Brian Olive : Two of Everything

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Brian Olive - Back Sliding Soul by alivenaturalsound

HACIENDA March/April US tour with The GREENHORNES, plus JAMES LEG TOUR DATES and more!

HACIENDA ON TOUR WITH THE GREENHORNES
March 24 @ Radio, Radio – Indianapolis, IN
March 25 @ Double Door – Chicago, IL
March 26 @ Triple Rock – Minneapolis, MN
March 27 @ High Noon Saloon – Madison, WI
March 28 @ House Of Rock – Eau Claire, WI
March 29 @ The Cactus Club – Milwaukee, WI
March 31 @ Mad Hatter – Covington, KY
April 1 @ The Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH
April 2 @ The Magic Bag – Ferndale, MI
April 3 @ The Legendary Horseshoe – Toronto, ON
April 5 @ La Sala Rossa – Montreal, QU
April 6 @ Brighton Music Hall – Boston, MA
April 7 @ North Star Bar – Philadelphia, PA (Hacienda only)
April 8 @ The Bell House – Brooklyn, NY
April 9 @ Maxwell’s – Hoboken, NJ
April 12 @ Rock n Roll Hotel – Washington D.C.
April 13 @ King’s Barcade – Raleigh, NC
April 14 @ The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
April 15 @ JJ’s Bohemia – Chatanooga, TN
April 16 @ The Mercy Lounge – Nashville, TN

MORE TOUR DATES!

BRIAN OLIVE
May 29 @ Smith’s Ole Bar – Atlanta, GA
June 11th @ Bonnaroo Fest- Manchester, TN
with Dr. John & Dan Auerbach

TWO GALLANTS
April 23 @ The Bottom of the Hill – San Francisco, CA
April 24 @ The Bottom of the Hill – San Francisco, CA

T-MODEL FORD & GravelRoad
April 16 @ 2011 Juke Joint Festival – Clarksdale, MS
April 21 @ Sparky’s BBQ – Hatch, NM
April 22 @ KTAO Solar Center – Taos, NM
April 29 @ Emo’s – Austin, TX
June 2 @ Radio Radio – Indianapolis, IN

JAMES LEG
March 24 @ JJ’s – Chattanooga, TN
March 25 @ JJ’s – Chattanooga, TN
European dates
March 31 @ Le Galion – Lorient, FR
April 2 @ La Vieille Tour – Mont Contour (St Brieuc), FR
April 3 @ Le Chaland Qui Passe – Binic, FR
April 5 @ 2to58 Club – Grenoble, FR
April 6 @ Mistral Palace – Valence, FR
April 7 @ Deep Inside Club – Dijon, FR
April 8 @ Le Remorqueur – Nantes, FR
April 9 @ Garorock – Marmande, FR
April 10 @ 5th Avenue – Brive, FR
April 11 @ St Ex – Bordeaux, FR
April 12 @ Zic Zinc – Limoges, FR
April 13 @ La Boite à Musique – Lille, FR
April 15 @ Kaffe T Hoff – Middleburg, NL
April 16 @ Patronaat – Haarlem, NL
April 17 @ Db’s – Utrecht, NL
James Leg record release
April 23 @ Northside Tavern – Cincinnati, OH

LEFT LANE CRUISER
April 21 @ The Stirfry – Kingsport, TN
April 22 @ The Bohemian – Greenville, SC
April 23 @ The Northside Tavern – Atlanta, GA

THE SIGHTS
March 24 Live At PJ’s – Ann Arbor, MI
April 1@ Simon’s After Dark – Allen Park, MI
April 15 @ Reggie’s – Chicago, IL
April 16 @ Euclid Records – St. Louis, MO (early show)
April 16 @ Off Broadway – St. Louis, MO (late show)
May 7 @ New Dodge – Hamtramck, MI

BUFFALO KILLERS
Apr 1 @ Motr Pub – 2 sets – Cincinnati, OH
Apr 15 @ Blackout Fest – Athens, OH
Apr 16 @ The Happy Dog – Cleveland, OH
Apr 29 @ Canal Street Tavern – Akron, OH
Apr 30 @ Musica – Akron, OH
May 5 @ New Vintage Showcase @ ZaZoo’s – Louisville, KY
May 6 @ V Club – Huntington, WV
May 27 @ Peach’s – 2 sets – Yellow Springs, OH
July 29 @ Whisky A Go Go – West Hollywood, CA
August 1 @ Hemlock Tavern – San Francisco, CA
August 2 @ Jambalaya – Arcata CA
August 4 @ Sunset Tavern – Seattle, WA
August 5-7 @ Pickathon Festival – Happy Valley, OR

PAUL COLLINS
Australia tour in March/April
April 30 & May 1 : Power Pop-A-Licious Fest

HENRY’S FUNERAL SHOE
Mar 25 @ The Corries – Brecon, UK
Apr 30 @ Area81 Rock Club Bristol – Bristol, UK with The GROUNDHOGS
August 13 @ Brecon Fringe Festival @ The Clarence – Brecon, Wales

Scott Morgan, Radio Moscow, Brian Olive, Hacienda

Never Give Up On Your Hallucinations - Shindig!

October tour dates

HACIENDA
DAN AUERBACH w/ The Fast 5
Oct 3 @ ACL Aftershow – Austin, TX
Oct 4 @ ACL Aftershow – Austin, TX
Oct 5 @ The Mohawk – Austin, TX
with ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO
and Los Lonely Boys
Oct 5 @ The Birchmire - Alexandria, Virginia
Oct 6 @ The Birchmere - Alexandria, Virginia
Oct 7 @ Keswick Theater - Glenside, PA
Oct 9 @ Pollack Theatre Monmouth UW- Long Branch, NJ
Oct 10 @ Shea’s Performing Arts Center - Wayne, NJ
Oct 11 @ Highline Ballroom - New York, NY
Oct 14 @ Palace Theater - Manchester, New Hampshire
Oct 16 @ Merrill Audotorium City Hall - Portland, Maine
Oct 17 @ Zeiterion Theater - New Bedford, MA
Oct 19 @ McCarter Theater - Princeton, NJ
Oct 20 @ The Historic Avalon Theater - Easton, Maryland
Oct 22 @ The Buskirk-Chumley Theater - Bloomington, IN
Oct 23 @ Old Town School of Folk Music - Chicago, IL
Oct 24 @ Northern Lights Theater - Milwaukee, WI
Oct 25 @ Alltel Center - Mankato, Minnesota
Oct 27 @ Oneida Casino - Green Bay, Wisconsin

BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES
Oct 10 @ Bohemian Cafe – Greenville, SC
w/Left Lane Cruiser
Oct 14 @ Lee’s Palace – Toronto, Ontario
Oct 15 @ Petit Campus – Montreal, Quebec
Oct 16 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY
Oct 17 @ V Club – Huntington, West Virginia
European dates
Nov 13 @ Nove Fonte Velha - Rio Maior, Portugal
Nov 14 @ Porto Rio - Oporto, Portugal
Nov 17 @ Oficina Munic de Teatro - Coimbra, Portugal
Nov 26 @ Libanim - Nimes, France
Nov 27 @ Barakason - Nantes, France
Nov 28 @ Blues S/ Seine Fest. - Mantes La Jolie, France
Nov 29 @ Le Galion - Lorient, France

T-MODEL FORD w/Gravelroad
Oct 1 @ Chabada - Angers, France
Oct 2 @ Astrolabe - Orleans, France
Oct 3 @ AB (with Tinariwen) Belgium
Oct 5 @ El Lokal - Zurich, Switzerland
Oct 6 @ Bad Bonn - Dundingen, Switzerland
Oct 7 @ The Trabendo – Paris, France
Oct 8 @ 106 - Rouen, France

BRIMSTONE HOWL
Oct 17 @Vice Scion Garage Festival - Portland, OR
OCT 23 @ Barley St. Tavern – Omaha, NE

BUFFALO KILLERS
Oct 2 @ Ravari Room – Columbus, OH
Oct 3 @ Dayton Music Festival – Dayton, OH
Oct 16 @ Peach’s – Yellow Springs, OH
Nov 6 @ The Southgate House – Newport, KY
Nov 7 @ Gerstle’s – Louisville, KY
Nov 13 @ 180 Main – Dubuque, IA

BRIAN OLIVE
Oct 23 @ Beachland - Cleveland, Ohio
Oct 30 @ The Comet - Cincinnnati, Ohio

OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY
Oct 19 @ Bateau Ivre – Tours, France
Oct 20 @ BT59 – Bordeaux, France
Oct 22 @ El Camino – Caen, France
Oct 23 @ La Peniche/Ground Zero Fest – Lille, France
Oct 24 @ Le Kaluma – Cherbourg, , France
Oct 25 TBC – Rouen, France
Oct 26 @ Les Lucioles – Le Havre, France
Oct 27 @ La Nef – Angouleme, France
Oct 28 @ Trabendo – Paris, France

LEFT LANE CRUISER
Oct 5 @ The Northside Tavern – Cincinnati, OH
Oct 6 @ The Green Lantern – Lexington, KY
Oct 7 @ Hal and Al’s – Columbus, OH
Oct 8 @ The V Club – Huntington, WV
Oct 9 @ The Garage – Winston Salem, NC
Oct 10 @ The Bohemian – Greenville, S
w/ Black Diamond Heavies
Oct 12 @ The End – Nashville, TN
Oct 13 @ JJ’s Bohemia – Chattanooga, TN
Oct 14 @ The Hideaway – Johnson City, TN
Oct 15 @ Visulite Theater – Charlotte, NC
Oct 16 @ The Star Bar – Atlanta, GA
Oct 17 @ Knoxville, TN
European dates
Oct 30 @ La Boule Noire – Paris, France
Oct 31 @ La Peniche – Chalon s/Saone, France
Nov 1 @ Le Galion – Lorient, France
Nov 4 @ Peniche Sonic – Lyon, France
Nov 5 @ Queen Kong Club – Neuhatel, Switzerland
Nov 6 @ Caves Du Manoir – Martigny, Switzerland
Nov 7 @ Le Transformateur – Fribourg, Switzerland
Nov 8 @ El Lokal – Zurich, Switzerland
Nov 9 @ My Way – Freibourg, Germany
Nov 11 @ Cortinan Bob – Berlin, Germany
Nov 12 @ The Paradison – Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Nov 13 TBA – Stockholm, Sweden
Nov 15 @ Popdium – Sneek, The Netherlands
Nov 16 @ Little Devil – Tilburg, The Netherlands
Nov 18 @ Club Keller – Frankfurt, Germany
Nov 19 @ DB’s – Utrecht, The Netherlands
Nov 20 @ Grand Wazoo – Amiens, France
Nov 21 @ L’Appel D’air – St Brieuc, France
Nov 22 @ Le Chalan – Binik, France
Nov 24 @ St Eupery – Bordeaux, France
Nov 25 @ Sant Des Seins – Toulouse, France
Nov 26 @ Cafe De Paris – Perpignan, France
Nov 27 @ Barakason – Nants, France
w/ Black Diamond Heavies
Nov 28 @ Festival Blues Hauts De Seine – Mantes La Jolie, France
w/ Black Diamond Heavies

THOMAS FUNCTION
Oct 1 @ Webster Hall – New york, New York
Oct 2 @ Bruar Falls – Brooklyn, New York
Oct 3 @ Garfield Artworks – Pittsburgh, PA
Oct 4 @ The Summit – Columbus, OH
Oct 5 @ Lager House – Detroit, MI
Oct 6 @ Brass Rail – Fort Wayne, IN
Oct 7 @ Ronny’s – Chicago, IL
Oct 8 @ Club Garibaldi’s – Milwaukee, WI
Oct 9 @ Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, IA
Oct 10 @ Replay Lounge – Lawrence, Kansas
Oct 11 @ Larimer Lounge – Denver, CO
Oct 12 @ House Concert – Provo, UT
Oct 14 @ Funhouse – Seattle, WA
Oct 15 @ The Den – Tacoma, WA
Oct 17 @ Vice Scion Garage Festival – Portland, OR
Oct 19 @ Stork Club – Oakland, CA
Oct 20 @ Hemlock Tavern – San francisco, CA
Oct 21 @ Blue Lamp – Sacramento, CA
Oct 23 @ 5 Star Bar – Los Angeles, CA
Oct 25 @ Pink Elephant – San Diego, CA
Oct 26 @ Modified – Phoenix, AZ
Oct 27 @ Train Yard – Las Cruces, NM
Oct 30 @ Lounge On Elm Street – Dallas, TX
Oct 31 @ Beerland – Austin, TX
Nov 3 @ Saturn Bar - New Orleans, LA
Nov 4 @ Alabama Music Box - Mobile, AL

BRIAN OLIVE - Five Tunes

If you ever heard anything by the now defunct Soledad Brothers, you’d understand why it’s exciting that former member Brian Olive has an album out. The Soledads were masters of taking a Southern rock angle to soul music, garage punk, and the blues. On his self-titled debut, Brian hones that sound down to a couple of definitive influences, staying more rootsy than garage-oriented.

His record has a nice mix of Memphis soul, ’70s Dylan, relaxing acoustic music, and, of course, a tinge of that country fried sound. But what’s most impressive about Brian’s debut is that while you can draw lines to influences and ponder on what else he sounds like, this record isn’t a ’70s Dylan clone album by a long shot. This is a well put together, well written, and well executed debut from an extremely talented dude. - 5 Tunes

BRIAN OLIVE - PopMatters

Drawing inspiration from ‘60s psych-pop, after-hours jazz, and ‘70s glam stomp, Brian Olive, the onetime Greenhornes guitarist and Soledad Brothers multi-instrumentalist, steps out of the shadows cast by the Midwest garage-blues scene and into the light on his self-titled debut. Although it meant moving to Cincinnati and helping to build a recording studio in the vault of a pawn shop, the artist formerly known as Oliver Henry definitely proves being your own man can pay dividends. Helped out by ex-bandmates Jared McKinney and Craig Fox from the Greenhornes and with spectral backing supplied by Donna Jay Rubin and sisters Holly and Tori Kadish on the majority of songs, Olive drifts through an array of styles and imaginative arrangements during the album’s 33 minutes with “King of the Road” aplomb. There’s a gentle nod to both the Kinks and the Beatles in the marshmallow melody of “The Day is Coming (Sainte-Marie’s Dream)”; a gritty, down-in-the gutter piece of Detroit R&B called “Stealin’”; and a feral sax punch plus a cellar full of Beat-cool jazz on “High Low”. Meanwhile, the girls are most noticeable oozing through on the muddied country-blues raunch of opener “Ida Red” and the ghostly, fluttering psych swirl of “See Me Mariona”, a song reminiscent of contemporaries Pink Mountaintops. The highlight, however, has to be the tambourine-shakin’, sax-laden slice of glam-ourized R&B, “Jubilee Line”, which yields Olive’s most confident vocal outing and a kick-ass trip on the Tube through London to boot. - Alan Brown / PopMatters

September tour dates

BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES
Lebowskifest - Speed of Sound Tour
Sep 8 @ Ogden Theatre - Denver, CO
Sep 9 @ Blue Cactus - Lead, SD
Sep 11 @ First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN
Sep 12 @ Crunchy Fog - Greenbay, WI
Sep 13 @ Portage Theatre - Chicago, IL
Sep 15 @ North Side Tavern - Cincinnati, OH
Sep 16 @ Majestic Cafe - Detroit, MI
Sep 17 @ Velvet Underground - Toronto, Ontario
Sep 18 @ La Sala Rossa - Montreal, Quebec
Sep 19 @ House of Blues - Boston, MA
Sep 20 @ IM Automata Chino - Jersey City, NJ
Sep 22 @ Terminal 5 - New York, NY
Sep 24 @ Court Tavern - New Brunswick, NJ
Sep 25 @ Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA
Sep 28 @ 9:30 Club - Washington DC, Washington DC
LIVE album out November 24th on Alive records

OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY
Sept 9 @ Bay area fun time - Oakland, CA w/ Devon Williams
Sept 10 @ Spaceland, L.A. w/ Devon Williams
Sept 11 @ Che - San Diego CA, w/ Devon Williams
more dates coming soon

BRIMSTONE HOWL
Sept 9 @ Cafe Bourbon - Columbus, OH
Sept 10 @ Bruar Falls - Brooklyn, NY
Sept 11 @ The Cakeshop - NYC
Sept 12 @ Sailor Jerry - Philly, PA
Sept 14 @ The Oasis - New London, CT
Sept 15 @ The Triple - Richmond, VA
Sept 17 @ The Union - Athens, OH
Sept 18 @ Now Thats Class - Cleveland, OH
Sept 19 @ Louie‚s Trophy House - Kalamazoo MI
NEW album out November 24th

RADIO MOSCOW
Sep 8 @ Bali Satay - Ames, Iowa w/ Mondo Drag
Sep 9 @ Ribco - Davenport, Iowa
Sep 18 @ Capones - Ames, Iowa
Sep 25 @ DG's Taphouse - Ames, Iowa
more dates coming soon

BRIAN OLIVE
Sep 29 @ Northside Tavern - Cincinnati, OH w/Drummer
more dates coming soon

T-MODEL FORD w/Gravelroad
European tour :
Sep 8 @ Thelka - Bristol, UK
Sep 9 The Old Market - Brighton, UK
Sep 11 @ Luminaire - London, UK
Sep 12 @ Luminaire - London, UK
Sep 13 @ End Of The Road Festival ˆ Salisbury, UK
Sep 15 @ Arlington Arts Centre - Newbury, UK
Sep 16 @ Norwich Arts Centre - Norwich, UK
Sep 17 @ The Musician - Leicester, UK
Sep 19 @ The Boardwalk - Sheffield, UK
Sep 20 @ Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, UK
Sep 21 @ The Duchess - York, UK
Sep 22 @ The Live Theatre - Newcastle, UK
Sep 23 @ Tolbooth - Stirling, UK
Sep 24 @ King Tut's Wah Wah Hut - Glasgow, UK
Sep 26 Open House Fest. @ Black Box - Belfast, Ireland
Sep 27 @ Sandino's Cafe Bar - Derry, Ireland
Sep 28 @ Whelan's - Dublin, Ireland
Sep 29 @ Crane Lane Theatre - Cork, Ireland
NEW album out this winter on Alive records

BUFFALO KILLERS
Sept 9 @ The Bear's Place - Cambridge, MA
Sept 10 @ Nectar's - Burlington, VT
Sept 11 @ Dover Brick House - Dover, NH
Sept 12 @ Union Hall - Brooklyn, NY
Sept 25 @ The Union - Athens, OH
Sept 26 @ Southgate House - Cincinnati, OH
more dates coming soon

MONDO DRAG
Sep 8 @ The Bali Satay - Aimes, Iowa w/ Radio Moscow
Sep 9 @ Racers Edge - East Moline, IL
Sep 10 @ The Darkroom bar - Chicago, IL
Sep 11 @ Carabar - Columbus, OH
Sep 12 @ W.O. Wrights - Fairborn, OH
Sep 13 House show - Bloomington, IN
Sep 29 @ The Picador - Iowa city, Iowa
DEBUT album for Alive records out this winter

BRIAN OLIVE - Goldmine

Brian Olive
Brian Olive
Alive Records (0095-2)
Grade:

Brian Olive’s a name unfamiliar to most everyone. Oliver Henry, though, will be instantly identifiable to garage fans, as he was a member of both the Soledad Brothers and the Greenhornes. Now working under the pseudonym Brian Olive, Henry’s put together a new project and delved into other sides of the ’60s entirely. Foregoing garage’s frenzy, his band instead frolic in strawberry fields of psychedelia, albeit fields planted across the deltas and studios of the deep south.

Sure, “Ida Red” and “Calling All Around,” the tracks that bookend Brian Olive, rock and roll in best R&B style, but the Stax-y brass and wisps of psychedelia give the tracks an unusual twist. Retro in style, but thoroughly original in sound, Brian Olive doesn’t so much resurrect Sixties R&B as totally reinvent it. His influences are numerous and diverse – The Beatles, The Stones (Rolling and Roses), Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Stax soul, glamrock, and dreampop. “There Is Love,” for example, is blues filtered through the latter genre, “Jubilee Line” wafts psychedelia through the Stax studio, while “High Low” floods the delta with jazzy brass and big band beats.

Of course, Brian Olive isn’t the first to stitch genres together, they are, however, one of the few to sew them together seamlessly. Their music sounds so totally natural you can walk away from Brian Olive believing that psychedelia, blues, R&B and soul were always intertwined and natural bed-fellows. Reshaping the past, the album presents an alternate musical history where linear evolution is replaced by spontaneous genesis, and what a wonderful creation it is. - Jo-Ann Greene / Goldmine

BRIAN OLIVE - The Agit Reader

Brian Olive
Brian Olive
The Agit Reader

For those who have seen live music in Ohio, it can be argued that all the cities are known for certain styles: there’s the proto-punk and old rock & roll of Cleveland, Columbus’ current lo-fi, and Dayton’s off-kilter rock (Brainiac, Guided By Voices). Cincinnati can always be counted on for honest rock with a Southern edge, much like the city itself. So it’s not surprising that Brian Olive’s self-titled debut (recorded in a Cincy basement) is full of Southern-tinged guitars, soulful harmonies and straightforward melodies borrowed from the 1960s. Olive started his career as guitarist for the Greenhornes—some of whom went on to form the Raconteurs with Jack White of the White Stripes—and went on to join the Soledad Brothers. Some former Greenhornes also appear in the album credits, as does Mike Weinel, formerly of Heartless Bastards.

Unexpected, however, is just how much musical ground is covered in this gem of a record, and with such cohesive results. There’s the upbeat horn- and piano-infused New Orleans parade of “The Day the Sun Is Coming (Sainte-Marie’s Dream),” the swagger of “Stealin’” and rollicking “Ida Red.” Throughout much of the record, Donna Jay Rubin and Holly and Tori Kadish lend their backing vocals for melodies that add soul and depth without ever being superfluous. “High Low” is aptly named, with its low sax and drums rumble laced with intricate bits of guitar. “See Me Mariona” is fully psychedelic—the Stone Roses meet 007 circa ’67. While “Echoing Light” comes off as a sweetly retro ballad, the record loses some of its momentum on slower tracks like “There Is Love” and “Killing Stone.” Still, it’s hard to find fault in these simple, yet inarguably pretty, ballads. Even those who are familiar with Olive’s work in other bands should have expectations succeeded by this impressive debut.
Josie Rubio

MP3: “There Is Love”

BRIAN OLIVE - All Music Guide

Brian Olive used to deliver potent garage rock guitar with the Greenhornes and blues-punk sax hollering with the Soledad Brothers, but he's expanded his sonic palette in a big way on his first solo album. Most of the tunes on Brian Olive are rooted in rhythm & blues in one way or another, but the man sure isn't shy about showing how many ways he can bend the sound to his will; "Stealin'" is a funky New Orleans second-line shuffle, "Jubilee Line" has a bassline James Jamerson would have been happy to call his own fortified with free jazz sax wailing, "High Low" reveals echoes of 1950s cool jazz for bachelor pads, and "Killing Stone" is a piano-based rocker that recalls the early-'70s Rolling Stones. Olive also dips his toes into breezy faux-tropicalia on the light and sensuous "Echoing Light" and some tripped-out acoustic psychedelia on "There Is Love." Olive clearly scores high on the eclecticism checklist, but he's also a fine songwriter, generating memorable tunes regardless of his stylistic bag, and he's put together a solid backing band for these sessions (including fellow Greenhornes Jared McKinney and Craig Fox and ex-Heartless Bastards Mike Weinel), and if his vocals aren't always as strong as the arrangements that surround them (he sounds more comfortable on the quieter numbers than the ones where he needs to belt it out), he has the right feel if not always the proper degree of force. Overall, Brian Olive is an impressive and pleasing solo debut that shows his chops as a producer, arranger, and songwriter make him more than just some Midwest sideman, and he should get back into the studio posthaste if there's more where this came from. - Mark Deming / AMG

BRIAN OLIVE - Blogcritics

As a former member of Soledad Brothers and The Greenhornes, Brian Olive knows a thing or two about rock music. His previous bands sought to bring blues back to rock during the same time that fellow contemporary The White Stripes made their meteoric rise.

Olive takes a somewhat different approach with his self-titled debut. While not having the same raw flavor as his previous efforts, Olive does step back a bit to recreate the imaginative sixties by blending the psychedelic and the soulful.

The result is an energetic, yet mellow album that combines the spontaneity of a jam session with the fervor of a never-ending twilight. And it's easy to see why, given that Olive recorded his eponymous debut in a basement vault of a former Cincinnati pawnshop with a whole host of guests — from Jared McKinney and Craig Fox (The Greenhornes), to Mike Weinel (ex-Heartless Bastards), and Dan Allaire (ex-Brian Jonestown Massacre) — to join in the fun.

The throwback "Ida Red" starts off with a bang ahead of the twangier "The Day Is Coming (Sainte-Marie's Dream)" that screams 'play me' in a packed dive bar. But oddly though, it's the more laid-back tracks like the pseudo-boss nova number "Echoing Light" and the folksy ballad "There Is Love" that actually evoke the most memories of a life better enjoyed without a single care in the world. The same goes for the R&B pop of "Jubilee Line" and the strangely seductive jazz offering in "High Low."

Brian Olive is an extremely diverse album that maximizes the use of simplicity with not a whole lot of fluff and excess. If "Stealin'" sounds rough as if it were recorded live, then you're partially correct. The Ohio-native Brian Olive used analog tape for the sessions and the natural and cool atmosphere is definitely preserved in his brisk, yet filling debut. - Tan the Man / Blogcritics

BRIAN OLIVE - City Beat

Brian Olive (Profile)

Goes from member to bandleader with solo debut CD

By Brian Baker / City Beat

For the better part of the last decade, Brian Olive has been someone’s guitarist — sometimes as Oliver Henry or Henry Oliver — from post-high school outfits to his stints with The Greenhornes and Soledad Brothers. When the time finally came for Olive to blaze a solo trail, he had plenty of experience to draw on when considering what he wanted to accomplish as a solo artist.

“I had a lot of time to find out what I was trying to get at by playing in basically other people’s bands,” Olive says. “In both The Greenhornes and The Soledad Brothers, I had kind of a say in what went on, but it’s different than the one we have now where I put it together for this purpose. I kept thinking, ‘If I keep running into this trouble playing in bands …’ Everyone’s got their own idea and everyone’s so fixated on having their idea used that you end up losing something. I always liked playing in those bands, but I felt like neither one of them got to where they could be. Playing in those bands made me want to do it in a more focused sort of way.”

Olive got additional inspiration from a more unconventional source. After reading The Devil’s Anarchy, Stephen Snelders’ history of Dutch pirates in the 17th century, Olive came to the conclusion that the buccaneers ran their larcenous affairs in a pretty efficient manner.

“I’m trying to figure out how to be the leader of a band, because I’ve never done it,” Olive says. “These Dutch pirate captains ran their ships like a true democracy, where everyone had a say and the captain could be thrown off the ship. I was reading this and I was like, ‘I want to model my group after this thing.’ ”

Olive already had a fair amount of material for what would become his self-titled debut album, released this week on Alive Records. Some of the songs date back to his Greenhornes/Soledads days, while some of them were as fresh as the sessions for the album.

“One of the songs I did a recording of with (drummer) Dan Allaire about five years ago,” Olive says. “We ended up using his drums and the rhythm tracks and then I played new horn lines and sang it. That one had been around awhile. I changed it to suit the rest of this album. A couple songs were on a 45 I put out last year. I wrote the rest of the songs as we were recording them. Once we had three or four songs going, I could see what the record was going to sound like. I don’t know if it affected the way I wrote the rest of them or if it was just meant to be that way.”

Like the bands that he has contributed to, Olive’s solo album has a definite Garage/Blues feel to it, but there’s also an undeniable streak of Memphis/Stax Soul running through the album. A good deal of the way the album sounds is clearly due to Olive’s musical vision and influences, but he’s quick to spread the credit around.

“In the past, I would have played a lot more of the instruments, but then I realized I had all these people around that I could call on and do the parts,” Olive says. “And I realized they were doing it as good or better than I would have, because they were coming in with an outside perspective.”

As the lone songwriter on the project, Olive certainly feels as though he was able to draw on a wider array of musical influences to craft these songs. At the same time, he’s philosophical about how those influences are reflected in the finished work.

“I was listening to some of the songs the other day and I was trying to figure out what I was thinking of when I did it,” Olive says. “I think the best songs turn out when you don’t zero in on a certain influence or style or group. I hope that I am drawing on many influences and letting them work their way through me.”

At the moment, Olive is booking essentially local shows — his farthest drive so far will be to Cleveland. But he intends to hit a much longer road very soon, with bassist Max Bender, organist Jared McKinney and drummer Mike Weinel (and possibly more) in tow.

“I called agents I used to work with in the Soledad Brothers — a guy in France and another guy in England — so between the two of them hopefully we can tour in the UK and most of western Europe,” Olive says. “And we’ve got a (booking) guy in the States. We intend to take at least a five-piece band anywhere in the world. We’ve got Holly Kadish (of The High & Low) playing guitar some and organ and filling up space with percussion and doing a lot of singing, too. And we just had her sister Tori come up and sing and she’s busting out the harmonica and recorder, and I’m thinking, ‘That sounds great.’

“Now I’ve gotta tell the label it’s a six-piece band and listen to them cry about it — ‘It‘s too many people.’ Well, we’re not The Black Keys.”

BRIAN OLIVE - The Waster

Brian Olive
Holy Toledo!
The Waster

Words by Audra Tracy
06.24.2009

The Day Is Coming (Sainte-Mari...

The heart of industrial America – The Motor City, The Rubber City, The Blue Chip City, The Glass City – have all been a breeding ground for the outlaws of new millennium blues. An unofficial brotherhood of musicians played the same dingy clubs, stirred up a similar media buzz, and over the past decade, each has slowly gained national appeal. Detroit’s White Stripes hit the airwaves first, followed by Akron, Ohio’s The Black Keys, and finally, members of the Cincinnati-based Greenhornes joined Jack White for The Raconteurs in 2007.

Then there’s the elusive Brian Olive. Under the stage name Oliver Henry, he served time for panhandling on street corners, he once wooed Meg White, and most importantly, he was the under-rated multi-instrumentalist for two seminal bands, The Greenhornes and Toledo’s Soledad Brothers. Oddly enough, he was right in the thick of the blues-rock resurgence when he went rogue, changed his name, and started a solo career.

One might think that working with such prolific peers would inspire a parallel musical direction, but Olive claims the very opposite. On his history with The White Stripes, Olive politely shares, “creatively, I think those relationships have affected me in positive way”. Mostly by helping me realize what I don't want to do”, he says.

And so abandoning the alias of O. Henry helped give Olive the clean slate he was looking for. “It was a good time being Oliver Henry”, he recalls, “but now I'm in a more focused state of mind.” That newfound focus has led him to a hippie-like horizon, awakening listeners with a psychedelic sunrise full of fuzzy happy sunbeams.

Olive’s new sound doesn’t come as a surprise - his background in piano and saxophone finds him better suited for soul shakedowns than the sad sack of blues he left behind. Releasing June 23rd on Alive Records, his debut solo album is an abrupt departure from that former self. The self-titled record is more gypsy pop than garage rock, more of a 60’s love-in than a nod to Howlin’ Wolf.

Artists like Olive should never be ashamed of that creative selfishness of going solo – of that urge to hold the reins, to steer the ship. The only shame here is that Olive took this long to record all those repressed musical ideas. Now that he is finally free to write, record, and mix on his own terms, Olive seems relieved. “I'm doing more of everything”, Olive says, “from being there every moment of recording to handling the business. For me, it's good because I know there won't be any cutting corners or cringing while someone makes poor decisions.”

One thing that has remained constant in the Oliver Henry/Brian Olive transition is his penchant for playing all types of instruments. An old Soledad Brothers live review from Crutch Magazine refers to Olive as a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. “Is that a compliment or an insult?”, he wonders. “Never could figure that one out.” At the very least, we can admit he is now master of his own artistic destiny.

In addition to carrying lead vocals, ‘the master’ is also credited for playing guitar, piano, and woodwinds on the new record; but he is quick to credit the polyphonic prowess to his gifted kin. “I started on drums when I was 7 and then went to guitar, saxophone, etc”, he recollects. “My family has many musical people - almost everyone on my mother's side. And my father was a pianist who played ragtime religiously.”

All in all, the new songs are refreshingly upbeat, airy, and adopt that ‘family band’ vibe from Olive’s early days. That ‘family’ consists of Mike Weinel (Heartless Bastards), Dan Allaire (Brian Jonestown Massacre), as well as Jared McKinney and Craig Fox of The Greenhornes. A very welcome addition is Donna Jay and the Kadish Sisters, a vocal trio he recruited to back him on tracks like the opening “Ida Red”.

From note one, Olive officially upgrades the dynamic from old and gritty to bright and pretty. “Stealin’” leads a lo-fi funk parade, boasting a horn section so rich it could start a block party in some neighborhoods. The ethereal “See Me Mariona” whisks you away to that magic hookah bar in the sky, while the beatnik “High Low” kinda conjures up the spirit of “Minnie the Moocher”.

Olive only has a few hometown gigs booked around Ohio this summer, but hopefully he’ll enlighten the East Coast sooner than later. Looking ahead, there’s much more to come from this former blues brother. “More than anything, I'd like to make another record”, he relates.

If you do get the chance to check out his new groove live, just make sure you don’t mention how his album is on your iPod. “Someone gave me an mp3 player a few years ago and I ‘accidentally lost it’ after I heard my music come out of it”, the vinyl-phile says. “I am glad it exists for people who need to hear music and have no good record store around, but it's definitely no substitute for the real thing.”

BRIAN OLIVE - Metromix Cincinnati

Brian Olive goes solo

Former Greenhornes guitarist came back to town to record his new CD
By Allison Cayse
Special to Metromix
June 23, 2009

Local musician Brian Olive gained recognition in the indie and garage rock world as a member of the Greenhornes and the Soledad Brothers. His first solo endeavor, a self-titled album on Alive Records, comes out this week, complete with a couple of local shows. He will also be supporting The Fiery Furnaces when they play Fountain Square August 7.

You’ve been credited as Brian Olive, Oliver Henry and Henry Oliver. What’s up with all the names?
Well, one name—I’ve seen it printed as Henry Oliver—but I never actually used that name. It just kind of—you know, I don’t know where it came from. It was misprint or something. The name Oliver Henry, well a long time ago, I was simultaneously playing in the Greenhornes and the Soledad Brothers, and I noticed that the other two guys in the Soledad Brothers were using made up names. And I thought, "Sure, why not?" The idea was to remain anonymous, I guess. I don’t know, I guess there wasn’t a real reason.

You’re most well known for your work in collaborative efforts like the Greenhornes and Soledad Brothers, but There is Love is your first solo album. What is the difference between creating a solo piece of work versus being part of a band?
I was happy playing in the other bands that I’ve been in, but you know, there comes a point when I have my own ideas and everyone else has their own ideas. And I was never the kind of person—I realized that I was in a band and knew that there was a lot of different opinions coming to the table—but I was never the kind of person who was going to try to, you know, push other people into my ideas. So I just realized that someday I would end up just doing the whole thing by myself, or at least choosing the people who were going to play on it that didn’t mind being part of a solo album. And I found them, so it worked out.

Can you tell me about the process of writing the album?
You know I’ve been actually writing the songs and recording them for years. You know, just trying to put together something that seemed like it went together. A couple of the songs have actually been around for a few years. I wrote them and then finished them up in the studio when we were doing this record. But most of the writing was done—I would start on an idea and get the basic two other people to come in and lay down the foundation of it, and I wrote the majority of it in the studio. For the latter half of it, I spent about eight months writing and recording it.

There are a lot of contributors to the album, can you tell us about them?
Yeah, they’re all friends of mine. And actually Jared McKinney, the drummer on the record, I played with him in the Greenhornes when we started the band. A few of the people are from the band The High and Low, who are from here. They were friends of mine and I heard their music and recorded them a while ago. So when it came time to work on this record, I immediately went to them—mainly Mike Weinel. He was there through the entire recording process. He was right there helping me.

Apparently the album was recorded in the basement of an old pawn shop?
Well, the building that we have the studio in is down on Hamilton Avenue, it’s in Northside. It’s got a huge diamond sign on the front of it. We found out, just by asking around, that it actually was (where we end up building the studio), it was the vault where they kept the diamonds. I can’t really tell you much about it, but I know they cut the diamonds there, and there was a pawn shop there at one time. Actually when the ceiling caved in and the roof top came down…

Whoa, I’m going to need you to back up and tell me the whole story about this and how you ended up in the building.
Well, some friends of ours purchased the building about five years ago. And Mike [Weinel] ended up in there, and it was one of those deals where they were like, ‘If you want to help us renovate the building, you can have one of the apartments.’ So he said, ‘yeah,’ and started working on it.

When I moved back here—I was living in London for a little while—I got to talking to him, and we started saying maybe we want to have a studio. And I was like, ‘Well, I want that vacant apartment that’s in there.’ So I had to rebuild an apartment in there to live in. And it’s also the apartment that’s above the studio, so no one else would want it anyway, because it’s too loud. Anyhow, there’s a rooftop deck outside my window there. A couple of winters ago—you remember when that snow storm came, that huge snowstorm? There were snow drifts. The entire deck was covered in snow and ice, and in the control room of the studio, the ceiling started caving in.

We found out later that there was somebody that tried to do a break-in coming into the vault from the rooftop. And we found the hole where they had sawed into the roof trying to get in. That was the part that, after 20 or 30 years, had finally given way and started to cave in. So then we had to rebuild the studio again. That’s why it took us a little while to get the record done.

What’s it like living above the studio?
It’s great. I’ve got the apartment; I stay there a lot and I can walk downstairs—especially when we were in the thick of it, trying to finish the record. It’s a private studio, so there’s not a lot of people coming in and out. But it is loud as hell when people are in there playing. It’s not too relaxing, but that’s not too often, so it’s pretty nice.

You’ve traveled around and lived in a lot of different places. What brought you back to Cincinnati?
Well, I came back after travelling a lot, shortly before I left the Soledad Brothers. I went to Detroit because I had stayed there before. I was sort of, I don’t know. I like that town and I like all the towns that I went to and stayed. But you know, I’m from here and I missed it. You know I kind of had shed the attitude that I think a lot of people get being around here, that Cincinnati has something wrong with it. And in order to do something that is important or that you feel is important that you have to leave. I mean, I think it’s good to leave and I think that everyone should travel, but I like Cincinnati and I missed the place and wanted to come back.

Final question: What’s your favorite song on the album?
My favorite song? I don’t know. Each time I listen to it, it changes to a different one. Like one day, I’ll listen to it and I’ll think, ‘Aw that’s the best one on there, and then the next day it’ll change to something else. Then one day, I’ll think ‘Oh God, why did I do that?’ and then I’ll hate the song. But then the next day I’ll love it again. So I guess all of them.

Brian Olive/Soledad Brothers in the current issue of Mojo

The current issue of MOJO with Kings Of Leon on the cover includes the free "ROOTS, FRIENDS AND INFLUENCES" CD, 14 tracks that influenced, inspired and are admired by the Kings Of Leon. The CD includes music by Woody Guthrie, Merle Haggard, The Kills, My Morning Jacket, and the SOLEDAD BROTHERS, BRIAN OLIVE's old band.

BRIAN OLIVE'S self-titled debut album is out on Alive Naturalsound on June 23rd. The RECORD RELEASE PARTY is set for June 27 @ The Northside Tavern - Cincinnati OH.

BRIAN OLIVE - 3Hive

Since I missed the '70s and blindly followed the "Proud to be Drug Free" crowd in the '80s, Brian Olive is filling in the blanks for me. If I fell asleep to this record I'm sure I'd dream myself into New Orleans sometime in the '70s, chemical high and all. The music is as colorful as the album cover, and sounds like a stack of beatnik, jazz, and psychedelic records melted into one soundtrack to a '70s brown-hued television show. I think I'm gonna need a brownie. - 3Hive

BRIAN OLIVE : Other Music exclusive advance download

BRIAN OLIVE self-titled debut is now available as an exclusive advance download from Other Music

This talented musician has served time in the Greenhornes and the Soledad Brothers, two underrated garage rock bands from Cincinnati, Ohio. Brian Olive's self-titled solo album is a pretty impressive self-produced affair that takes the trashy, rollicking, Brit invasion revivalist sound of his former groups and then injects a healthy dose of bluesy soul backbeats and N'awlins horns to the mix. There's also a nice haze of gentle acid-washed psychedelia to his production that reminds me of some fellow '60s revivalists across the pond, the (Band of) Bees. Tracks like "Echoing Light," "See Me Mariona" and "There Is Love" are great stoner, psych-pop nuggets while "Calling All Around" and "Ida Red" are letter perfect Beggars Banquet-styled blues rock, reminiscent of Olive's former bands. But it's songs like "Stealin" and "Jubilee Line" that seal the deal, impressive rollicking jaunts that benefit from his impressive horn arrangements and a propulsive foot stomping backbeat. A great, solid listen from start to finish, if you've been diggin' on the sounds of King Khan, Brian Jonestown Massacre or the aforementioned Bees, you'll definitely want to spend some time with this record. Tip!! - Duane Harriott

Ex-Greenhorne/Soledad Brother Goes Solo

Ex-Greenhorne/Soledad Brother Goes Solo
-- Mike Breen / City Beat

Brian Olive, a founding member of The Greenhornes and later a member of the Soledad Brothers (under the stage-name Oliver Henry), is releasing a self-titled solo album on June 23. The CD will be put out by Alive Records, also home to Cincy's Buffalo Killers.

The CD was recorded in Cincinnati and features a lot of local guests, including The Greenhornes' Craig Fox, original Greenhornes keysman Jared McKinney, Holly and Tori Kadish and Mike Wienel of The High and Low and drummer Dan Allaire, a former local who has since played with the Brian Jonestown Massacre and other west coast bands. Olive plans to tour the album with a band assembled from some of the guest players.

The album's sound is described as a "multicolored affair that takes musical and lyrical cues from the British psychedelic sixties, as well as the soul-pop hit factories of Memphis, and wanders through the erstwhile streets of the Ninth Ward."

Listen to the first track leaked from the album, "There Is Love," a tasty, narcotic slice of dreamy Psychedelia.

SOLEDAD BROTHERS - Rolling Stone

At their best, Soledad Brothers recall the Rolling Stones when Mick and Keith were fresh-faced bluesheads in the mid-Sixties: The prolific Detroit foursome kicks out solid, harmonica-laced blues riffs without sounding derivative or cheesily nostalgic. "Downtown Paranoia Blues" is a distortion-happy tribute to no-good women and the men who love them. "Got that paranoia and it's spinning in my head," drawls singer Johnny Walker, with a little irony: "I could see her laying down in half a million beds." Guitars whine convincingly over the down-at-the-heels piano ballad "Crying Out Loud (Tears of Joy)," and the meandering, ten-minute-plus hidden track, "Dirty Beef in C," is full of psychedelic sitar twangs sure to win over the stoner contingent. Meet the Motor City's newest hitmakers. - Lauren Gitlin / Rolling Stone