First Ever Zappa Records Signing With Holland Greco’s Volume One

HOLLAND GRECO

TUESDAY, JUNE 17
RELEASE DATE SET FOR
‘VOLUME ONE’
ON ZAPPA RECORDS

ALBUM MARKS
FIRST ORIGINAL ARTIST SIGNING
TO ZAPPA RECORDS THIS CENTURY

 

“Holland Greco has a split personality. The first half (dubbed Tunnel Vision) of her debut disc opens  with electro-pop-synth strings, electronics and propulsive Latin vibe. Subsequent tracks brim with sensual vocals amid infectious hooks. Layered in born-again ‘70s flair-cheesy organ lift, hovering strings, jazzy spacing-songs carry from dance floor to bedroom. ‘Stuck!’ breaks the mold, all kinetic dance energy of horn blasts and slap drumming. . .Greco dubs the disc’s latter half Murdergram: Songs of the Misfits as she revisions a handful of classics, moving from brooding surf punkishness to horror-esque melodrama. With irrepressible sultry tone, Greco’s voice carries in captivating fashion-like a cat toying with a mouse in its final moments.”
–Glenn BurnSilver, RELIX, June 2014

A Tuesday, June 17 release has been set for the first-ever original artist signing to Zappa Records not named Zappa this century, and HOLLAND GRECO lives up to the honor with an eclectic musical palette that is in full effect on her two-pronged album VOLUME ONE (Zappa Records on 180-gram audiophile-quality vinyl disc, including digital download card and iTunes). VOLUME ONE presents GRECO’s musical diversity in two sides: Tunnel Vision is a lighter collection of GRECO’s original tunes and Murdergram: Songs Of The Misfitsis an array of Misfits cover songs. Both sides allow GRECO to showcase the duality and diversity of her interests. VOLUME ONE will be available at the Barfko-Swill shop online.

“Volume One is basically an elegant double E.P.,” says GRECO.  “The idea to release both of them as one album wasn’t in my heart or mind when I recorded them.  It’s a lucky accident.  I’m relieved to release them both together because it better describes my interests and intentions right out of the gate.” (**See full Q&A at bottom of release.)

GRECO recorded Tunnel Vision with keyboardist Lisa Harriton [Ke$ha, Smashing Pumpkins, Adam Lambert], bassist Joe Karnes [Fitz & the Tantrums], frequent drummer princessFrank and a horn section including ace musicians like trombone player Ryan Porter and trumpeter Brian Warfield. The results featureHOLLAND in her Norah Jones/Maria Muldaur/Cyndi Lauper mode, a seductive crooner capable of the buoyant samba beat of “100 Proof” and the horn-driven New Orleans by way of Mary Wells stomp of“Stuck!”

HOLLAND says, “Writing and recording a pop song that captures the ears and imaginations of many people is a very high form of societal contribution, in my opinion.  With the songs from Tunnel Vision (Side A of Volume One), I’m seeking to establish myself as a recording artist and songwriter who has the potential to do that.”

Murdergram: Songs Of The Misfits, her tribute to Glenn Danzig’s horror-core punkabilly band The Misfits, was inspired by the exploitation flicks of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez and the fuzz-toned guitar sounds of Link Wray. You can hear those cinematic influences in the wide-screen “American Nightmare,” with a bowed bass solo that sounds like “a crying Orca, a wail of pain and anguish,” with HOLLAND’s declamatory style recalling yet another rock poet in Patti Smith. There’s a bossa nova beat in “Die Die My Darling”courtesy of princessFrank, while “Vampira” is straight-ahead monsterbilly in the classic crash-and-burn style of The Cramps. In her spare time, HOLLAND also plays keyboards, rhythm guitar, banjo, accordion and background vocals for similarly styled The Stripminers, featuring The Donnas’ Brett Anderson, The Radishes’ Paul Stinson and X drummer DJ Bonebrake. “The Misfits rock hard and rude,” says GRECO. “The songs are fun to play and have great lyrics.”

“I started hard listening to Top 40 radio, was and am still incubating in tiny rooms and out on the mean streets,”GRECO adds.  “This truly is my first Volume.  I’m thrilled with the package and music.  The vinyl album looks and sounds absolutely fantastic.  Come to a live show for further exploration of its artistic parts, parcels, and visions of what’s to come.”

The track listing for VOLUME ONE is as follows:

Tunnel Vision (Side A)
1. 100 Proof
2. Bedford Stuyvesant
3. Stuck!
4. Butterflies
5. Flashback

Murdergram: Songs of the Misfits (Side B)
1. Hollywood Babylon
2. Halloween
3. American Nightmare
4. Die Die My Darling
5. Vampira