Hollan Holmes Interview #2 - The Final on Vinyl Podcast

Had a good conversation with Hollan Holmes regarding his most recent release, The Sanctity of Rust.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:14

Hello everyone, this is Keith MuzikMan Hannaleck with the Final and Vinyl Podcast, and today we are with Hollan Holmes. And I just listened to his new album, The Sanctity of Rust, and reviewed it and enjoyed it very much. And uh we haven't spoken since the last release a couple of years ago. Welcome back, Alan.

Speaker 0:33

Thank you, Keith. Uh very glad to be here, and I appreciate your time.

Speaker 1 0:39

Well, it works both ways. Definitely.

Speaker 0:41

Appreciate your time as well.

Speaker 1 0:43

So tell me a little bit how you came up with the title and the artwork and the whole concept of this album.

Speaker 0:51

Sure. So uh the title and the artwork actually didn't come until well after I had finished the the music. Um quite often when I create the music, I don't have a theme uh in in mind, uh, and that usually doesn't coalesce until everything is is done, and then I can start formulating uh what I what I feel uh the music demands uh in with respect to a title and a theme. So I worked on the music for probably about a year, maybe a little less than a year, got everything put together, and uh I'll tell you the the biggest struggle for me in in any album is coming up with a title and a name. Uh I mean uh a theme. Okay. Yeah, so it was uh it was quite a challenge. Um but then I got uh uh the idea that that um uh I I'm a fine artist also, not only a musician, but one of the things I love to paint are rusty objects, um old farm equipment and that kind of thing. And it dominates uh the majority of the work that I do. And I sort of wanted to celebrate that. And so I was able to give it some thought and and tie rust to the process of aging, not only for physical objects, but for people as well. And so this this album is a celebration of age and and the beauty that lies within that. Since I find so much beauty in Rust, uh, oddly enough, um I wanted to celebrate it in people and and tell that story. Uh with regard to the artwork, um, Daniel Pipotone is in charge of uh the he's the graphic designer for Spotter Pecker and Music, the label. And uh but but I'm one of the few artists that uh they allow to give more input than normal because I have a graphic design background as well. So what I did was I took over 300 photos of various rusty things and and uh I supplied those to Daniel, and he and I started trading ideas, and one thing led to another, and we ended up with what's on the cover. And I'm I could not be more pleased with it. I think it turned out uh very well. Perfect.

Speaker 1 3:41

So so when did all this start for you and this this appreciation you have for the older things, antiquity and so forth? When did that begin?

Speaker 3:50

Yeah very early. So I I spent most of my childhood in a small town where there wasn't a lot of suburban development, and there's lots of farmland, and so as a kid I was always exploring with my buddies, and and we would always come across you know tractors and various farm contraptions that that for whatever reason just fascinated me. And uh I started probably in the early 2000s, I started when I began painting these things. It just one thing led to another, and I started putting more and more detail into the paintings, and and it's just the the colors, the texture, uh I I don't know, there's I it's hard to explain, but there's a there's a beauty in it that I think uh a lot of people don't notice, but I certainly do, and and and I really wanted to uh celebrate that. So it's been a it it's been an interest of mine uh for a very, very long time.

Speaker 1 5:03

So have you ever used any of your paintings for your album covers?

Speaker 5:07

Uh yes. Um I my let's see, my sixth album, um uh why am I drawing a blank on it right now? Uh Prayer to the Energy uh is a painting of mine that I did in in oil. And uh all of the others are simply my own graphic design ideas, and then when I joined Spotted Packers, those ideas are shared with Daniel. So my last four albums, this one included, are are a collaboration between Daniel and I. But yeah, I have used uh paintings in the past.

Speaker 1 5:49

What's it like working with the label? I understand there's a lot of positive. I I've heard nothing but positive about them, so I'm just wondering what your take was on it.

Speaker 5:59

Yeah, well, you'll hear nothing but positive from me too. Uh now I have no reference point because I've never been with a label before, but I've heard the stories. And uh I there was some reluctance to join the label back in 2019 when I first started having this discussion with with Howard Givens, the owner. My trepidation came with the fact that I was going to have to give up the publishing rights to my music. And I was very concerned with that because it's that would have that's half my income. But I was also going to gain a very much larger audience than than I previously had. So I think I made the decision, was it was a trade-off that was worth it to me to take a chance, sign a uh an agreement with them, and do three albums, and I have fulfilled that agreement and that contract, and now I'm on, I just finished my fourth album, and I have no plans on leaving. Um I will say this, they have been extremely good to me and have taken very good care of me with regard to getting my music in people's ears, being fair about how I'm paid. Uh it they're they're basically an extended family at this point because I know all of them so well and and and we trust one another, and it's just been I I don't I've never heard stories from any other musician that has a relationship like that with their label. So uh I feel particularly blessed to to be on that label. Um when I decided to get on a label, I decided why don't I just start at the top and work my way down? And my first choice was spotted pickory because I knew they were probably the biggest label for this genre of music that I do. And I just by by the grace of God, they they liked what I what they heard, and and I've been with them since 2020, and it's been a very good worker relationship. Yeah. Well, that's good to hear.

Speaker 1 8:22

Now, as far as your music is concerned, I I'm looking at it as an ambient electronic. Um some people might think it fits into the new age genre. Um what are your thoughts? What what would you consider it as? I know you don't like to put your music in a box, but if you were to say to somebody, this is the type of genre my music is, how would you explain it?

Speaker 8:47

Yeah. Um I I don't particularly like the label New Age, but with regard to New Age music, I I can't deny that some of my music has elements that would would fit into that category. But I think I think ambient electronic is about the best uh descriptor for for what I do than than anything else. Um and of course that's what uh spotted peckri likes to call it as well. So I'm I'm comfortable with that, you know, regarding a label. You're right. I don't think any artist really wants to be bossed in in that way. And I and I try to write my own music and be original and unique and and not be too heavily influenced by anyone else. And and that's sometimes a difficult thing to do too, because uh I would say there's a lot of music that inspires me, but I would like to hope that that not much music has influenced what I do. Uh certainly the hard work is an influence, but uh I I I try to be unique in what I do and and not follow any trends or do anything that somebody else wants me to do, and Spotter Pecky has never ever tried to push me in any direction. They've given me complete and ultimate freedom to do whatever I want. So yeah, that's that's and being electronic, I think, is probably the best way to describe what I do.

Speaker 1 10:38

Well, the label obviously is very intelligent to look at things that way. Because if if you push an artist, that just saps the energy, that creative energy that send you in the direction that you want to go to create your music in the first place, right?

Speaker 10:55

Yes, sir. It sure can, absolutely. Yeah. And Howard has has been uh very careful to not step in the way of of any of their artists. He he makes it, he goes out of his way and makes it a point to tell their artists that do what you want to do. Now, he's not averse to giving technical advice, uh, which uh I have I have needed from time to time. Um this was the first album that I turned in and received no critical feedback. He Howard took it and ran with it. And what you hear is uh is what I turned in, plus his his most expert mastery, which just really brought it to life. Great album. It really is. And thank you very much.

Speaker 1 11:57

You know, I know I know you don't want to be influenced by anybody from the outside and you just want to create as you see fit. But as a listener, you know, things pop up like you know when I hear music like yours, always the first group that pops into my head is Tangerine Dream.

unknown 12:18

Yeah.

Speaker 1 12:18

Uh because I have a couple of albums that are my favorite by them. La Park, uh my Tangerine Dream is my favorite album. And uh some of the things that I hear from people like you is like, oh man, that's what reminds me of. It just comes up right away, you know. Yeah, well that's not a bad thing, right?

Speaker 12:37

No, absolutely not, and I always take it in the highest compliment. And I've been told many, many times that that uh my work parallels Tangerie Dream, and I'm I do not have a problem with that. Tangerie Dream, they were they were trailblazers, they developed a style uh that has certainly been an inspiration and an influence to me. And so, you know, they they call what I do uh often containing elements of Berlin school music. And so there's lots and lots of sequencing and layers and layers of of these uh melodic sequences going on. But I try very hard to avoid copying or it's easy for one of your favorite songs from the 80s to seep in from your subconscious and end up in what you're doing it. And and more than once I've had to I I've had to stop and and say, hey, wait a minute, that's I accidentally stole that. Um so I have to be careful of that because yeah, it it can be a subconscious influence and you not even realize it. Um but so Tangerine Dream developed this this Berlin school, they were part of the development of that of that style of music, and that style definitely um appeals to me. So yeah, I have to work in in the context of of sequencing, but at the same time, I try not to sound like anyone else. But I do get I I I do get told the the tangerine dream thing, Jean-Michel Jar comes up occasionally. Oh yeah. And and it's okay. I don't I don't uh I don't I I take it as a as a supreme compliment and and nothing more.

Speaker 1 14:35

You can't discount uh Bowie's influence in it with his his Berlin years in the 70s with Eno, with the albums he made, like Lowe and so forth. What do you think? Ask the question again, I'm sorry. I was thinking of David Bowie, his um his time that he spent in Berlin with Eno, like the album Lowe, uh, you know, things like that certainly have to come in to an influence at some point with people.

Speaker 15:03

Yeah, um, absolutely. Uh to to be quite honest with you, I'm I'm not familiar with Bowie's early work. Um and as as shameful as that may be, yes, I just don't uh I'm just not familiar with it. Uh there's still amazingly enough, Keith, there's so much music from the 60s and 70s that uh I still have not discovered, and I I still learn about these bands. I'm still I'm still listening to Klaus Schulze music that I've never heard before. I mean, it's crazy. I didn't really get into this genre of music until well into the 90s, and so uh yeah, you mentioned boo bowie, and uh it's I'm I'm unfamiliar. Uh so there's still much for me to discover. Well, check out Bowie Lowe.

Speaker 1 15:55

I think you will really enjoy that album.

Speaker 15:58

Well, I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 16:02

So, what does the future look like for Holland Holmes? Uh, after spending a year working so hard to record this album and getting the word out about that, uh, do you go right back into the studio and start creating again, or are you just are more into the marketing mode at this point?

Speaker 16:19

Uh, I don't really leave the studio. It's um I've got three projects that have been in the works now for uh several months. So um one is a collaboration. Uh the gentleman that you hear playing the guitar on the first uh song on this new album, the Sanctity of Rust, Bill Porter. Uh he and I are finishing up uh an all hardware synthesizer album. Nothing but hardware. Okay. Uh I don't know when or where that will be released, but it it's definitely uh gonna happen. And then I've got two more in the works uh that I will attempt to release through Spotted Peckery, the next one being a more oh, I guess you'd call it a drone-based uh sort of sound world, soundscape style um uh album that is that will have very little sequencing on it and mostly just uh explorations in sound and melody. So uh we'll we'll see how that goes. And then I've got another album after that that is again sequencer based, more in line with the one that I just finished that uh that I'm also adding on onto. Um so I'm just gonna watch yeah, just trying to uh keep capturing uh the music that that gets in my head and and uh and I have to get it out and put it somewhere so I can't put it all on one album. So planning ahead. So yeah, the uh more definitely more music coming.

Speaker 1 18:08

So with with three consecutive projects going like that, uh does uh whatever the mood strikes you is like, okay, I'm gonna go do this one.

Speaker 18:17

Does that kind of thing happen with you, your process, or are you just yeah, are you more Yeah, it's no, it's it's pure free flow. It's whatever I feel at the time. Um sometimes I work early in the morning, sometimes I work late at night, uh sometimes I want something energetic and and with a lot of energy, like the Sanctity of Rust on that first that first uh song, which is uh pretty energetic. And other times I just want something that will put me to sleep. So it's not uncommon for me to work on that kind of music and literally fall asleep while I'm listening to it. So uh I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but uh I enjoy uh all of it, all of that kind of music, and and when I get an idea, I try to capture it, uh at least get the foundation down as quickly as possible, and then I will build on that over time. I will say this uh on the sanctity of rust, every single song on there, except for the very last one, were created over the course of weeks or even months. The last song was the only song in all of my ten albums that I created in one single day. The entire thing was written in about an eight-hour period. And uh it it just was one of those things where it just started flowing and I couldn't stop. I just had to keep getting it, you know, keep getting it put down and recorded, and and it just came together uh quite nicely, and and uh I was very happy to share that one. And uh but that's the only time it's ever happened. I've taken I've done some that took you know maybe three or four days, but but never one that quickly. It just uh just started flowing and I couldn't didn't want to stop it.

Speaker 1 20:20

Well it's been great talking to you again, Holland. And just to remind people, the Sanctity of Rust is now out. Only came out a few days ago, and uh be keep an eye out for all your new projects coming down the pike. I I hope for you hope you will keep me in mind for those. I would definitely be interested in covering them for you.

Speaker 20:40

Absolutely, I would love to. Um thank you very much.

Speaker 1 20:45

All right, Helen, I appreciate your time. You take care.

Speaker 20:48

It's been my honor, Keith. I'll talk to you again soon. All right, bye-bye.