Blips | The Black Hollies and Christopher Paul Stelling

In our never-ending quest to dig up great bands whose tickets cost less than a corned beef sandwich at your local deli, we bring you our latest round of Blips here on JamBase. The idea behind Blips is to form a lasting relationship with acts we believe to have bright futures and stick with them as they develop and grow. We view Blips as a progression that begins with a mention in a Blips segment, then leads to a Blips Update, and ultimately culminates in a feature length interview. In this edition, we have some really cool new music, so take a sec, poke around the bands’ various websites and see what you think of these two under-the-radar acts…

The Black Hollies

Is there anything worse than discovering a band, falling in love with their sound and then having them kinda just disappear? About five years ago I saw the Black Hollies and was blown away by their throwback garage-psych sound and their talent. If anything, the Jersey City band was ahead of their time, signaling the upcoming revival of psychedelic rock all over the world. Then there were no gigs and no new music, not a peep…

Turns out they were lying low and perfecting their new album, which was released a couple weeks ago.

Somewhere Between Here and Nowhere (The Black Hollies – Somewhere Between Here and Nowhere) is the Black Hollies sounding as good as ever, growing their sound along several axes while maintaining their gritty, mind-bender energy. They’re back on my radar again and hopefully get onto yours as well.

Here’s a nice jam from a couple years back in a graveyard of all places:

Christopher Paul Stelling

Across the other river and on the other end of the spectrum is Christopher Paul Stelling. Armed only with an acoustic guitar, his voice, his words and his passion, (oh, that passion!) Stelling has blown me away every time I’ve seen him. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. Yes, there are guys like this in every town in the world, guitar on their back and songs to sing, but something about his music – the combination of superlative guitar picking and the trance his whole body seems to go into as he plays, CP seems to channel more than sing.

Like all good singer-songwriters, he’s prolific as heck and each song seems to strike a different chord in your soul. I almost feel obligated to spread the love. Thankfully, it seems like, slowly but surely, Stelling is spreading out beyond the NYC area, so if he’s playing in your town, make sure to drop in and let his songs hypnotize you for a little while, you won’t regret it. If you can’t wait til then, he’s turned out a couple great albums the past couple of years (Christopher Paul Stelling)

Here’s a pro-shot video of CP Stelling playing at CMJ last year:

Written By: Aaron Stein