Cathy Pellow (Sargent House Records) : Interview 20

I sat down with Cathy Pellow, founder of Sargent House Records. We chatted about life, fear, love, and her super rad trio of dogs.

Meet Cathy.

What is your greatest fear?

Mediocrity. 

STEVE: Can you elaborate on that?

CATHY: Nope. That’s my greatest fear.

STEVE: OK. Do you feel like that’s something that can happen to you?

CATHY: Yeah, absolutely. That’s why I’m afraid of it. 

STEVE: So what do you think could happen to you?

CATHY: I don’t wanna reach that point where safety and middle-of-the-road-ness is good. I don’t wanna get old enough to be that. I wake up every morning and don’t live a middle-of-the-road life.

What is your greatest accomplishment?

Not being mediocre. [Laughter] Being self-made. Having had no person or entity be the reason I have what I have. I go to sleep every night knowing that this house is a house I paid for with my own money and my own sweat equity. No one’s ever given me anything for free. 

STEVE: What do you do to combat—some people meditate, some people exercise, some people do whatever…

CATHY: I eat. [Laughter] Unfortunately, lately, all I do is eat. No, I don't know. I just listen to music. Think. 

How do you define being “in love”?

God. It’s been so long since I’ve been in love. Being in love is just a chemical reaction, in my mind. And it feels really great til it wears off. Staying in love is the thing that I have a problem with. I just don’t stay in love with things forever. Except my dogs.

STEVE: Do you know why?

CATHY: I don’t know. Boredom. I’m a Sagittarius. I know that’s corny. But I think that’s one of the traits that is written about Sagittarius that’s real.

Just, ya know, for things to stay relevant, they have to be extremely powerful. It’s why I don’t have a tattoo because there’s nothing I would ever like for my whole life or feel as passionate about something for my whole life. 

“Just, ya know, for things to stay relevant, they have to be extremely powerful. It’s why I don’t have a tattoo because there’s nothing I would ever like for my whole life or feel as passionate about something for my whole life.”

Who is the most important person in your life?

I’m such a loner, that’s such a tough question. My dogs are the most important living things—they’re around me. I don’t have a significant other. I love, deeply, a lot of my artists, like a mother. I care about them on a human level that transcends any kind of business thing. I just can’t help it, I do. They become like family. 

What will you miss the most when you’re gone?

When I’m gone I won’t miss anything because I’ll be dead. [Laughter] I will not miss a thing because I will not know that I’m dead. I believe it’s over. The lights go out.

What would I miss the most if there was such a—like if all of a sudden everything ends, what are you gonna miss the most? Again, probably my dogs. My dogs and then all the people that I loved. I don’t know.

Again, I don’t think that when it’s over you have the opportunity to miss anything. While I’m living what do I miss that I didn’t do? There’s definitely things that I wish I—I feel like I’ve missed out or something, ya know. I think I would’ve liked to have gotten into psychiatry, psychology, but in a—this is really weird, but I’m really fascinated with crime, with criminals. So I think it would’ve been really cool to be a profiler. I’ve been watching a lot of TV. [Laughter] But if I had known profiling existed back when I was a kid I think that’s what I would’ve wanted to do. Cuz I have really good instincts and it’s sort of one of those things where human nature fascinates me. 

STEVE: So do you listen to podcasts too? Like the murder podcasts?

CATHY: I don’t listen to any podcasts. 

STEVE: So is it murder TV shows?

CATHY: I read crime books and stuff. Definitely watched a lot of the crime shows, but I’m fascinated with the psychological element of it. Not the gory element of it. I don’t like violence in any way, shape, or form. But it fascinates me how people can be capable of such violence. And figuring out where it happened, how it happened. 

STEVE: Do you think it’s something—like if you were doing it, like you could see it and fix it? You know what I’m saying?

CATHY: No, but interpret it. I couldn’t talk Jeffrey Dahmer out of being a cannibal, but I may be able to be the one who catches him because I could figure it out. Cracking the codes. That’s what’s interesting to me. There you have it.