![]() After hearing the Sister Hazel album and learning that the band needed a drummer, he auditioned and was asked to join the band in July of 1995. Trojanowski had studied music at North Texas State University and later performed with the Guy Lombardo Orchestra before moving to Orlando and playing with several jazz and pop groups. Within a year of forming, the band released a self-titled album on the independent label Soul Trax, after which the band added drummer Mark Trojanowski to its permanent roster. ” In later years, after the group became successful, Sister Hazel herself met with the band and gave her blessing to carry on using the name. As Block commented in a September 1997 Billboard interview, “One of our basic philosophies is that we want people to think, feel, be moved, and at the end of the day or at the end of the show, we like them to leave feeling a little better than they did when they came in. Because Sister Hazel ’s philanthropic spirit was embodied in some of Block and Copeland ’s first songs, the name seemed a fitting one for the group. Borrowed Name from Missionary GroupĪs for the band ’s unusual name, Block drew on a childhood memory of the operator of the Sister Hazel Rescue Mission, a Gainesville organization dedicated to missionary and outreach work in the area. ![]() Newell nevertheless took a more practical route by studying at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he majored in accounting. Newell had been playing the guitar since the age of eight, and after winning a grade school talent contest, decided that performing music was his goal. ![]() Ryan Newell, originally from Fairfax, Virginia, joined the lineup as a guitarist after performing with another Gainesville band called Waterdog. Looking for musicians with a similar, eclectic outlook, Block began writing songs and performing around Gainesville with guitarist Andrew Co-peland, where they soon attracted the attention of architecture student and part-time bass player Jeff Beres. He later performed with a succession of similar rock bands in the Gainesville area.īy 1994, however, Block returned to a more acoustic orientation that better reflected the spirit of his self-penned songs. In high school Block joined his first band, which played heavy metal music. ” Block also played music outside the family circle, including some coffeeshop appearances with his acoustic guitar when he was 12 years old. I learned a lot about harmonies, different styles of music and wildly enter-taining storytelling. Augustine Beach where people would bring all kinds of instruments to play, strum, beat on, pluck or blow and everyone sang -or at least tried to sing …. This was especially true of weekend gatherings, as Ken Block recalled on the band ’s website: “We always had these parties in Gainesville or in our place at St. The Block family always had musicians around their Gainesville, Florida, home. Block ’s father, who had earned a college degree in music, played piano and wrote music. Most of the members of Sister Hazel grew up in musical surroundings. It bridges the gap between the poets and the partyers. But the element that really defines us is that there are a lot of hooks that allow people to take a closer look they see that there ’s something cerebral in there. ![]() As he told Billboard in September of 1997, “There really is something for everybody …. The crossover success was no surprise to the band ’s lead singer and co-founder Ken Block, however. Instead, much to its record company ’s surprise, Sister Hazel was embraced by a more mainstream audience, one that gave the group its first hit song and eventually a platinum-selling album. Even more impressive was the fact that the song had at first been ignored by the modern and progressive rock stations that were the band ’s primary audience. These were major accomplishments given that the track was the first single released from the band ’s major-label debut, Somewhere More Familiar. In the summer of 1997, Sister Hazel ’s song “All for You ” ruled the adult top 40 airwaves and topped the Billboard charts.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |