LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts/
Peter Katz Official Website) - In less than a month since its release, prolific singer/songwriter
Peter Katz has sold out of the first run of 1,000 copies of his latest independent album More Nights while also making a big impact with his song "
Forgiveness" Katz's previous two releases sold over 3500 copies in less than 2 years with rave reviews. More Nights can be spotted all over the Lethbridge's CKXU charts including a No 1 spot the Folk/Roots and No 2 in Pop/Rock. With an extensive fall tour planned, it looks like "More Nights" is what
Peter and his fans are going to be looking forward to.
Performing regularly to sold-out crowds across the country, the winner of the CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award and the Grand Prize Winner of Toronto's IndieWeek, Katz has been winning over fans through great music and an intensely powerful live-show.
Forgiveness, a stand out track on More Nights has an inspiring story behind it that Katz hopes to pay tribute to while spreading the word. While listening to CBC radio's As It Happens, Katz heard an interview that affected him deeply and compelled him to write about remarkable courage, humanity and the power of forgiveness.
The interview that inspired the song was with Michael Berg, father of Nicholas Berg who was kidnapped and brutally murdered by Al-Zarcawi in Iraq. When being interviewed about the recent death of Zarcawi at the hands of the US Army, Berg refused to condone the US Army's actions and thus continue the cycle of hatred. He has been called a traitor and even shot at by some of his countrymen for refusing to support the war and the killing of Zarcawi but stands resolute in his determination to find forgiveness in his heart and start a new cycle: one of humanity and forgiveness.
Katz could not get this story out of his mind as weeks later he sat down, wrote the song, immediately recorded it and sent the story and link to the CBC interview out to his fans. https://www.peterkatz.org/forgiveness.html Hundreds of e-mails poured in, including a fan that performed the song at a festival and sent in a video of it. This has inspired Katz again and he will be launching a new website on August 15th that will include video tutorials for all his songs, including Forgiveness.
Seeing as the song was written to spread Michael Berg's message, explains Katz, I will be encouraging fans to learn the song and play it whenever/wherever they can and hopefully send in a video that I will post on the site and on youtube. Ideally, the ripple effect will occur and the message will get out to more and more people.
Filmmaker Andrew Moniz and producer Daniel Mazzucco donated their time and resources for the new video of 'Forgiveness' to help spread the message. The song has also been released as a single to CBC radio and will be released to campus in the fall to coincide with his tour across Canada.
https://www.peterkatz.com/
https://www.myspace.com/peterkatz
"More Nights is truly worth the expense it took to make... The stark arrangements serve perfectly the singer's penchant for finely crafted lyrics" - Bill Adam, Echo Weekly
"[Katz] breathes life into Buckley's unique stream of folk music and for a moment garners smiles from those who worshiped the genre. But Katz by no means lives in Buckley's shadow. He carves his own niche in the industry and delivers a unique blend of folk with a vintage sound' Peter Katz embodies Canadian folk". -Andrew Seale, Spill Magazine
Tour Dates:
Fri July 20th - The Boathouse, Kitchener/Waterloo
Sat July 21st - The Drake Hotel, Toronto w/ Jason Bajada & JF Robitaille
Fri Aug 10th - Beating Heart Festival, Mississauga w/ The Junction, The Reason, The Diableros, The Next Best Thing & others
Sat Aug 18th - Mississauga Street Festival
Sat Aug 25th - CAMfest, Bowmanville (Clarington Visual Arts Center) w/ Murray McLauchlan & Liam Titcomb
