The boys from Australian pop rock band The Holidays are riding the wave of success and living every teenage boy's rock'n'roll dream following the release of their debut EP The Holidays. They are currently touring around Australia with fellow rockers Yves Klein Blue promoting their newest EP, When the Ship Goes Down. Simon Jones talks to yourGigs about their quick rise to success in such a short amount of time.
yourGigs (yG): So, first things first. How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it before?
Simon Jones (SJ): Sunny guitar rock.
yG: Sunny guitar rock? That sounds like a new genre.
SJ: [Laughs]. Yeah well it might be. We've sort of been described before as Brit-pop from the colonies.
yG: Do you find that an insult or a compliment?
SJ: I kind of like that - well you know, I like Brit-pop but I suppose it's kind of hard to be Brit-pop if you're not British. But yeah, we're pretty much a guitar rock band.
yG: You guys haven't been around for long - what do you think has contributed to your success in such a short amount of time?
SJ: There was a lot of luck involved; it was a bit of a snowball effect. The first show we played we were lucky enough to have a promoter there that saw us and gave us the next few shows, and then before we knew it we were doing international supports.
yG: What do you think makes a band commercially successful - do you think it's luck, talent or is it a bit of both?
SJ: Yeah, it's such a cliche to say, but you do make your own luck, like having people there to see you is one thing, but you have to actually make an impression on them. You definitely have to do the work yourself. It does help though if you put yourself in the right situations.
yG: How do you feel about the Australian music scene in general - do you think there is enough support out there for home-grown artists?
SJ: Yeah I think so. I mean, we are so far away from everything else in the world, it's so insulated. The Australian scene has to look after itself. I think it's pretty good you know; I would say that in the last few years people in the major cities are going to more live shows than before.
yG: So you guys have one EP out already and another one on the way. Did you find that it was easier to create the second EP compared to the first, or was there more pressure to deliver the second time around?
SJ: Well our first EP was made up of some of the first songs we ever wrote together as a band. Between the first and second EP we developed a lot and sort of figured out what our songwriting process was. Before we committed to doing a full-length album, which is what we will be doing next year, we wanted to bridge it with an EP with songs that are a snapshot of where we are now. So, it was easier; we knew what we wanted to do, and I think those songs really represent what we sound like at the moment. It's more evolved than the last EP.
yG: Did you have any expectations at all as to where you wanted to end up?
SJ: No not at all. Like Alex the bass player couldn't even play bass when we started, so we were sort of like, "Yeah we'll teach you how to play bass", or whatever [laughs]. But it started as a muck-around thing to do because we all love music so much. You know when we played our first gig it was so weird but when we got on stage we just knew that this is what we wanted to do. I think it helps if you don't have any expectations.
yG: So who are your musical inspirations, who do you like to listen to when you're at home?
SJ: Um, that's hard because basically all I do is listen to music, so I can't narrow it down to a few, but you know the ones that I always come back to would be probably, as a songwriter, Elvis Costello - I definitely aspire to being that astute in songwriting. I love Television, The Stooges, The Go-Betweens, Neil Finn and Crowded House.
yG: So you guys are touring with Yves Klein; do you have any practical jokes in store for them?
SJ: [Laughs]. Yeah we got together with them to do a photo shoot in their manager's kitchen a while ago and I reckon it could be a pretty wild tour. They are definitely on the same wavelength as us, and they're pretty cheeky boys.
Alex Hahn
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