Ty Hall

"The six-song album blends many musical styles, including rock, blues and reggae, with Hall's lyrics running the gamut from fun, feel-good lines to thoughtful observations on love and life"

-Kim Mannix Vermette for Metro Ottawa - Metro

May 21, 2008 – Canadian musicians Ty Hall & The EZ3 begin their cross country tour May 21, 2008 in Sault Saint Marie, Ontario something that might not have been possible only a few years ago. On July 11, 2003, Ty Hall was walking on a college campus in Ottawa, where he was struck by a reckless driver. The accident left Ty hospitalized with a fractured skull, a brain contusion and limited short term memory. Ty found that music played a huge role is recovery. "I tried reading but could not remember what I had just read", said Hall. "I could remember music and I just started writing".

Five years later, Hall and his band mates are out on the road promoting their latest release, "...one day at a time". The tour comes on the heels of a great outing in Live 88.5's "Big Money Shot" a local radio contest in Ottawa. Ty Hall & The EZ3 play a fresh urban blend of Blues/Rock/Funk and Reggae with influences such as Ben Harper, Sublime, G Love, Chili Peppers and Big Sugar. You can visit Ty Hall & The EZ3 online @ www.myspace.com/tyhallandtheez3.

For more information, interviews and/or tour dates please contact City Lights Entertainment at 310.598.6759 - iReport

Ty Hall and The EZ3 have been on a whirlwind for the last three years, culminating with the Sept. 4 release of their latest CD Dollars and Nonsense.

The reggae-rock quartet has won $30,000 from Live 88.5’s Big Money Shot contest in the last year and a half and plans to compete in November for another $250,000.

“We don’t have delusions of selling a million records, we just want to be able to make a healthy living by playing music,” Hall said.

It does seem the laid-back singer and guitarist has a plan in mind while he talked about attending seminars to learn where the fan base for the Canada’s most popular musicians are.

“It’s crazy, something like 60 per cent of the albums in Canada are sold along the 401 between Windsor and Montreal,” he said. “I think we are going to be really popular in the college towns like, Ben Harper and Dave Mathews.”

The band did experiment with a cross-country tour, going all the way out to Invermere, B.C. but it’s not unusual for there to be 16 hours between major urban centres on that long stretch of highway across the country.

“After winning the money from Big Money Shot we have had access to industry professionals like Peter Gilroy and that has helped a lot,” Hall said. “Because now we know what we want to do and what will work, instead of just taking a shot in the dark.”

Gilroy produced Dollars and Nonsense, which is being released under CLMG/Fontana North/Universal.

While being in a band was something Hall may have toyed with, it didn’t come together for him until after he got hit by a car coming out of the gym at Algonquin College in July 2003.

Having just finished a diploma in IT and started out at a job at Bell Canada, spending a year in rehab, learning how to do basic things really threw a kink into his life plans.

“Well at first I had double vision and I needed to hold someone’s hand to walk, like a child,” he said. “Then it was learning to control my emotions, I would have a hard time following a conversation and that would make me really upset.”

Hall said he started to write music because he could remember chunks of songs and the rest is history.

“Maybe if it hadn’t happened I would still be in the cubicle,” he said.

Whatever the motivation, the band works well together.

“It’s kind of like a four-way marriage,” Hall said. “I am better at the creative and the other guys are better musicians, so we all sit in the practice space and hammer it out.”

Hall said drummer Trevor Grey and him have the biggest difference of opinion when it comes to musical tastes.

“I like hip hop and acoustic. Trevor likes rock, I don’t know what he listens too, but it’s loud,” Hall said.

Bassist James Rooke likes reggae and Anders Drerup likes Blues.

The newest CD is an obvious blend of influences, which come out with an upbeat, clean sound. Leading up to the CD release party, the band played in Toronto, Guelph and London.

For more information on show times, see the band’s MySpace page at http://www.tyhallandtheez3.com.

jennifer.mcintosh@nepeanthisweek.com - Barrhaven Indpendent

Ty Hall & The EZ3
On tour, Ottawa–based Ty Hall and the EZ3 are ready to take on
Kitchener as part of their Southwestern Ontario tour. And there’s
no better place to make your mark than the infamous the Victoria
Park Boathouse. Pushing their debut release Dollars and
Nonsense, the rock band was discovered by radio competition
Money Shot in their hometown, taking home the $25 000 bank
roll that set the scene for support, and now they’re heading back
to increase their win to $250,000 in late November. But for now,
The EZ3 are perfecting their live show by being on the road, criss–
crossing the country in support of their release. “There’s
something about wandering into a small town where nobody has
heard of you and winning the hearts of the people
watching....even if it’s only a handful of cowboys in a dimly lit
saloon on the Prairies after driving for 12 hours,” they say. “The
trick is to grab the attention of the crowd and keep it and
maintain that rhetoric of energy that the band and the audience
can feed off of.” “And,” they add, “if all goes as planned, we have
a jam packed dance floor full of sweaty singing kids who will be
talking about this show tomorrow.” From the band influenced by
the Arctic Monkeys, take the opportunity to see Ty Hall & The EZ3
on Friday, August 11 at the Boathouse. Theez3.com - Kitchener