LA Music Review | Art, stories and advice
Fun, groovy and full of energy!
Hi The Pistachios, welcome to LA Music Review! Tell us a little bit about you and your music.
The Pistachios were always a live band.
But like most people the pandemic slowed us down. I (Harry) became dedicated to learning the art of audio production and began doing demos at home. After having lengthy conversations with many producers, Mike Post from Moosecat Recordings was chosen because of his passion for the music. He wanted to capture a band sound, in an organic way. His influence is heard throughout the record in guitar choices, his actual physical reverb tank.
Nick Crnko, my longest running collaborator on the project and our live drummer, worked closely with me to craft the vocal arrangements. Often singing multiple stacks of vocals himself, his influence kept us true to the live show, and has since helped retranslate the album back into a live show. His vast knowledge about music history and about the recording process helped inform the mix, as well as other small intricacies.
Start streaming “Oh Yes!” right here:
Congrats on the release! What was your inspiration when you were writing this project?
Released on November 10, 2022. In the mid 2000’s I hitchhiked across country for the first time. While on the road I learned to play guitar to survive and make enough money to eat. Learning to sing over the dim of traffic, making up endless blues and old school inspired road songs, the style of the Pistachios began to take shape.
All the while playing a broken down guitar on some street corner, in my minds eye I could also see and hear an opulent 10 piece band. I began writing the original arrangements carefully in my imagination. From that moment on, I became dedicated to following through on that vision, on bringing these songs to life in their fully imagined state.
All of these songs represent a moment of learning in relationships throughout my life.
They are about an evolving understanding and really an evolving capacity for love. Scared of Romance the album is about all the wrong turns you can make when looking for love, and how to right yourself in the end. It’s a story about how Romance, love, and relationships sometimes aren’t all the same thing.
What is your vision for this song?
The most important thing is that the Pistachios are a community.
While my name is in the band, it’s more akin to the muppet show. Everyone has their moment, everyone is their own character. And I learn so much from each person I perform with. They are my family, and they teach me to be better, to be humble, and to be driven.
What is your favorite part of this body of work?
The Pistachios are more than a band, they are a growing community of good natured people dedicated to creating a space of exuberance and excitement with a mission to spread their own unique style of rock and roll to every soul that needs a reason to keep hanging on. The Pistachios aren’t some throwback band, they represent a hopeful future for rock and roll.
The lyrics at first appear to be cheerful rock and roll chants but in fact mask a deeper and more intellectual understanding of the contemporary world. Dealing with issues from affirmative consent, to the housing crisis in America, Harry somehow smashes together the past, present and future all into their own unique sound you haven’t hear before that still manages to make you feel nostalgic.
Anything else we should know about it?
The band name is in the style of the old school R&B bands, the coastal jump blues groups and other early origins of rock and roll. Keeping the legacy of old school blues shouters alive, Harry Katz functions as a leader, a facilitator, a listener, a curator and a friend in his approach to the evolving and revolving roster of musicians we call the Pistachios.
Thank you so much!