TMN New Artist: Peter Katz

“If you want to make something that’s like nothing you’ve made before, then you have to shake yourself up, go beyond what’s comfortable and known and let yourself feel disoriented, overwhelmed, even intimidated. Those moments, when you lose your bearings, when you’re forced to sink or swim, are the moments when you have an opportunity to rise to the occasion, to surprise yourself, to do the things you didn’t know you could do. That’s what making this album was for me, I’m so proud of the process, and I’m so proud of the result.”

The result is We Are The Reckoning, a striking new collection of 11 original songs from JUNO-nominated singer-songwriter Peter Katz. After 3 successful national and international tours in support of his 2012 release Still Mind Still, Peter spent the better part of the past 2 years writing well-over 50 new songs while collaborating on some of them with an impressive list of co-writers in Los Angeles, London, and at home in Toronto. He managed the mental intensity of the writing and recording sessions by taking up a robust regimen of running. “It was the only thing I could do to feel like I had control over something. Every morning in LA I would wake up early and run up the Hollywood Hills. I was the only guy actually running all the way to the top. It was incredibly challenging, but it gave me this little secret confidence to draw on when I needed it.”

Over the past decade, Peter has seen his albums debut at #1 on the iTunes singer-songwriter charts. He’s toured all over the world, regularly playing to capacity crowds, and has managed to build an impressive fan base of loyal listeners, selling over 25,000 copies of his discs mostly from the stage, one show at a time. Never content to sit still for long, Peter Katz has his eyes firmly set on the future. “I’m in a different place than I was when I started 10 years ago. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into and I maybe didn’t always put my focus in the right place. Now I know what this thing is, I know the relentlessness that’s required, I know it’s not a race, and I know that the music has to come first. I feel like I finally did that with this record. I took my time. I shook myself up, threw myself into unfamiliar territory and took some big risks. Now that I’m on the other side of it, I can see why it was the right thing to do, and I’m more excited than ever to share what we made.”

Peter Katz is now playing TMN Radio.

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