To the beat of his own drumming: The Dip’s Jarred Katz comes home for show at the Knitting Factory
The Dip may be wrapping up yet another round of national touring, but the Washington-born and -based band is returning to the Northwest and Spokane for a homecoming of sorts. This is especially true for drummer Jarred Katz.
Growing up in Spokane, it was Katz’s connections within the city that fostered his deep connection to the drums to begin with. He took to the instrument at age 13, when he got connected with Tad Morris. Morris was a student attending Gonzaga University at the time, but he would also teach aspiring drummers like Katz.
Katz recalled Morris almost immediately telling him to listen to the best of James Brown and to learn the songs featuring legendary drummer Clyde Stubblefield inside and out. Considering Katz is now a full-blown funk and R&B drummer, it’s safe to say the advice went the distance.
“He just made learning drums so exciting and fun, kind of your dream scenario when you’re trying to find a footing in a new instrument and take that first leap when you’re younger,” Katz said. “Having somebody who made the instrument so captivating and so fun to learn like that is such an influential part of my sort of musical journey.”
Katz then ended up studying with Morris’ own teacher and instructor at Gonzaga University, Daniel Cox, throughout his high school years at Lewis and Clark. It was during these teenage years that Katz credits his zeal for the drums not only emerging, but blossoming into what would become his lifelong passion as well.
“It was really cool to have great teachers in Spokane who push you and make you better,” Katz said.
Although Katz was fully committed to the drums, it was with heavy caution that he entered the University of Washington’s music program. He had heard a plethora of “horror stories” from older musicians who had furthered their musical education or attempted to make a living off their instrument, being told of the intense difficulties and the enjoyment being stripped from them.
It didn’t take long for Katz to realize those struggles would be far from his reality. He connected with highly supportive professors and made fast friends with his fellow music peers, so much so that he was soon playing show after show with a specific group. They would play more jazz-based, avant-garde music at their school recitals and nearby cafes, but realized this more complex music wasn’t the most “accessible” for those outside of the music program.
The group began to take their jazz teachings and mesh it with the likes of R&B, soul, jazz and funk to cover familiar favorites. In fact, one of their first of many house party performances consisted of Amy Winehouse covers in a basement.
When a “friend of a friend” introduced singer and guitarist Tom Eddy to the group, they had finally become the Dip, even if they didn’t know it just yet.
“We were just playing covers at house parties just for fun, just to get to know each other better, to explore music we liked,” Katz said. “It was very simple, we did not have many goals, maybe like, ‘OK, we’ll have fun at this party and then, yeah, what else?’ ”
After a year or two, the band finally decided to start writing and recording their own material and even touring – although Katz is the first to admit those first original songs were far from fully developed and they played to more than a few rough crowd turnouts.
Now, a little over 10 years later, this is far from the case.
Their latest project, last year’s 11-track record “Love Direction,” is a silky-smooth powerhouse of experimentation, modern soul and jazz roots that may just be the Dip’s strongest body of work yet. A good chunk of the album was recorded in Los Angeles instead of their home-studio in Seattle, which allowed for more personal freedom and focus on performance instead of acting as musicians, producers and engineers simultaneously.
“It was kind of freeing to be able to focus on the arrangements and the performance and really just trying to capture that magic in the studio that oftentimes, if you do too many takes of something, is kind of gone,” Katz said. “It showed that we could step in a slightly different direction but still feels and sounds like a same old Dip record.”
On the touring side of things, their listeners show up to the concert halls they play on the road night after night. They have also been on the bill of many large festivals, such as San Francisco’s Outside Lands, and have supported groups like the Black Pumas (with Lake Street Dive and the Red Clay Strays soon to come).
As the second leg of the “Love Direction Tour” wraps up, the Dip will be playing the Knitting Factory on Friday as Katz returns to Spokane.
“This’ll be a really fun moment, just coming to this spot that people grew up going to,” Katz said. “It’s always good being back home, and it’s going to be fun.”