in itself will just make people feel good, man.”

They’ve met a lot of those fans in the past 15 years and Weddle feels this album they’ve been working on is for those fans as much as anyone.

“That's how I found joy and hope,” Weddle says. “Because right now, it's finally feeling exciting again. I feel really good about putting this music out. So I just hope that when our fans listen to it, or anybody that comes across it that might not even necessarily know the story, that they just feel something. I'm ready for it to be out there.”

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Katastro's new song includes Andy Chaves' final recordings