Josh Hill, LB, and John Mayer

[elle]

http://www.al.com/entertainment/inde...e_numbers.html

Josh Hill Band by the numbers: Before Huntsville show, frontman talks sweet guitar sounds, learning to not despise John Mayer

Josh Hill Band. (Courtesy photo)

Print Matt Wake | mwake@al.com By Matt Wake | mwake@al.com
on March 05, 2014 at 1:08 PM, updated March 05, 2014 at 1:09 PM


HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- To Akron, Ohio blues-rocker Josh Hill, a guitarist's tone "comes 100 percent from the fingers and zero percent from the amp or equipment that you're running through."

Hill goes on to describe the ideal guitar sound as "clean but dirty." The 28-year-old Josh Hill Band leader definitely achieves that aesthetic on the group's eponymous 2013 EP, especially on cuts like "Forged By Fire," "Pariah" and "Karma."

The Josh Hill Band also features bassist Dave Super and drummer Dylan Roth. The combo plays Sports Page Lounge & Deli, located at 9009 Memorial Pkwy. S.W., 9 p.m. March 8. Cover is $5.

When called for this interview, Hill is chilling in the living room of his Akron home.

Hill has fond the trio format to be advantageous musically as well as financially. "It's really easy to feature players in a trio setting," he says. "You can trade solos really quickly and you only have two people to worry about hitting cues. If you have the right lineup, three sounds about as full as four or five.

"Financially it's fantastic. You don't have to buy hotel rooms; you can get away with one. You can get away with one van. It's three meals instead of four, you know?"

The seven cuts on "Josh Hill Band" find Hill exploring some heavy lyrical themes – delivered in a strong, smooth voice. "Forged By Fire" was inspired by "being burned by a lot of music industry people, whether it be a bad publicist, a bad booking agent, or bad musicians that flake out on you. It was really about taking a look back at the last couple of years and realizing the things that used to be a big deal to me, now they're not really a big deal because that's just the industry you grow up in."

Hill asks some big life questions on "Where Do I Belong." "I don't know if you ever truly figure out what is actually right in life or where exactly you belong," he says. "Maybe you come to peace with that when you get older, but I sure haven't figured that out yet. It's kind of question I'm continually asking myself: Is this really where I need to be or do I need to be somewhere else? You never really figure that out until you're already there."

It took about five minutes to record the down-home percussion on the JHB song "Live Until You Die," tracked with New York producer/drummer Sammy Merendino, whose previously credits include Michael Jackson, Billy Joel and Foreigner. "We stood in a kitchen with wood floors," Hill recalls. "Half of it was Dylan, our drummer, and I stomping and clapping and then Sammy started banging on a table to get that low-deep effect and we layered them on top of each other and it turned out pretty good."

While Hill says his primary guitar heroes are "the standard guitar heroes," he also is a fan of two musicians you might not expect him to be into: Lindsey Buckingham and John Mayer.

"The thing about Lindsey Buckingham is he knew what not to play to make it sound good –especially before Fleetwood Mac with the Buckingham Nicks records," Hill says. "I thought he was a really smooth player and really original in what he did.

"John Mayer is known for bubblegum pop music which is why I've always despised him until, I think it was back in '05 or '06, he came out with John Mayer Trio record (entitled 'Try!') and the guy's, hands down, is probably one of the best guitar players around. He just is. If you watch his live stuff or if you listen to his 'Continuum' record, he just knows how to write songs and play guitar really well. What more can you ask for?"

More: joshhillband.com