George Hrab

George Joseph Hrab is a drummer, guitarist, composer and podcaster known for performing rock, funk and jazz and for exploring atheist, skeptic and science themes in his work.

He has released six albums as a solo artist.

Hrab was born in Belleville, New Jersey and grew up speaking Ukrainian and surrounded by Ukrainian culture.

In 1989, he graduated from Montclair Kimberley Academy in Montclair, New Jersey.

Hrab performs in several genres of music, but most often in rock and funk.

His songs often reflect his interest in science and skepticism.

Hrab lists Frank Zappa and David Byrne as key influences.

"You can shake your ass to it, but it's still really smart and interesting," he says.

He has described his style of music with one word: Philosophunk!

"I’m a big fan of Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, XTC, the Beatles, and things like that. Those are my influences, but at the same time, I’m a huge fan of Stan Freberg and James Randi and Michael Shermer and those kinda guys. So it’s sort of like philosophy and music… What I do is I coalesce the vapors of the universe."

Hrab has released six albums since 1997 as an independent musician.

One of Hrab's approaches as an independent artist is to customize the packaging of each his albums.

One features a tin box, one in a DVD case, etc. "Each one stands out as a piece of art, giving his fans a genuine reason to buy the physical disc as merchandise, not just a music holder."

Two of his albums have won ADDY Awards for their packaging.

Aside from his solo work, Hrab has been a member of many bands over the course of his career.

In 1998, Hrab was the touring drummer for the Eric Mintel Quartet, and recorded one jazz album with them.

The highlight of this tour was when the group played "cool '50s swing" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and at a White House Christmas party.

Hrab's job is playing drums for a Philadelphia-area based band called the Philadelphia Funk Authority.

The nine-member band was formed in 1999 and plays corporate, private, and club shows in the region around Philadelphia and also tours nationwide.

The group has shared the stage with Elton John and other acts.

When performing his own material with a band, Hrab has called the group the Geologic Orchestra.

The band is made up of some members of the Philadelphia Funk Authority and other musicians, and has played in a seven-piece configuration among others.

Hrab's sixth independent album Trebuchet was released in June 2010.

As a means of promoting the album, he offered the full album to any podcast who wanted to run it, uncut, in their feed.

Many podcasts such as Skepticality, American Freethought and We Are Not Delicious took him up on his offer.

The album is available as a conventional CD and digital download.

From November 26 – December 5, 2010, Hrab embarked on an entirely fan-organized tour of Australia and New Zealand.

The tour began with appearances at The Amazing Meeting Australia, a skeptical and freethinker conference co-sponsored by the Australian Skeptics and the James Randi Educational Foundation.

In ten days, Hrab played in four Australian states, the Australian Capital Territory and the north and south islands of New Zealand.

The tour was named "Styrofoam" after a malapropism created as an inside joke by Kylie Sturgess.

In September 2013, Hrab announced the inception of The Blue Turtles, a band formed to cover Sting's first solo album, The Dream of the Blue Turtles.

The debut performance was July 20, 2014 at the Ice House in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania as a part of the Ice House Tonight concert series.

In 2015, Hrab performed Occasional Songs for the Periodic Table as a part of the Ice House Tonight series in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

While Hrab previously performed the album on his podcast, and live in an abbreviated version in Las Vegas, this was the first time the entire concert was performed live.

The concert consisted of a song written and performed by Hrab for each of the 118 elements on the Periodic Table.

In 2016, Hrab performed a greatest hits concert featuring string Quartet versions of songs from five of his albums at the Ice House in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

During the concert, Hrab performed with the Rittenhouse String Quartet.

Together they performed arrangements of Hrab’s songs arranged by Veikko Rihu and Slau Halatyn

In 2016, Hrab reprised The Broad Street Score at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s, Katie Murphy Amphitheater as part of the annual NECSS conference.

The show made its international debut on August 24, 2016 in Turku, Finland.