Blow Up Hollywood, the spellbinding band from New York, is the musical equivalent of art house films or literary fiction. With the release of The Diaries of Private Henry Hill, their 3rd studio album, this talented and intricate collective of musicians express a musical style that is unparalleled. Based on the journal entries of a young, deceased soldier from the Iraq war, Blow Up Hollywood takes us on Private Henry Hills surreal journey as he joins the army out of necessity rather than patriotism. Cleverly disguised as a pop song, the album opens with WMD, (Weapons of Mass Destruction). ...show more

Blow Up Hollywood, the spellbinding band from New York, is the musical equivalent of art house films or literary fiction. With the release of The Diaries of Private Henry Hill, their 3rd studio album, this talented and intricate collective of musicians express a musical style that is unparalleled. Based on the journal entries of a young, deceased soldier from the Iraq war, Blow Up Hollywood takes us on Private Henry Hills surreal journey as he joins the army out of necessity rather than patriotism. Cleverly disguised as a pop song, the album opens with WMD, (Weapons of Mass Destruction).

The melody is optimistic but the message is not. The accompanying video's animation serves again to sugar coat its biting commentary on the Iraq war. Henry slowly assimilates to his new military persona in the chilling and warped tracks "Bombs Away" and "Charge", only later to feel deceived, shamed, and despondent by the tragedy of war in "Shock and Awe" and "Puppet." In the finale, Requiem, Henry gives up his puny American life. How the journals of Private Henry Hill made it into Blow Up Hollywood's hands is a story in and of itself.

Last year, principal songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Steve Messina, who volunteers at a homeless shelter in NYC, encountered a particularly pathetic homeless man who came in for the night. Steve talked to the man for hours as the man relayed the story of his son, Henry, a young soldier who fought and died in Iraq. Inconsolable, the man left the shelter that night with only the clothes on his back, leaving Steve with the experience of reading his son's diaries. Three in all, Steve had poured over these journals. ...show less