Milwaukee Band selected for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame competition
The Feral Catz, a Milwaukee-based original rock band, has been selected to perform in Los Angeles as part of the 9th Annual International Fortune Magazine/Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Battle of the Corporate Bands competition. The Catz were one of only 16 semi-finalists selected in the international competition. Hundreds of bands from all over the world submitted song samples to enter the contest and The Feral Catz were chosen to be among eight regional finalists to play on June 20 and compete for a gig at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The 9th Annual Fortune Battle of the Corporate Bands is a contest for bands who have half of their membership made up of employees from the same company. Two members of The Feral Catz, Rick Bergholz, owner; and Tom Wright, president; are employees of Brown Deer-based TAPCO, (Traffic and Parking Control).

The Feral Catz will go up against bands representing NBC, Frontier Natural Products, Jackson National Life Insurance and Symantec, among others. Eight bands will take part in another regional contest in Nashville. Four bands from each regional, plus two bands from Europe, will be chosen to play at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in October.

"It is continuously inspiring to see the considerable amount of recreational music making going on in corporate America," said Lisa Vinciquerra, production manager for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. 

The Feral Catz have been together in its current form for three years, but its founding members and songwriters, guitarists Rick Bergholz and Tom Wright, have been playing together for more than a decade.

The band recently released its first full-length CD, "Slow to Develop" and has played at various area venues in Milwaukee including Shank Hall, Linneman's and Serb Hall.

The group also features Mike Mihlbauer on bass and Doug Hissom on drums.

The Feral Catz Web sites: http://www.myspace.com/theferalcatz or www.feralcatz.com