Holy Holy is a band made up of members who have played with or produced for acts such as Hungry Kids Of Hungary, Dukes Of Windsor, Emma Louise, Airling and Ball Park Music.
They have blown away audiences all over the world and their second album, ‘Paint’, arrived at #7 on the ARIA charts earlier this year. Holy Holy singer and guitarist Tim Carroll talks with us ahead of their upcoming Australian tour. “I think this album was kind of made for touring really,” he says.
"I used to battle demons around the fear of forgetting lyrics."
“When we were writing it, we were thinking a lot about it so I’m really looking forward to taking it out on the road. I think it will make for good shows.”
Tim talks about the evolution of the band over the past few years. A project that originally started when he and Oscar Dawson started working on some tracks while living in Stockholm (Tim) and Berlin (Oscar). When they had finished a collection of songs, they realised they had created something special and recruited the rest of the band. “I kind of feel like the first record, quite a few of those songs were out of those original demos in Berlin and Stockholm.
"So essentially it was kind of like, I would often write a song on an acoustic guitar and then I would work with Oscar and he would wrap a band around that song. And I feel like when the songs would come off that album kind of has that feel about it.
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“We recorded that album in Brisbane over a long period of time and we recorded it on analog tape. It was a bit of a '70s analog-guitar-band record. There’s a bit of acoustic on there and I think it’s a little bit sweeter and a bit songwriter-ey.”
The album did well and saw Holy Holy play to sold-out audiences in Australia, London and the Netherlands. Despite that though, Tim says they weren’t afraid to try new things and their latest album, ‘Paint', is a move away from the style of their first record. “It comes less from a singer-songwriter core and it’s more of a band record and the songs are written more collaboratively with everybody.
“We moved out of the analog world as well. We recorded this one in the box and that opens up opportunities to be a bit more precise with production and I think that is something we were excited to try.”
Despite being an accomplished musician, having played both solo and in bands for many years, Tim says he still gets nervous on stage. “I have stage fright.
"I guess you need to have stage fright to some degree, although I think I’m hitting a good spot of it not affecting me too badly. I used to battle demons around the fear of forgetting lyrics.
“That I would be part-way through a song and just forget everything and then the band would shudder to a stop and everyone would look at me and think ‘what a dickhead’.
"But for some reason on this new record, I feel a bit more relaxed about it. I’m not sure why. Maybe I’ve come to terms with the fact that if I do miss a lyric here or there probably no one is going to notice. Or if they did, they’re probably not going to care. And that’s a good headspace to be in.”
Holy Holy Tour Dates
Thu 22 Jun - Anita's Theatre (Wollongong)Fri 23 Jun - The Factory Theatre (Sydney)
Sat 24 Jun - Small Ballroom (Newcastle)
Thu 29 Jun - The Wool Exchange (Geelong)
Fri 30 Jun - 170 Russell (Melbourne)
Sat 1 Jul - Republic Bar (Hobart)
Thu 6 Jul - Miami Marketta (Gold Coast)
Fri 7 Jul - Wharf Tavern (Sunshine Coast)
Sat 8 Jul - The Triffid (Brisbane)
Thu 13 Jul - Mojos Bar (Fremantle)
Fri 14 Jul - Jack Rabbit Slims (Perth)
Sat 15 Jul - Prince Of Wales (Bunbury)
Sat 30 Sep - Yours & Owls Festival (Wollongong)
