Aliver Hall

Artist Information

Biography

Hailing from Akron, Ohio, Aliver Hall brings rock and roll to its happy place, while at the same time getting down and dirty. Anthemic, uplifting energy characterizes the group's live show, which continues to leave audiences wanting more across Ohio and beyond. A fury of progressive rock drumming forms the foundation, while mind-blowing bass lines weave in and out of vintage-toned guitar rhythms. Lush vocal harmonies round out the band's sound, which features as much heady structure as loose improvisation and jamband-inspired soloing. While Aliver Hall is most at home on stage, they have released two studio efforts to date—"Welcome to Aliver Hall" and "Chasing the Rain"—that have been received with critical acclaim. Their first live album—"Live Summer and Fall 2011"—has also impressed critics, capturing the band's unique stage presence on the recording. Now in their third year together, the band is on track to play 60+ shows in 2012, and another studio effort is on the horizon.

Instrumentation

Alex Hall - Guitar / Vocals
Jim Tauscher - Guitar / Vocals
Jim Garibaldi - Bass
Lance Ballard - Drums

Discography

Self-titled EP - 2010
Welcome to Aliver Hall - 2011
Live Summer and Fall 2011 - 2011
Chasing the Rain - 2012

Official Website

http://www.aliverhall.com

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace
• ReverbNation

Audio

• 06 Smiling Backward
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• 10 From a Dream
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• 02 Mind Over Matter
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• Lines
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• Taking Over
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Lyrics

• Smiling Backward
• From a Dream
• Mind Over Matter
• Lines

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Down Here At the Grog Shop: The Lorax Tree w/ The Heights, RareBirds, and Aliver Hall [+ Show ]
  

  "The first band to play, Aliver Hall from Akron, greeted the crowd with an eclectic mix of energetic..."The first band to play, Aliver Hall from Akron, greeted the crowd with an eclectic mix of energetic jam pop rock that hinted at its classical influence playing a resonating cover of “Dear Prudence” I won’t soon forget."

• Aliver Hall: Self-Titled EP [+ Show ]
  

  What do you get when you mix The Doobie Brothers, Phish and the Counting Crows? You get the Akron-b...What do you get when you mix The Doobie Brothers, Phish and the Counting Crows? You get the Akron-based band, Aliver Hall. While Aliver Hall should be technically classified as a jam band, they definitely follow in the footsteps of some classic rock groups. Their improv solos have a rock n' roll feel that flows with the laid back, yet in-your-face, melodic harmonies, licks and guiding percussion that pays tribute to the summer of the 60s.
  
  Aliver Hall is a guitar and keyboard-based quartet with a relaxed steady backbeat. On the album, each instrument is well-balanced; no one is overshadowed by another. Each musician has talent and is showcased in their solos, something that is often rare in today's music scene.
  
  Lead singer and songwriter, Alex Hall, has a strong rock voice that can best be described as John Fogerty meets Lenny Kravitz. Hall's simple but poetic lyrics soften up the listener, allowing them to be easily sucked into the music. You'll catch yourself bobbing your head to this EP.
  
  With a grasp on today's music culture while still mindful of the music of the classic bands before them, Aliver Hall should be considered up-and-coming. Their EP is just a stepping stone to a full-length record featuring their current lineup.
  
  —E.M. Serensky

• Aliver Hall Gives a Big Hello with Welcome to Aliver Hall [+ Show ]
  

  With a blow of the didgeridoo and a bit of guitar, Welcome to Aliver Hall catches your attention fro...With a blow of the didgeridoo and a bit of guitar, Welcome to Aliver Hall catches your attention from the opening track. You can’t help but expect something amazing from these guys with an opening like that.
  
  Aliver Hall is a jam band out of Akron that specializes in the sort of rock that you’d love to drink a beer and chillax to.
  
  From the track “Caged” which provides a nice little summery, “sway your hips and sing along” sort of feel to the IWBH jam sessions, this album is interesting to say the least.
  Lead singer Alex Hall’s lyrics are something that really kept me going back to this album. Then you just add how amazing the band jives together and you just have this spectacular piece of work to listen to.
  
  My favorite track may be “Broken Impressions” where Hall goes ahead and wows us with his lyrical talents, proving that someone in this world uses those Word-a-Day calendars and really rocks at it. Then you throw in a quite a few chances for the band to show off their talents, with this kick ass guitar riff that keeps showing up that makes my bones tingle. And it was practically love at first sight.
  
  Welcome to Aliver Hall is definitely something to check out. From the classic jam band sound that can make anyone smile to the almost eerie jam session tracks, it’s just something fun to catch. Check out one song from this album and they’ll have you begging for more. Trust me on that one.

• Finding hope in a jam, Aliver Hall releases CD [+ Show ]
  

  There’s a moment in the 2000 Phish documentary “Bittersweet Motel” where a fan is asked why he likes...There’s a moment in the 2000 Phish documentary “Bittersweet Motel” where a fan is asked why he likes the jam band. The person’s response is, “Their music is full of freedom, and that’s what I’m looking for.”
  
  In a nutshell, that mind-set is what drives relatively new Akron-based band Aliver Hall — Alex Hall (guitar, vocals), Jim Tauscher (guitar, vocals), Matt “Bones” Johnson (drums) and Spencer Cutlip (bass) — on its recently released debut, “Welcome to Aliver Hall.”
  
  “The CD has been received really well,” said Cincinnati native Hall, who now calls Stow home.
  
  “Generally, the impression we get is people are more impressed than they expected to be before they actually listened to the thing. It’s one of those things, too, where we’ve got people coming to the show and singing along with the songs, so they’re clearly listening to it, which is really nice for us because we put a lot of hard work into writing and recording the thing, not to mention money.
  
  “It’s kind of a concept album, about 35 minutes long, and it consists of a few songs that I wrote both with the current lineup and a couple I wrote before the band was together. Separated by segues, the songs come together in a kind of concept format. Thematically, all of these songs do work together. It’s essentially, drugs are a metaphor for escapism and trying to tell people that there’s hope in this world in spite of what they may have previously thought.”
  
  Emanating from a jam-band aesthetic, Aliver Hall has received plenty of familiar comparisons from its new CD.
  
  There’s the obligatory Grateful Dead and aforementioned Phish, as well as being lumped into the progressive side of the genre alongside, say, Umphrey’s McGee.
  
  The group even has received a rock description, which draws comparisons to names such as moe and My Morning Jacket.
  
  Hall said some of his favorite new tracks include the energetic and driving “Caged” and the gritty “Smiling Backwards.”
  
  “One of the things I hear a lot is we sound like us,” Hall said. “Part of the reason we’ve done as well as we have this far along is people sort of respect we have our own sound. They see us as a band with its own sound, not trying to be something else, even if we are admittedly interested in jam-band music to a certain extent.”
  
  Local music fans will get to decide for themselves when Aliver Hall makes its Youngstown debut Saturday at the Lemon Grove.
  
  “Youngstown is one of those places where a lot of people come from there and see us play when we’re at the Beachland or when we had our CD-release show in Akron,” Hall said. “It’s kind of like we want to bring us to them instead of having to bring them to us.”
  
  Actually, one of those people who saw the band in Cleveland is responsible for the upcoming Lemon Grove show.
  
  “I was able to catch Aliver Hall at a show at the Beachland Ballroom, and they blew the crowd away,” said ruKusradio.com Promotions and Productions Director Jack Bradway. “They have a bluesy rock sound that really gets people moving.”
  
  Bradway said booking Aliver Hall now is a way to get the market familiar with the band, which will return this fall as part of the ruKus fest lineup.
  
  Hall believes the upcoming Youngstown show will find his group making a good first impression with the locals.
  
  “It’s very intense,” Hall said. “I don’t mean to beat my own drum here, but people tend to be mesmerized while I play the lengthy guitar solos. And there are solos for everybody in the band. I think it’s just that we’re one of those bands that you don’t go get a beer during the set. You stand right there; you jump around, and you just get into it because it’s loud and fun and uplifting."

• Aliver Hall brings jams to Musica in Akron [+ Show ]
  

  After settling on its current lineup less than a year ago, Aliver Hall -- Alex Hall (guitar, vocals)...After settling on its current lineup less than a year ago, Aliver Hall -- Alex Hall (guitar, vocals), Jim Tauscher (guitar, vocals), Matt "Bones" Johnson (drums) and Spencer Cutlip (bass) -- is quickly gaining attention in Northeast Ohio for its jam-band ways.
  
  "We always get the same response from people who have never heard us before," said Hall, a Cincinnati native who now calls Stow home.
  
  "They think the name is weird, and then we play, and everyone is your best friend, telling you how great you are. As gratifying as that is, it's interesting to see how people are."
  
  Further examination of human behavior can be found on the group's debut, "Welcome to Aliver Hall," a 35-minute concept album that draws inspiration from the unlikeliest of sources. "We've used the metaphor of drugs as a way to express the tendency for people to engage in escapism in contemporary society," Hall said. "So it's kind of like the jam-band response to the Nine Inch Nails' album 'Year Zero.' I've looked around, and there are aspects in our world which are extremely problematic.
  
  "The idea is within every person there is the possibility of critique and identification of these problems. So I've tried to put them out there so everybody can kind of get from it something they've identified as being problematic in the world and still, instead of descending into despair or apathy, they can come out of it with a sense of hope that they can actually facilitate the kind of change that's needed."
  
  Cerebral stuff indeed is what the Rubber City quartet has planned for its CD release show at 9 p.m. Saturday at Musica, 51 E. Market St., Akron. Local rock act Tyrohill is also releasing a new EP at the gig. Tickets are $6. Call 330-374-1114.

Setlist

Aliver Hall can play sets anywhere from thirty minutes to all night long. The band's sound is built on straightforward rock and roll, but with an improvisational edge, so songs can be stretched out depending on the mood and set length. A song list is below.

Originals:

Caged
Hope
Every Day
From a Dream
Taking Over
Blue Gene
Mind Over Matter
Chasing the Rain
Wishing Stones
Smiling Backward
Crazy
Broken Impressions
Shake and Fly
A Way to the Heart
Trainwreck
Melody Comes
Lines
Music
I Wanna Be High
I Wanna Be High (reprise I)
I Wanna Be High (reprise II)
I Wanna Be High (reprise III)
I Wanna Be High (reprise IV)

Covers:

Sugar Magnolia (Grateful Dead)
You and Whose Army (Radiohead)
Bertha (Grateful Dead)
Bright Side of the Sun (Men Without Hats)
All Along the Watchtower (Dylan)
Tombstone Blues (Dylan)
Maggie's Farm (Dylan)
Dear Prudence (Beatles)
Revolution #1 (Beatles)
Seseame Street Theme (TV's Sesame Street)
Five to One (Doors)
Fearless (Pink Floyd)
Friend of the Devil (Grateful Dead)
Saint Stephen>The Eleven (Grateful Dead)

With its impromptu instrumental sections including general rock riffs, progressive moods, and psychedelia, Aliver Hall not only holds the attention of audiences, but encourages them to come back to see what else the band can possibly come up with. Cliché? Maybe. Awesome? Definitely.

Basic Requirements

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