Hollis Brown is a band from Queens, formed by singer/guitarist Mike Montali and lead guitarist Jonathan Bonilla. The band has been together 10 years, during which it’s released an EP and two albums, along with a Record Store Day tribute to the Velvet Underground’s ‘LOADED’ album. The group has toured extensively in the U.S. and Europe, both on its own and supporting the likes of Citizen Cope, Counting Crows, Jesse Malin, Jackie Greene, The Zombies, and many more. Their music has been featured in films such as “Bad Country” and on TV series such as Showtime’s “Shameless,” DirecTV’s “Kingdom” and MTV’s “Real World.”
Hollis Brown is a hard working rock ‘n’ roll band. In other words, they’re a group that lives up to the blue-collar legacy of their hometown. But, as evidenced on their new album, ‘Ozone Park’, there’s also a great deal of sophistication in the mix with rich melodicism and advanced harmonics that allows Hollis Brown to blend a wealth of influences into their own distinctive sound. “I think with this record we wanted to make a statement,” explains Montali. “Rock music can still be done in a modern way that is still as good as some of those acts from the past.”
Making ‘Ozone Park’ with producer Adam Landry in Fort Myers, Hollis Brown enjoyed exploring new areas of the recording process by mixing analog and digital technologies, as well as the sound of four musicians playing together in one room. Montali and his mates are proud of the real band sound they achieved on ‘Ozone Park’. “We really developed how these songs would sound with just the four of us before we even went into the studio,” Montali shares.”I think we’re in a really good place now. We want to keep the ball rolling and making music we believe in.”
