Andrea Gillis has been a fixture on the Boston music scene for so long that she stands out in the mind like a statue of a former mayor. Gillis is gearing up for a CD Release Party at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, Massachusetts next weekend. on April 29th and April 30th. This marks the debut album for her Andrea Gillis Band.
Her Andrea Gillis Band recorded the new CD Hey Gillis at 1867 Recording Studio in Chelsea, Massachusetts. The CD was named after a song her band recorded on it titled Hey Gillis. Producer Jeremy Curtis(Perfect Train and Booker T‘s band) turned the knobs for this cross between Rod Stewart’s old band Faces with old R&B.
“We covered a couple of gospel songs on there, and the rest are all originals,” she said, but “Scott Janovich wrote one song. There’s a couple that I wrote, and a couple that the band wrote together. It was a real collaborative. It was a lot of fun.” Scott Janovitz is not in the band, but Gillis loved a song Janovitz wrote six years ago titled “More Often Than Not.”
“It’s a nice ballad,” Gillis said. “It’s from the perspective of someone who listens to a lot of live music.”
Andrea Gillis Band covered the Mahalia Jackson song “My Hands On The Plow.” “I’ve always loved it. I love the energy. At the time there was a death in the family and a good friend of mine passed away. And it’s such a positive song, and it’s so uplifting and it tells you to hold on. I’m getting a little emotional even talking about it. If things aren’t going your way, just keep doing what you’re doing, and be happy with the things you do have. It basically just tells you to kick butt in life.”
Her band plays it live all the time, and they tried to bring that live vibe onto their CD. Gillis also composed a song called “Mariachi” that she calls her “hip hop mariachi song.” “It’s really kind of groovy, the verses are and stuff, and the mariachi guitar comes in and I kind of scat over it, and then trumpet comes in. It’s far out there.”
Gillis described mariachi guitar as a “bullfighting guitar. It’s like a love song and it goes into an anthem and in the middle is guitars. “
Title track “Hey Gillis” was written because Gillis said people always call her by her last name, especially fans who hadn‘t seen her perform and thought she was no longer playing out. She was still performing but they were always asking, ‘Hey, Gillis, when are you going to start playing again?’
“I basically wrote that for the fans,” she said. “A lot of people call me Gillis. A lot of people don’t call me by my first name. It’s funny.” Her family members are all known by their last names in their own circles, and when Gillis was in high school, nobody even knew what her first name was.”
Gillis had special guests record on her CD. John Paul Powhida who was in The Rudds with Gillis and Mark Pinanski for Township sing back up on the whole CD. She named the backing singers the Sweet P’s. Andrea Gillis Band includes bass player Michelle Paullus(formerly of The Dents), guitarist Charles Hanson(Gymnasium, Roth Fazer), guitarist Melissa Gibbs, and drummer Bruce Caporal. The drummer is also called “The Chief.”
Gillis sings and fronts the band. She’s had this current band for three years. “I love it. It’s really exciting,” she said. “The last thing that I did (before Andrea Gillis Band) was a giant collaborative so it was a little bit bigger project. But I love this band especially because they’re all my best friends. We always wanted to play music with each other for forever, but everybody always had different projects going on. Bruce and I have been together for six years. He’s been my drummer for a long time.”
Gillis’s previous album, “Want Another?”, was Gillis’s recordings of songs by other Boston artists. Collaborating with other songwriters was always a favorite thing. “I like playing music with other people. I especially always liked a lot of local musicians. They’re so talented. If somebody has a song that may be isn’t right for them. That’s such a great honor. I’d jump at the chance for something like that.” Usually, big name national acts have songs written for them, but Gillis made it happen in Boston. She had recorded a song for Want Another called “Fainting” that Jed Parrish from The Gravel Pit had recorded and played out. Local fans were able to hear both version and seemed to like it as much as the original.
Gillis’s new album with AGB has more of her own original music. She has more focus this time around, and her new album has a sound that defines the Andrea Gillis Band. “Even though the genres are all over the place,” she said. “Before, I didn’t really have a sound, per se. This new record has more of a cohesion. You can tell it’s a band that’s been playing together for a long time. I’ve matured.”
For her own songs, Gillis will either write a whole tune with the melody and everything else, or, she’ll write a part of a song and she will work with someone from the band to bring it to fruition. “We’ll work through it, and all of a sudden it’s a totally different song once the whole band is playing it. We really don’t think a song is finished until everybody’s playing it in the band together.”
Andrea Gillis Band has the distinction of having three female musicians. The three women met at the Abbey Lounge when Gillis was employed there. They formed an all girl cover band called The Other Girls that is still together. Gillis said there are no problems in her bands because of the mixed genders. Guitarists Hanson and Gibbs are married to each other. The two had a chance to spend a lot of time together working on their music.
Audiences still find it exciting to see three incredibly talented women on stage ,with presence and talent. “You see three women up front. You’re seeing some really deep stuff coming out of it too,” Gillis said. “We’re not just playing 1-4-5 blues stuff and ‘Oh, look, isn’t that cute? Look at the little girls up there playing.’ When you see us playing, it’s like ‘Wow! Look at that band up there.’”
Gillis used to front a band called Red Chord that was also a three girl band, featuring Emily Grogan and Andrea Gaudette. Rock and roll and R&B were the order of the day. “There was nothing hard rock about it,” Gillis said.
Red Chord played three hour nights at The Plough And Star and Toad in Cambridge. They had played the Hatch Shell in 2002, and they got a song placement on the TV show Dawson’s Creek. It was a live version of a song called “Taxi” that Gillis had written with guitarist Eamonn McKeever. It was the only album they ever recorded. It was a live album and “Taxi” had come out really well and the show played it at the end when the credits were rolling. The end of the song was never heard so the national TV audience didn’t hear the cheering and the clapping of the live audience.
Red Chord did all they could accomplish and the members got busy and went their own separate ways, with no ill feelings. “There was definitely no excitement or animosity,” Gillis said. “We’re still pals.”
Gillis played a short set for Jesse Malin at T.T. The Bears, and, Andrea Gillis Band played the opening show for J.Geil’s Band at The House Of Blues reopening two years ago, in front of 2500 people. “That was amazing,” she said. “That was probably the best day of my life.”
J.Geil’s Band’s lead singer Peter Wolf had hand picked Andrea Gillis Band to open. “He liked the vibe that we give off when we play,” she said. Andrea Gillis Band never got a chance to hang out with the Boston legends. AGB played a 50 minute set and The J. Geil’s Band played 2 hours and 45 minutes, making for a very busy night. “It was awesome,” Gillis said.
For now, Gillis is looking forward to her CD Release Party next week. Muck And The Mires will open on Friday night and Banditas will open on Saturday night, April 29th and April 30th at The Lizard Lounge in Cambridge.
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