The Holidays

Fri 24th Sep, 2010 in Features

Sydney band The Holidays formed in 2007 and are celebrating the release of their debut album Post Paradise.

Already the band has made a mark with a pair of EP that bookended 2008 scoring triple j rotation and seeing the band share stages with The View, Jamie T, The Temper Trap and Little Red.

FasterLouder caught up with the band’s guitar and keys player Will Magnus to chat about the debut album, working with Tony Espie (Avalanches, Midnight Juggernauts, Cut Copy) and the summery vibe of the album.

So, Post Paradise has arrived. Are you excited and a little relieved to have it out there?
Yes! Exhilarated, contented, aroused, triumphant, elated and satiated!

Is the feel of Broken Bones a good indication of what to expect on the album?
It’s probably more of an indication of what we were after than our previous singles. The song was written comparatively quickly, with that solid synth groove locked in with the drums and the percussion loop, and Simon doesn’t lift the vocals, bringing a kind of smooth tension to the track. It’s a bit of a grower, the less attention you pay to the track, the more it gets trapped inside you!

What did Tony Espie bring to the sound of the finished product?
Tony was involved with different aspects of the album along the way. We recorded it ourselves and Simon our singer produced it, but Tony was always available for opinions and tips and ideas as we were operating very much with trial and error. None of us has recorded or produced anything before so it was nice having Tony as a kind of mentor along the way. Listening to the final mixes which Tony did, he definitely brought a certain polished sparkle to the album, bringing forward certain melodies and percussive elements which we would have probably left deeper in the mix but thankfully we trusted him and we’re all incredibly happy with the finished product!

How do lyrics come together for the band? Is there something of an over-arching ‘theme’ to the lyrics on this album?
With this album we tended to write the music first, and then the lyrics would come, being inspired by the feel of the music. As such, lyrically the album probably does have a theme because the music we were writing had such a breezy and carefree feel to it that it was hard not to be translated into lyrics!

How do you think The Holidays sound has been refined from the early days to what it is now?
The first EP we released was probably the first 5 songs we ever wrote. Things happened very fast for us at first, and even by the time we had finished our second EP, we still didn’t have any real idea what we were doing! Before we recorded Post Paradise we really thought about what we wanted to portray as The Holidays and how we would define ourselves. We can all play other instruments, and our drummer Andrew loves making his own hip hop beats so we threw some of these other elements and abilities into the mix!

On another level, I guess it has been two years since our second EP came out, and we’re not a band to sit still and keep churning out the same music over and over again, we like to push ourselves and our abilities and the way we work, so in the same way, I can’t imagine our next album sounding too similar to this one! Although lyrically and in terms of the vibe, I do see similarities between this album and our first EP.

Tell us a bit about how the album came together – was it an intensive few months recording?
We were initially working as most bands do, just demoing songs until we had a full album. We went into BJB studios in Sydney towards the end of last year and laid down a couple of tracks, which turned out ok, but were lacking some kind of mood or feeling. So it ended up coming about that we recorded the whole album at home, in a kind of impromptu studio we could move around to each others houses. In this way, when we had a new idea, we recorded it properly and completely so what was our first demo of a song also became the final album version of a song too.

I think we captured a much better vibe working this way, not having to recreate an idea in the studio when all the originality and energy has already been put into a demo. It seems like a much more organic process, working this way, but it also meant we had no time or financial constraints which we would’ve faced in a studio, meaning we could literally try every option and idea, probably part of the reason the album has been such a long time coming!

Is the live show always a work in progress? Has it been given a new polish for the upcoming shows?
The live show has definitely reached a level that we’re happy with now. We’ve had to add a fifth member for touring who plays percussion, as we just don’t have enough hands to play some of these layered songs! Obviously theres a couple of elements which we struggle to recreate live (timpani’s, violins, flutes..) but we make up for them with a different kind of energy which we think is pretty fun to watch! We’ve added a few new elements for this tour though, when its your own shows you have the luxury of lots of time to soundcheck and set up…You’ll have to come to a show and see!

Are you excited to see how some of the summery numbers go down at the festivals?
Well we wrote this album throughout winter so its interesting that has such a summery vibe, but I think on a hot sunny afternoon with a beer in hand is the perfect place for enjoying these songs!

The Holidays album tour:
Saturday 25th September – Coaster Festival, Gosford
Wednesday 29th September – Beach Rd Hotel, Bondi
Friday 1st October – Elsewhere, Gold Coast
Saturday 2nd October – The Troubadour, Brisbane
Saturday 9th October – One Movement Festival, Perth
Thursday 14th October – Transit Bar, Canberra
Friday 15th October – Grand Hotel, Wollongong
Saturday 16th October – The Gaelic Hotel, Sydney
Thursday 21st October – The National Hotel, Geelong
Friday 22nd October – East Brunswick Club, Melbourne
Saturday 23rd October – Jive, Adelaide