Hollis Brown Return From A breakup With New Single 'Garage Days'
Queens rock & roll band Hollis Brown released their first new music since an acrimonious 2023 split, with the single "Garage Days" arriving on 21 August. The song is the band's first original material in nearly seven years, according to a announcement the band posted on their official Facebook and Instagram accounts on 14 August. The band described the track as being about returning to your roots.
The reunion almost did not happen. Singer Mike Montali and founding guitarist Jonathan Bonilla fell out badly enough to break up the band in 2023, and the path back ran through a Queens diner where the two sat down alone, weeks before a planned reunion show, and yelled at each other until the air cleared. Drummer Andy Zehnal helped broker the truce between them, according to Rolling Stone.
Hollis Brown first tested the waters in March with a one-off show at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, New Jersey. That night went well enough to get the gears turning on new music. "Garage Days" is a callback to the band's beginnings as high-school students rehearsing in Bonilla's father's garage. The band took their name from Bob Dylan's 1964 song "Ballad of Hollis Brown."
Montali has stayed busy during the band's hiatus as a member of Fantastic Cat, a group known for blending folk, rock and country. But the pull of the original band held. The new single suggests a band looking back at where they started — literally in a garage — before trying to move forward.
For fans, the next chance to see the reunited lineup comes 26 September at New York's Mercury Lounge. No further release details beyond the single have been confirmed.
