The Holidays-Post Paradise

15.10.10

The Holidays have been banging away on the charts since 2007, touring nationally and performing as part of Falls Festival and Homebake, but it was only a month ago that their debut album Post Paradise finally emerged in its entirety. The verdict is in, it was worth the wait.

The Holiday’s tunes cannot be loop-holed into a single musical genre or time tripped to a defining era. Their sound is an entirely unique composition of indie rock, electro-funk and tropicalia, which when layered together become a progressive type of music no one has quite managed to define yet, not even the band members themselves, though Will, (keys/ vocals) does give it a good go, calling it, “night-time on the island.”

Their Myspace describes their sound as "Congaclash/bongocore/dreambeat/electropicale/ islandbreeze/ underwaterworld" all of which a spell checker will politely tell you do not exist.

Making the album though, has been no holiday for, “The Holidays,” Alex (bass/guitarist,) Simon (vocals/guitar), Andrew (drums/precussion) and Will, have been on a perpetual musical journey since they started writing their album in early 2009. "We’re still developing as song-writers and our interest in a particular sound will continue to waver with time, although I think we still have a few basic elements which will never change.” And what might they be? 

Well you’ll have to listen to find out, the threads that hold the album together don’t quite make sense until it is listened to all in one long harmonious go. 

With so much musicality happening you would think it would be impossible to sum it all up in one line from this eclectic album but somehow Will managed to with his favourite line from, Golden Sky, “the perfect day, when the waters rise and the tide takes you away.”

The Holidays are currently on national tour and will be performing live at the Gaelic Club in Sydney on Saturday night.

Will took time out from making his guitar pedals, (yes he makes his own though he they admits they often break mid set,) to tell us about the album and what to expect from their tour.

How did The Holidays start?

Simon & I went to school together & used to skip classes when we could just to jam in our school music rooms. We usually learnt bad versions of bad songs. We went our separate ways after school but after meeting Alex a few years down the track, who had a guitar in his room, we made him buy a bass guitar, learn how to play and then started the band!

What music has influenced The Holidays sound?

We play colonial soul/pop. Colonial, as our influences are still very much from the motherland, particularly around that late 80s, early 90s Madchester scene. We enjoy party grooves as well as clever layers in songs, and our album has a bit of a theme of escapism. 

What is your favourite track off the album?

My personal favourite is Conga. It was the first track we wrote for the album after buying the congas on a whim, with this song being written almost instantaneously. It became the template for the kind of music we wanted to make, it was breezy & carefree but also direct & strongly determined. It’s the kind of song that when it comes up in our set I just smile and truly enjoy myself for four minutes or so.

What have been the highlights of your musical journey to far?

Physically having an album in my hands, after all this work over the past few years is incredibly fulfilling & satisfying. There have been other highlights, I love playing at festivals and Falls & Homebake were great fun, as well as heading into regional Australia where the most unlikely fan is up th e front of a gig singing along to all our songs.

What can we expect from your Sydney show?

Lights and smoke and wailing guitar solos and progressive conga breakdowns! We’ve added a touring percussionist to the band to give us an extra set of hands, playing bongos and congas and timbales amongst everything else. We have heaps of fun trying to play our heavily layered album, which I think we do a pretty good job of, there’s a kind of live energy, which we bring to the show, which makes it interesting to watch!

What’s next for you guys after this tour?

We’re playing a bunch of summer festivals which are always fun! And we’re recording some interesting covers at the moment to use as B-sides or just to give away for free. And we’re working on album number two already. And we’re heading overseas early next year too! Keeping busy.

And we have a feeling things will keep on progressing at that fast paced tempo.

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