- So, are you both cat people?

- Actually, we're allergic.

- Terribly allergic.

- Tragically.

(laughing) - [Sandy] There's a new sound taking Milwaukee by storm, and that sound is feline expressionism.

- I'm Whiskey, and I play the theremin.

- I'm Scotch, and I play piano.

- And together, they are the Hissy Kits.

You look fantastic as the Hissy Kits, yet, with the glasses and the paws, I have to think it might be a little challenging to perform.

Is it ever hard to play?

- The challenging part is setting everything up.

That's the difficult part.

You know, you've got small wires, and sometimes the lighting is challenging, and little teeny tiny holes that you have to get into, but we are dedicated to our craft.

- [Scotch] Paws-wise, surprisingly, it doesn't affect my piano playing.

- [Sandy] Part musical duo.

- [Whiskey] She's the lead singer.

I'm the lead meower.

(playful piano music) (singing in foreign language) ♪ Meow ♪ ♪ Meow, meow, meow, meow ♪ - [Sandy] Part performance artists, they have created a whole backstory for their personas and have adopted a very cat-like mentality.

- I do what I want when I want.

- And that is very cat-like, to do what you want when you want.

- That's because we're enchanted cats, so we're extra special cats.

- How did this idea come about?

- Okay, you want to know the real story?

- Absolutely.

- Okay, so- - I'm leaning in.

- I am too.

- All right.

- I can't wait to hear.

- Well, you know, it's no secret that Milwaukee is known for a lot of speakeasies and clandestine clubs, right?

They're very special to our town.

Well, we live in a secret, secret, secret club.

The proprietor, Ruby Rae Rojas, she rescued us, she let us in.

She has people come in and play instruments all the time.

We started exploring on the instruments.

And little bit by little bit, we taught ourselves how to play and sing.

So that's how it all started.

(up-tempo piano music) ♪ I went down to St James infirmary ♪ ♪ Meow ♪ - [Sandy] On this episode of the Arts Page, we meet the cool cats of the Hissy Kits.

♪ Stretched out on a long white table ♪ ♪ So cold, so sweet, so fair ♪ ♪ Meow ♪ (slow piano music) (light xylophone music) - [Sandy] The Hissy Kits began performing in 2025.

In that short time, they have made several studio albums.

- We are now working on our fifth studio album in one year.

- And have played some marquee venues in Milwaukee that have included more than a few sold out shows.

It sounds like the Hissy Kits have had an action packed year full of performances.

What are some of the standout performances you've had in Milwaukee this past year?

- One of my favorites was going to the Domes.

♪ Meow, meow, meow, meow ♪ ♪ Meow, meow ♪ It's a fabulous landmark of town.

We've taken people there, recommended it to many people, visited it many times.

And the other place that I felt especially proud to be invited was the Milwaukee Art Museum.

♪ It's raining all the time ♪ ♪ Meow ♪ It was fabulous.

- [Sandy] What was the occasion for the Hissy Kits to be inside the art museum?

- So, it was a special exhibit for the American surrealist artist, Gertrude Abercrombie, The Whole World is a Mystery.

Gertrude, when she was alive, she was inspired very much by jazz and cats, or jazz cats.

- Go figure.

- So, we cue the Hissy Kits.

We came and we were there for Family Day, and that was a lot of fun.

- [Sandy] Here, Whiskey and Scotch are making a promotional video for a concert at the historic Milwaukee Central Library.

So, would you describe the Hissy Kits more performance art or musical act?

- It started with music.

That's where the genre was born.

Now, the performative stuff, we discovered accidentally.

When we first started, it was full-scale bewilderment, and then it became, maybe half and half bewildered and amused.

And now, if people know who the Hissy Kits are when they show up, they're already expecting the feline expressionism treatment.

- [Scotch] And antics.

- [Whiskey] And antics.

- [Scotch] Yes.

- [Whiskey] But they might bring somebody who hasn't heard of us, so we still get people who are bewildered.

- [Sandy] The joy of discovery.

- [Whiskey] Yes.

- Action.

- Just about everybody knows how to speak and sing in cat.

So a big portion of our shows is to have people sing with us in our native tongue.

(all singing meow) (crowd cheering) It's very freeing to be a cat.

You don't have to do a first draft and a second draft and a third draft.

First draft, that's it.

A cat doesn't stress over whether something is good enough.

We just assume it already is.

- We go in the studio, go through something, maybe one more time, but usually first take is it.

Whereas if we weren't enchanted cats, we would probably be going over the same thing many times, taking one, take two, take three, to get it just exactly right.

But the cats don't have to do that.

Whatever the cats do, that's the way it's supposed to be.

(drums rumbling) - Exactly.

(up-tempo piano music) ♪ Went down to St James infirmary ♪ ♪ Meow ♪ ♪ I saw my baby there ♪ ♪ Meow ♪ ♪ Stretched out on a long white table ♪ ♪ Meow ♪ ♪ So cold, so sweet, so fair ♪ - [Sandy] If you hear a little bit of an accent in the Hissy Kits voices, you're not mistaken.

They come from the south, but have made Milwaukee home.

They love the city and are proud to live and perform here.

So, tell me what you love about Milwaukee and think everybody should know.

- Well, and in some ways, I kind of hate for everybody to know because it's one of the best kept secrets in America.

The people are fun, the people are friendly.

That lake is the most beautiful lake.

I mean, really, what's not to like?

- I would think being on the lake, lots of sand, something the cats would like.

(laughing) - Well, even more so, the fish.

- (laughs) Yes.

- And the fish fries.

- You too.

Oh, Friday fish fry.

- Friday fish fry.

- That's a special thing.

(slow somber music) - [Sandy] And when you perform, what do you really hope people take away from seeing a Hissy Kits performance?

♪ Meow ♪ - Well, I think people are sometimes surprised because they might think it's a joke.

It's just novelty, but sometimes we're better than they thought we would be.

It's always we're trying to give the best representation of the music that we can.

♪ Meow, meow, meow ♪ - Music still needs to have a sense of fun, and sometimes we get very cerebral thinking about music.

And this is a lot more emotional and just spontaneous and remembering what it is about music that is not intimidating, it's fun.

♪ Meow, meow, meow, meow ♪ - [Narrator] Thanks for watching the Arts Page.

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