Percy Hill – Been So Long (Aaron Katz Interview)

There’s a familiar theme running through After All, the latest release from New Hampshire’s Percy Hill. After a seven-year lapse between albums, the band has returned via their recognized 70’s soul, funk, groove and pick-me up harmonies. Their prior studio effort, 1998’s Color In Boom, was a celebrated album that appeared on countless top ten lists and has now graduated to desert island status. For seven years, fans have been thirsting for a new album and it’s finally arrived.

Formed in 1993 at the University of New Hampshire by keyboardist Nate Wilson and guitarist Joe Farrell, Percy Hill helped embody the jam band genre within its larvae stage, years before the scene would bust it big in the late 90’s. Although long windy jams were never the band’s trademark, Percy Hill held more in common with Steely Dan’s studio grandiosity than the risk taking of the Grateful Dead. With a couple of member switches along the way, Percy Hill landed on their “core four” lineup in 1998, when Aaron Katz (drums) and John Leccese (bass) joined. Wilson’s whirling dervish keyboards have always formed the cornerstone of the Percy Hill sound, yet with the addition of Katz, that distinct voice became more realized and pure.

It is rare to see any band stick together after twelve years, but Percy Hill has played their cards right, by avoiding burnout, friction and loss of interest by naturally stepping back. Each band member has side projects, both Wilson and Leccese are in The Assembly of Dust, and Katz is continually prolific with his own solo project. Despite this extensive recording break, Percy Hill has played sporadic northeast gigs, when schedules allow for it. Most notable was a four show run at the end of 2002, when Percy Hill evolved into a thirteen piece orchestra, including a full horn section, allowing their weighty compositions to become the sophisticated jazz pieces they were blueprinted to be. Percy Hill has discovered the studio to be their comfort zone, and we can only hope their records are spawned more frequently.

For those that haven’t heard Color In Bloom yet, After All is your invitation to give it a spin. And if your copy of Color in Bloom is worn out, this new effort will revitalize your Percy Hill collection. We caught up with drummer Aaron Katz just as the long awaited new record was about hit the shelves.

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say, after seven years, it’s about time we got another album from Percy Hill. Do you feel it has been worth the wait since Color in Bloom was released in ’98?

I think so, because we all grew so much as people artistically that when we came back together in the studio, we had a more focused position on what we were trying to achieve. And we just understood the studio, we understood each other and we understood musically as to whose role was what and it just flowed.

Yeah, After All sounds like Color in Bloom Part 2, as it has a lot of the same textures and feel.

Yeah, I think it’s in the instruments we are using and the feels we’re using, and what we’re singing about – it’s a pretty realized vision at this point.

And you were the producer?

Yes, I was. I started a production company with my friend a couple years ago, and have a few studios up here in New Hampshire, and just had the privilege of producing that record with the guys.

How was it decided that you would be behind the glass?

Well, I had the studio available, and I’ve been working on producing other albums, and to produce a Percy Hill album is just a dream. Working with those guys and the material that we share, and recording that kind of thing is very exciting and very rewarding.

How did the recording process for After All differ from Color In Bloom?

It was a little more broken up. First from a technical side, we did a fusion of analog and digital, where as Color In Bloom was all analog. So we did drums and keyboards and bass all right to tape. And then we fused that with a digital system we have in the home studio, so we were able to get the best of both worlds in the clarity. And with Color In Bloom, we were just in the studio for a couple months straight, basically living there. Where with this, I was basically holding down the reigns and John would come in for a week and Nate was there for two weeks and then Joe would come in and then everyone was together for a little while. But it wasn’t as much everyone in the same room through the same process.

A lot of these songs were taken from a three or four-year period, whereas Color in Bloom was more or less written in the studio. Some of your songs like “Brings You Back Again” and “Lap Of Luxury” were even on the Percy Hill live album from a few years back.

Yeah, those are ones we always wanted to put on a studio album. It was just finding the right time to do it.

Did you have a vision of what you wanted the album to sound like; obviously it draws from the 70’s.

Yeah, I think it was just keeping it positive. We like the whole dance-ability of music. We like groove, but we’re also really into harmony. We’re really into lyricism and metaphor and its just bringing those worlds together. We’re obviously inspired by the music that was more popular in the late 70’s – Steely Dan – and just the sound quality of those sounds is so rich and that’s just something we aspire to.

I think it’s interesting that you don’t try to re-invent yourselves at all – that clean sound still works for you.

Yeah, I think that’s a good point, because in the studio you can try to analyze what’s current. “Does the snare sound reverb?” “What are they using today?” “What is John Mayer’s drummer using for heads?” You know what I mean? You get so hypercritical and so obsessed with each sound. With Percy Hill, we just go in and try to get the truest sound of the instrument present in the room rather than EQ or reverb it out to some other stereotype.

Obviously the band doesn’t have a big studio budget, but your records have always sounded so polished and sheen, as if you were inside the walls of a high-end studio. Where does this come from?

I think it’s how you’re recording and how you are playing it, is probably 80% of it. But then also, it’s a division of our engineer and myself. Our engineer is Andrew Gallagher, my keyboard player in my solo band and someone I’ve been working with for over ten years now. And what he does is help to record the sounds and capture them with the microphone, which is kind of like the net. The microphones he chooses, the placement, the room in which we’re recording in, it all has to do with that final sound. And then the mix, that’s such a huge thing because there are so many layers. Like “Door #5” has 60 tracks. That’s that advantage of digital – you have unlimited tracks in your Pro Tools system, and with analog you don’t get that much freedom. To be able to mix 60 tracks, Nate did an organ thing here that we can bring out and he did a Rhodes things there, which we can’t bring out, so it’s balancing and seeing it all and painting in front of you.

60 tracks on “Door #5”?

That was our largest and throughout the song, at one point, there are 60 tracks.

Sounds like you had some session pros in there, but then again, working with Nate, you were pretty much working with the best.

Easily. Nate was ridiculous man. With Color In Bloom, I remember the solo in “Color In Bloom” itself. Well first of all, we were all like 23 then, I was like 22. I remember for four days he’d go home, listen, he’d listen to the solo and come back and try it. For “After All,” “Spirit of Air” and “Door #5” it took one take. It was just one or two takes, something ridiculous, it was just a much more realized focus and understood place to get to. You also realize, it can go on forever. You can take a million solos, but as the producer you have to say, “that’s awesome, that’s it, case closed.”

Do you feel After All might help the band broaden its audience?

Absolutely. We found something interesting with Percy Hill that the fan base is a very wide range. We have teenagers coming to our shows and we have grandparents. I think we just need to find the right medium to spread the music. And I think After All is going to be a good springboard into a wider fan base and then Color in Bloom will be surged and then everything else we are doing will surge with that. It’s all marketing at that point.

Are you looking to do steady touring again?

That’s not very likely unless there is something comfortable present. We did two years straight and then we kept touring after that. We’re all a little older and I like being at home in the studio and having stable relationships. I know that we want to get back in the studio. Our goal is to get back next time and for it to be easier, and by that I mean more comfortable so there is no stress at all.

It would be nice if that instead of touring, you can just release albums every other year.

That would the cool. We love the studio and just gel there, it’s like a bunch of kids in grammar school there.

Speaking of kids from grammar school, you’ve known the other band members for years now.

Oh yeah, Nate was probably the second guy I met when I got to UNH. So it’s over ten years now.

Being in a band with your friends, is it more forgiving or difficult?

I think it goes in cycles. When we were on the road, we were together all the time, we didn’t have any space, so at that point we become a little harder on each other because your sense of space is a little bit diminished, so you become a bit more agitated. It’s just a lifestyle that’s kind of hard. It’s hard to be in a relationship with one person, much less married to five other guys. Now that there is more space and we all have things going on in our lives, when we come back to do Percy Hill, it’s just a joyous experience.

A few years ago, you had the big expanded Percy Hill band that reached 13 or so members…

That was a circus man. I would love to do that again in the studio. Right now I’m putting together an instrumental album with some of the stuff we did with Geminatrix. And I’m trying to get some string sections in for that and some horns, Jen Hartswick has been playing with us a little bit. So yeah, for the next Percy Hill album, maybe having a string section – it’s always in our minds.

Prior to joining the band in 1997, you kind of revamped the sound into a more lyrical focus with more pop sensibilities. Was their a group decision to spin things in that direction?

Well Nate was the catalyst for that change. He asked me to join and what he was looking for from me was just a different sound in the writing. And we were inspiring each other. When we went to college together, we were in the practice rooms writing together, I was checking out his stuff, he was checking out mine. So, the relationship grew around our creativity, which took on its natural course just as we started playing.

Being a multi-instrumentalist, was stepping into the drum-kit the most natural thing for you to do?

I think it was, because when they were playing with Dylan [Halacy] it was a bit of a busier sound, a bit choppier, which was cool, but I think they wanted to smooth that out and go in a funkier direction. Simpler and something that gave a little more breathe and I was able to provide that on the drums.

Have you ever wanted to play something other than drums and bring someone else in?

Well, I was doing a solo band for awhile, I had experience traveling around, playing guitar and singing and there were some great things about that. But I realized in the live setting that I personally get off on playing the drums – it’s more energizing and its musically more connecting, physical and meditative and that’s what I like in the live musical setting.

You don’t see too many drummers that sing lead and play drums. Was there anybody growing up, like Phil Collins that turned you onto doing that?

You know, I don’t think I would have done it if Nate didn’t ask me to. I think I would probably have started a band, played keyboard or just continued playing drums in a more funk kind of setting. So Nate wanted the songs and the drumming, so we went there.

Back when you started there was a whole scene – bands like Moon Boot Lover, Groovechild and Strangefolk were regularly part of a northeast sound. Obviously, these bands aren’t as active anymore. Does it surprise you how quickly things change in ten years?

Oh yeah, it surprises me how quickly things change in two days. With bands, its just hard, because everybody has their own lives and agendas and what they want out of life and the band has to provide so much to keep people together. Even if its creatively right, it may not be right for everybody’s life and all the facets that make your life whole – financially and relationships. All these different types of things need to play in. That’s why I think so many bands come and go so quickly. Look at all the businesses that come and go.

How do you think you’ve managed as a band to hold on?

I think it was meant to be to take a break and explore other things and realize what it was that Percy Hill was. For me it was, it got pretty intense being on the road together all the time and when we stepped away, I just had to reassert my energy in a different direction. Throughout that process I was able to realize what it was that I appreciated in Percy Hill and what it was that Percy Hill was to me and then coming back to it was just much more clear.

Looking back, Percy Hill helped spark a scene that has blossomed into a major festival circuit, including Bonnaroo. Do you think Percy Hill came in too soon before the explosion?

Absolutely, we were on that first wave. It’s interesting because with this new album, a lot of people that run those festivals are listening and sort of hearing us for the first time, it’s interesting.

What other ways are you trying to market the new album?

Well, we have one other brand new experience that we are sort of embarking on. We met this film director, his name is Mark Constance, he was the first assistant director on Charlie’s Angels and Being John Malkovich and Terminator 3. So, he’s done a lot out there and actually lives her in New Hampshire and has approached us about doing a video for “Awaiting our Return,” so that can be a new chapter in our experience together.

There are many older Percy Hill tunes that were written before you joined the band, like “Been So Long,” “Golden Bottle,” “Setting The Boat Adrift” and “Sooner Or Later. ” We rarely hear these anymore. Are there any plans on reinventing them in the studio?

Totally, I would love to redo those in the studio some day. Absolutely, I would be one hundred percent into trying that. That stuff is what originally got me into Percy Hill when I was a freshman at UNH going out to see them. I was seeing “Lifetime,” “Golden Bottle” and “Been So Long.” We still do “Been So Long,” I was trying to get it for the After All record, but they wanted to hold off on it. But yeah, I would love to do the Percy Hill classics and do a whole album of that in the studio one day. That would be sick!

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