Are you experienced?

If you did something for over a decade since you were 20 years old, you would be. The Black Hollies sure are.

They have only released their debut album ("Crimson Reflections", Ernest Jenning 2006), but they sound as if they’ve been rubbing elbows with Hendrix in swinging London or the Funk Brothers in Detroit since the 60s. No wonder, as three-fourths of the band cut their teeth in renowned Jersey City band Rye Coalition, who have toured tirelessly and released 6 albums over the last decade, their most recent of which was produced by none other than Dave Grohl.

But the Black Hollies sound is purer than its Rye ingredients, and as distilled as three-decade-old scotch. And maybe that’s the point really. The creative fertility and freedom of the late 60s / early 70s gave us the soul of Motown and the blues-rock of early Zeppelin and Cream, movements which were unfortunately derailed by the disco, drum machines, and parachute pants which ushered in the 80s. The Black Hollies are not throw-backs; rather they’ve traced these musical pedigrees to their source, and are now fostering a natural evolution of those soulful sounds  what should have happened - had the 80s not.

The Deli recently broke bread with frontman / bassist Justin Angelo Morey at a pub near his home in Jersey City.

I know you, [rhythm guitarist] Jon [Gonnelli], & [lead guitarist] Herb [Wiley V] were in Rye Coalition for over a decade. Are you still active in that band?

I left about a month ago, but I certainly wish them well.

Did you even encounter scheduling conflicts when you were in both bands?

Sure. I remember one time, about a year ago, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - who are great guys, we grew up with Ted in Jersey - asked if the Black Hollies wanted to open for them at Webster Hall. And of course we were thrilled. So we booked that show and about a week out, a Rye show was scheduled at Bowery the same night. We were hailing cabs and hauling gear across town, just so my wife & I could catch the PATH back to Jersey City early in the morning!

How was [drummer] Scott [Thomas Bolasci] brought into the fold?

I’ve known Scott all my life. We went to grammar school together in Jersey City, and he lived on the next block. We were 5 years old, and I can remember him asking, "Do you wanna come over and listen to Beatles records with me?" He had a dog named "George." 2 fish named "John" and "Paul." A hamster named "Ringo." At five years old?! Crazy! He already had his first drum kit at the time, which we’d wail on -- luckily his house had one of those Cold War "safe room" fallout shelters which gave us some well-needed sound-proofing.

As far as touring, do you subscribe to the ideology that a band should play as often as possible irrespective of crowd size, or that a band should "pick its spots" in an attempt turn each gig into an "event"?

I’ve always said  "2 people or 2,000 people. (Hell, hopefully one day 20,000 people.) Ill always put 100% on the line each time." I’ve gone to so many shows and been let down. I always identify with that 15-year-old kid in the audience who is just so psyched, who has had his eyes opened for the first time, who has finally found that avenue which he can walk down and feel like himself - and maybe forget about everything else for those 45 minutes or so.

Talk to me a little about the origins of the Black Hollies.

In the summer of 2004 [Rye Coalition] was sort of in limbo, when I started getting a lot of these composition ideas. My wife had to go back to England and I was left feeling completely miserable. I was hanging out with Jon [Gonnelli] a lot that summer, and I said, "This is going to sound fucking crazy, but I’ve got these song ideas. Do you want to hear em? Wanna maybe give it a go?" We started cranking out some stuff that was somewhat reminiscent of early Motown with a bluesy bent to it -- Smokey & The Miracles, early Marvin Gaye. Aesthetically, it started getting a little bit psychedelic.  Hendrix.

I hear a lot of old school influences, including Led Zeppelin.

Herb, he LOVES Zeppelin. Me, I really like their first two records. As for our sound, we don’t have any formal plan or formal vibe were trying to emanate. We just go with what we know and play what feels right to us.

What is it about that sound -- Hendrix, Cream, early Zeppelin -- that modern rock is missing?

It’s the soul thats missing. A lot of newer stuff sounds pre-assembled, and not by the band members themselves, but by the industry. Also, I think there’s something particular with that era in the late 60s and early 70s -- maybe prototypically the progression of the Beatles and the release of their Rubber Soul and Revolver records. They were experimenting and pushing and breaking boundaries in a way that hadn’t been done before.

Today, tha’ts rare. Case in point - that whole rap-metal phase that is finally going by the wayside after what felt like an eternity. I better watch it, I may start offending people here! [laughter] Maybe it was just a big misinterpretation of what Rage [Against The Machine] was trying to do. Rage had a message, and a soul, and they were laying their shit on the line, but then it became somewhat about shock value, and it went horribly wrong. I would be offended if someone who loved that music also loved our stuff.

You play anything loud and fast enough and you can bet you’ll have some of these frat boys at your shows.

Hey man, that’s why I keep a monitor on the tempo at our shows! Slow it down or roll back the fuzz box a little if it gets too hard! We don’t want to give people the wrong idea! [laughter]

I know you guys play a lot of vintage instruments. Do you think that if you each picked up brand new instruments you would sound the same?

I think we’d probably sound like a bad version of us. I think there are certain elements that come naturally with playing these particular old instruments. They weren’t produced at such a rapid assembly line pace, and each instrument develops its own unique personality over the years. A lot of things could have happened to them they could have been mishandled or tossed down a flight of stairs. That’s part of the beauty of capturing the moment on a particular instrument because the instrument itself is evolving. I play a 1967 Epiphone bass guitar; I love the way it sounds, and I love that its old and beat up. It charms the hell out of me.

Was the recording process different on "Crimson Reflections" versus "Curses" [Rye Coalitions latest release, funded by Interscope and produced by Dave Grohl]?

This time it was a whole lot of no money! [laughter] But sometime when your backs are against the wall it ends up being a good thing. Don’t get me wrong. I learned a lot from Dave Grohl. I will always be thankful for that.

What did he teach you?

A lot about song arrangements, and building certain dynamics among the players. And about preparation  about doing your homework and having a game plan and laying it out before you start recording. So for ["Crimson Reflections"], we were very well-rehearsed before we headed into the studio. There were some songs where wed have 5 versions before starting to record. Instead of settling on just one, and learning how to play that one version, and then feeling rooted to that one particular version, wed try to explore the multiple versions upfront to make sure were all satisfied with the version we eventually chose to record.

How long did it take to record the album?

In total about 7 days to record, then the mixing and some vocals. We captured a very good time for all of us. Each band member is so obsessed with the autumn season -- its funny that we all have that in common -- the leaves changing, the weather; and so it was ideal that we got to record at that time. Hopefully some of that feeling came through on the record.

In the Black Hollies, you’ve had to step up as frontman and lead vocalist. Was that an easy transition for you?

It really is a challenge, because I’m so accustomed to being the "bass player" and having my role just being the "anchor." But I feel fortunate that I’ve had many compliments  people coming up to me and saying "You should go up front. You’ve got really good personality- you’re not obnoxious or posturing. You make people happy." And my response is "Oh wow. REALLY?!" So that gives me some confidence. I just try to be genuine when I perform. I feel very lucky to be able to just entertain, and of course I take that very seriously.

Ok, singing bass players. We’ve got Sting, Mark Sandman from Morphine, Caithlin DeMarrais from Rainer Maria. As a singing bass player yourself, who do you most admire?

Well of course Paul McCartney comes to mind.

What about [Rush’s] Geddy Lee?

GEDDY LEE! I’ve always wished that someone would make a really high quality Geddy Lee plush doll, complete with the string in the back which when you pull it you hear that high-pitched shrill voice! No, I may not listen to them, but I certainly respect them and think they’re fantastic musicians.

And their fan base is positively rabid.

To co-opt Rush’s fan base. THAT’S our next goal.

Are you wary of taking the Black Hollies into major label territory after what happened with Rye Coalition?

It’s such a weird game. It frightens me sometimes. I will never whine about what happened with Rye.  it was just bad timing. But I’m thinking globally. Id love to be able to take what we do and take it around the world, and not have to worry about the bills. That is unfortunately one of the biggest issues about going on prolonged tours and such -- anything that involves being away from that [job] which pays the bills, makes things difficult. I would love to be in a position where that was no longer a concern.

Is radio play a stated goal?

The pursuit of a radio single to me is dumb. Then again, I don’t really listen to the radio except maybe Smooth Jazz [singing] CD 101.9! - or maybe some oldies. Hell, if this band doesn’t work out, maybe I can get into writing some smooth jazz  write a good groove, keep it mellow, nothing too crazy. I’ve always wanted that voice-over spot ["CD 101.9!"] playing behind my music.

Seriously, though, when I do listen to KROQ, I’m disgusted. It’s as if the original song is sent through a signal processor -- the "radio format machine" -- and it gets spit out as this song that has no bass, high mids, some digital "in the reds" but not a warm "in the reds." I would be so upset if a Black Hollies song ever needed to go through that machine.

What does being on [Hollies label] Ernest Jenning afford you that a major could not?

They are extremely helpful, and positive about anything that we want to do. They believe in us as individuals and they believe in the band. They know that the standards we set for ourselves are extremely high, and so they trust that the master that we lay in their hands is the right master. I feel like we’re real partners. I’m not sure we’d get that with a major.

Have you begun work on the next Hollies record?

I’ve been compiling song ideas since May and we’ve been going through them one-by-one. Well look at the initial arrangement for Composition A, and then work on 4 different versions of the same song until we get it where we want it. The foundation is often paved the right way, but getting the details can be the hard part.

Do you anticipate a similar sound?

I don’t want us to make "Crimson Reflections 2," naturally there is going to be progression, but I don’t want to stray too far away from that sound, because usually people get turned out on to a certain sound - they say, Finally. I’ve found it." Id like to think well just be writing the 2nd chapter in what will, who knows, maybe turn out to be a 20-chapter book.

Has progress on the new record been swift?

We have a really good groove going right now, but of course we all have day jobs so we fit in time when we can -- designating one or two days out of the week. But we make the most of our time together and were efficient. Its a matter of making good fortune with bad timing. We often think "if only if we could have mustered this kind of focus when we were 18!"

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