Holy Holy

Despite a 5.40am wake up call, an early flight to Perth to quickly jump in the car for the drive to Bunbury, Tim Carroll and Oscar Dawson of Holy Holy are rather upbeat. Most likely, the elation is due to the beginning of their Australian tour which started last night in Darwin.
“Last night was nice, it was at a beautiful outdoor venue in Darwin at a venue called the Lighthouse,” Tim says.
“It was in an open air round theatre and it had high corrugated iron walls – it almost reminded me of a gladiator fighting arena. It was beautiful and warm up there, 30 degrees and reasonably dry. I’d never been to Darwin before but it was really nice.”
While this tour of Australia seems relatively relaxed on the road, the band have been playing word association games in the van, for their recent tour of Europe things were a little more stressful.
“We were driving in the UK in this van and they’re the same side as Australia so it’s right hand of the car and left on the road, but we went across to Europe where it’s the opposite. So we were driving this car that was right hand drive on the opposite side of the road with cars that were left hand drive on the autobahn and oh man, it was fucking frightening,” Oscar reminisces.
“So all of us took in turns driving and tried the best not to kill each other. Normally people are happy to drive but this time when anyone asked ‘Who wants to drive?’ it was silent and no one would say anything. So we would basically have to play rock paper scissors as to who was going to drive next.”
The band made it through unscathed, and good thing they did as Australian fans would be quite disappointed to miss out on hearing the new album, When the Storms Would Come. Which with the addition of the band helped Tim and Oscar to create a new sound.
“Oscar and I probably have a similar taste, generally speaking, but I feel like what we naturally would do is a bit different and I think that’s why I like working in this band because Oscar and the guys pull the sound in different directions,” Tim says.
“I definitely sort of set out to try do something different with this project than with stuff I’d done before. It was a combination of the band and of my desire to do something different and push into new sonic spaces.
“The band have certainly helped me to feel comfortable making that kind of music and now it feels pretty natural and I’m kind of looking forward to continue writing with these guys.”
A notable thing about Holy Holy, aside from the evolution of their music in general, is the return to allowing time for the guitarist, aka Oscar, to have his fair time in the spotlight.
“Tim encourages me to play guitar solos which is great. A lot of people don’t and they often say ‘Man, can you please stop doing that!’,” Oscar laughs.
“When we play live it’s very clear that some of those moments are the highlights for the audience. I don’t know if it’s because people miss guitar solos, because they don’t really happen that much any more. But it’s something that our band does a lot and I think people enjoy it,” Tim says.
While there’s an understanding in regards to guitar solos and general music happenings, there’s also an understanding when it comes to social media, as the different sites are split between Tim and Oscar.
Tim is the Facebook man and for most of his posts, you can tell that it’s Tim behind the keyboard, sharing his thoughts and musings on the world, occasionally even his thoughts on the current political climate in Australia.
“As for the political stuff I just get so, I dunno, I get a lot of rage over the many different things over many different policies that make me feel so ashamed and angry about the direction that we’re going in,” Tim says.
“I think it’s the opposite direction that we’re going in as a country. And I think it’s good to get that out there and get people realising that hopefully.”
There’s a definite passion and belief behind what Tim says, and those emotions are extended to the music they create, the gigs they perform and, we imagine, most other elements in their lives.
Written by Amanda Sherring
When & Where: Workers Club, Geelong – September 3, Karova Lounge, Ballarat – September 4 & Howler, Melbourne – September 5