Hook the captain breathes new life into the electronic and pop genres. Fusing elements of trance, house and pop, the captain works tirelessly to create a powerful blend of sleek sounds that are both underground and accessible. From the stylistic downtempo lo-fi beats and ghostly electronic soundscapes of "take me away," to the darker unstoppable house grooves of "temple,"(climax) and "liquid heart," (ovenready), the captain has a sound all his own. Drawing on a love for warm ambient sounds, dope disco beats, and tweaked out human voices, there is little question why this master of the hook is shooting straight to stardom.


A do-it yourself rock star, pounding out hits from his one bedroom apartment/recording studio, the Captain lives, eats and sleeps, on the Underground Pulse. A rising force in the dance music underground, his recurring slogan, says it all: "Hook. He's the Pants."™ So will we all fall subject to the Hook.

Hailing from Washington DC, Justin Katz is a true pioneer of tight house grooves, downtempo beats and killer song productions of all styles. From breaks to progessive or tech house, to tribal, to trip hop, to drum and bass, the captain has been acclaimed in nearly every genre to date.

Stay Tuned for "Reach" being released this winter on Climax. Reach is expected to have strong international support from John Digweed on Kiss FM, Sander Kleinenberg, Jondi & Spesh, Nick Warren, James Zabiela, Chris Cargo, Greg Vickers,Mike Shawe, Steve 'Jawa' Parry, Brian Stillwater, Hernan Cantaneo, Moussa Clarke, Saeed and Palash, Ali and Sharam of Deep Dish, and other high profile DJ's from Balance Promote US, Yoshitoshi, and Choo Choo Records.

Also Keep an eye out for future Climax Releases "Temple" and "Whatever." Expect "The Way You Like It" to be released in March on D-pulse and Liquid Heart to be released on Ovenready Productions with a dope remix on the flipside by Chicago's own Gray Area recently signed to Hope Recordings.


Based on his unrelased productions for climax and ovenready in the UK, Hook the captain has already been acclaimed in MUZIK magazine under his UK alias J-punch, Recieved a solid 5/5 in BPM culture Magazine for his last EP, and hoardes of Climax and OvenReady promos of dark and dirty tribal / tech-house tunes, including the captain's own, are currently enjoying plays by DJ superstars all over the world.



Not only is the captain headed straight for the big leagues in the dance industry, but he has been placed in the spotlight on the forefront of the multimillion user Kazaa Network. Kazaa is the world's largest peer to peer software sharing service. From over 12,000 artists, Hook was chosen not only to be featured on the front page of the Network, but his track "Temple," was actually used for the DEMO of the entire program being showcased to over 35 million people. When interviewed by the New York Times, about Popular Artists Bjork's Potential concerns regarding his music being associated on the Kazaa Network's Search engine with her Artist name and persona, the captain told the times, "I don't think she will mind, because my music is so awesome. If my music wasn't so awesome, she might care, but since it IS so awesome, I think she will like it, if she were to, say read this."

Recent live performances included playing with Rusted Root and other high profile Clear Channel Entertainment Acts in large 2500 + person venues. In addition the Captain and his local crew, have together been offered over 8 residencies and are planning on comandeering the entire local nightlife scene in the washington D.C. area in the coming year.

Historically, the captain has been featured in Just about every Press imaginable in DC including on the front page of the prestigious DC City Newspaper Arts Section. He can constantly be found schmoozing with the local DJ's, deblousing the local ladies, and every once in a while, writing reviews for various magazines including BPM Culture Magazine and DJmixed.com. A full length album, "BANG TO THIS" is scheduled to be released sometime this year.



Pop critic for the Washington Post, David Segal, recently wrote an article featuring the Captain and local crew Deep Dish in the Post's own Sunday Magazine on November 3, 2002 and interviewed the Dish about the captain. Segal Reported, "I asked if they would take a minute to give a new song by Justin Katz a listen. For an anonymous bedroom producer, this was like an audience with the pope. They agreed, and a tune called 'Temple' filled up the room.

There was a long silence.

"This is pretty good," said Ali, looking intrigued. "Is this guy signed?"