Singer songwriter Steve Katz is knocking down “Barricades”
June 27, 2012 by Dana Feldman
by Dana Feldman
Steve Katz’s album cover “Barricades” has a personalized inscription that reads: “Barricades can scare, challenge and stop us from achieving goals. They are everywhere and often invisible.” Explaining that many musicians with the goal of becoming established in a career such as this, have each faced their own share of such obstacles, Katz adds, “We’ve all experienced struggles. We’re told ‘no’ nearly every day. Sometimes I’m told no ten times a day.” Adding that there are a plethora of barriers, or barricades as he refers to them that are beyond his control, he says, “The biggest barricade that I faced before devoting my career to making music was fear.”
With fear holding him back from pursuing the one thing that he wanted most, he says, “My family, while supportive of my music, was afraid I’d starve if I quit my well paying job to pursue a career in music.” Katz did quit that job four years ago, leaving all behind, and moved to New York with the goal of turning his dreams into reality. With no regrets, he has been performing throughout the city and he’s just finished his first CD “Barricades.”
So, the many struggles in which he has faced, instead of stopping him, made him work even harder to get his music career started. Of this, he has also written on his CD cover, “Had I failed to go through any of them, this CD would never have been made.” It was through not only hard work, but facing and overcoming these fears that Katz was able to clear the pathway and embark on this journey. “Even greater than the fear of the unknown,” he says, “was the fear of having to look back ten years from now without having followed my heart.”
His smooth voice and musical versatility are showcased in his songs. Believing that as long as a musician doesn’t try to imitate someone else, they will immediately be seen as unique, he expresses himself through a variety of musical styles. “The five songs on this CD are each a different style.” He explains that the song “Thrive” is a modern pop rock song; “Today I Saw Hope” is folk; “Barricades” is more on the adult contemporary side with a hint of jazz; “Fair” is softer rock and “A Modern Tale” is a low tempo ballad.
“I believe that when we try our hardest and stay determined that life will eventually reward us.” Admitting that most musicians at one point in time or other have most likely fantasized about playing in sold-out arenas, he is quick to add, “I have come to believe that every success, however big or small, should be celebrated.” Further explaining that whether he’s playing a small venue for twenty people or he receives a positive comment from a listener on YouTube, to Katz everything matters. “It’s those little successes along the way that keep me driven. Life is about the journey, not the destination.”
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