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That’s a fair description used by one music industry exec when talking about The Imperfected, a band of ever changing collaborators with producer/bassist Chris Catero at the wheel. Every band has one or two individuals who drive it - Jagger and Richards, the Young brothers, Page, Iommi, Tyler and Perry... Catero is the artist driving The Imperfected.

“I’ve been really blessed to have known, played and worked with some incredibly talented musicians and writers over the years. So, with The Imperfected I really wanted to put together an ongoing project where I could create music solely myself or involve lots of different people," says Catero. "A sort of "no rules" creative environment where I can consistently put out music under one flag. It’s rock n roll but it’s not premeditated nor completely predictable. The idea is to organically create some cool music and be in the moment when it arises.”

“One of the things I’ve always questioned is the seeming need for someone to put an artist in a tiny little musical box. What if there was no box from the start? That was the goal."

For The Imperfected diversity in the music is welcomed. While rock fans still wanna rock, they're now more broad and multigenerational. Playlists have bred eclectic tastes, with listeners becoming more responsive to a wider spectrum of music compiled together.  The Imperfected fit this evolution. Today's independent artists secure placement on playlists with far greater ease than when they were completely stifled by corporate homogeneity. The audience in turn now finds more new music than ever before. And with a far more open ear.

"Creating music with a balance of EQ, IQ and SQ - finding what genuinely moves myself as well as the listener, however that occurs - that’s definitely where my heart is at this point in my career,” says Catero.

Catero wears multiple hats in the music business, among them being an artist, session player, producer, songwriter and videographer/graphic artist. He writes for production music libraries as well as at-hire mixing and producing, including an ongoing production partnership with legendary producer/manager Alan Niven of Guns N' Roses and Great White fame. Over the years as a bass player he was an integral part of Metalblade recording artist Wardog and as well as radio-rockers Razer. As a hired gun he's toured with the likes of guitar virtuoso Marty Friedman and Dokken's Wild Mick Brown, as well as performing with Slash, Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson and Alice Cooper. He also served as the artist relations director at Krank Amplification, the guitar amp manufacturer whose popularity dominated the metal scene from the mid 2000s to early 2010s, and has appeared in many product videos for companies, such as Epiphone Guitars and others.   

The catalyst for The Imperfected's creation was the song that became the first single, “I’m Vengeance”. It's a brooding and cinematic heavy rock slab originally earmarked for a library client. Its lyrical inspiration came after viewing the first trailer for Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” movie and a fanboy's love of all things The Bat. “At first it was somewhat another song in my catalog. But I started inquiring a bit to see if by chance I might be able to pitch it for some kind of use surrounding the movie. In that process I got an overwhelmingly positive reaction in general and was encouraged to do something with it regardless of its intended use."

 "The very Bonham-esque heavy handed vibe of the song was something I personally love artistically. So having this very "me" standalone tune sitting in my catalog with no place to go got me thinking more seriously about using it in an artist capacity. Which was something I hadn't done in a while and realized I really missed. It turned out to be what kicked The Imperfected into motion.”

Armed with a whole slew of individual ideas waiting an outlet, Catero got to work and has released a steady stream of songs since. The second single “Big Bang Boom”, a rowdy number on the subject of political megalomania, features a snarky video with Catero playing with himself (quite literally as he's in triplicate on bass and twin guitars) and a rapid fire offering of “where’s Waldo?” visuals that he describes as “examples of political douchebaggery with no sides taken”. The third single "Never Get It" was the first to fully feature a guest lead vocalist in John Holmberg, the popular radio morning show host whose "Holmberg's Morning Sickness" is the highest rated morning show in the U.S. west of the Mississippi on Phoenix's 98 KUPD.  The latest single "High Fire" is a sort of 70s styled dark blues slow burner that feels like it comes straight out of a Tarantino movie. If sex and sweat on a sweltering Texas night had a theme song this might be it. 

While the music is varied it's all most certainly "Catero" in nature. And there's plenty more to come.