Be healed, be loved and come groove with Josh Hoyer
& The Shadowboxers
New Release, Living By The Minute,
out on January 13, 2015
It’s a TKO, a musical turnabout but more so; a funky,
soulful masterpiece waiting to punch out the lights
Atlanta, GA - Silver Street Records Recording artist, Josh
Hoyer & The Shadowboxers get into the groove with their forthcoming CD,
Living By The Minute a mix of soul, jazz and blues, set to be
released on January 13, 2015. This album was produced by Josh Hoyer and
engineered by Ben Brodin at ARC Studios in Omaha, NE. The band set up live to
record and within a few days, they pounded out songs sounding fresh, spontaneous
and vibrant.
This vibrancy comes from Josh’s songs about love, loss,
social awareness and that there is hope for all of us. He wants to empower and
leave the listener craving for more. His travels around the country in a van
back in his early 20’s with his dog, educated him in the world, focusing on
people and community coming together as one. He left home in Nebraska as a young
man, traveled all the way to the Northwest to turn around a few years later and
landed in New Orleans where he became smitten with the Crescent City. That town
turned his ears upside down his heart inside out and he found his calling. Soul
music called and he answered back with song.
"It is our mission at
Shadowboxer shows to empower the listener. We believe in the power of Soul music
and realize that if we all come together in a room and let every ounce our heart
and soul come through those loud speakers that we can really change the dynamic
of a community. We are all about exchanging SOUL with the PEOPLE!" – Josh
Hoyer
Josh is an accomplished musician who can play piano, organ,
clavinet, saxophone and has one deep resonating voice recalling the greats; Ray
Charles, Otis Redding and of course, JB – James Brown. Formally taught at an
early age, it was the jazz sounds of Miles Davis and John Coltrane that really
lit the fire under him to expand his musical horizons. The philosophy and
spiritual approach of Coltrane’s compositions wowed him. “Miles taught me that
space is almost more important than notes...music is what happens between the
notes,” Josh explains, about when he hears Mr. Davis’ music and after read his
autobiography, “Kind of Blue”. So he learned how to be patient with the song,
let it breathe even if it was left on the sideline for a long
time.
Since forming in 2012, Josh Hoyer and The Shadowboxers have
been a city wide success story. The fans are lining up to hear them as the media
are lining up interview appointments. They won The 2013 Omaha Entertainment
Winner (OEA which stands for Omaha Entertainment and Arts) for Soul Artist of
the Year, then Josh was nominated for a Blues Blast Magazine award this past
fall, for best new artist so the future is looking brighter every day for this
group.
As the album opens up, the band bounces right into the beat,
“Living By The Minute”, talking about life’s struggles, of living check to check
and trying make it all work. The art of seduction comes alive with “A Man Who
Believes His Own Lies” as the girl gets hurt and Josh sings about how he can be
a better man than that. He’s quite convincing as he sings with the female voices
supporting him, the chorus, “What can you do with a man who believes in his own
lies?” The songs “Misfit Children” and “Over The City” talks about our social
inequality and how in the verses he sings about the plight of one to the
success of the other and how we are turning a blind eye. His work with the
Center Pointe homeless outreach program in Lincoln gave him the raw emotions to
write such songs from a new angle.
“I write about what I think about and see in the world;
not all of that is happy,” he laughs. “But the groove is.” – Josh Hoyer
in a Hear Nebraska article
The “First One” is a true Otis Redding serenade, in all
matters of the song. The structure, the instrumentation and Josh’s crying tenor
voice. Throw in a King Curtis type saxophone solo and this has the elements of
being a showstopper at live shows. He grabs the listener by the throat for he’s
begging and pleading like Otis did in “Try A Little Tenderness”, the vocal tags
and the staggering horns just pull it together gently.
“More than anything it was the vibe (soul music), the
sound of it,” Hoyer said. “As far as doing good deeds and doing good work in the
world, that’s from my dad. I think you have your immediate heroes in the world
you live in, and your music can be a soundtrack to it.” – Josh Hoyer in a
Hear Nebraska article
The Shadowboxers are a living, breathing group of solid
players with guitars, brass horns, and the bottom end with the drums and bass.
The band rocks the boat and then steadies the wheel to give Josh what he needs
for his melodies and voice to shine through. Several of the members are well
established cats, like Benny Kushner on guitar who toured internationally with
The Millions and The Mezcal Brothers who were once signed to a major record
label. Drummer Justin G. Jones has played with Billy Bacon and Stone River Boys
(Dave Gonzalez- Paladins) while 19 year old bass player Joshua Bargar is a
phemon carrying the bottom end. The horn players, consisting of Mike Dee on
Saxophone and Tommy Van Den Berg on Trombone are the icing on the cake, while
they blow and wail around Josh’s vocals. They aren’t kidding around.
Josh has reached that platform of performance greatness that
has been living inside him, and now he’s ready to throw the first punch at you,
the listener.
