Pheaturing Oh, Hush!

Hello, and welcome to another entry of the Phile, kids. How are you? Well, according to a new study, our email is not as safe as we thought. How do they know this? They’ve been reading my email. I’ve never understood why they call junk mail “spam,” because spam is delicious and junk mail is annoying. But you can still find both under my couch. I’m hooked on email. That’s right, kids, I’m one of you. In California, they passed a law against texting while driving. But there’s no law preventing you from writing a letter while driving. Bookstore company Borders announced that it expects to find a buyer by the end of July. Not a buyer for the company, but just anyone willing to pay them for a book. Experts say New York’s new gay marriage bill could bring $210 million into the state’s economy. Even more surprising: All of that would be from one crazy bachelor party. Anthony Weiner is reportedly involved in choosing his successor. The first question he asked his potential replacements is, “What’s the difference between ‘reply’ and ‘reply all?’” A senior al-Qaida leader was arrested in Afghanistan and he was disguised as a woman. Police became suspicious after he was seen stoning himself. Well, the last space shuttle went up two days ago, and I was too lazy to poke my head out the door to see it. Actually, I was working, but still forgot about it. I never did go see a shuttle lift off at the Cape, just watched the little bright orange spark go up for a few seconds. Anyway, I was excited when NASA put out an inspirational poster.

I don't get it though. Harry Potter Finally Ends or whatever it is called comes out in a few days. Are you nerds sad? I have never seen a Harry Potter film or read the books I will watch the movies now after I saw these screen shots from the Potter films.

Man, he likes those breasts. Derek Jeter hit 3,000 home runs and is now a record holder I think. I actually don't understand baseball too much, much from England, and not really into sports, so I thought once again I would invite one of my best friends who knows of such things to the Phile who could explain to me what Jeter did and keep me updated on all things sports. So, once again, it's time to...

Me: Welcome back to the Phile, Jeff. What's this that Derek Jeter hit 3000 home runs? Did I get that right?

Jeff: First off, Derek Jeter didn't hit 3000 home runs. He did get the 3000th hit of his career though and it was a home run.

Me: Okay, but did he break a record?

Jeff: It's not a record but it is a great achievement in his career. He is only the 28th man in major league baseball history to collect that many hits. If you think about the 100,000's of people who have played since baseball started, to be one of 28 is amazing in of it self. Jeter isn't a home run hitter, he only has 236 home runs which is far from the record. But due to his high level of consistency an argument could be made that he is one of the best hitters in history. Shockingly with all the great Yankees of the past, he is the first one in the organization with 3000 hits.

Me: I see, well, while I have you here, what's the latest on the NFL?

Jeff: From all reports, by the end of next Friday hopefully there will be football again in the United States. The sides are getting closer to lifting the lock out allowing players to report to their teams and free agents to sign with new teams. We may get a full season in after all.

Me: When is football season supposed to start?

Jeff: The first preseason game is scheduled for mid August with the regular season starting in September.

Me: But there'll no basketball, right?

Jeff: Because last week the NBA locked out their players too, and chances are their lock out will cost them games next season, possibly even the entire season. The two sides are not even close on agreeing. So after a great season where the Dallas Mavericks won their first NBA championship, and LeBron kept losing... we may not have basketball for a very long time. I am on strike myself, refusing to wear anything football or basketball related until the lock outs are lifted.

Me: Hey, maybe with no football and no basketball soccer has a chance.

Jeff: I hate to tell you this, Jason. Soccer has no chance in America. If bringing over David Beckham can't get us interested in soccer, pretty much nothing can.

Me: Hmmmm. Thanks, Jeff. You are always the most helpful. You can check out Jeff's own blog at entertainmentgurunews.blogspot.com where he just posted his 50th entry. Well done, Jeff.

And now for some sad news...

Betty Ford
April 8, 1918 - July 8, 2011
Say what you want about American cars, but you have to be impressed with a Ford that runs for 93 years.
Dick Williams
May 7, 1929 - July 7, 2011
In baseball parlance, he took a beanball.

The second artist to be pheatured in the P.P.A.G. is ChrisRWK, and this is one of his pieces of work.

Chris will be a guest on the Phile next Sunday.

Today's guests are a band that I have been wanting to get on the Phile for years. They don;t normally do interviews, but with a stack of pop-rock songs, thousands of merchandise items and records sold, approximately 15 film, TV, and media placements they are doing pretty well. Please welcome to the Phile... Oh, Hush!


Me: Hello, welcome to the Phile. I have no idea who I am interviewing, as I cannot find out any information about you guys on-line. So, my first question is, who are you guys?

Oh, Hush!: That's a secret!! Ya know, it's not so much about keeping our identities secret as it is just focusing on the MUSIC!! When we started this project we didn't have much of a plan other than to make it about two things: 1) the MUSIC and 2) the FANS!! That's all that was really important to us. We wanted people to give the music a shot without any kind of expectations or pre-conceived notions about the band. We didn't want people's opinions of the music to be swayed at all by who was or was not in the band, what we looked like, or anything else. Love us or hate us, but do it entirely based on the music!!

Me: I love the album cover for "The Yellow Album". Who did your work, it's very retro looking.

Oh, Hush!: We held a contest giving a few very general rules... we had about 250 entries... and the cover that won was designed by a girl year old girl named Casey! Simply an amazing piece of artwork!! She's amazing!!

Me: Speaking of the album, which I downloaded from iTunes, where did the title "The Yellow Album" come from? The Simpsons had an album with the same name.

Oh, Hush!: Yeah, it wasn't until after we released it that we saw the Simpsons did an album with the same name! I think Spongebob Square Pants did a "Yellow Album" as well. Haha. Ultimately, from the beginning, we've always had this ugly yellow logo! And I think it just kinda stuck and YELLOW became the "official color" of Oh, Hush! And then I read a fashion article that says YELLOW was going to be the most prominent color of 2009! Looks like we must be setting trends that are bigger than just music! :-)

Me: Are you guys Beatles fans?

Oh, Hush!: Beatles = best.band.ever.

Me: What music are you kids in to?

Oh, Hush!: Lots! All of us are not only musicians but really really big fans of good music!! We all listen to a lot of everything. Some of my personal biggest influences are all things Butch Walker (solo stuff, Marvelous 3, Southgang, 1969, etc); Keith Urban is pretty much the best entertainer in music today!! I realize he's "country music" but again, this isn't about genres, it's about good music - and that he is!! I know it's cliche to talk about Fallout Boy being an influence but those guys are really fantastic songwriters and just a killer rock band!! Cobra Starship's first record was groundbreaking and fantastico! Justin Timberlake is probably the best pop artist in the past 20 years!! I'm also starting to get into really cool bands like Bloc Party and The Ting Tings from the UK. Lately I'm heavily into the new Academy Is… record. Katy Perry's record is a pop masterpiece!! Tokio Hotel has something really cool happening!! I can't wait for the new Killers record. I'm also heavily into a lot of the Radio Disney stuff. Not sure why but the songs are usually a lot of fun!!

Me: Let's talk about the name of the band... Oh, Hush! That's something my wife would say, but then the band would be called Shut The Fuck Up. Where did the name come from?

Oh, Hush!: Legend has it that we were working on one of our very first songs in my studio at my parents' house and we were making an awful lot of noise late into the night. My mother (aka MamaHush) came downstairs repeatedly telling us to turn the music down and finally just yelled out "Oh, Hush!" And thus the project was born. This may or may not be entirely true!!?!

Me: Do you guys do concerts? If so, do you hide i.e. The Gorillaz?

Oh, Hush!: We haven't given a ton of thought to tours and concerts just yet! We wanted to fully launch this thing as a "virtual band" that is truly ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC and see how far we could take that! So far, it's gone pretty far and we still have a few hundred million people to reach with the idea and concept of Oh, Hush! Though, I believe we are holding out for the 2012 VMAs!!

Me: Proceeds from your album go to Make-A-Wish, which is very cool. How did that organization get picked by you guys?

Oh, Hush!: We knew that we had been greatly blessed by this project! when we started it, we never imagined we'd have this many fans and this many people actually care about the silly songs we were making! We really felt compelled to share this blessing with other people who may not be as fortunate! Make-A-Wish is an amazing organization that I'm sure most of your readers are familiar with! We love kids and we want to be able to give back to kids who might be facing an incredibly tough challenge! We wish we could give them more... but all the same, we just wanted to give back to the world in our own small way!!

Me: You're based in Forks, California, right? Where is Forks located, and how is the music scene there?

Oh, Hush!: Haha. Well... we like to move around a lot. Not even sure if there's a city in California called "Forks." Suffice it to say we don't offer up much informaton about our location (or our band members, pictures, etc).

Me: I noticed looking at your Myspace site you have one of the biggest fan bases I ever knew. All that just from your music! How did that happen?

Oh, Hush!: I think its because we have really amazing fans who really truly GET what we're all about! We're doing something different and unique from pretty much every other band in the world! I can't think of another band out there who can say that they are truly ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC! We can!!! And I think that resonates with lots of people and creates a loyal fanbase!! I'm sure there's other factors that contribute that I can't even begin to understand or analyze, but I think the core of what this is is something that our fans get, support, and share with all of their friends!!

Me: So, are you going to list this interview on your site?

Oh, Hush!: Of course!

Me: Are you ever going to reveal yourselves? I just want to know if you have a hot chick in your band.

Oh, Hush!: We definitely do have a hott chick in our band!! By "reveal" do you mean like... take our clothes off???!?! Cuz we're not superly into that idea… even though it seems lots of people do it to sell records these days. For the few e-mails we get from people once in a while asking us to reveal ourselves, we literally receive 100s and 100s of e-mails from people telling us to NEVER reveal ourselves!! Which is actually kinda interesting I think! That said, I know at some point we'll let everyone know who we are. We don't really plan things out too far in advance so I don't know exactly when that will happen. I know that we're not quite ready to reveal the band yet. But I'm confident that when the time is right, we'll know, we'll reveal it, and it will ideally be worth every bit the anticipation!! But for right now, we're still holding out to reveal on the VMAs next year!!

Me: Finally, is there anything else you would like to tell the phans of the Phile?

Oh, Hush!: Thanks for interviewing us and thanks for all of your phans who give us a shot and check out the music!! We hope you enjoy what you hear!!

Me: Thanks for taking part, guys. I love your CD and wish you all the luck in the world.

Well, that about does it for another entry of the Phile. Thanks to Jeff for answering a few questions, and of course to Oh, Hush! who I want to have back on the Phile. The Phile will be back tomorrow for a Monday entry with Ragnar Vikse, the lead singer for the Norwegian rock band Spirits of the Dead and then again next Sunday with artist ChrisRWK. Hopefully for the rest of the Summer I will be posting two entries a week. Until then, spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.