Katagory5

The Pensacola News Journal-The Weekender--Interview by Meagan Outzen.



Katagory 5 has had a few changes in the lineup since the band firstcame together in 2006, which has been "the whole hold up on us being agreat band." Now, Katagory 5 members Jamie Dupre (lead vocals), Todd Rines (guitar), Keith Weeden (bass) and Donnie Coates (drums) are finally ready to bring the full force on Pensacola.

"We're a real band now," Dupre said. "We were kind of shaky the first year and a half."
"Now we're all right here and we've been through the really bad stuff andnow everything seems to be good for us," Rines added. "We're all comfortable with each other and we're all comfortable on stage."
When Katagory 5 first became a band, they entered in a Battle of the Bands competition in October 2006 at the River Run in Milton, and won best band. Last year, Katagory 5, with all its current members, entered a competition representing the National Niemann-Pick Disease Foundation.On May 30, they competed against nine other bands in Battle of the Basement at CJ's Basement in Crestview, where they took home another award for best band. It was the band's first all-original performance.
"We stayed to the very end and supported all the bands, because that's what you do," Rines said. "And at the end when they said Katagory 5, I looked at the guys I was talking to and said, 'dude I'm sorry but"»'(motions running on stage). It was a real surprise."
Weeden also took home a trophy for best bass player that night.
"I couldn't have done it without them though," Weeden said. "People always told me I was good, but I was never really in a good enough band to let it go. Once I got in a good band, it all stared to work right and everybody agreed that I was good and (the win) just confirmed it. It made me feel really good."
Katagory 5 is mostly a rock cover band, but they also have a few originals they've been working on. They are in the process of recording an original CD, from which the first single, "Early Gray," will be released Wednesday. Each member contributes to every song, as Rines comes up with the guitar rift,Weeden arranges the music, Dupre writes the lyrics and Coates creates the drum beats.
The band also plans on creating a cover demo "to get us gigs," which is set to be released late in 2009.
It wasn't long after Hurricane Ivan hit when Dupre and Rines were starting to put together the band, and the two went out one night to Intermission and were trying to come up with a good name to represent them as a band.
"We kept getting hit by all these storms and all this damage and everything was screwed up," Rines said. "We thought(Katagory 5) would be a cool name. Then we got so drunk we forgot it."
It wasn't until two weeks later when they finally remembered the name that fit perfectly for a band from the Gulf Coast.
"We were so excited when we thought about it at the bar," Dupre said. "(We were like), 'K5, that's awesome.' Then we were like, 'what the hell was the name we came up with?' "
But Katagory 5 isn't just a band name. It's the energy that surrounds the four of them and the force that they bring with them.
"I think we're very powerful and in your face," Weeden said. "We're not like every other cover band. We don't sound like any other bands. We sound like Katagory 5. It's got more punch. Nobody leaves (in the middle of a show). If they come in the door, they're going to be there until we're packing our stuff up."
Katagory 5 will be performing at the Malibu Lounge, 1000 Gulf Beach Highway, at 9:30 p.m. today and Saturday. - The Pensacola News Journal-The Weekender--Interview by Meagan Outzen.