SIGNING STORIES
HOLLIS BROWN THE STAVES Date Signed: Winter 2011 Label: Atlantic Records Type of Music: Folk Pop Band Members: Camilla, Emily, Jessica Stavely-Taylor Management: Sumit Bothra Booking: Adam Voith, adam@billions.com Legal: Erica Bellarosa Publicity: christina.kotsamanidis@atlanticrecords.com Web: http://thestaves.com A&R: Gregg Nadel
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n their pre-Atlantic Records days, the musical careers of the three sisters Stavely-Taylor (Camilla, Emily, Jessica) were not unlike that of any other artists. They made home recordings. They wrote songs together at their mother’s kitchen table. They earned only enough to finance the next tour. But the Staves’ heavily harmonized folk pop was beguiling enough to attract the attention of both Glyn Johns (Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin) and Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Tom Jones), separately, and prompt the producers to pass along the English trio’s music to Atlantic Records. “They asked us if we were interested in talking to a label,” vocalist Emily says. “We hadn’t really thought about it. Ethan had just worked with Paolo Nutini, who was with Atlantic. He said the label seemed to be very artist-focused and was better than any other label he’d worked with.” Atlantic liked what they heard, and after attending one of the Staves’ performances in London, the label offered the band a deal on the spot. Emily says she doesn’t recall many details of the meeting, only that it was promising enough to accept the offer. “The thing I remember
“Having grown up together, we know what it’s like to be in the car with each other for 12 hours." about the deal is that they were so compromising. There was such a willingness to make it work.” As sisters making music professionally, Emily says they had to navigate the relationship between family unit and band as well as the new relationship with Atlantic. “Having grown up together, we know what it’s like to be in the car with each other for 12 hours. We know how to communicate with minimum dialogue. That can be very helpful in getting stuff done creatively or business-wise, it also means that you kind of have to work at being professional with each other when you need to be. And the three of us had to learn to let other people in and trust that other people are ok as well.” Following a handful of EPs with Atlantic, the Staves released their debut LP, Dead & Born & Grown, late last year, on which the father-andson Johns producers collaborated for the first time. —Jessica Pace
Date Signed: Dec. 29, 2012 Label: Alive Records Type of Music: Americana / Alt-Rock Band Members: Mike Montali, guitar, vocals; Jon Bonilla, lead guitar, vocals; Dillon DeVito, bass; Mike Graves, drums Management: Albert Barabas Booking: Jon Bell / New Frontier Touring, 615-321-6152 Legal: John Rybicki Publicity: Sarah Avrin / Girlie Action Media, sarah@girlie.com Web: http://hollisbrown.com A&R: Patrick Boissel
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he sounds of rough and tumble blues, southern rock, traditional country, vintage Neil Young and John Fogerty are not musical touchstones necessarily associated with New York City. But that is, indeed, where hometown boys Hollis Brown originate from. Their journey to getting signed with Burbank, CA-based Alive Records was, much like their music, a very natural and organic one. “We recorded a full album independently in Nashville with producer Adam Landry,” says guitarist-vocalist Montali. “We released a few songs from that session and put out an EP in April/May of 2012. One of Alive’s bands, the Buffalo Killers, and us share the same booking agent. They recommended we send the label our record and they were very receptive.” On the strength of that EP, Hollis Brown toured extensively and received strong press on it. That four-song release led to Alive picking up and issuing their current album Ride on the Train. Staying in vogue with the classic and rustic style of the music, the band chose to eschew the digital realm in favor of going analog tape, with minimal overdubs.
“We still own all our songs and they were very lenient with us keeping the rights to our music.” “We’ve done the whole Pro Tools thing and made everything neat and nice,” explains Montali. “But I don’t really think it fits our band sound and how we are. We have more of a direct-to-tape kinda sound. It’s rock & roll, you know!” With songs like the soulful and empathic “Cold City” and the heartfelt “Gypsy Black Cat” you sense the aesthetic of Hollis Brown is all about community and dealing with others on an honest and very open level. And, apparently, that is the kind of relationship they have with the folks at Alive. “We still own all our songs and they were very lenient with us keeping the rights to our music,” says lead guitarist Bonilla. “They wanted us to release the album the way we did it,” continues Montali. “We felt really comfortable with them and they encouraged us to be the artists that we are. They’re gonna promote the record properly and are established at getting bands on the radar. It’s the right opportunity at this time and it’s been great so far. I think people that like a lot of the roster bands on Alive would like us also.” —Eric A. Harabadian March 2013
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