John Hill is an American guitarist best recognized as a member of The Apples in Stereo and Dressy Bessy.
Hill, a college friend of drummer Hilarie Sidney and bassist Jim McIntyre, joined The Apples in January, 1994 after the departure of lead guitarist Chris Parfitt. At the time, The Apples needed a lead guitarist, but it was evident to the band members that Hill's jangly style was better suited to rhythm guitar. Frontman Robert Schneider thus became the band's lead guitarist. Hill has been a full-time recording and touring member of the band ever since.
In 1997 Hill joined the band Dressy Bessy as the lead guitarist with girlfriend Tammy Ealom. He continues to perform with both bands.
Hill was also briefly a member of Von Hemmling with Hilarie Sidney and Jim McIntyre before joining The Apples in Stereo.
The Apples in Stereo
The shiny pop centerpiece of the famed Elephant 6 collective, The Apples in stereo was born of Robert Schneider's infatuation with recording and his near-pathological compulsion to write the perfect pop song. Citing "Pet Sounds-era" Beach Boys as their root text a decade before it was en vogue, Schneider and former and future band members Hilarie Sidney, Jim McIntyre, Chris Parfitt, John Hill, Eric Allen, Chris McDuffie, Bill Doss, John Ferguson, John Dufilho, and others used their basement-D.I.Y. beginnings as a launching pad into a kaleidoscopic galaxy of sound. Constantly mutating from debut album Fun Trick Noisemaker through recent opus New Magnetic Wonder, that galaxy has expanded from 4-track recordings made in Schneiders bedroom to 100-track sonic experiments complete with new musical scales.
Collecting The Apples' most well-known songs, #1 Hits Explosion reminds us that pop music is the art of the song, the art of sounds assembled in a pattern designed to give joy. For over fifteen years The Apples in stereo have taught us that three minutes can change your life. #1 Hits Explosion will make sure we don't forget it.
Their latest album, Travellers in Space and Time, will be released April 20, 2010.