Over the last decade Hollis Brown have been chugging steadily along, putting in their time on the road and releasing albums of solid and catchy rock and roll. Recently the band dropped their new LP Ozone Park, which is easily their most adventurous to date. Compared to their earlier work, which was rooted more in Americana and folk rock, Ozone Park soars with a poppier, more soulful sound. Each song sounds like a single, inviting the listener to crank it up and dance along. It’s also to hear a range of influences throughout the album, and lucky for us, the members of Hollis Brown are happy to divulge who some of those influences are with a track-by-track breakdown.
“Blood From A Stone”
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Hands down the best band of the 90s! “Blood From A Stone” is directly influenced by these California rock n roll gods.
“Stubborn Man”
Counting Crows: After touring with Crows we really started to embrace our pop side. The Crows are great at making credible pop rock, something we’ve been working on recently. “Stubborn Man” is just a fun pop song we wanted to share with our fans.
“She Don’t love Me Now”
Jesse Malin: We first heard this song while touring with Jesse in the U.K. We immediately fell in love with it and began covering it once we got back to the states. It was really a natural process. Mike started playing the chords and we all jumped on it without thinking too much about it.
“Do me Right”
Bruce Springsteen: Bruce has a way of painting a portrait with words. I always felt this song could be on the album Nebraska. It’s a folk song at heart.
“After The Fire”
Bill Frisell: Bill has a way of creating beautiful soundscapes. I tried to imitate his approach by drowning my guitar with reverb and delay. It’s our first instrumental and serves as an intro to the next song.
“Forever In Me”
Bruce Sudano: Bruce wrote this song for the band. We instantly fell in love with it. Bruce has served as a mentor to the band for the last few years. His songwriting has a sensitivity that you cannot teach, it’s a natural gift.
“Someday Soon”
Wilco: We worked on this song while on tour in Europe. It’s sort of a dreamy pop song. I always felt the tune had a Wilco vibe. A rocker with a sensitive approach.
“The Way She Does It”
The Beatles: This might be the closest we’ve gotten to writing the perfect song. The Beatles are probably our biggest influence, they have a way of writing music that sounds effortless. “The Way She Does” reminds me of a song off Abbey Road.
“Bad Mistakes”
Stone Temple Pilots: STP was my first inspiration. They represented what a real rock ’n’ roll band was supposed to look, sound, and act like. The first time I saw them live — at Hammerstein Ballroom in 2003 — it was like a religious experience. I wanted the fans of Hollis Brown to feel the way I did when Scott Weiland stepped on my shoulder while singing “Sex Type Thing” that night.
“Go For It”
Run DMC: As Queens natives we grew up loving RUN DMC. The beats of songs like “The King of Rock” and “Rock Box” are always in the backs of our minds as we write our own music. It was an incredible honor to perform with DMC — from our performance at Brooklyn Bowl and our Charity Christmas show at Coney Island Baby in 2018.
