Happy New Year!

Well, another good year gone, and we’re looking forward to an even better one in 2008. Many thanks to all of you who supported us. It’s your smiling faces that motivate us to keep doing what we do. It was great running into people that we hadn’t seen in years, and fantastic to see so many new faces out at the shows. Of course, it’s always nice to see all of you who have steadily been with us throughout the years. 2008 promises to be a year that’s full of great times. We’ll be doing the usual shows at Nelson Ledges, Sunshine Daydream, The Newport, and of course, Hookahville. We’ll also be revisiting some old venues like The Agora in Cleveland, and the new/old Monkey Bar in Huntington, WV. We’ll be down North Carolina way, and back out in Colorado, California, and Alaska. And that’s just a small part of what’s on the agenda, so keep an eye out for us, and hopefully we’ll see each other soon. Meanwhile, have a wonderful and safe New Year!

ekoostik hookah

Latest Schwamail

..is right here!

Under Full Sail: It All Comes Together

ekoostik hookah's NEW CD, Under Full Sail: It All Comes Together is out!

ekoostik hookah has readied its first studio album in five years---and first since founding guitarist John Mullins’ unexpected return---Under Full Sail: It All Comes Together. The two-disc set features a mix of recording techniques: the album’s first disc is pure in-studio, while the album’s second disc was recorded ‘live in studio.’ The album’s second disc was recorded in front of an audience of several hundred fans at Atlanta, Georgia’s Tree Sound Studios and features a complete reworked version of the group’s 1991 release Under Full Sail, as well as new songs, interviews and live DVD footage.

Read the jambands.com review or pick up a copy of the latest Relix, then get yourself a copy today!

October Schwamail

Check it out.....

Thanks for Another Great Hookahville

Hookahville 28 was a great time for all of us! Dubba's soundboard recordings of the shows are online now: Friday night's show | Saturday night's show. Enjoy, and thanks to all of you for coming out!

Speaking of Hookahville, Christian James' photos of Spring Hookahville 2007 have been posted. Friday | Saturday

New Videos

A couple of new videos are up: Freedom Flying from Hookahville with Stephan Mikes on sitar and Circle of the Moon, also from Hookahville, on our video page.

Hookah Tours the Newest States in '07 and '08!

We are pleased to announce two upcoming tours: Alaska (the 49th state) in August 2007 and Hawaii (the 50th state) in February of 2008. Alaska venues, hotel/camping information and ticket sales are now online. Check out our evolving tour page for all the info.

Hookahville XXVII will be held at Legend Valley on May 25-27 2007!

The final lineup for Hookahville has been announced!

Hookahville will be held on Friday and Saturday, May 25-26. Early bird is an additional $20pp and will be Thursday May 24th, and will have music. The festival ends on Sunday May 27th (no music that day).

Full lineup, ticketing, vending and all other information will be posted at legendvalley.net. See you there!

January 3, 2007

We would like to thank you all for your continued support. 2006 was an amazing year for us, and we are looking forward to what 2007 has in store. Over the next six weeks we will be on break, resting up for another year of shows. During that time we will be releasing our next recording, a two CD set of songs including new versions of all of the songs from Under Full Sail, as well as some previously unrecorded tracks. As we look ahead to seeing faces old and new, we wish you a happy and healthy 2007.

~Hookah

December 10, 2006

Check out our video page for a couple of new ones from Fall Hookahville courtesy of Yurple Bliss!

November 29, 2006

Our recent trip to Atlanta for the Under Full Sail: It All Comes Together project was a chance for us to connect with friends and fans both old and new, contend with revising the first album with ideas developed by years of playing, both together and apart, with ears that have changed with maturity and experience, and to do it all at a beautiful state of the art studio staffed with talented and thoughtful people.

We spent the first two days at Tree Sound working and recording in Studio A, the largest studio inside Tree. With time being a major factor to deal with we chose to record three songs from Under Full Sail along with three newer songs. The remaining songs from Under Full Sail, as well as a blend of older and newer songs, would be recorded during the live sessions in "The Cave".

Everyone seemed to enjoy the barbecue that Dave (not that Dave) had prepared each night and the warmth and comfort Paul and his staff had created for us caught on with everyone - it was not unlike a gathering at a close friend's home. As we played on Friday and Saturday nights folks were free to mingle in and out of the recording area and other parts of the studio and the whole thing was very relaxing for both the fans and the band.

We would like to thank everyone that was a part of the event, and at the top of that list would be Cary Romanoff and for having the vision to get the ball rolling and the abilities to make it happen. Cary was aided by his wife Lovisa and his assistant Ellen. We would also like to thank Shaun for engineering the sessions. Above and beyond just making sure the technical side of things was taken care of, he proved to be an ally artistically as well. Thanks again to Tree Sound owner Paul and his wife Sunshine, engineering assistants Wyatt, Travis, and Hobbes, Taryn the studio manager, Gaurav and Archna, Richard and his video crew, and of course everyone that came down for the music.

Information about the release and purchase of the cd and dvd is available at merchpurch.com. Check our website for dates we will be playing near you.

An interview and some clips from the shows are up as videos on our myspace page, enjoy!

~ ekoostik hookah

Older news items may be read here.

November 10, 2006

Pre-Orders Now Available for Next Hookah Studio CD:
We are excited to be heading down to Atlanta this week to work on our new studio (first one in four years!) and live double cd, and we are looking forward to seeing many of you there next weekend for our live-in-studio recording shows on the 17th and 18th!

The studio CD will contain all the songs on the original Under Full Sail disc plus an entire second disc with the highlighted tracks from the live studio recording sessions. The scheduled release date is December 31, 2006 ~ CDs will be available for pick up at hookah’s PromoWest New Year’s Eve show or can be shipped to your door. The first 300 pre-orders receive a copy autographed by the whole band!
Pre-order now! http://www.merchpurch.com/item.asp?PID=243

November 1st, 2006

We want to thank all of you that came out to celebrate Hookahween with us in the cold rain and snow this past weekend...you are TROOPERS! The Ledges was packed with coolest fans in the world!

October 27th, 2006

We're on our way up to Gory at the Quarry! This year, in addition to two nights of hookah, there are some incredible bands -our friends from Jamaica the Overtakers doing "Bluegrasstafari" with Snake Oil Medicine Show, The Chef Dave Band featuring Johnny Neel from the Allman Brothers, Burning River Band and many more....pack up the sleeping bags, layers, firewood, hats and gloves and come on out for our last festival of the year!! Costume night is Saturday and there are cash prizes, a chili cookoff and all kinds of Halloween fun.

September 29, 2006

We're pretty amped for Saturday's return to the Newport...it's been about a year and this is John's first time back with us there in about 10...this will be a very special night. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster and the Newport box office for $15, at the door it's $20. See you tomorrow!!

September 19, 2006

ekoostik hookah is now on myspace.com at www.myspace.com/officialhookah. Come check us out, listen to a tune, watch a video and meet like-minded friends!

September 4, 2006

What a Hookahville!! Thanks to Steve Trickle at Legend Valley and all of you, we had a fantastic weekend. Setlists are up on our page.

There's a lot coming up this fall....we are excited to get started on a new CD - half studio, half studio-live in Atlanta, Georgia.

We've got a bunch of shows coming up too, a few more festivals before the cold weather comes, a trip to Denver, a return to the Newport and a lot more. We'll see you out there!

August 15, 2006

We're back from Sunshine Daydream and Centennial Quarry near Toledo. We take a two week break after that then head to Chicago for the Riverview Music Festival with Umphreys McGee, Freddy Jones band and more. And then...on to Hookahville!

Speaking of Hookahville, the Hookahville GOLF Outing will be held on Wednesday, August 30th at 1PM at Raccoon Valley International Golf Course in Granville, Ohio. Get 3 friends, save the date and come play with us, it's always a good time. The game is a scramble (all play from the best shot) and you don't have to be good to have fun! Tickets are $31 per person and include 18 holes, a cart and a cookout afterwards! Please email Eric at ericlanese@yahoo.com if you plan to attend.

July 12, 2006

What a weekend in Indiana! A fine brand new festival, great bands, rambunctious fans and a lot of fun. Thanks to all for coming out. Next up: an indoor show at the historic Southgate House in Cincinnati on Friday July 21st and a festival show at The Chaffee Gathering near Erie, PA. on Saturday July 22nd.

New Set List Page

Set lists for all of 2006 are now appearing here at ekoostik.com on our new set lists page!

June 20, 2006

New video page

Our new  video page has several new clips from Hookahville 2006, have a look....

June 2, 2006

If wishes were "Pigs" it'd be Hookahville everyday!

What a great way to get the festie season started. Thanks to all of you for making it one for the books. The weather was challenging if not downright fun at some points. The vibe coming off the crowd was undeniably, positively ecstatic. And that, my Hookahvillans, is precisely where the magic happens. That indescribable energy exchange between band and audience that makes it all worthwhile. This ain't yer fathers Hookah! It's all yours!

What'say we do it again at the House of Blues in Cleveland on the 22nd...eh?

May 4, 2006

Hey folks,

This past weekend at Nelson Ledges was a great way of shaking off the chill of hiatus and kicking off the musical season ahead of us. Many thanks to Evan and Christina and the staff at NLQP for keeping everything cool, and hats off to all the other bands and musicians for making the weekend so easy to enjoy. And thanks to all of you that joined in the fun and made our show one of the highest attended weekends in the parks' history.

Your support and enthusiasm came through loud and clear, and we appreciate every bit of it. The response and excitement of the fans echoed the great time we were having onstage. If ever validation of our decided course was in question, one would only have to recall the vibe at the Ledges 4-28/29.

We'll see ya at Hookahville.

~eh

April 21st, 2006

It's almost time for Hookahville!!!

It's been a long break for ekoostik hookah and we're glad to see it end! Since the debut of the new/old ekoostik hookah at the weeklong Jamm in Jamaica festival, the band has set its sights on Hookahville 25. The gathering which all of you have been an integral part of has grown from a small, rural get-together for a few friends into one of the Midwest’s most talked about festivals.

Things are changing with Hookahville 25 as we leave the comfy confines of Frontier Ranch for the spacious setting of Legend Valley (formerly Buckeye Lake Music Center) and enjoy the evolution of hookah's lineup with the return of John Mullins to the band.

With 2 nights of hookah along with friends Yonder Mountain String Band, Blues Traveler, and many others, you know you want to go, so secure your tickets now at valley.inticketing.com. Advance tickets are just $70, $80 at the gate. Hookahville begins with early bird camping (an additional $20 per person) and live music on Thursday, May 25.

Golf Outing and Ride to Hookahville

An invitation from the band....

Hey there folks,

With Hookahville approaching it's time to clean off those clubs, check the oil in your bike and have a little pre-concert fun.

This year we are going to step it up a bit and play the golf scramble at beautiful Raccoon International golf course in Granville on Wednesday May 24th at noon. Cost for this event is $30 and that covers 18 holes, cart, two drink tickets (beer incl.), a sandwich and a snack. We do need to know how many golfers to expect, so if you want to join Mullins, Lanese and friends on the links, email Eric at ericlanese@yahoo.com before May 17th.

Also, we will be riding out to the Ville, as always, on Friday at around 1PM. Riders meet at the High Beck Tavern at the corner of High and Beck in Columbus between 11 and 1. Everyone is welcome, even if you just want to grab some lunch with the cool kids before they saddle-up and ride out on those bikes.

Hope to see ya there.

Hookahville Spring Training: Nelson Ledges Quarry Park – Garrettsville, OH -- April 28 – 30

Why wait for Hookahville? Head to The Ledges later this month to get 2 nights with Ekoostik Hookah & friends also with Hot Buttered Rum String Band, Kashmir, Sultans Of Bing, Burning River Band, Zen & more. Camping in the fine, wooded confines of Ohio’s friendliest park. www.nlqp.com

February 16th, 2006

ekoostik Hookah is happy and excited to announce the return of John Mullins to the band. We are looking forward to harnessing John's enthusiasm, learning his newer material and relearning the old. We anticipate good times ahead, sharing our music with our long-time friends and fans, and turning on more recent hookah fans to the music we have all been apart from for many years.

Our first shows with John will be in Jamaica as part of the Jamm in Jamaica festival March 25th to April 1st.. Information about travel and tickets is available at www.jamminjamaica.com. Our first shows stateside will be April 28th-30th at Nelson Ledges' Blossom Blast, and we are happy to announce that Hookahville will be Memorial Day Weekend at Legend Valley (formerly Buckeye Lake Music Center).

In the meantime, we continue to play with our solo/side projects: Dave Katz can be seen with his band Katz-n-Jammers, Steve Sweney with The Spikedrivers, Cliff Starbuck plays with Vince and some other folks from time to time and John Mullins has The Mullins Band.

ekoostik Hookah

Pigs fly, there’s ice-skating in hell, and monkeys might fly outta my posterior any minute. I’d never have thought it possible that I would once again be a member of ekoostik Hookah but here we are. Full circle. For me the timing couldn’t be better. I couldn’t have considered such a big commitment just one year ago. The rock gods have smiled upon me and I am gonna make the most of it.

I need to thank Dave, Eric, Cliff and Steve for inviting me back into the fold. It is a huge step and one that I take very seriously. These are musicians that I have the utmost love and respect for. In all earnestness I am getting up to speed with the newer material and find myself with new ideas for tunes screaming from all directions. This should prove to be a very productive time for me as a songwriter and as a musician in general.

Those coming out for the upcoming gigs will get nothing but the best of what I have to offer. I have gotten to know many Hookah fans over the years, many who came onboard after I was gone. Friendships have grown and these friends have helped me to where I find myself today.

Some questions about the ghosts of the past must be answered. The stories are out there. Some true, some ridiculous, some both. There have been times when I wasn’t fit to be on the stage. Remembering those times is just as important as not repeating them. Professionalism and devotion to the music are the standard. The fans deserve it and quite frankly, the band demands it. Not only of me but also of themselves. It is in this spirit that I am happy to return.

Ekoostikly Yours,

John Mullins