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A Conversation With Dave Katz

by Brett M. Hartzfeld

BMH: All right, we're here with Dave Katz of Ekoostik Hookah, and we're going to ask him a few questions on the night of February 27, 1999 here at the Forward Hall in Erie. Thank you Dave

Dave Katz: Sure

BMH: Now, Who came up with the idea for the name Ekoostik Hookah?

DK: Ah, pretty much me, it was ah sitting around trying to think of the name of a band and I had a Hookah that I brought back from Egypt a long time ago and I thought that that name, that being in the name would be kinda cool and I just had to figure out something to go with it, and the Hookah itself was brass. I decided not to call it Brass Hookah because we didn't have any horns. Then Acoustic sounded real good. The spelling of the name phonetically is meant to bring out the actual meaning of the word, which is sound as it's heard. And we're not really trying to say we're not electric, because that's not really what Acoustic means, so, that's pretty much it.

BMH: Now, what's your favorite song that you've written?

DK: There really isn't one.

BMH: Do you have a favorite one to perform?

DK: It depends on the night, you know, If it's a new song, in a sense, that's my favorite for a little while, but then it becomes an old song.

BMH: Have you guys been playing any new songs lately?

DK: Yeah, we are, we've been doing, I mean, we steadily do new songs. But there's periods of time where you know maybe we'll go a couple of months and not have anything new. Recently we've been doing 2 new songs that Ed wrote so hopefully we'll start playing those next week.

BMH: Good deal, you played I know you Rider last weekend in Cleveland. Is that new in the lineup?

DK: We played it before, like years ago, you know, we thought we'd give the crowd something different.

BMH: Now what's your favorite instrument to play? Guitar? Keyboard? Piano?

DK: Definitely the keyboards, because I'm not much of a guitar player. I just happen to write a lot of songs on guitar. I write on both, guitar and keyboards but probably more on guitar.

BMH: What are some of your favorite venues to play?

DK: Well, Definitely any Hookahville, except for the one in Bellmont county. We had a bad experience there, but generally any Hookahvilles are the best. And I love playing the Odeon, you know Columbus and Cleveland. Anything in Ohio is a lot of fun. There's always great crowds. Anything in Michigan's great. And then there's some other venues around the country like the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco is a great room and Crystal Ballroom in Portland is a really cool room, there's a lot of great rooms to play.

BMH: All right man, Uh, How often do you guys practice?

DK: Virtually Never. If we've got a new song, we learn it over the course of maybe a couple soundchecks. We might in a hotel room somewhere go over it with acoustic guitars or something, but generally we get together for a day or two before like Hookahvilles to work out certain things that you add at Hookahville, or maybe a big show, like that, maybe a New Years , but I would say that as far as productive practices go, you know, 4 a year would be good for us.

BMH: What was the last cd you bought? Have you bought any CDs lately?

DK: Last cd I bought? um........I haven't' bought one in a long time. I accumulate them, you know if we're playing with other bands and stuff like that, trading with them.

BMH: Anything you recommend for the readers?

DK: Aw, there's a lot of good bands out there, you just gotta go check them out. But ah, I haven't bought a cd in a long time. It's been a long time.

BMH: what was the last show you went to that wasn't your own?

DK: Bob Dylan, Brian Setzer Orchestra.

BMH: How was that?

DK: It was great.

BMH: If you could have one guest musician join you, who would it be? Like I saw John, I forget his last name

DK: Ranskey?

BMH: Ranskey with you last weekend and he told me he was going to be with you in Columbus one night.

DK: If I could have any guest musician, I would want, it would be guest musicians, it would either be the Tower of Power horn section, or like a gospel choir.

BMH: I have an MMW bootleg where they had an orchestra with them in New Jersey. Have you thought about about something like "Slipjig" with an orchestra?

DK: There's a lot of songs that I'd love to do with an orchestra. It would take a lot of work to put it all together and probably a lot of money which we don't have, but ah, that'd be great to do at some point in time. Yeah, I'd love to do that.

BMH: What about your next release,are you planning on your next one to be another live disc or a studio release?

DK: I would think we're going to the studio sometime, you know, hopefully you know late in the year I hope.

BMH: I talked to you about this a little bit in DuBois, about, you know, as you're a growing band, maybe developing a taping section. Is that in the future for you guys?

DK: If we got to the point where there was enough tapers consistently, we usually have somebody taping almost every show, but it's not like 50 tapers every show. But if it's gotten to the point where we had enough tapers every night, and we are playing venues where that was necessary, you know if it was so packed everywhere that you couldn't just set up wherever you wanted and you had to actually make a section, then I'm sure we'll do it at that point.

BMH: What do you guys do in your down time?

DK: I can't speak for everybody. I like to be at home, just hang out in the woods. Some of the guys like to go to bars. Steve likes to play, he goes and plays at local blues bars, with blues bands in Columbus stuff like that.

BMH: What are you guys planning for Hookahville 11? I heard recently that the site wasn't confirmed.

DK: The site we should have in the next couple of weeks. The bands as far as the lineup goes, were pretty much set with it, but were not going to release it until we have the site, we want to do it all in one shot. We have some things in mind, you know, I just wouldn't want to give it away.

BMH: Are you guys planning anything a ways down the road for 2000, the Millennium, or are you guys going to spend it with friends and family?

DK: I think, as far as I know we are going to play. Where I'm not sure. I know once we have the Hookahville thing setup that's like the next major project that's in order. I would imagine we are going to playing. I think it would be something you gotta play, how could you not play?

BMH: All right last question, an easy one. How many Indians hats do you have?

DK: I have probably 6 or 7 of them. But I usually just wear one. Most of the other ones it's just like a nostalgia thing. They are either really so worn that I can't wear it, and for me that's really worn.