Germany Hill/Joe McAvoy - A Christmas Tune

Website Address:

http://germanyhill.com/

Music Style:

Folk Rock

City:

Glenside

 

State:

PA

 

Country:

U.S.

Band Description

A mélange of musical styles (Rock, Country, Pop and even Acoustic-thrash) with lyrical content which toes a wide, but clearly delineated line – relationships. Vocal Harmonies recalling Simon & Garfunkel with lead guitar lines emulating the styles of Angus Young and Jimmy Page.

Additional Band Websites

 

Artist Biography

Germany Hill isn’t just a band. It’s a place, a tract of open space between Roxborough and Manayunk. It’s an anomaly, twenty acres of sylvan hillsides nestled between two northwestern Philadelphia neighborhoods. Over many years Germany Hill has meant different things to different people. Google “Germany Hill” and you’ll see that recently the location has been a point of contention between neighbors and developers with local politicians caught in the middle.

Just as “The Hill” (as it’s commonly referred to by natives of Roxborough and Manayunk, PA) has been a bridge and a border between neighborhoods, it’s now also a common link and a divisive wedge. For generations of teenagers, Germany Hill has been a place where relationships are forged, fractured, and obliterated. Certainly more than a few have even been consummated there.

 

Germany Hill, with its history, its current uncertainty, and its emotional connotations, best represents who the band Germany Hill is and what they’ve created on their eponymous debut album. Musically, Joe and Felix comprise the bisected halves of Germany Hill. On Joe’s songs he takes lead vocals and rhythm guitar with Felix providing background or harmony vocals and lead guitar. On Felix’s song, they switch duties. Initially, Joe and Felix planned on releasing an album of songs arranged for voice and guitar only with very little production, but when they asked friend/multi-instrumentalist/engineer/co-producer Joe “Big Note” Stout to try “Lucy” as a “piano song,” they quickly realized how many possibilities they were sacrificing for a single concept – fidelity to their live shows. They could record a gig in a lot less time and for a lot less money than the studio album they had already embarked upon. Joe Stout plays all over the record, and his presence (and incredible talent) allowed Joe and Felix to record songs from several subgenres of rock and roll.

 

Unlike the mélange of musical styles on the record, the lyrical content toes a wide, but clearly delineated line – relationships. Once the relationship theme had been identified, Joe and Felix sifted through their individual catalogs, selecting fitting tunes. Felix even had a title in mind for the album – a line from a poem he’d written years ago. The record was going to be called A Many Splintered Thing until Elvis Costello used the phrase in one of his songs. The songs on Germany Hill depict relationships of many types – romantic, professional, abusive, familial, creative, and spiritual. The most commonly examined relationship on the album is the one between the two halves of a divided self.

 

Joe McAvoy (vocals & guitar), a Philly-area native is a self-taught songwriter, producer, singer and guitar player who played in a few short-tenured hard-rock/heavy metal bands in his formative high school days. Joe soon left these bands to cut his teeth gigging with his older brothers and friends in the band Don McAvoy & The Great Whatever (DMCGW). DMCGW played the Philly bar and original music club scene extensively while Joe was still in high school! DMCGW band members backed Don McAvoy (lead vocals & various instruments) on Don’s debut 2 CD solo release effort “Sometimes the Characters Speak Louder than the Lesson of the Story” which Joe Co-Produced with his brother, Don in 1996. Joe also played guitar, glockenspiel, performed background vocals on and co-produced DMCGW’s second release “Peace Love and Scrapple”, a 4 song EP of Novelty, Holiday & Theme songs released in 1998. More info on Joe’s contributions with DMCGW and their upcoming third CD (also co-produced by Joe) “There’s Time Between The Bridge And The Water”, can be found at www.dmcgw.com.

 

Joe also wrote, played guitar, banjo, sang vocals and produced the jingle currently used by Holly Days Nursery based in Horsham, PA which is presently under license with Holly Days and used regularly in their advertising campaigns. The “Holly Days Nursery” jingle can be heard here.

Joe’s guitar influences include: Jimmy Page, Randy Rhoads, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Angus Young, Danny Gatton, Roy Buchannan, Rory Gallagher, David Gilmour, Ace Frehley and many others. Joe’s songwriting and vocal influences include: Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards, Paul Simon, Neil Young and many others. Joe is currently writing and producing more original music for various commercial and artistic purposes including: jingle writing, movie and TV usage.

Contact Joe here if you’d like to inquire about potential licensing opportunities of one of his original songs or to commission him to write something for your upcoming Project.

Press Release

Germany Hill isn’t just a band. It’s a place, a tract of open space between Roxborough and Manayunk. It’s an anomaly, twenty acres of sylvan hillsides nestled between two northwestern Philadelphia neighborhoods. Over many years Germany Hill has meant different things to different people. Google “Germany Hill” and you’ll see that recently the location has been a point of contention between neighbors and developers with local politicians caught in the middle.

 

Just as “The Hill” (as it’s commonly referred to by natives of Roxborough and Manayunk, PA) has been a bridge and a border between neighborhoods, it’s now also a common link and a divisive wedge. For generations of teenagers, Germany Hill has been a place where relationships are forged, fractured, and obliterated. Certainly more than a few have even been consummated there.

 

Germany Hill, with its history, its current uncertainty, and its emotional connotations, best represents who the band Germany Hill is and what they’ve created on their eponymous debut album. Musically, Joe and Felix comprise the bisected halves of Germany Hill. On Joe’s songs he takes lead vocals and rhythm guitar with Felix providing background or harmony vocals and lead guitar. On Felix’s song, they switch duties. Initially, Joe and Felix planned on releasing an album of songs arranged for voice and guitar only with very little production, but when they asked friend/multi-instrumentalist/engineer/co-producer Joe “Big Note” Stout to try “Lucy” as a “piano song,” they quickly realized how many possibilities they were sacrificing for a single concept – fidelity to their live shows. They could record a gig in a lot less time and for a lot less money than the studio album they had already embarked upon. Joe Stout plays all over the record, and his presence (and incredible talent) allowed Joe and Felix to record songs from several subgenres of rock and roll.

 

Unlike the mélange of musical styles on the record, the lyrical content toes a wide, but clearly delineated line – relationships. Once the relationship theme had been identified, Joe and Felix sifted through their individual catalogs, selecting fitting tunes. Felix even had a title in mind for the album – a line from a poem he’d written years ago. The record was going to be called A Many Splintered Thing until Elvis Costello used the phrase in one of his songs. The songs on Germany Hill depict relationships of many types – romantic, professional, abusive, familial, creative, and spiritual. The most commonly examined relationship on the album is the one between the two halves of a divided self.