From managing the Burrito Buggy to playing gigs at The Blue Gator, different members of ekoostik hookah have kept ties with Athens since the '80s.
The sextet is composed of Dave Katz (acoustic guitar, keyboards, vocals), Eric Lanese (drums, vocals), Ed McGee (vocals, rhythm guitar), Johnny Polansky (percussion), Cliff Starbuck (bass, vocals) and Steve Sweney (lead guitar).
Polansky attended Ohio University from 1986 to 1990, studying dance, music and bio-chemistry. He performed with a group of students from the School of Music in an ensemble called have Paint
will Paint while attending OU and also managed the Burrito Buggy and the Pizza Buggy.
I definitely think we should play Athens more often he said.
Starbuck also performed in Athens in a band with Sweney, before they joined ekoostik hookah, calling Athens kind of the first place I ever played outside of Columbus.
The current formation of hookah has evolved over the band's 10-year-plus life span.
High school friends Starbuck and Sweney joined Katz and former members Steve Frye and Shawn Mullins (of Lullaby fame).
Lanese, McGee and Polansky joined the band at various times during the 1990s.
The band's sound also is evolving, Starbuck said, with a goal to make it more diverse.
We try to keep the songs free enough so that they don't get stale
he said.
Hookah's music has a whole lot of variety and is a party kind of vibe
Starbuck said.
We've got a lot of happy songs
Polansky said.
Starbuck counts hookah within the label of a jam band - that contains such acts as Dave Matthews Band and Phish.
If there's such a thing as a jam band
we're definitely one of them
he said.
Polanksy noted the band does not sound like Phish or The Grateful Dead, though he said hookah also uses improvisation and solos.
Hookah's sound is the result of the six members bringing different influences and their different backgrounds into the mold.
Starbuck said the varying musical influences of each member of the band allow hookah to appeal to a broader audience, and create more of a well-rounded sound.
Todd Justus, publicist for the band, compared their following to that of Phish and The Grateful Dead, where a lot of the fans will travel pretty much anywhere to see the band play.
This includes Amsterdam, where the band is traveling to play three shows in March.
Along with performing nationally and internationally about 130 nights a year, hookah also has a festival in Kirkersville, Ohio, titled Hookahville.
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