HOLY HOLY - INTERVIEW.

Australian prog rock duo Holy Holy caught up with The Optional E after wrapping their tour of the East Coast which started in Brisbane, went to Melbourne and finally finished in Sydney on Friday. This comes off in the wake of the brilliant reception of their debut single 'Impossible Like You' which we at The Optional E absolutely dig. 

Holy Holy - (L to R) - Tim Carroll and Oscar Dawson

Expertly welding together older prog rock influences with fresh, modern drum beats and provoking lyrical content, this Brisbane-meets-Melbourne duo of singer-songwriter Tim Carroll and guitarist Oscar Dawson is onto something remarkable. Here's our interview with their singer Tim!


What is the main inspiration for your band - do you have any musical visions?

Oscar and I come from pretty different backgrounds. He's played in some big indie rock bands  and I've done more of a country singer songwriter thing. We come together in Holy Holy to make music that reflects both these histories. We like to create songs that build and break - big full band instrumental sections that have a life of their own. We like to craft songs that create a a mood - when you hear them they make you feel something. It's a nostalgic kind of sound with a 70's guitar band feel at it's core.


Who are your main influences?

Neil Young, The National, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Bright Eyes, Band of Horses, Fleetwood Mac, Lower Dens, Here We Go Magic. 


How was it recording your debut release?

We recorded our whole debut record and then as an afterthought we recorded 'Impossible Like you' which ended up being the single. Recording is always fun. It's the ultimate luxury.  Matt Redlich's studio (Grandma's Place) is a great space in which to work and spending a few days playing amazing instruments though lovely valve amps, into vintage microphones onto two inch tape with a bunch of close friends is pretty unbeatable.


What's something about Holy Holy that nobody knows about yet?


10 years ago Oscar and I were living in a Buddhist monastery in Northern Thailand.



Thank you very much to the Holy Holy boys for the interview and their fantastic Sydney gig. Their debut album featuring their songs 'Impossible Like You' and 'The Crowd' will be released soon. Check out their songs below:

SONG OF THE WEEK #8.

I've been away from school and home for a few days now but somehow I've come down with some ungodly virus or other and have lost my voice. Ugh. Now I have lost my voice and I can't record anything for Triple J until I get it back, which could very well be a long time.

Luckily for all of you readers out there, I can still type!

This week's song is a Triple J Unearthed song and the video is so Australian it hurts. I can imagine this being played at some indie bush doof while people play the c, s and f words (cricket, soccer and football. I promise I won't say them again) and drink Cottee's cordial and eat TimTams and fairy bread. The song is 'Told You So' by Brisbane band Cub Scouts.

The piece has such dreamy, ethereal vocals, yet the bass line and guitar twerk work to ground the song. The melody is great and the chorus is oh so catcy. Honestly, whenever someone says 'told you so' or even 'told' I break into song like it's Annie or something. Although I am honestly allergic to 'Tomorrow'.

I think I would really like to see these guys live, or see them at some kind of festival. Even as a support act. I remember a friend told me she went to a concert just to see the support act (her mum knows the girlfriend of the drummer of the band of the support act) and then they left. Actually quite a few of the concerts I've been to people do that. Bit of a waste, really. Music as a general rule is awesome.

So this video is perfect because it has Bubblegum Bills and a Mighty Ducks jersey and a curly dog. Need I say more?

Honestly this is my favourite song from their album even though everyone is always raving about 'Do You Hear' and 'Evie'. I think it's just easier to remember and as a general rule that constitutes how good a song is to me.

And as we can see in the video, when you knock over somebody's ice cream you face a Cuboom and retribution from the girl's band in the form of Angry Berries.

SONG OF THE WEEK #7.

It's that often forgotten time of the week again and I am here to feature another great song! Actually there's so many good songs and since I keep throwing new/old songs around the place things get complicated. I actually make a Top 5 playlist on my phone as well as the normal listening playlist so I have a lot of musical weighing up to do. Or I could just do another Music Haul.

Ugh I feel all bloated like an overstuffed sheep because I made dolmades and they're so weird yet somewhat addicting:

It's me.

So this week's Song is quite an old song - okay not really. It's soooooooooo 2011 though.

It's 'Best Of Tomorrow' by Trial Kennedy.

Trial Kennedy are a raw, rough Aussie garage rock band but they broke up last year or so because of finance or something annoying like that. The song is a melodic, anthemic number with a brilliant vocalist - Tim Morrison - and it's a great song. The tune is catchy, especially the chorus, but it's not annoyingly catchy. It's fresh, kinda sounds Australian and is just a great song to listen or rock out to.

I know. It was good, wasn't it?

Enjoy your song. I'll probably have a small Music Haul lined up for next week :) any song requests, please comment! Till next time.

SONG OF THE WEEK #3

Being the idiot that I am, I forgot to do this post.
It seems that every time I do a song of the week, I struggle to wait a week to do the next song. And during that wait time, I completely forget to do a new post.
Although I have been overseas without a laptop. So I can't link songs until I go home and add YouTube vids to my posts.

So this week's song is going to be Funeral For A Trend by British India.

This is a rocking song. The vocalist's (I forget his name) singing has a nice tone in that half the time he's just speaking the rather awesome lyrics.
The guitars waft around with their understated heaviness. These guys are like lazy rockers.

I also picked this song because they have just released another album - Controller. It has a pretty wicked album cover. I'm really excited to listen through it - Funeral For A Trend is from Thieves (2008). The lead single from the album, I Can Make You Love Me, has a pretty cool video involving minotaurs. Epic.

They are from Sydney (woo!) and I was really excited because we know someone who is pretty cool with their manager. He goes to quite a few of their gigs and everything. I think that's pretty cool, but you guys in the back are probably rolling you eyes and muttering 'good for you'. Yes, good for me.

So there's the song. I wouldn't say it's punk, although the vocals aren't always sung. It's a sort of mature-cathartic-uplifting-nonchalant-discombobulated garage rock. Oh, and they're Australian.

Update: The vocalist's name is Declan Malia and he plays guitar.