Peter Katz Just Wants To Play Live For You

After drawing comparisons to Ron Sexsmith and Jeff Buckley, and winning a 2005 CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award, 24-year-old Peter Katz is moving up the talented-white-guy-with-a-guitar rankings.

"Being a male singer-songwriter is not exactly a novel concept," Katz concedes. "It's helpful here and there to be able to have something I can use to get my foot in the door.

"But I've still got a long road ahead of me. It's nice, though, to have things like the Galaxie Award happen along the way. I got to accept the award at the Ottawa Folk Fest in front of 6,000 people. That was pretty cool... Although I didn't get to play when I was accepting it. My first set at the festival was in the food court, 11 a.m., Saturday morning. I'm not complaining, but let's just say that the girl at the lemonade stand enjoyed my set and that was about it."

So the folk-rock-jazz artist is winning awards and competitions, and people claim that he's a standout singer, but he still has a way to go. He hopes that he has something else that will separate him from the pack.

"I think everyone likes to think that they're unique, and I'm no different," Katz explains. "I guess I'd like to think that I have a unique lyrical style and a pretty intense live show.

"I've heard a lot of songwriters say that they live for the songwriting process and the recording... not me. I sort of like those things, but what I really care about is being up there in the moment. I don't really like writing the songs as much as I like having them done, and then putting them out there, doing things I didn't know I could do, surprising myself and hopefully my audience."

The former theatre student knows exactly how to work a crowd and loves nothing more.

"There's nothing like a whole bunch of people in a room having a common experience," he says.

"It's the one thing that technology can never take away. Plus, I've always been the guy who says everything he's feeling. I can't help myself. I think that just gets carried over in my website, my live show, et cetera. I want that connection. if I don't have it, I don't want to be a musician."

Katz, a producer and an engineer are pretty close to completing his third album (although he likes to think of this one as his debut thanks to more ideal recording circumstances), which should see a late 2006 or early 2007 release.

Katz will grace the stage at Toronto's Drake Hotel at midnight on June 8 as part of Chart's North By Northeast Music Festival showcase.