This I know: the Next Big Thing in music will come from the United States Gulf Coast. I know this because I watch The Uncharted Zone, featuring Phil Thomas Katt.
The Uncharted Zone is a weekly television show that airs on public access channels in the shit-hot Northwest Florida markets of Pensacola, Novarre Beach and Bagdad, as well as on YouTube. The operation is run by painfully earnest former radio DJ Phil Thomas Katt and some guy named Tommy Robinetti, the Anton LaVey of meth.
Katt apparently rose to fame (this right here, for perspective, is probably his peak) by recording songs on his answering machine in the 80s, which were called literally hundreds of times by dozens of people. Then, like Mickey Rourke’s character in The Wrestler, Katt and Ko. had a shitty time in the 90s and now make everyone sad. How? By producing music videos like this one:
Or doing news reports like this:
Or eating ‘exotic meats’ with tails, which are almost definitely mice:
And, of course, by spawning dad rock sensation Mark Gormley:
This isn’t archival material either – Katt turns out singles as fast as Guns and Roses doesn’t, last adding to his substantial YouTube oeuvre about two days ago. Assuming this whole thing isn’t hilariously unsuccessful performance art, you can commission your very own Uncharted Zone video for $100, all-inclusive.
Reader Comments
February 2nd, 2009
7:59 pm
Thankyou so much for this, Gormley, Katt and Robinetti have made me feel right good x
June 6th, 2009
10:11 pm
Phil Thomas Katt grew up wanting to music videos in the worst way. Unfortunately he succeeded.
Kidding aside, I actually feel kinda bad for this Katt dawg, he’s been slogging away for decades, fighting the good fight in a microscopic market. Attending every karaoke bar and music festival, pounding the pavement with his own demos, some going back to the ’70s… finally landing as a DJ and low budget video producer… and instead of spawning his own well-deserved cult, he launches Mr. Awkward Charisma himself, Mark Gormley.
While Mark is unquestionably more musically talented, he’s hardly paid the kind of dues that PTK has. Mark recorded a demo in the late 70s, re-recorded a few tracks apparently at home on a four-track in the mid-80s, and just made his Katt Productions videos for a lark. Yet when the call from Kimmell came, it wasn’t for poor PTK…