Grammy-winning local musician/producer Brian Olive is gearing up for his latest solo album release, Living On Top, which is due April 28. A release party on that date has been announced for Over-the-Rhine’s Woodward Theater. Tickets for the show — also featuring Pop Empire and Royal Holland — are on sale now at cincyticket.com.
CityBeat hosted the public premiere of the title track from the forthcoming LP; click here for a listen.
Olive first came to the attention of local music fans as a member of Cincy legends The Greenhornes. After two albums with the band, Olive left to focus on his work as a multi-instrumentalist member of the renowned Soledad Brothers, moving to Detroit and working under the name Oliver Henry. Olive later moved back to Cincinnati and set up his The Diamonds studio in Northside, where he recorded what would become his self-titled solo debut, released in 2009.
Two years later, Olive received even wider acclaim for his fantastic Two Of Everything LP, which he co-produced with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. He re-teamed with Auerbach for the 2012 Locked Down album by the legendary Dr. John. Olive’s contributions to that project (as co-writer and performer) earned him a Grammy when it took home the Best Blues Album statue at the 2013 ceremony.
The 10-track Living On Top was recorded over the past couple of years at The Diamonds and showcases a broader musical palette while retaining Olive’s timeless songwriting knack. But during the recording process, the building that houses the studio continued to fall into disrepair. Last winter, the studio was flooded and Olive lost some of the recordings he was doing with other artists, a main source of his income (he’s manned the board for several local acts, including the internationally acclaimed Electric Citizen). Olive is currently working on completing a new studio space not too far from The Diamonds, which will be called Mt. Saturn. He’s also launching Mt. Saturn Records — Living On Top is the first release from the label.
Olive launched a crowd-funding campaign through Pledge Music to help with the new LP’s release.
“Having a label is something I always wanted to do,” Olive writes on pledgemusic.com. “It used to be just because I thought it would be ‘fun.’ But, after getting fed up with waiting on people with no vision to make mistakes or do nothing at all with my music, I decided to take it into my own hands and make the label happen. It’s a chance to release my music and great music from bands and musicians that may never be heard otherwise.”
You can pre-order the album through the campaign’s page at pledgemusic.com/brianolive, earn some extra goodies and receive an instant download of the album’s title track.
Visit brianolivemusic.com for more info.
More Local Notes
• Cincinnati music faves Over the Rhine soundtracked the recent Super Bowl commercial for Cincinnati Bell. The group composed a beautiful new song for the spot, “Welcome Home,” which matched the hometown-love vibe of the ad perfectly. The full song is available to download here, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Over the Rhine Music, Art & Earth Foundation. Visit overtherhine.com for more details.
• It’s been just over two years and two months since Cincinnati-based Pop/Rock band Walk the Moon released its breakthrough album, Talking Is Hard, which produced the massive hit “Shut Up and Dance.” The band is reportedly hard at work on its follow up, but in the meantime, fans can get their WTM fix with the group’s collaborative track with Wyclef Jean. The single “Holding on the Edge” will be included on Jean’s forthcoming EP, J’ouvert. The former Fugees figurehead recently told i-D/Vice. “To me, this sounds like The Police meets Bob Marley.”
CONTACT MIKE BREEN: mbreen@citybeat.com
This article appears in Feb 8-15, 2017.
