Gainesville, Florida five-piece Sister Hazel has released all types of records over the course of their career: a live rock album and DVD, a B-sides offering, a holiday album, and a slew of discs featuring the American rock fans have come to know and love them for. In June 2008, they will expand that list to include their first-ever live acoustic record. Entitled “Before The Amplifiers, Live Acoustic,” the album features sixteen tracks which include the band’s hits, fan favorites, and live concert staples, all in a stripped-down, acoustic format.
“Before The Amplifiers” was recorded in January 2008 at Nickel and Dime Studios in Atlanta (other bands who have recorded there in the past include Indigo Girls, The B-52’s, Shawn Mullins) in front of one hundred lucky fans who were chosen at random from over five thousand entries. Family and friends of the band were also in attendance, enjoying the intimate, unplugged performance in a softly-lit room scattered with couches. “Before The Amplifiers” is the perfect collection for both the hardcore band fans (a.k.a. Hazelnuts) and for listeners just discovering the band for the first time.
Says band lead singer Ken Block: “One of my favorite things about our band is that we have always appreciated breaking it down just as much as we love to crank it up. The fans have always connected with the acoustic sets and enjoy the acoustic moments at our bigger shows. They've been asking us to do an acoustic record for as long as we've been a band. We felt like we were in the perfect space to capture an acoustic evening and it turned out great. There are a lot of different sounds and several alternate arrangements that were a blast to play. Acoustic versions really get their power from musical subtleties, the lyricism and the naked harmonies. That's where the intimacy really shines.”
For Sister Hazel, it’s always been about the music, but over the course of their decade-plus music making career, it has expanded beyond that to incorporate so much more. They’ve maintained their unerring focus and desire to help, to share, to include, and to grow -- be it through their music or through other means -- all the while stretching their musical umbrella to cover what has become a true community. “We love to do so many different things,” says Block. “Between writing songs we believe in, the live shows, building a community, expanding our events, and the charity, there’s this whole lifestyle that is what Sister Hazel is all about.”
This lifestyle is defined by Sister Hazel fans and their sense of community. The fivesome has never been far from the road, and their consistent, regular touring has only helped to grow their fan base, year in and year out. Even before they signed their first record deal, they were always very available and open with their fans, and they’ve continued to strive to provide those fans with a feeling of sharing along the way. The result has been a group of fans who are extraordinarily loyal, some of whom follow the band on the road from city to city. “We’ve created a community of like-minded people who enjoy the music as much as we do,” says Newell. “We’re still having fun and that translates. All of us try to be accessible to our fans, and we really are concerned with their journey as much as ours.”
Fans have flocked to special fan-centric events the band co-founded: The Rock Boat (which they host every year) and The Rock Slope. The Rock Boat, the world’s largest floating music festival which first sailed in 2001, was the first of its kind – other bands have since mimicked the concept, but none as successfully as Sister Hazel. With The Rock Boat being such an enormous hit, the band went on to create The Rock Slope in 2004, a ski and snowboarding music fest, in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where the bands involved perform at the hotels, on the mountain, and on the ski decks. Both The Rock Boat and The Rock Slope are perfect extensions of the Sister Hazel mentality toward their fans – open the lines of communication, be available to spend time with them, and provide the fans with the best experiences possible. The band also hosts the annual “Hazelnut Hang,” a weekend of performances, interaction and conversation which allows fans an opportunity to connect with the band members on a personal level.
“I think my favorite thing about being part of Sister Hazel is watching our music connect with the fans and inspiring them,” says Copeland. “Our music also connects and gaps generations. We see people of all ages in our audiences.” Trojanowski likes to call the group: “a band of the people. We’ve never been a guarded type of band. Ken and Andrew especially have a natural way of making everyone feel comfortable with them immediately.”
With fan interaction so important to all of the band members, it is certainly understandable that Sister Hazel is equally serious about the charity work that they do. The band has raised over half a million dollars through concerts and silent auctions of handwritten lyrics held to benefit the Lyrics for Life charity they founded: funds raised go to help children and adults battling cancer.
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