The Katz is coming back.
This, figures the modern folk troubadour, is the tenth time he has done a concert at ArtSpace, which is remarkable considering he lives in Toronto. The guy gets around, but that's a big part of the job when your primary product is your performance art.
"Beyond getting to write songs and do what I love, my favourite thing about it is the life I live, which is interacting with people," said Peter Katz on an energetic phone call about his latest projects and a visit to Western Canada.
"I'm touring with my drummer Benjamin Rollo and I mean he's just the best guy on the face of the Earth, just an awesome human, and he's so giving and so committed and so talented, and I get to be in a car with that guy for a month and share the stage with him."
Katz has made a career out of being a solo artist in almost every sense of the word.
He frequently performs alone, he spent the bulk of his early years as a lone composer, and he makes a big impact with just one body. His skills with voice, guitar, keyboard, looping equipment and other do-it-yourself music tools have easily carried the weight of his words and melodies. But more and more, he is working with collaborators on stage, in the studio and when he's composing.
His work with fellow singer-songwriter Royal Wood, for example, produced the hit single Brothers and a couple of years of frequent collaborations.
He co-wrote the song Where The Light Used To Be with the tune's producer Karen Kosowski, and that song ended up in the film 88 starring Katherine Isabelle and Christopher Lloyd. Then it ended up nominated for a 2016 Canadian Screen Arts Award for best song from a movie.
He got another high-profile song out of working with Scottish duet partner Rachel Sermanni who created the single Dark together and got heard by international audiences on the soundtrack of the CW Network's TV show Reign.
That collaboration came together out of two of Katz's most frequent activities: attending concerts and cultural occasions and running. He first met Sermanni in passing during the milling about at a social event, but it was little more than an offhand introduction. Then, in another city, in another context, fate clicked their creative forces together.
"I was running in the Hollywood Hills in L.A., and I didn't notice but she saw me and sent me a message on Twitter that morning. 'Hey, are you in L.A. and were you just out for a run?' I didn't even know she knew who I was, so that was very serendipitous," he said.
Katz is also allowing his musical curiosity to lead him towards unmapped areas of music for the cover songs he's doing. Almost every musician likes to occasionally pop off their own version of someone else's tunes, and some do it frequently, but Katz has always been sparing.
However, he just released a video with some social media fanfare for his take on Beyonce's song Halo, which he couldn't help but put his unique stamp on, and then there's Sorry. Yes, Katz, consummate folkie and strict musical craftsman, did a cover of a Justin Bieber bubblegum hit. And no one was more surprised than himself that he loved the way it turned out.
"I will always have that folk essence, but there's a lot of music I like to listen to and I don't want to feel too beholden to sounding the same all the time," said Katz beginning the explanation.
"I think it's fun to push myself and do things I thought I wouldn't do, and also allow people to push me a little bit. Bill (Lefler, musician and recording engineer) was the guy I did that Bieber cover with. I was in L.A. writing all day and doing recording sessions with him, we'd done something like 12 sessions in a row, I was fried, Bill was fried, we ended up with a little spare time at the end and he said 'why don't you do something that's just fun?' and he proposed that Bieber track. I was diametrically opposed to it, but he nudged me to give it a shot, and I love it. So never say never and don't be afraid to surprise yourself."
That's the way it's been with his collaborations - an expansive and inspiring journey. He considered it just a symptom of growing more confident and comfortable in his own composing and stage presence that he was able to open his doors to other people's creative input, and of course as a musician who does this job for the pure love of it, it is also a lot of fun to jam with other great players.
They would say the same about him. He is humble and unvarnished in his presentation, but Katz has racked up the big awards and major nominations (Juno, Canadian Folk, CBC Galaxie, NOW Music, and many more), the high positions on the iTunes and CBC charts, he did a TEDx talk and performance, and he is warmly applauded by many other marquee names in the Canadian music industry.
A lot of that is to do with his constant spirit of enthusiasm and affirmation for life. Some of it is to do with the quality he has studied for, practiced for, and demands of himself in his songwriting and his live presentation. He is a student of the art of the song.
"The feeling of having a song that's a good one, and that you love, and it exists, is the greatest feeling of all time," he said.
"Some songs I've played 500 times in front of people and I still sometimes sit on the couch and play it for myself and think 'I wrote that, I'm so happy,' and that's a cool thing. You've got to appreciate that and strive for that feeling."
He tours all over the world, which makes his frequency in Prince George all the more special.
Fans can find him on Nov. 8 at ArtSpace (above Books & Company) where he will be unveiling the new tracks from his latest project We Are The Reckoning, plus some of those favourites from the past.
