About.
Many years ago in the early 1980's, a group of guys got together and formed a rock band in Oshkosh, WI, named SGT. FRIDAY. Some of the guys were attending the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh at that time and others were working odd jobs around the area. They started this musical journey in a basement on HOLLISTER Ave. These musicians would cut their teeth in the rock-n-roll world in that basement which holds many memories & stories. The band enjoyed much success playing around the Midwest for 3+ years in the mid -1980's releasing two full cassette-album projects.
Fast forward to 2003, members of that band would reunite for a few shows with The Producers & The Fixx. This dynamic reunion of friendship & music together inspired original SGT. FRIDAY members, Billy Plucker & Rob Ryf, to join forces with Jeff Radke & Jack Rein to form the band SMOKETREE. This group played for 3 years at many regional shows & festivals in the Wisconsin Music Scene playing shows alongside the Gin Blossoms, The Producers, The Smithereens, Seven Mary Three, Todd Rundgren, Little River Band to name a few.
Spin ahead to 2020, as COVID slowed the world to a crawl, an original SGT. FRIDAY member, James Helm, would come back into their lives after many, many years away. This reunion of friends inspired another musical project, in which an old collection of SGT. FRIDAY studio & live performances were pulled out of the archives and re-mixed and mastered and released to the public for free!
This reunion would stimulate some fresh musical energy that would introduce a wave of creativeness that was bottled up for over a decade! It started as just writing a few songs, but idea after idea would surface creating another project that would be called HOLLISTER, "Where It all Began." Yes, that same basement of James Helm, where it all began, so many years ago...
Billy, Rob & James have now joined forces with some good friends, family and past & present musicians to create "The Hollister Project" | Most tracks were recorded at: W-P Studio *except all "Live" drums, mandolin & some bass and guitar tracks recorded at: LOST LAKE STUDIO | Players are: Billy Plucker (12-string acoustic, electric guitars, piano, strings, B3 organ, lead & harmony vocals), Rob Ryf (Drums & Percussion), James Helm (bass, slide guitar, lap steel guitar & electric/acoustic piano), Jack Rein (electric guitar, solos & drums), Rich Johnson (owner/operator of Lost Lake Studio, electric guitar solos), & Jeff Smith (mandolin)
