An Interview with Harry Katz

1:57 Luke F. Walton What's good, everybody? I'm Scoobert Doobert. Welcome back to love music more. I am joined with Harry Katz. What's up, man?

2:06 Harry Katz What's going on? How are you?

2:07 Luke F. Walton I'm great. I'm great. So I want to talk to you about your journey of hitchhiking west as a punk bassist to now the man that I'm talking to right now who knows probably more about 45s than everybody except for maybe my grandpa.

2:23 Harry Katz I mean, it started, I'm from New York and I played in bands out there and I was in garage rock bands and punk bands. The way it becomes kind of the lore that I was a bass player that went on the road is I started traveling with some band members and they started going home. And suddenly by the time we made it all the way to San Francisco.

2:45 Harry Katz I wasn't able to be a bass player anymore because my band was gone and we were literally just busking so I got myself like a broken four string guitar and I was like okay I guess I'll play guitar now and I started learning chords and writing songs and kind of coming up with the concepts of the band even then.

3:05 Harry Katz and then there was a lot of years in between where we would throw the band together it was kind of a side project so i would do it you know once every six months to two years someone would say hey do you want to do a show and i was always committed to having it be Harry Katz and the pistachios that name kind of found us very early and because it was a side project it was like oh every once in a while we'll do the pistachios i was living in los angeles and i was working as a filmmaker as fulfilling as that was i didn't really

3:31 Harry Katz really feel like I had found my community I still felt kind of like I was floating even though I had been in LA and had a you know a good run of things for like six years and so I was like I'm gonna go back into my first love which is music and I'm gonna do the pistachios the way I always wanted to and actually see that project through fully

3:52 Harry Katz and that's kind of where you kind of picked up on what we've been doing and we've become a really you know rambunctious live band and then the 45 knowledge has been kind of an outgrowth of that we just put out our own 45 as we were pressing the 45 i was like well i can't really only own my own 45 you know i think authenticity about your medium is important so i started to collect

4:18 Harry Katz and so i was going out and i'm buying records and i started getting into that and then um someone was like oh why don't you come in and dj so i started to spin records and now i'm like every week i'm like i gotta get new records to play here and there and for the storytelling that's why i love the 45s is that you know you can kind of learn the story of every song

4:43 Harry Katz it was kind of this bite-sized entrance into it sometimes I find like the width and depth of the knowledge of an like you think about like a jazz record and those guys who know the names of every player

4:53 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

4:53 Harry Katz on

4:54 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

4:54 Harry Katz every track of a jazz record that's very intimidating so

4:57 Luke F. Walton Totally.

4:58 Harry Katz just sticking with the 45 to start and then it starts to connect then you kind of start to see the

5:04 Luke F. Walton Yes.

5:04 Harry Katz forest through the trees so to speak

5:06 Luke F. Walton So I've got some listeners that are like 18, 19 years old. old they may have never even seen a 45 they might not know even what you're talking about they know probably what a vinyl record is the full you

5:16 Harry Katz Yeah.

5:17 Luke F. Walton know deal what's what's the difference

5:19 Harry Katz This is a 45. It's a single, right? Two sides. basically one song you do have like a lot in the punk you have seven inches that will have the small hole and will be like a whole ep but generally 45s are are singles and then they're called 45s because they spin at 45 rpms versus 33s which are the bigger ones that spin at 33 and a weird tangent about that because i dj with a good friend of mine who's

5:46 Harry Katz got excellent taste um Andy Ben and he has a lot of of the old compilations right

5:52 Luke F. Walton Hmm.

5:52 Harry Katz so like a lot of the the really popular 50s songs that we know were were not super famous in their day but somehow the rights got cleared to put it on a compilation in the 70s and now people in Los Angeles can't live without it like it's like but it's interesting because I have them all on 45 and you can feel it when you're listening to it how different it feels to

6:16 Luke F. Walton Hmm.

6:16 Harry Katz listen to them because they're spinning the the attack on a 45 it's like a little punchier and then a 33 and i'd never thought about that before but i was listening to him play a song that i had on 45 on a 33 and i was like this is a little relaxing it's like spinning slower which is like the actual waves going slower versus when you're doing a 45 and spinning that much faster and kind of hitting you harder

6:41 Harry Katz so that's also why i like three pies they're all kind of like a little punkier they sound like a little bit like rougher

6:46 Luke F. Walton yeah i love that i love that no it does that makes a lot of sense and i love the edge to it it also sounds uh stressful to be djing 45s it's like you don't have a lot of room for error

6:56 Harry Katz that's why i need somebody to partner with yeah it's easy you don't have to find the spot in

7:01 Luke F. Walton right yeah exactly

7:02 Harry Katz the dark

7:02 Luke F. Walton right

7:02 Harry Katz but but yeah i think i did my first dj gig where i was doing like a full night at a bar like four hours of djing by myself i played about a hundred records that night at the

7:17 Luke F. Walton how do you

7:17 Harry Katz time it was like almost everything i owned you know it was like for better or worse you know the bar was like i was like i gotta get some better records in the mix

7:28 Luke F. Walton that's amazing so uh how about the mechanics of actually djing like like so you obviously have two turntables are you like hitting a fader to switch between the two of them are you trying to find things that like blend in a certain way are you building set lists are you kind of feeling it out as you go how do you approach especially with something that you have to have like actual volume it's not going on a computer and you're building out your set and pressing play okay

7:52 Harry Katz Yeah, I just fade between, I mean, it's very in the style of Wolfman Jack who's old.

7:58 Luke F. Walton Yeah,

7:58 Harry Katz you

7:58 Luke F. Walton yeah, yeah

7:58 Harry Katz know my voice is eerily similar my singing voice to that so sometimes we play with that live where we get it loud and that kind of stuff um and then for the order of the songs i generally do that the day of you know i'll pull out a couple boxes

8:12 Harry Katz and i'll just decide on what i want to do if i'm doing like a long gig i'll usually organize the boxes by genre and

8:18 Luke F. Walton Mm.

8:18 Harry Katz by whether it's kind of a more obscure record or a more known record and

8:23 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

8:23 Harry Katz then and then i feel it out when i'm doing it with somebody else i'm only doing like a half hour stint so you can bring a lot of stuff you don't have to play everything but when you're doing it by yourself you kind of are playing a lot of the stuff so i'll put it in a specific order and then you'll have audibles you'll have stuff you read the room you

8:40 Luke F. Walton yeah that's

8:41 Harry Katz know when people are dancing you're like let's keep it sexy you know we

8:45 Luke F. Walton great how does the collaboration work when you're like navigating is it just you're kind of pulling records and trying to find ones you both know or like hey trust me i got this next one how does that kind of interplay with take that oh

8:55 Harry Katz turns so i'll do

8:56 Luke F. Walton gotcha

8:56 Harry Katz a half hour and then he'll do a half hour yeah

8:58 Luke F. Walton yeah that makes sense i was wondering i was like are you actually it's

9:02 Harry Katz i was like do you want to do that he was like no you don't want to do that he's like get out of the way

9:07 Luke F. Walton That's a fascinating thing, and I think the full circle nature of DJing is really fascinating and great and fun as a music lover to let someone that has deep intimate musical knowledge take you on a crate digging journey. It's wonderful.

9:20 Harry Katz Yeah, it's been a really fun way like what spinning records and collecting records and really talking about records is really done

9:28 Harry Katz And it kind of relates back to my band insofar as like, you know, ultimately we need for like our success and our longevity, we need to build communities and

9:39 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

9:40 Harry Katz be a part of communities. You know, different genres of music are those communities. So it's less about yourself as an island, you know, for years promoting my project as kind of this unique fusion of things.

9:56 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

9:56 Harry Katz We've built a community around us, but it's limited to an extent as far as it being local. But now that I've really begun to build community around music history, around record collecting, around the genres of ska and rhythm and blues and soul, it's like it's all these bigger worlds are opening because that's everyone's common ground, right?

10:19 Harry Katz Like not everyone's going to care about me right out of the gate unless like you've written this like amazing song that people have their own relationship with that's almost separate from you. It's like them and that song.

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12:06 Harry Katz it's like a parasocial relationship you know they have that in their life it's so embedded and so building community around this music and its history has opened

12:16 Harry Katz the whole world and it's been really wonderful connecting with people and people do find my music can connect with me about that and it's not every single person but there's a lot of those people and it's like You know building a community it just becomes it was it's been really wonderful

12:34 Luke F. Walton Yeah, well, I totally view your social channels as the good side of social media, the light versus the dark. I flipped through your comments and it's incredible. People are sharing knowledge and reminiscing and being like, oh, did you know that this singer actually was on this record and they got introduced and you're kind of watching a crowd sourced. Music history play out in your comment section.

12:58 Harry Katz there's a few of them that there's still ongoing conversations going on where

13:03 Luke F. Walton Cool.

13:04 Harry Katz like i'm like do i even comment anymore i feel like i'm butting in you know um

13:08 Luke F. Walton Exactly.

13:08 Harry Katz yeah it is pretty it is pretty cool it's interesting you say that i was thinking about that about the good side of the internet because a lot of my sources are these weird old sites from the 90s

13:21 Luke F. Walton Oh yeah, totally.

13:22 Harry Katz that

13:22 Luke F. Walton I love those

13:22 Harry Katz have

13:22 Luke F. Walton sites.

13:22 Harry Katz like you know where a lot of these guys were still alive you know who own these record labels and they're these interviews and they're just like these weird html sites and it's like this is when we loved the internet when people like me were like i just want to share stuff and just coded their little html sites about it so i'm trying to excavate that knowledge and keep it going

13:46 Luke F. Walton That's beautiful. Yeah, I wish there was more of that. I feel like so much of the internet now is selling something or...

13:54 Luke F. Walton using somebody else's platform the wild west of i'm just gonna make something and figure it out

13:59 Harry Katz yeah

14:00 Luke F. Walton and tell

14:00 Harry Katz do

14:00 Luke F. Walton everybody together yeah

14:01 Harry Katz you remember

14:01 Luke F. Walton i miss that uh

14:02 Harry Katz the websites stumble upon that

14:04 Luke F. Walton yes oh yeah that was great

14:06 Harry Katz was i realized that was the introduction of algorithmic like viewing of like scrolling everything

14:12 Luke F. Walton right yeah

14:13 Harry Katz before then we had to work for you know you had to type in in the old days you had to ask chief you know but then that site came out i remember my dad was really tech savvy he was really into that

14:24 Luke F. Walton and Yeah.

14:24 Harry Katz it was you got you either got to go to something random or it learned about your likes and it fed you stuff and i remember how novel that was and now we're In a cage of it.

14:36 Luke F. Walton exactly, exactly how it's cranked up. Absolute full saturation. It was a nice, it was an almost meditative thing too because you just click on that button and you'd find a new website and sometimes that website would be useful for you.

14:49 Luke F. Walton and your productivity sometimes it'll just be bizarre or somebody's art or weird like javascript project and those were fun days yeah yeah hopefully we can get back to a little bit of that i'm starting to see more people taking uh i don't know taking liberties and having fun with technology again i think some of the barriers will come down now that uh more people have access to information and tools but we'll see you

15:18 Luke F. Walton Maybe it'll get

15:19 Harry Katz We'll

15:19 Luke F. Walton worse.

15:19 Harry Katz see it's a long it's a long arc anyway, whichever way it goes it's a long arc

15:23 Luke F. Walton Yeah, I'm a Web 1.0 fan, let's just say.

15:29 Harry Katz Yeah flip phones I want to get an iPad and a flip phone that's my next move so I could just have a phone while I'm out little map in the car And then, you know, for work and stuff, you can hop on the iPad.

15:40 Luke F. Walton I like that idea, too. You got an actual map you're trying to drive. You're like, where the hell am I? I haven't used one of these in 20 years.

15:46 Harry Katz Somebody pointed out you had to pull over. That's the way. You pull over and look at the map. Okay. because we're all our viewers here just pull over when you use the map and go analog

15:56 Luke F. Walton analog navigation yeah part of it's just getting lost but i like that too as a musical

16:02 Harry Katz we did a we did a tour years ago when map quest was still the best navigation and we had a map and then our friend or no we had the map quest directions printed out and our friend just had a map we would race places and we would lose every time I do. I'm in that.

16:21 Luke F. Walton Well, it's funny to think about old technology and then to apply it to music, like recording to tape or on a console or things like that, because it actually ends up having similar effects where you're going to get to a different destination. It might be bumpier, but the act of doing it, you're going to be more present, you're going to go through different challenges.

16:43 Luke F. Walton And I swear there's an element of When I use too much technology, even just like Google Maps or whatever, and you arrive at the same exact minute that it predicted that you would arrive.

16:53 Luke F. Walton It feels almost like you were honest in a simulation or a roller coaster or something like you're just on rails.

17:00 Harry Katz Mm-hmm,

17:01 Luke F. Walton It

17:01 Harry Katz mm

17:01 Luke F. Walton predicted

17:02 Harry Katz -hmm.

17:02 Luke F. Walton everything you would do exactly how fast everyone else was going, how long the lights would take, and you arrive at that destination. It almost feels like some of too much chaos has been tamed.

17:11 Harry Katz This is my cat. This is Coco.

17:13 Luke F. Walton It's Coco. But I feel that way in music too, where the chaos of the journey. versus the preordained we're going to record in Pro Tools it's going to look like this we have this process and we get to the end

17:25 Harry Katz I agree. I agree. I mean, there's so much when you're off GPS of like the city, like random things that you see. And I think that's so true about, you know, I have a good friend who loves to record on tape and it's, he also changed my life talking about process, how important process is over product. And, you know, it's like, it's the journey, not the destination, the destination.

17:47 Harry Katz nation of death like that's it like it can't be about that like that just misses the whole thing and so i think the thing about gps yeah it's like

17:58 Harry Katz making being present and making decisions and kind of experiencing the messy journey I think really resonates with me it is I've been in some sessions on other people I'm part of a group that does the tiny tape mixtape it's

18:14 Luke F. Walton Oh, cool.

18:14 Harry Katz an analog compilation tape where we invite artists into a studio in Silver Lake Laura Lacey's studio and Cameron Vina records them on an eight track

18:24 Harry Katz because that tape and we put out volume one volume two is almost done but it's all about you know and people are so hesitant about it and so used to getting all the little changes and all these things that we're like we just have to give it away to remind people what it is and bring them in and when I did a session with him you know we did most of the band live we did the harmonies on one microphone you know when I did my lead vocal part we did one take and we didn't have enough room for me to do another take and keep it

18:53 Harry Katz bit so

18:53 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

18:53 Harry Katz it was either that's the take or you have to get rid of it and go again and i was like that's it like it's not worth the risk you

19:01 Luke F. Walton I know.

19:01 Harry Katz know it's

19:01 Luke F. Walton Exactly.

19:01 Harry Katz a different kind of decision making you

19:03 Luke F. Walton Yes.

19:03 Harry Katz know and it's someone who could definitely spin out on too many choices having to make the choice in the moment is so satisfying Very satisfying.

19:16 Luke F. Walton That's a really cool psychological idea of if you nailed the vocal take, think about can you do it better if and it's destructive.

19:25 Luke F. Walton That I feel like that would create a lot of clarity because I've seen vocalists spiral and then end up like kind of injuring themselves. You just sing and sing and sing into oblivion.

19:34 Harry Katz Oh, yeah. Easily. I mean, the shelf is the cliff is earlier than people like to think, you know, I think that people get it early. And then it's like, you know, there's something truer about it.

19:47 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

19:47 Harry Katz But once you get five takes in, it's like you kind of can get lost in it.

19:52 Luke F. Walton Yeah, totally. The exception being when you're writing and in the studio at the same time. I like that freedom of you're capturing the moment that you sang it for the first time. So yeah, you know, it takes more takes because you're literally writing and figuring out what is the shape of this melody. But if you can put to wax the moment that it all clicked.

20:12 Luke F. Walton uh you synthesize songwriting and recording at the same time i feel like it's so special it's rare but it's

20:18 Harry Katz yeah

20:18 Luke F. Walton cool when it happens

20:18 Harry Katz no i mean if your home studio makes that less rare right

20:21 Luke F. Walton yeah yeah yeah

20:22 Harry Katz you know but that's i mean that's the ideal way to work is to be in there and like record it listen to it oh how do we feel about it i

20:30 Luke F. Walton Yes.

20:31 Harry Katz do that whether i have time or not we'll have a song done for like a year and we're going to the studio like here's the new lyrics you know we're recording it so they got to be better so that's just we wrote i have some songs in the studio i'm thinking about rewriting again i'm like i gotta stop you know but

20:46 Luke F. Walton No, but I get it. There's like a forcing function or pressure of we're actually going to make this. Final, when you're playing something live or rehearsing it, there is a feeling of Oh, the school. This sits fine. And then the moment you're in the booth and every syllable matters and you go, wait a second.

21:06 Harry Katz i do agree i have a friend a great great songwriter dylan warnick and he says if you feel it in your gut that it could be better than it could be better so make it better um and i do believe that but i've done the wrong direction where i had a song that had kind of like sillier lyrics that meant less and then i wrote it and it's now kind of a deep

21:26 Harry Katz song about a deeper topic and it's cool but i was like i listened to it i'm like this is way too serious for

21:33 Luke F. Walton Oh,

21:33 Harry Katz this song

21:34 Luke F. Walton yeah,

21:34 Harry Katz you know

21:34 Luke F. Walton yeah,

21:35 Harry Katz you know

21:35 Luke F. Walton yes,

21:36 Harry Katz especially learning all the music history how many songs were written because they were like oh we need another song they went to the hallway and they you know came up with you know this song like last minute yes.

21:46 Harry Katz or these things kind of just like you're saying in the studio kind of click into place it's like these throwaway things kind of resonate with us so much before we have time to damp down our ambitions and get out of writing like what i think is cool or like what i think would go great with you know and i'm just like what do i like what what makes me laugh what what gives me a real emotion kind of get out of like figuring things out and more feel my way through it

22:15 Luke F. Walton Yes. Yeah, the going towards the intuitive, you're not really having to. step-by-step logic it out and say this should go here there's room for that that's part of the craft but the best moments are the ones where you're not thinking

22:30 Harry Katz yeah

22:30 Luke F. Walton it's

22:31 Harry Katz yeah

22:31 Luke F. Walton doing yeah

22:32 Harry Katz when you're making so much and then it starts to kind of just come out anyway

22:36 Luke F. Walton it's

22:37 Harry Katz it can yeah

22:38 Luke F. Walton like athletes it's all the things of finding that flow doesn't just mean you're in a higher state it also means that you're getting out of your own way so

22:44 Harry Katz that's that's what you have to do to get into flow is get out of your own way that's the the prerequisite in fact it's

22:51 Luke F. Walton true and it's so hard it's so hard yeah

22:53 Harry Katz like meditating right it's

22:55 Luke F. Walton yeah

22:55 Harry Katz like like you you get it for a glimpse

22:57 Luke F. Walton Uh-huh.

22:58 Harry Katz Go. oh that was it okay you know when you go back to it you know so

23:05 Luke F. Walton exactly exactly i've had uh some lucid dreams where the moment that i recognize it's a lucid dream i have to fight the urge to think too much about it being a lucid dream otherwise i'm gonna get portaled out of there sucked out and it's like you have to you have to balance the thing of like i know i'm dreaming but i'm not gonna freak out about it i'm just gonna let this ride and it feels like flow is very similar

23:27 Luke F. Walton are fragile. You

23:29 Harry Katz That's

23:29 Luke F. Walton can pop

23:29 Harry Katz right.

23:30 Luke F. Walton that bubble.

23:32 Harry Katz It is it

23:33 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

23:33 Harry Katz is you got to keep it keep it in the air keep it moving

23:36 Luke F. Walton Yeah. Which is, I suppose, part of the reason why studios are designed the way that they are and also why it's better not to really have too much phone and technology and distraction in a studio because you're trying to seal yourself in with all of those sound waves, like hermetically sealed in a space that is capturing audio and at the highest fidelity.

23:57 Luke F. Walton and hopefully you're able to use that in a cheap flow but it's also a risk because sometimes you're in a studio and it's intimidating uh and then it you lack the ability to get out of your own head because you're like it costs this money i'm doing this the pressure's on people are listening

24:12 Harry Katz finding

24:12 Luke F. Walton there the are strangers

24:13 Harry Katz right place is

24:13 Luke F. Walton yes yes

24:14 Harry Katz so important and i have a friend who's a great producer and he works in all kinds of studios and he was telling someone else it was like he saw this artist that they really loved but

24:27 Luke F. Walton Mm-hmm.

24:27 Harry Katz it was like i want to produce her stuff but he took her to someone's bedroom studio first and they made something there and then the second time they went to a basement studio it was a little upgraded

24:39 Harry Katz And then the third time they went to a real studio and it was like letting people, you know, you got to get

24:44 Luke F. Walton Sure.

24:44 Harry Katz your reps in,

24:45 Luke F. Walton Yep.

24:45 Harry Katz you know, jumping to Sunset Sounds is not going to make the record like especially nowadays, like you could make a good record there. You could have made it at home. You know,

24:56 Luke F. Walton Uh

24:56 Harry Katz I think you're right. It's like not getting into a place where you're intimidated. That's difficult. It's really difficult, you know, especially when you're used to bedroom stuff and like. writing i was tracking how many guitar takes i did on a demo and i was like oh that's why i don't get in the studio in four takes i'm doing you know 53 takes at home writing

25:16 Luke F. Walton Exactly.

25:17 Harry Katz that solo like okay you know it it kind of makes sense but

25:21 Luke F. Walton Totally. Totally.

25:22 Harry Katz also what's nice about the you know the nicer studios is if you are ready like if you're with a band you're going live or whatever and you allow it to be captured in that moment you You know and it's like this is how it was that day.

25:36 Luke F. Walton Yeah, yeah.

25:37 Harry Katz I think that there's also something special about that

25:40 Luke F. Walton Agreed. Agreed. It's the best place if you want to have the sense of community and everybody playing at the same time or a larger home studio. But it is very different. Like you're saying, those 63 takes. A big part of that in my head is you're trying to find flow through the act of doing and you're warming yourself up really well by doing the thing.

26:00 Luke F. Walton That's one thing I've seen in professional studios, people not taking the warm-up period seriously enough so then they hit the moment to perform and... they've collapsed their warm-up and their recording process at the same time oh

26:17 Harry Katz That's really, I work with a lot of horn players and yeah horn players tend to be pretty disciplined versus like your everyday guitar player in a rock band.

26:26 Luke F. Walton I'm a guitarist yeah I

26:27 Harry Katz You know, there is difference, but it's just generally the horn players are coming with a master's degree a lot. But there are disparities between who warms up and who doesn't. you know there's definitely like a seriousness about it but there's definitely a discipline in the warm-up that is kind of the next level that's

26:45 Luke F. Walton Mm hmm.

26:46 Harry Katz like where it takes and that's a really good point i'm going to think about that next time i go to the studio i'm like i'm going to do 64 reps that

26:53 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

26:53 Harry Katz morning before going in you

26:55 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

26:55 Harry Katz know

26:55 Luke F. Walton Right. Right. Exactly. Trying to find that sweet spot where you don't want to over bake it or make it so that your fingers are really tired or something like that, which I've had that.

27:03 Luke F. Walton unfortunate situation before um so that but you want to be right at that peak performance where you're not it's like you're literally warmed up like your joints and things are firing your neurons have been doing their thing it's internalized it's crazy how much better at music you can be after 30 minutes of doing music yeah

27:21 Harry Katz yeah that's a really really good point i used to get muscle cramps a lot when i played shows and i started doing just scales in the morning for five minutes in the morning and that went away No way

27:31 Luke F. Walton Huh.

27:31 Harry Katz and what's crazy is you know I try to be pretty disciplined like goes in and out um

27:37 Luke F. Walton Yeah, naturally

27:37 Harry Katz there's

27:38 Luke F. Walton human.

27:38 Harry Katz when I started doing that um I did it once for like four or five months straight and the way you play a show after that versus doing it even just like four weeks before like you can just feel in the strength part of it like

27:55 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

27:55 Harry Katz it's quicker to get warmed up you're just like what

27:58 Luke F. Walton So true.

27:59 Harry Katz yeah

27:59 Luke F. Walton So, so true.

28:00 Harry Katz that's what you got to play at least play every day Yeah. because i feel you know

28:04 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

28:05 Harry Katz i

28:05 Luke F. Walton Agreed. Agreed.

28:05 Harry Katz keep it you can't see it through the

28:08 Luke F. Walton Oh yeah. It's fading in and out.

28:10 Harry Katz yeah

28:10 Luke F. Walton A little flickers. Oh, it looks cool though. Yeah.

28:19 Harry Katz you keep a plug-in next to you oh

28:21 Luke F. Walton you keep a plug

28:22 Harry Katz yeah

28:22 Luke F. Walton there next to you that's smart i should do the same thing here i should just do that that's fun yeah

28:26 Harry Katz in case something comes up you know oh

28:28 Luke F. Walton totally exactly what what kind of pickups do you have there it was flickering a little bit just curious nice

28:32 Harry Katz some Seymour Duncans on

28:34 Luke F. Walton oh

28:34 Harry Katz the bottom a

28:35 Luke F. Walton yeah i see i see and is a top of lipstick pickup or humbucker little mini humbucker

28:39 Harry Katz humbucker

28:39 Luke F. Walton that's

28:39 Harry Katz on top

28:40 Luke F. Walton nice yeah very very cool yeah i love the idea actually i'm gonna do that i'm gonna steal it just keep the guitar plugged in all the time and just pick it up anytime you want i like that cool

28:49 Harry Katz Yeah, exactly. I used to have a really long cable so you could walk around the apartment.

28:55 Luke F. Walton like hey neighbors yeah

28:57 Harry Katz I'm a pretty cool neighbor.

28:58 Luke F. Walton it's good

28:59 Harry Katz I'll do it, man. I really do. Music fans all around.

29:04 Luke F. Walton good good it's it's an important thing and it's funny how um i don't know in new york so my new york friends they've got uh neighbors and they will do like workout tapes and stuff and jump around upstairs and be like whatever and then in la it's like all the music friends they'll be like practicing saxophone for seven hours a day hey they'll be like yeah i could survive i'm good at sex but

29:27 Harry Katz yeah that's funny i was doing a piano part and i got a call from one of my neighbors and i was like she was like do you have headphones i was like this never happens and i was like i need to practice piano

29:36 Luke F. Walton more exactly

29:36 Harry Katz before i go open loud with the windows open i gotta i gotta do my reps there the guitar i can pull off the piano i'm clearly not there yet

29:47 Luke F. Walton exactly yeah nothing gets the cops called faster than a A teenage drummer in a garage.

29:52 Harry Katz Oh my God, yeah. I remember in high school when they stopped getting the cops called, we were like, we figured out that song, they don't hate us.

30:02 Luke F. Walton yes the cops are coming for fun to watch now curious about your uh kind of relationship to the instruments now obviously uh guitar um sitting right next to you how do you feel about like multi-instrumentation or are you primarily a guitarist now

30:17 Harry Katz Primarily a guitar player, I play a little piano. um as well and i have i really want to pick up a i've played saxophone in the school band when

30:26 Luke F. Walton Cool.

30:27 Harry Katz i was young and

30:28 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

30:28 Harry Katz we've been doing a lot of ska and i was like it would be really fun to start to play some saxophone in the band so i want to pick one up but i haven't jumped off that ship and then i consider you know i go back and forth about my relationship with calling myself a singer and what that means for

30:47 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

30:48 Harry Katz me um

30:48 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

30:49 Harry Katz and

30:49 Luke F. Walton Tell me more about that. I'm curious.

30:51 Harry Katz so um anybody who's not familiar with my music i have a very howling wolf kind of tom waits voice when i perform it's very loud and very punk And for a long time, I just kind of saw myself as someone who yells like a band leader. I

31:06 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

31:06 Harry Katz was a band leader. That's how I identified.

31:09 Luke F. Walton Uh

31:09 Harry Katz You

31:09 Luke F. Walton -huh.

31:09 Harry Katz know, I sang in the band, but I called myself a band, especially being in L.A. and then being in the songwriter scenes. There's some amazing singers.

31:18 Luke F. Walton Oh, yeah. Totally.

31:20 Harry Katz And I'm great at what I do. What I do is singular and, you know, to me, but it's not classical singing.

31:29 Harry Katz And I got to a place, I guess it was last year was the journey where I was like, maybe I am a singer. Maybe I should consider myself a singer. I started doing, I took a singing lesson.

31:40 Harry Katz with a guy over zoom it was okay um hard to do over zoom i recommend them in person although i have a lot of respect for for that guy we did a collaboration later and he was like kind of the way i like to collaborate i learned a lot in that session um so i kind of started this journey where i was considering myself a singer and when things came up i would sing like there's desert five spot i don't know if you're familiar with desert five spot i know they haven't even

32:07 Harry Katz i'm in a couple different places but in los angeles they do like an all-star night where you come up and you sing with the backing band and

32:14 Luke F. Walton Cool.

32:14 Harry Katz i did that a couple times

32:15 Luke F. Walton Cool.

32:15 Harry Katz and that sound check almost feels like american idol it's like all these singers like you know everyone's like people are influencers and they're hot and they're really talented and i get up there and i'm like last night you know sounding crazy

32:29 Luke F. Walton Sorry to interrupt this very important broadcast, but what I'm asking for is for you to rate it five stars, share it with your friends. This is like... This is like the most important thing for this podcast to grow. So if you want to do this, you go onto the podcast screen, right? You click on the dot, dot, dot on Spotify. Under there, it says rate show and you go and you click it five stars.

32:47 Luke F. Walton If you could do that for me, that's the best way for the algorithms and all that stuff to share it out with the world. I know that it's a lot to ask, but if you could please, please, please, just please just hit those three dots and a five star. It would really help us out and helps us, you know, get the word out and spread the love of music.

33:01 Luke F. Walton music so thank you if you're listening on youtube you know what to do like subscribe all that good stuff thank you so much and here's the rest of the episode

33:08 Harry Katz And then I got invited to a rock hymn session to like sing baritone in a choir on a hip hop record. And I, you know, you learn a lot through failure. So, you know, it was, it was a really interesting experience. But I was just kind of saying yes to being a singer. And then I was kind of like.

33:27 Harry Katz maybe i'm not you know so i kind of go back and forth i do do like vocal warm-ups and like working on like having more technique so that like i don't do damage to my voice in the long run the

33:41 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

33:42 Harry Katz goal is to be able to perform a lot and even though i do something very raw you have to have i just want to have i want to be able to be louder even you know more of my diaphragm that kind of stuff Totally.

33:53 Harry Katz and then even just hit truer note and that's what i want to say about the singing lessons we also did a songwriting session together and he kept pushing me being like don't do you know the affected voice to just sing for me and and i remember leaving that session being like you know maybe it would have been cooler just to have done my thing and

34:15 Luke F. Walton Right.

34:15 Harry Katz kind of made it work

34:16 Luke F. Walton Okay.

34:16 Harry Katz and

34:17 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

34:17 Harry Katz then I've done a handful of other sessions and some really great ones but people will often in the session you'll be exploring and they'll be like well what about this Tom Waits style song you know and it's like everyone kind of throws that at you because that's the style of voice and I realized that the other guy wasn't Not utilizing me. He wasn't pigeonholing me.

34:42 Luke F. Walton Okay. Yeah.

34:43 Harry Katz he was kind of pushing me to explore in a in a way that even made me feel vulnerable

34:49 Luke F. Walton Okay.

34:49 Harry Katz versus somebody being like let's do that trick do that one trick you do you know and

34:54 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

34:55 Harry Katz my love to everyone we've come up with great stuff and i understand it but but it was interesting how my perspective changed on that where it was like oh trying something completely different actually was more like it sticks with me more than doing the same Kind of thing, but that's like my journey with with being a singer like

35:13 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

35:13 Harry Katz discovering that you

35:15 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

35:16 Harry Katz know

35:16 Luke F. Walton I like that a lot. Singing is such an interesting thing because it is personal. It's part of you.

35:23 Luke F. Walton And for a different instrument, you can switch instruments or you can try a different style or a different effects chain for a voice it is like this is what i sound like this is how i know how to do it this is the way my body works and that psychological relationship is fascinating to me particularly for those like i don't fully understand just singers like the psychology of you don't really play anything else you're just a singer and you're great at it and maybe it necessitates being great at it but i feel the same way where it's like singing is something i do but not an identity and something i've always

35:56 Luke F. Walton been a little uncomfortable with you know just because it's so personal yes

36:01 Harry Katz Yeah, I don't like to do karaoke, which

36:03 Luke F. Walton totally

36:04 Harry Katz is like so weird. I'll sing in front of a ton of people and then karaoke. I'm like, I don't know.

36:09 Harry Katz what song do they have the pistachios on do they have my band oh man no forget it then you know like but yeah it's it's definitely an interesting thing to identify with but what's funny about it is that you know and i often find this stuff where things that you are grappling with the identity of you know like we're like are we singers and it's like we are you

36:31 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

36:32 Harry Katz know if if you decide to look at yourself that way you're already doing it so

36:36 Luke F. Walton Right.

36:36 Harry Katz you you are that you

36:38 Luke F. Walton Yes.

36:38 Harry Katz know and so sometimes These things that feel kind of strangely unattainable were

36:42 Luke F. Walton uh-huh totally

36:42 Harry Katz actually already art,

36:44 Luke F. Walton totally

36:44 Harry Katz you

36:45 Luke F. Walton totally totally yeah

36:45 Harry Katz know I've

36:45 Luke F. Walton absolutely

36:47 Harry Katz discovered

36:47 Luke F. Walton really

36:47 Harry Katz that a lot on my journey is that arriving someplace is kind of realizing oh we've we've been here for a while, you know

36:55 Luke F. Walton well said really well said and everybody has their own journey and their own set of pipes like it'd be nice to sing like bruno mars that'd be cool can't do it never gonna be able to do it not built like it doesn't matter how much i practice i'm not gonna bruno mars's voice is not gonna come out of this mouth

37:10 Harry Katz yeah and if Bruno Mars's voice came out of my mouth what I would be doing would be so boring it just wouldn't it doesn't make any sense I had one of my singers we were talking about this she was like if you sang like that I wouldn't have joined this band it's not what is awesome about this band you know

37:29 Luke F. Walton yeah totally Totally

37:30 Harry Katz because another friend of mine just said and he he meant it in a really nice way but you know he loves the band but he's always a little funny about my voice he's always like oh well it'd be nice with like a more clear tenor on this but he said that he sent his record to someone and they were telling him well you got to work on your voice he was like i don't have to work on my voice

37:51 Harry Katz have you heard Harry Katz and the pistachios they're really successful and that guy you know his voice is crazy i mean so i was like well i'm glad i can inspire you to to love what you do you know

38:02 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

38:02 Harry Katz and i think that that's ultimately what i told him it's like being really authentic and

38:07 Luke F. Walton Uh-huh.

38:08 Harry Katz beyond being authentic and unique what i was saying was and i was talking about this with the producer friend of mine is does it does it sell the song like do you do you believe it when

38:18 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

38:18 Harry Katz i'm singing it if you believe me when i'm singing it then that's all that matters you know i was reading randy newman's biography and that's a lot of the feedback on him like you know did he have this immaculate voice no but you believed it And when you believe, like, that goes way further than anything, way further than technique will take you, because, you know, technique,

38:41 Harry Katz you know, almost anybody can learn if you put in the work, but to make people really believe what you're saying, for you to believe into yourself enough to do that. and that's something i can't even rehearse like i hold back in rehearsals

38:57 Luke F. Walton Yeah,

38:57 Harry Katz i just saw do you know bloodshot bill you've seen him he's

39:00 Luke F. Walton I don't think so.

39:00 Harry Katz like a kind of punky rockabilly guy but

39:03 Luke F. Walton Cool.

39:03 Harry Katz he makes all kinds of sounds you can't understand a word he says and

39:06 Luke F. Walton I'm going right

39:06 Harry Katz i was very

39:06 Luke F. Walton after

39:06 Harry Katz inspired

39:07 Luke F. Walton this conversation.

39:07 Harry Katz by that and

39:08 Luke F. Walton Totally, totally.

39:08 Harry Katz as i told my band i was like i'm gonna go crazy at the next show i'm gonna make all kinds of weird noises but i don't know how to rehearse that you

39:15 Luke F. Walton Right,

39:15 Harry Katz know i did

39:15 Luke F. Walton right.

39:15 Harry Katz it my morning walk i'd be like you know scare the neighbors but

39:21 Luke F. Walton The

39:21 Harry Katz on

39:21 Luke F. Walton dance.

39:22 Harry Katz the night of the show i just went for it

39:25 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

39:25 Harry Katz and the whole band was like whoa they blew up and then the energy just was the biggest it's ever been because we just like just ramped up that belief in it like to a hundred you

39:38 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

39:39 Harry Katz know because i saw people at the bloodshot bill show and it's like it's you know it's a little bit of an older crowd my age and a little older and it's all these guys who are just like locked in being like yes that's what freedom sounds like

39:52 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

39:53 Harry Katz like to be totally free to be yourself you

39:55 Luke F. Walton Yeah,

39:55 Harry Katz know

39:56 Luke F. Walton that is great. That's a great way to put it too. Like freedom music as an expression of freedom. There is an acceptable set of things to do on stage, but it's boring and probably going to have somebody else win that.

40:09 Luke F. Walton that battle like there's an exchange of ideas every time you're on a stage that's one of the things i kind of miss about musical scenes is i thought that they were arms races you know like stevie tv is like everyone is battling for that stage and for that attention to be top dog and then it ramps up everybody's music it's like that's how hair metal comes to be is it's not that does not happen in a vacuum punk does not happen in a vacuum like everyone is one upping each other and

40:37 Harry Katz that's really really well said like

40:39 Luke F. Walton oh thanks yeah

40:39 Harry Katz a scene definitely pushes people to those heights they wouldn't you know you even listen to like the Beatles and the Beach Boys

40:47 Harry Katz boy is rivalries and like pushing and like you know jamaican ska like they started pressing records because the the sound systems the guys playing records wanted to have the best records and they couldn't get any of the best everyone had all the records so they pressed records and they wouldn't even put labels on them so that they could have the best you know so whole whole industries were born out of that that arms race

41:14 Luke F. Walton I like it. I like it. I miss some of it. I think it certainly exists, but I think the digitalization or maybe it's the algorithm kind of chasing energy. But sometimes I feel like there are pressures more towards flattening rather than towards widening. Maybe that's going to change.

41:32 Harry Katz Yeah, I think that in little DIY pockets all

41:36 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

41:36 Harry Katz over,

41:36 Luke F. Walton Yeah,

41:36 Harry Katz you

41:37 Luke F. Walton yeah, yeah.

41:37 Harry Katz definitely still have that, but I also think the like. the kind of progress of music as we know it from the 20th century is not replicable it's

41:49 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

41:49 Harry Katz not it's not even necessarily applicable nowadays so it's like you know it's difficult I think to have that same kind of discourse you

41:57 Luke F. Walton Totally.

41:57 Harry Katz know everyone's so disparate there's so much different stuff going on and then in the different scenes it's almost like kind of keeping certain things alive it's like how do we keep the genre alive in the raging storm and

42:10 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

42:11 Harry Katz it gravitates but like you know i mean obviously geese is a big conversation now but what we didn't see from geese because we're talking about the difference between geese and the strokes and obviously the landscape is very different But obviously both had major marketing pushes from

42:29 Luke F. Walton Yep

42:29 Harry Katz a local successful band to a national international successful band. But the strokes were like a tide change.

42:37 Luke F. Walton Okay.

42:37 Harry Katz it was like

42:38 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

42:38 Harry Katz different than popular music and then everyone race towards and then there was all these bands and

42:43 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

42:43 Harry Katz to talk about like scenes like without major labels like there's no like that would rush into places and then um

42:49 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

42:49 Harry Katz sign everyone who's from that scene you know the early 2000s was the last time that was really relevant business model but with peace it doesn't feel like it turned the tide like they're good in their own right you know But it didn't represent, they weren't like a symbol of a scene. Like, where are the five other bands that they play with that are probably cooler? You know what I mean? Like,

43:15 Luke F. Walton I know what you mean.

43:16 Harry Katz who are there? Yeah, yeah, yes, you know?

43:18 Luke F. Walton I get what you mean. That's also an interesting thing about why a musical scene would form in the first place is that there's that opportunity. Somebody breaks out and everybody, you know, even tangentially related like a Blondie type situation where,

43:33 Harry Katz Mm yeah,-hmm.

43:34 Luke F. Walton it's almost like being part of the scene increases your likelihood of being able to break out with the scene and whether or not those dynamics still fully exist, I don't know.

43:46 Harry Katz Yeah, it's a really good question. It's a good question. I mean, there's definitely some sense we were down in Southwest Southwest. And, you know, the country Americana scene is very booming right now, and it seems to be a lot of connections from throughout the country.

44:03 Luke F. Walton Mm.

44:03 Harry Katz So, you know, there's definitely like worlds in there,

44:06 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

44:06 Harry Katz although it encompasses a lot of different genres.

44:09 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

44:09 Harry Katz But there's, you know, that seems to be kind of a popular scene right now that kind of goes all the way from the bottom all the way to the top.

44:18 Luke F. Walton you Yeah.

44:18 Harry Katz know where there seems to be kind of opportunity right like it's like oh people will come and dance to my band Yes. if we'll wear a cowboy hat it's

44:25 Luke F. Walton Yes.

44:26 Harry Katz like oh i could win a granny if i'm playing in a cowboy hat you know it's like it's kind of like there is a road a ladder up in that genre that like i know a few people who were like kind of indie folky 10 years ago

44:41 Harry Katz who like you know six years ago stopped doing that and went to the different route and they were like damn it why did I stop doing that like I should have stayed in that lane you know do I go back to that lane what do I you know

44:54 Luke F. Walton no it's true it's a lot of it's venue like uh is it austin city limits and then like you know the bands keep playing as you go into austin i just was really struck by how cool that was of

45:07 Luke F. Walton i don't know music festival that dovetails into nightlife of local bands so then you have like the pipeline of all the people that are already buzzed already having a great time listening to music and they go keep it going and it's almost this weird feeling of like the opposite of coachella you're like in the middle of a polo field then you get bussed away

45:25 Harry Katz Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

45:26 Luke F. Walton the logistics of musical scenes are part of it too of like when i've talked to a bunch of people that were part of those scenes in the 70s cbgb's they were like it was easy to live there not in terms of safety but in terms of paying rent that you were able to

45:43 Luke F. Walton walk to the club and make a few bucks and afford your rent or like early touring how gas used to be super cheap and hotels used to be super cheap yeah

45:53 Harry Katz Mm hmm. Well, it's interesting that, you know, I saw this is floating around the Internet, right? It's like, why are people not having house parties anymore? It's like nobody owns a house. But friends of mine, friends of mine just opened a new rehearsal space, Main Street Studios. Shout out to them. um

46:11 Luke F. Walton Cool.

46:11 Harry Katz in chinatown and they're taking a pretty big risk

46:16 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

46:16 Harry Katz business going and they threw a show there and i was there and i was like they're throwing a house party like if they you know they're doing the like really difficult work of having a community having

46:32 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

46:32 Harry Katz a scene right

46:32 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

46:33 Harry Katz because like with cbgb's there was the club owner who was like sure you know and these rehearsal spaces are a part of it it's like creating a space that allows for that kind of delinquency

46:44 Luke F. Walton Right,

46:44 Harry Katz to

46:45 Luke F. Walton exactly.

46:45 Harry Katz take place you know who the adults in the room who will take responsibility for the delinquent you know and i was like man you know because i was skeptical at first you know you're skeptical people are like i'm doing this risky thing and i was like i gotta switch it and be like this is the coolest thing going on

47:04 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

47:04 Harry Katz like this is important like

47:06 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

47:06 Harry Katz if they you know with their success if they can get a bunch of young bands in there when they get a bunch of young bands in there those young bands could become a scene that

47:16 Luke F. Walton Yes.

47:16 Harry Katz could breed five of your favorite bands you never heard of you

47:20 Luke F. Walton Totally.

47:21 Harry Katz know

47:21 Luke F. Walton Totally. And in a way that they would only have connected or cultivated or grown in that community too.

47:27 Harry Katz That's right. That's right in the five bands that share the one room because

47:31 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

47:31 Harry Katz it's the same drummer, you

47:32 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

47:32 Harry Katz know

47:33 Luke F. Walton Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I love those kind of stories where somebody is in all of the bands because they can't find a bass player or something. You know, it's just, okay, you know, playing everything.

47:46 Harry Katz Absolutely

47:47 Luke F. Walton Such a great way to grow. So really curious about kind of what's next for Pistachios and what you got. Got coming up.

47:57 Harry Katz We are putting out an EP. We have two singles out right now, and then two more songs on that EP are coming out, and that's with our own 45.

48:08 Harry Katz um so we have that up online circlebackmusic.bandcamp.com and then we're doing an east coast tour so it's it's a ska two-tone ep it's called the last to know because i was the last to know we were a ska band um we literally played a

48:26 Luke F. Walton show It's

48:26 Harry Katz in new york

48:26 Luke F. Walton okay.

48:26 Harry Katz and someone was like i get it secret ska and i was like secret ska i was like oh i'm the one that's been because i told my whole band we're gonna do some ska and they were like yes this is what i signed up for i'm ready people would like call me be like i don't think you understand how important this music is to me thank you like it just like suddenly clicked and the community has embraced us you

48:54 Luke F. Walton Ah, yeah.

48:55 Harry Katz know and it's like we've just gotten so much love and so we've gotten so much help um eric with 413 god and he does shows and direct support media is working with us mishi is really great and my manager has been a big proponent of scott and helped kind of put together the the producer and another friend of ours who we wrote a song for he wrote a song that we did a ska version of so

49:21 Luke F. Walton Cool.

49:21 Harry Katz it was kind of like a big team community effort and it's been this wonderful thing so we're going to the east coast we're going to play six dates um new york city the hudson valley jersey connecticut rhode island and western massachusetts and then we're for the west coast i guess by the time this airs it'll probably be announced but we're doing august 16th

49:44 Harry Katz at Alex's bar with Calypso's Curse and Too Much Fun Club and that's a matinee so we're doing a free show matinee at Alex's bar they're both other ska bands but it's kind of a dancey night so that's that's what's coming up for our summer

50:01 Luke F. Walton Amazing. Amazing. How are you prepping?

50:03 Harry Katz I have like a partial East Coast band.

50:06 Luke F. Walton Yeah. Oh, cool.

50:07 Harry Katz So because I go out, I'm from New York originally. So now I go out once a year. I basically my good friend Mike Hollis, we did like a little trade. I went out there, he helped me put together a tour. He came here and I returned the favor.

50:21 Harry Katz and we grew up together and we're both still really pursuing music in a serious way so

50:27 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

50:27 Harry Katz the relationship has stayed very strong because we have a lot still to talk about and then he learned the book he learned the music so now that's like the curse of the statue once you learn you're in forever so actually i got a guy my buddy dylan who's playing with us and dylan was in the pistachios in 2008 and

50:45 Luke F. Walton Cool. Awesome.

50:46 Harry Katz so i dragged him back in And we got some really great other players with us. So getting them all the materials and we're getting all the merch together, all T-shirts and records and stickers and stuff, practicing my scales. And then my two singers that sing with me out here in California are coming with me.

51:09 Luke F. Walton Nice,

51:09 Harry Katz So

51:09 Luke F. Walton cool.

51:09 Harry Katz we're going to work on a couple things, add in a new cover and stuff.

51:14 Luke F. Walton Awesome. I love talking to people pre-tour. work because you have so many things kind of all up in your head uh and they're like 15 different jobs in a normal business or something like that the artist is like yeah we're getting i'm getting stickers printed over here we're doing this other rehearsal vocal only i'm doing the logistics i'm figuring out the hotel just it's

51:32 Harry Katz yeah it's been crazy earlier

51:34 Luke F. Walton crazy

51:34 Harry Katz this year i was doing a big stint of writing for a new record and i got to a place where i was like i actually need to stop writing right now because i need to focus on this tour i was like and I was like yeah I'll just work on the tour for two weeks and get back and it's been like a month and

51:49 Luke F. Walton exactly

51:49 Harry Katz I'm like still working on the logistics I was like this was a good call oh

51:54 Luke F. Walton exactly and i think it's fun for music fans to know like this is what goes into this this is the yeah

51:59 Harry Katz yeah I'm picking breakfast places we don't have a van for it because it's kind of all satellite shows from New York so I'm working on car pools and hotels and there's still a lot of new markets

52:13 Harry Katz so it's a lot of like where we're gonna you know it's a lot of finagling and figuring stuff out and you know what's cool is you end up building a lot of relationships that will lead to the next tour so

52:25 Luke F. Walton Yes.

52:25 Harry Katz i got in touch with a band that i've been trying to reach for months

52:28 Luke F. Walton Cool.

52:28 Harry Katz and actually he hopped into my comment section of one of my music history posts i was like hey i heard we're doing a show together i'm like so i messaged him and i was like look i have a show on this date but let me know right away and it didn't work out but he was like but for next year hit me up in advance and we'll do a couple shows together

52:50 Luke F. Walton Yes. Nice.

52:51 Harry Katz and i'm like and

52:52 Luke F. Walton There we go.

52:53 Harry Katz this is the guy i could be like hey this is our guarantee like it's like an elevated thing you

52:57 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

52:58 Harry Katz know when

52:58 Luke F. Walton Right.

52:59 Harry Katz people ask you that's when things go better right like that's that's how you know you're growing and you can um uh negotiate more when you're when you're asking to be on stuff you

53:11 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

53:12 Harry Katz have to be respectful and if they're like this is what i can do you can't be like it's like yo you asked me like you know they're youth coaches they'll say that to you so you

53:22 Luke F. Walton Exactly.

53:22 Harry Katz know yeah

53:23 Luke F. Walton Yeah, West Ghost will just never return your call.

53:26 Harry Katz true

53:28 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

53:28 Harry Katz just oof i don't want to deal with that actually but it's cool one of the cool places we're playing i feel like you'll appreciate this it's called the falcon in falcon Sweet.

53:38 Harry Katz hudson valley and they do free shows but their philosophy is that you should be able to come and see music for free but that musicians should also make money so they have a 30 suggested donation And they do a really good job of like going up and reminding people and

53:54 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

53:55 Harry Katz you'll make more than you would from a guarantee.

53:57 Luke F. Walton Wow.

53:58 Harry Katz so it's like people go and they know they're going to chip in and

54:01 Luke F. Walton yep

54:01 Harry Katz chip in more and it's like it's a really cool environment it's

54:05 Luke F. Walton that's really cool

54:05 Harry Katz a really

54:05 Luke F. Walton i

54:05 Harry Katz cool environment it's

54:06 Luke F. Walton really like that yeah

54:07 Harry Katz kind of known for that it's like it's

54:09 Luke F. Walton yeah

54:09 Harry Katz not an applicable model everywhere and

54:11 Luke F. Walton totally

54:11 Harry Katz people are it's like no way but this place they know what they're getting into but it's very cool setup

54:16 Luke F. Walton yeah that is really cool that is really cool setup i like that i might steal that someday if i ever get to make that music venue of my dreams in the future maybe maybe steal that

54:25 Harry Katz Yeah.

54:25 Luke F. Walton So Harry, this show is called Love Music More. This segment is called Love Music Why. The simple question for you, hard question, why do you love music?

54:36 Harry Katz Oh, oh, why do I love music? I mean, it's the emotion is so overwhelming. You know, I grew up around music. My dad loves music. He's not a musician, but he's a professional appreciator who would make mixtapes. That's the first place I heard Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits and Bob Dylan on these cassette tapes, you know.

55:00 Luke F. Walton Yeah.

55:00 Harry Katz And so I've always loved music. It's just the coolest, being able to create these emotions. With my band, we...

55:09 Harry Katz work so hard on kind of creating this like I just think that life could be life is very short and it can be so exuberant and so fun and I try to create an environment that makes that happen creates an environment where that can happen where you can discover yourself in that state you know that collective

55:32 Luke F. Walton Yes.

55:33 Harry Katz member of essence you know and I love making music that kind of different generations can get down to that everyone can kind of find their way to it. You know, we were talking about the digital stuff. So much stuff is flat on screen.

55:49 Harry Katz and you know with what i like love to make like the original before theater in greek times right like it was pageantry and parade the original theater when there was no difference between the spectator and the performer and

56:05 Luke F. Walton Yeah

56:05 Harry Katz it's just it's just the showing off of these wild beautiful things and marching through the streets like enjoying that and experiencing things i know it's still capitalistic you're paying to get in but But there's this moment where you're experiencing something that's not fully mediated. You're not in this mediated experience mediated by just raising people's vibrations just go wild and have so much fun.

56:33 Harry Katz I just always found community in music. I've always found, you know, I get obsessed with a song. I listen to it over and over and over again. And I just think when somebody says something to quote, you know, Dylan Warnock, I was talking about him before, wrote a line of song that God made rugs just so he can pull them out from under us. And it's like, I love great lyrics.

56:55 Harry Katz And when somebody says something that strikes to the heart of living, I just feel like it doesn't get better than that.

57:07 Luke F. Walton all said

57:08 Harry Katz I don't know if I answered the question

57:09 Luke F. Walton oh

57:09 Harry Katz right.

57:10 Luke F. Walton you did there's no answer to that question so you know it's entirely personal and also like i don't know goes back to the randy newman thing too of yeah don't be lazy with your lyrics really say something paint the picture

57:24 Harry Katz Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

57:25 Luke F. Walton Very nice. Well, where can people get in touch? Where can they listen to your music, learn more about music history and pick up a 45?

57:33 Harry Katz So you can find us everywhere. It's the Pistachios, Harry Katz and the Pistachios. We're on CirclebackMusic.Bandcamp.com and everywhere that you listen to music. And then I do most of my posting about music history on our Instagram at Harry Katz and the Pistachios. and you can send me a dm there and i'll send you a link to whatever you need oh

57:54 Luke F. Walton Awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time. Super fun conversation.

57:58 Harry Katz this has been great and we should go on for longer

58:00 Luke F. Walton I know exactly. This felt like one of those episodes we could have turned into a three hour one, but haven't gotten to that deep end of podcast yet.

58:09 Harry Katz yeah we'll bring you back another time when you do the three hour version

58:11 Luke F. Walton Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, until then, thank you so much, Harry.

58:14 Harry Katz okay thank you