The Bob Hill Band
San Francisco, California, United States | SELF
Music
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The first thing you need to know about Marin's Bob Hill Band is that there's no one in it named Bob Hill.
Bob Hill was a neighbor who complained about the volume of the young rockers' Sunday afternoon rehearsals in a San Anselmo garage when they were just getting started.
They got even by naming their band after him.
"We got the idea from Lynyrd Skynyrd," says guitarist Grady Righthand, the group's founder.
The next thing you need to know is that they're awfully young, and awfully good.
With their debut CD, "The Golden Gate," just out on Seattle's independent Rogue Island Records, the five-piece band has come a long way since their garage band days. Which isn't, now that I think about it, that long ago.
All of the guys are still in their teens, and one of them doesn't even graduate high school until next summer, when they plan to go on tour for the first time.
With "The Golden Gate," they've got a remarkably accomplished, mature-sounding album to promote on the road.
But don't just take my word for it.
Calling them "a totally refreshing and surprising young band," producer Scott Llamas of San Rafael-based PopSmear Records/Studios goes on to say that "you won't believe how good they are already. Definitely a band to watch É and hear."
The Doobie Brothers' Tom Johnston calls them "funky, tight, very professional and on their way."
Renee Richardson, morning DJ on San Francisco's KFOG-FM, says they remind her "of the early days of the Red Hot Chili Peppers."
And Marin's Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Bonnie Hayes compares them to Sublime, Jack Johnson and Phish.
"Jammy, at times jazzy, music with poetic, eclectic lyrics sung in a soulful way," she says.
Righthand, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Southern California, started putting this band together when he was in the eighth grade.
He teamed up with his songwriting partner, keyboardist-guitarist Spencer Peterson, and original bassist Griggs Ziesing, when they were freshmen at Redwood High. (Ziesing recently left the band and has been replaced by Luke Strand.)
With singer Chase Baldocchi and his drummer brother, Will, both from Marin Academy, they recorded a three-song demo with the help of Johnny Colla of Huey Lewis and the News in early 2005.
Later that year, they got a huge break when they won the Rock Safe Battle of the Bands in San Rafael. The grand prize was recording time at the Plant Studios in Sausalito, where hits like Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life" and Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" were recorded.
"It was so cool for us," Righthand recalls. "That studio has so much history. So many people have recorded there. You just walk in the door and it reeks of rock 'n' roll."
They used the EP they recorded at the Plant to get bigger and better gigs, including what became a career-launching show at Slim's in San Francisco in the summer of 2007.
In the audience that night was Joe Brockert, founder and president of Rogue Island, an artist development company associated with Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube and UVNTV, first real-time streaming television network online.
"We look for bands with a unique, original sound that have worked hard to achieve local success," Brockert says.
He was impressed enough to sign them to a two-year recording contract. And, last January, the band went into the company's Seattle studio with veteran producer Brent DeRocher and recorded the 13 songs on "The Golden Gate."
"The songs these boys brought into the studio were some of the freshest we've come across in years," Brockert says. "There's such a variety that I don't feel like I've heard the whole album after hearing the first couple of tracks."
Rogue Island specializes in producing and packaging emerging talent, hoping to place bands like Bob Hill with larger labels and give them expanded distribution and exposure.
It's hard to predict the future of a band this young. I mean these kids can't even buy a drink in a bar for another three or four years. But their career has been a natural upward progression. And, with Rogue Island, they're certainly in the position to break through nationally.
Who knows? They may end up making their namesake proud.
- Marin Independent Journal
San Anselmo's Bob Hill Band has won the right to open for the B-52s and "American Idol" star Blake Lewis at the seventh annual Rock'n Blues By The Lake concert Sept. 26 at Novato's Stafford Lake County Park.
The band was one of 18 finalists from Marin, Redwood City, Sacramento and Sonoma County to participate in the "Battle for the Stage" competition.
The concert is a fundraiser for Novato public - Marin Independent Journal
“A supremely talented, up and coming Marin indie-rock outfit with a sensational debut CD...these guys may be the most promising home-grown rockers no one over the age of 20 has heard of..."
-Paul Liberatore, The Marin Independent Journal
"The Bob Hill Band is funky, tight, very professional and on their way."
-Tom Johnston, The Doobie Brothers
"I'd describe the Bob Hill Band this way: Sublime and Jack Johnson jam/party with Phish----jammy, at times jazzy, music with poetic, eclectic lyrics sung in a soulful way. This music is groovalicious—enjoy!"
-Bonnie Hayes, Grammy Award Winner
"The Bob Hill Band is on their way to being a serious contender of the popular world of rock. This is an extremely committed, focused, and creative original young rock band, that will take you to the sounds of folk rock to funky jam-rock and hard movin’, searing vocals from their lead singer Chase Baldocchi. If you like 70's folk-rock, Dave Matthews, Neil Young, or Todd Rundgren… check these guys out!"
-John Mattern, performer, educator, formerly of The Temptations, Bonnie Raitt
"The Bob Hill Band is a totally refreshing and surprising young band: refreshing, because their sound is a welcome change from the genre's more typical of kids their age, and surprising because you won't believe how good they are already."
-Scott Llamas, PopSmear Studios/Records
"What can I say about the Bob Hill Band? They remind me of the early
days of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, especially on "20 Sumthin' Baby." They are still pretty young so it will be a lot of fun to watch them grow, and hear where they go. In the meantime they each have a very strong musical base."
-Renee Richardson, Morning DJ, KFOG—San Francisco
- Quotes about The BHB
Discography
EP 2007 - Self Released
"The Golden Gate" - Rogue Island Entertainment, 2009
Both are available on itunes
Photos
Bio
What's happenin Music Lovers,
This is the Bob Hill Band.
Being raised in Northern California's San Francisco and Marin, it was impossible for us to ignore the spirits. The beauty and diversity of the Bay was reflected through our earliest musical influences, leading us to funk, folk, blues, 90's rap, electronic, jazz and hard rock. From the Dave Mathews Band and Neil Young, to G-funk era Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre, to Lynyrd Skynyrd and Led Zeppelin, all the way over to early Red Hot Chili Peppers, P-Funk or Oscar Peterson; We love it all baby.
Our mission is to bring you fresh and honest music . . . stuff you've never heard before. What comes out of BHB is completely unique, not comparable to any single artist, but representative of all our influences. We aim to throwback to the days when bands weren't one-sided; they were accurate representations of the people in them. Our music is not esoteric nor a specific slice of life. It's accessible and relevant. It is broad without being canned, it's universal without being predictable. We, the Bob Hill Band, believe that a funk band can also be a hard rock band, and can also play some slower stuff. We believe that people want to hear fresh music and see live shows. Above all else, we want the chance to change a moment in time for millions of people.
Peace
BHB
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