The Holloways Interview

The Holloways Interview

16 April, 2009
by: Gemma Thomson

I'd like to tell you a little story. A while ago I was feeling a bit sorry for myself, lying on my bed contemplating how much life sucks, when the Holloways' 'Generator' came on the radio. The happy little tune in itself cheered me up somewhat, but I'd never really listened to the lyrics before. Penetrating through my little black cloud came the words: 'may I remind you that you don't live in poverty?' and I suddenly realised how selfish and pathetic I was being.

From that moment on I imagined the Holloways to be the most inspiring, life-affirming, positive people imaginable. That was until I met them at their gig in my home town of Hertford and they shattered all my illusions. Excited by the prospect of meeting the happiest people in the world, I managed to catch Alfie's eye as he walked past. 'Hello', I said, with a massive grin. He just glared at me, mumbled 'hi' and carried on walking. Charming.

Their subsequent set was pretty lacklustre and they made no effort to hide the fact that they really didn't want to be there. It was at that moment that I fully comprehended the phrase 'never meet your heroes'. But in all fairness to them, they had been having a tough time, and maybe they were just having a bad day. After all, everyone deserves a second chance, right? So I decided to approach this interview with bassist Bryn Fowler with an open mind.

GT: You've had a pretty turbulent past year, what with all the legal issues, losing your spiritual home, equipment and demos in the Nambucca fire and the recent change in line-up. How do you feel this has affected the band music-wise?

BF: I think music-wise it hasn't overly affected us. We've always looked on the bright side of things. Band-wise all it's done is show us that we have to carry on, try harder and keep going with everything.

GT: The fire provoked some pretty harsh comments, along the lines of it being no great loss to music. What would you say to those people?  

BF: I feel sorry for people who feel the need to spend their time slagging off something they don't like. I don't know why they bother commenting really.

GT: You've been auditioning for new band members. Can you reveal any inside information about who the new members might be?

BF: Yeah - we're going to be announcing it officially at the Gaymers Grassroots gig. It's a guy called Mike on lead guitar and backing vocals and a guy called Ed on the drums. They're both amazing people and amazing musicians.

GT: What qualities were you looking for in band mates? Did you ask auditionees any tough, gang-initiation-style questions?

BF: We didn't have to do much interviewing. The new band members are friends of friends and it just felt right really. The main questions consisted of 'what's your favourite drink?' and 'do you get angry very often?' Me and Alfie are pretty easygoing guys and Mike and Ed are pretty cool people.

GT: Your second album, 'No Smoke, No Mirrors', is due to be released in September. What can we expect from the new album?

BF: It's the Holloways with a bit more maturity and a bit more skill. It's still very recognisably us, but we're moving the sound on a bit. It still sounds like us though and we're still writing songs about looking on the bright side of life.

GT: Will it involve much cowbell?

BF: (Laughs) It has some cowbell. We're actually going to record some new songs in the next couple of days that should involve quite a bit more cowbell. Ed's got three cowbells in different sizes.

GT: Wow. I didn't realise there were so many different types of cowbell.

BF: Yeah me neither! I thought it was just standard but apparently there are loads.
 
GT: Excellent. I love a bit of cowbell. The album was originally going to be called 'Tales From The Tarmac'. Why did you decide to change the name?

BF: We've had a change of band members and we've changed some of the songs on the album. It felt right at the time but it was quite a while ago now. It's not the same album anymore and deserves another shot.

GT: You'll be playing an exclusive Gaymers Grassroots gig in north London on Friday 24th April. What would you say the best thing is about intimate gigs like this? 

BF: The best thing is getting to play to people who really want to be there. If you can't play at a small gig and have an amazing time then you're not going to be able to do it at Brixton Academy. The small gigs are always the best.

GT: This gig will coincide with Camden Crawl. Will you be catching any of the other bands playing? Who are you most excited about seeing?

BF: Yeah hopefully we'll be able to catch quite a few bands. I'd like to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs but not sure if I'll be able to. I'm also excited about Echo & The Bunnymen. I'll try and wander about and see as many bands as possible. When there are bands I don't recognise I try to watch them instead. That's what the Crawl's all about; it's about the little band that no one's ever heard of. That's what's good about Camden Crawl.

Throughout the interview Bryn is nothing but charming, friendly and down-to-earth. Even when I have recording equipment difficulties (damn technology) and have to interrupt the interview on several occasions, Bryn remains patient and friendly. He certainly proves me wrong - it turns out the Holloways aren't such bad guys after all. Despite his patience I still get pretty flustered by the whole technology failure. Not very good. But I guess we all have bad days...

The Holloways will be appearing at the Camden Crawl and are planning to release a new album in September

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Gemma Thomson