Back, way back, before America was America, there were songs. Songs about drinking and death and regret and fear and anger and love. These songs have been all around the world. Each new generation in each place tinkers with them a bit, changing up the words and melodies, making them louder or softer or faster or slower.
Brian McGee hasn't died yet, but has done and felt all those other things in spades. And until he does die, these songs are his. They are in his lungs and in his hands.
This is the first time Brian McGee has stepped out solo, since the break-up of his Pennsylvania punk rock trio PLOW UNITED, in 1997. In 1999 he moved to Western North Carolina to emerse himself in country music and learn about guitar, banjo, and furniture building. He spent time in dance halls, barrooms and woodshops which over the course of time, had an effect on the vocabulary of his songs. This vocabulary reflects both traditional and modern American music vernacular of which Brian had not only listen to, but also lived through. With his new band, THE HOLLOW SPEED, Brian McGee is taking parts of punk rock and country music and rubbing them together to ignite his rock and roll which some may call alt.country or folk rock. Call it what you will, Brian McGee & The Hollow Speed pour on the heat and tug on the heart with a live show that has crisscrossed genres. Whether they are playing noisey bars, tourist filled street corners, punk shows or listening rooms, McGee and co. deliver. And this constant consistent delivery is leaving a trail of people talking...and talking alot.
It all started in 2005 when Brian moved back to city of Asheville after living in the sticks of Mitchell County NC for two and half years. With a small bank of original songs, he began hitting the open-mics at the Westville Pub and the Town Pump to ease his way back to the stage. He recorded an eight song demo in October 2005 and was booked to play his first Asheville gig for January 2006 before he had a band assembled. McGee rounded up fiddler Darin Gentry, guitar/banjo player David Hughes, and brought thier Uncle Pappy out of retirement to play bass...all to perform under the name "The Brian McGee Band." They quickly began playing every bar, BBQ joint, and back yard party they could. From Asheville to Chapel Hill to Johnson City, they played McGee's original alt. country songs, Gentry's West Virginia fiddle tunes, Hughes's Piedmont Blues and brought bass player and tenor singer Chris Lovejoy into the mix, after Uncle Pappy went back into retirement.
In the summer of 2006 Brian McGee and Darin Gentry hit the road for a tour into New England. They stopped in Pennsylvania & Delaware to play punk shows and busked Union Square in NYC. For a week, they played the bars of New Hampshire and the streets of Portland Maine with NH bass player Mary Dellea. After returning from this trip, McGee decided to change the name of the band to "Brian McGee & The Hollow Speed" and saw an album on the horizon of what was to come next. The band continued to play and play and play into 2007 when David Hughes announced he would be going back to school in Raleigh and Chris Lovejoy was leaving the band to settle down.
With line-up changes never being easy, it all came at the right time...right after studio time had been booked at Collapseable Studios in Asheville. For the studio session, Brian had Darin Gentry on fiddle, David Hughes on slide/banjo (just before he moved), and he employeed Cary Fridley (former Frieghthoppers) to play bass and sing as well as Brian Landrum (Black Eyed Dog, Tyler Ramsey) to play drums. They recorded 14 songs in 16 hours in July 2007 with Jeff Knorr engineering the session. Eleven of those songs were mixed by Jeff and Brian in October, and mastered by Dave Harris @ Studio B Mastering (Southern Culture On The Skids, The Rosebuds, Two Dollar Pistols) in Charlotte NC, for a CD that has been released this February 2008.
Brian McGee & The Hollow Speed are continuing to hit the road in support of this record with tours taking them all over the East Coast. McGee is also playing solo shows with other Asheville songwriters for itimate "in-the-round" concerts that have a VH-1 Storytellers feel to them. The band has shared the stage with THE EVERYBODYFIELDS, TWO DOLLAR PISTOLS, ANDY FRIEDMAN & THE OTHER FAILURES, IAN THOMAS & THE DIXIE BEE-LINERS...to name a few. Look for them in your town and/or contact them @ [email protected] to book a show.
"...he held it all together under a rough, raw-souled vocal, howling, growling and wailing style that suited roadhouse blues as well as brokenhearted country.............They made the audience wonder who was having more fun, the crowd or the band rocking in the groove of guitar and bass and hypnotizing fiddle..."-Michelle Moon, The WIRE, 8/2/06, New Hampshire
"...McGee approaches the country and punk genres with class and care, penning tunes that satisfy both genres, but that don't sell out to either one..."-TAKE 5 Asheville Citizen Times, 4/14/08 North Carolina
"...Brian McGee's music is raw Americana. He sounds like the child of Woody Guthrie, raised by Joey Ramone..."-Kim Clark, DJ & host of LOCAL COLOR @ WNCW 88.7fm
"...If you took the gritty charm of old-school country and injected it with the drive of punk rock, you might well end up with something very close to the music of Brian McGee and The Hollow Speed..."-Mountain Xpress, 2/13/08, North Carolina
"...this CD has that, greaser, punk rock, beer drinker holding up his bottle from the back of the room feel. “Hawk On The Highway†is a song that is covered in dirt and has the feeling of a shot of whiskey. The playing is top of the line. There are great grooves and fiddle playing without being too pop or too contrived. “Hell Is Open All Night†is a classic song to end a disc. If you like the country meets rockabilly sound, try this..."-Frank F.O.E., Freedom Of Expression Zine 2/23/08, Pennsylvania
"...Brian McGee and the Hollow Speed’s self titled debut album combines Americana, a little anger, and a couple saloon doors to hell....Rarely heard today, the group is inspired by storytelling reflected in their narrative lyrics. The aggressive delivery of the music with the sweet old fashioned titles like “Two Dollar Jacket†and “Hawk on the Highway†make you want to invite the whole band over for lemonade spiked with vodka..."- Liz Tomasetti, southcoast247.com, 3/15/08, Massachusetts
