How did the idea for a reunion come about for this late 90s lineup of Percy Hill?
Aaron: I was producing the Essex Street stage in Salem for one of the Halloween month weekends and I got a call from Scott Mohler about booking one of the bands he represents. While on the phone, Scott mentioned he had been listening to Color In Bloom on repeat with his friend Colin Winsor (I think he jokingly said they were holding each other crying).Scott mentioned the idea of doing a project similar to Percy and he wanted to reach out to Joe Farrell who also lives in Portland, Maine. Scott contacted Joe and Joe thought it would be a good idea to reach out to Nate. Scott put an email together pitching the idea of a Percy Hill reunion show. Nate said yes, called John and two weeks later we were looking at each others’ balding heads on Google Chat.
Nate: We just discussed some ideas and places where we might be able to do it. Time frames. It took a few months to find the right dates that would work for everyone. Getting together with Aaron, John and Joe was something that had crossed my mind a number of times over the last few years, I think it just needed a little push in the right direction.
When you went your separate way in 2005 officially ending Percy Hill, it seemed like the chances of ever having a reunion were unlikely, what changed?
Nate: Time, perspective, maturity and all that. I had some regrets about the way things ended on a personal level between some of us back then, as I know everyone did. Disagreements always seem pretty trivial when you have the perspective of 10 years to look back through it all. It felt like the right time to bury some of those hatchets, and it also felt like if a reunion was going to happen we’d better get on with it while enough people out there still remember the music.
When and where was the last show that you guys played together before the breakup? Did you sense that things were coming to an end?
Aaron: I think it was a boat cruise around NYC Harbor. (Sept. 9, 2005) At that time we were all already moving in different directions.
Nate: I don’t remember much about that particular show but I do remember those last few years of the band were topsy turvy and communication between the four of us had all but fizzled. Aaron had his own band out on the road for a while and then had put a ton of effort into producing our last record Afterall. John and I had become pretty busy with Assembly of Dust. I was writing songs with Reid Genauer and when I wasn’t doing that I was preparing to audition for graduate school. Long and short was that everyone’s life priorities were on different pages and our expectations were incongruent. I don’t ever remember a moment of finality for the band. I don’t know that we ever announced a break up. I think we just stopped. So maybe we never really did break up.
Was there anyone in the band that you continued to stay in touch with and maintain a musical friendship with? And if so, how much did that play a role in getting PH back together?
Aaron: We all went out into the world to better understand ourselves. We needed a lot of space in order to see the bigger picture of how special and rare this music is and how much of a gift it is that we were allowed to create and live it. It’s an intense thing to be that close to a bunch of dudes at such a young age. Running around the country in a van was liberating but at around hour 2,000 that funny fart smell fades. I see us now like a big block of ice. What melts away first on the outside is any drama and pointless ego driven fights. As the outer layers melt away we are left with what matters. The beauty of this music we create because of our unique connection. There is gratitude, creativity, chemistry, family, humor and love at the center.
Nate, for you, this is the second of Percy Hill reunions, as you reunited with Joe and the rest of the original lineup several years ago. Can you compare the two lineups.
Nate: They’re two separate entities really, although at the time we revamped the lineup it felt like there was continuity because Joe, Myself, my brother Zack (original percussionist), and Allen Ostroy, our manager, were all still working together. But listening back now it is a pretty stark contrast. The original band was rooted in more of a classic rock sound – Grateful Dead, Santana, Allman Brothers – that was the stuff we were into when we started out. When John and Aaron came on, the direction changed a lot. The song writing became more focused and more nuanced harmonically and the feel was more about 70’s R&B, Soul, Pop… or at least our attempt at those things. We always tried to bridge that gap for the fans of the older lineup, even after Color in Bloom and all that. We’ll be throwing some of that Setting the Boat Adrift era stuff in there for these upcoming shows as well.
You guys played a brief set at the Andypalooza benefit recently, what was it like to be back on stage with Nate, Joe, John as well as Yahuba after not playing together for 11 years?
Aaron: Like opening the dust covered box in the basement you packed everything away in only to find that is where your slippers have been.
Nate: It’s like we never missed a beat. It’s nice that everyone has kept playing a lot and maintained their chops. Sometimes when the “band breaks up” the dude, who goes on to sell insurance or whatever, puts his guitar in the closet and that’s it. Everyone here has stayed very active in music and it shows…so that’s nice.
And how are rehearsals going for the reunion shows?
Aaron: Rehearsals have been amazing. All positive energy from all parties. It is a joy and blessing to be around people you know so well and with whom you have had incredibly powerful, life changing experiences. Having Yahuba on board kicks everything up a notch. Everyone sounds energized, inspired, mature and grateful.
Nate: Everyone has continued along their musical paths and now brings all that experience back to the table here. 5 really accomplished musicians coming together and I think it sounds better than ever. The hardest part is to refrain from rehashing old stories and focusing on the task at hand.
Aaron, you and Joe, have been less visible in the jamband scene the last years. What have you been up to? And can you tell me what Joe has been up to?
Aaron: Joe runs the music program at King School in Portland. He is also a major family man and keeps active playing/recording all over the Portland scene. After Percy, I played in AKB, Geminatrix and The Dejas. I ran a number of inner city Hip-Hop cyphers and played drums for rapper and former Patriots linebacker Tully Banta-Cain. Producing albums led me to Salem, Mass. When I arrived in Salem, I got a call from the director of a group home for abused/at risk youth. The director was a Percy Hill fan and he asked me to come in and do some music at the group home with the teens. Now seven years later, my role is still to create a high energy positive space where the teens can come in to feel safe and open up about their lives in order to face, deal with and potentially heal past trauma. Working with music in this way and witnessing its transformative healing powers on human lives has strengthened my love, devotion, passion and respect for it. I also now play with my girlfriend Sarah Blacker either as Sarah Blacker and Aaron Z. Katz or BlacKat and I recently sat in on drums for a few shows with Pink Talking Fish.
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