"Joker and the Queen," the third LP by Hollus is an incredible departure for the energetic Chicago sextet. Playing like a soundtrack to an American road trip, Hollus has managed to blend heartfelt backwoods Americana, bombastic spontaneity, and a forward motion to their sound and storytelling, that has fans raving.
Hollus is the product of guitar player and lead songwriter Michael Lux-Sauer, who started the group as a solo project under the same name in 2001. Calling on Quiet Melon vocalist and friend Jamison Acker, they began penning songs with the intention of smashing the apathy and mediocrity of what was being heard in the rock scene at the time. Once drummer Matthew "Bones" Perryman and bassist Sean Blythe were added a week later, it was apparent that this was not Lux's group, but a completely focused unit of musicians working together.
It was clear by the time that Hollus went into the recording studio six months after their birth, that their fusion of 60's psychedelia, raw rock n roll, sweet blues and glitter glam, reminescent of groups as diverse as The Small Faces to The Stooges, had become something not just transcendent, but something momentus. This moment was “Bombs,”(2006) quickly followed by “Good Sons”(2007). The group recorded both records themselves in an abandoned mattress factory in the country, and the dead-alive, up-all-night raw energy that surrounds the sessions is engrained in the recordings. They believe that just as they made it for free, anyone should be able to listen to it for free, so they make these records available for download at no cost.
After taking a hiatus in 2007 due to losing bass player Sean Blythe, Lux-Sauer ventured to Nashville, Tennessee. Coming home with an enlightened appreciation for old country music and storytelling, Acker and Perryman joined him in their studio to begin tracking. They enlisted Steepwater Band members Tod Bowers and Jeff Massey to collaborate on bass and guitar, and in a few months time, Hollus had completed recording what would be their most diverse and concise record yet, "Joker and the Queen." The record was released on Christmas 2008 and has already garnered acclaim and air play on Chicago's WXRT.
The crowds of people that have come to see Hollus at Chicago landmarks like The Double Door, The Abbey, and The Cubby Bear all seem to agree that Hollus is the epitome of a live rock n' roll show. Acker's howling shatters the front lines, while Lux's crafted haphazard blues lights up the stage, all in perfect energy with Perryman's loose-cannon, Kenney-Jones-esque drumming. With the addition of lead bass player Colin Mulhern, and live players Derek Porter (keyboards, guitars), and Katie Brandt (backing vocals, percussion), Hollus is truly a soulful live powerhouse, and with a great back catalogue and a fantastic new record, they are set to make a lot of noise in the rock world.
"Hollus is a group that is unstoppable at this point; a band that can produce revelations as easily as they can produce songs. In a stagnant music culture that finds Michael Jackson's relocation to Bahrain and Nick and Jessica's divorce more interesting than anything happening on music store shelves, Hollus is more than a breath of fresh air. It's a new life force."
-(Paul Snyder writer for Vital Source Magazine)
