By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
September 19, 2003
When your band’s name is Kittens for Christian and one of your members is Neil Young (no, not that Neil Young), you have a bit of explaining to do. Phoning from New York during a sound check, vocalist Hiram Fleites called to fill us in.
Touring to support its album “Privilege of Your Company” (Columbia), Kittens for Christian will open for the Raveonettes on Saturday night at Metro.
The “real” deal: We haven’t heard from Neil Young. I don’t think we’re on his radar yet. We’re crossing our fingers he’ll notice us one day.
On the band’s odd name: We got it from an eight-page short story by artist Richard Corbin. I’ve been a fan of his artwork for years.
The immigrants: Neil was born in Scotland and I was born in Cuba, so we should’ve named the band the Immigrants.
On being bilingual: I came to the United States when I was 7. When you’re that young, your brain’s like a sponge. I speak, read and write Spanish pretty fluently.
His homecoming: I went back to Cuba for the first time a year ago. It was a total culture shock. My dad was a political prisoner for a few years there. He wanted to get us out because the feeling was there was no future for us kids there.
Parental input: My parents are still apprehensive about my career choice, but they’re coming around. Most families don’t want their kids to be
artists, but if you come from another country, they really want you to do something stable.
In vogue: I get teased a lot for being kind of a fashion plate.
The cliche: As you get older, there’s a certain point where doing the starving-artist thing gets a little old.
Tell us a secret: I’m really into history. Exciting, right?
The last good movie you saw: “The Godfather.”
The book you’re recommending: Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood by Peter Biskind.
Scoring: I’d love to write songs for movies. Some of our older material has a cinematic feel to it.
Best advice you ever got: Don’t do anything you feel uncomfortable doing.
Worst job you ever had: I worked for a moving company. That was bad ’cause the guy was a crook. I also did a stint at this little rundown transmission shop.
How fast you can fix a car: I can’t. I learned nothing from the job, which made it an extra bad job.
Advice you’d like to pass along: Be smart enough to know when somebody else can do a better job. You need to have a sense of when to let go.
Your Chicago wish: If we have time, we’d love to go to Wrigley Field. We’re baseball fans.
Favorite place you’ve traveled so far: Havana, Cuba, blew me away. I could imagine what it must’ve been like in the 1950s.
