They may be a long way from home but Holy Hail are in the right place at the right time in supporting New Young Pony Club on their current tour. Holy hailing from New York, their unique brand of indie-dance and rap has been pleasantly surprising the early arrivals for the shows and the band should develop onto bigger and better things. Taking the time out to chat to RoomThirteen were Cat (vocals and guitar), Michally (bass) and Kevin (keyboards and guitar.)
R13: Hows the tour been going?
MHH: Really good, they're really the nicest people and we've really lucked out by touring with them and a lot of other nice bands. They're great musicans as well.
R13: What has the crowd reaction been like?
CHH: Yeah, its been amazing and I think that we've been a really great match and theres at least a handful of people there for us. Then people come up and ask us what we're called and do we have any material.
R13: Any plans for new releases?
KHH: We're working on stuff right now.
MHH: At the moment we're releasing a single in America, 'Big Guns' so that's something different over there.
R13: Are you looking forward to go back to America to promote that?
KHH: Definitely, we like playing so it'll be good to get back there for shows.
R13: The split single, 'orn Of A Star'/ ' Owe'features two very different styles of songs, is that indicative of the bands sound?
KHH: Yes, pretty much, when you've so many influences it has to be varied.
R13: Is that because of how you write songs, do you all bring ideas?
CHH: I say we all have different tastes and we're all learning from each other all the time.
MHH: The songs come about in different ways. Sometimes it is a jam, sometimes it is a persons idea. You know, Cat will have her rap or Kev will bring something or I've got ideas, so whatever it is. Kevin and Cat always write the lyrics
R13: Are you a band that's able to write on tour?
KHH: We have before but not on this tour. At some point in the next two weeks we'll get to work on some stuff but not right now.
MHH:Everytime we've came off tour we've always got to work. They'll be off getting lyrics together or even sometimes at venues but when we're home, we head to the studio and hash it out. That's when we all get together and the magic happens.
R13: The magic happens, that's the quote right there! With regards to live shows, do you have any festival or summer show plans?
KHH: We might, we're hoping to be back over later in the summer for some shows and festivals would be great.
R13: You're enjoying the current tour and you've played with The Rapture before, how was that?
MHH: Great.
KHH: We were really nervous for they shows but they turned out brilliantly.
CHH: It was awesome and we learned a lot from them. Musically and how to conduct yourself as a band and how to respect each other. The Rapture are a really respectful band. They've also got really good stories.
MHH: I know they'll hate this but everyone considers them the Godfathers of Indie-Dance or Indie-Disco or however you're calling it.
R13: Without The Rapture the cowbell wouldn't be the same.
KHH: No doubt.
MHH: Yeah, its really an honour to have played with them.
R13: Did you have any good parties with the band?
(Immediate laughter from the band.)
CHH: My favourite party of all tour was one of the Shitdisco house parties. Shitdisco were playing, the Klaxons were singing, people were on top of speakers, everybody was going fucking crazy!
MHH: We were in Nottingham playing with The Rapture and next door was the NME Tour with Klaxons, Shitdisco and Datarock and we all went to one house party together. There were kids riding an ironing board down the stairs.
R13: When looking up the band on the internet, theres a lot of praise for one of your videos. Do you have much of a say on that side of the creative input?
CHH: Kevin and I are ex-film students so I think that helps us have an input to these areas, I know we both have ideas for what we want to do.
R13: The bands name, Holy Hail, is there any special meaning behind it?
KHH:No.
MHH: One day we'll make up a good story about it....it happened in a dream!
KHH:It can be taken in a few ways, so that's good.
MHH: For me it works really well because my fathers a Minister and he can tell everyone in the church that his daughter plays in a band and he can say the name Holy Hail and everyone accepts it!
R13: Theres some live footage of the band on Youtube, how do you feel about sites like this?
CHH: I feel we can be our own worst critics but its cool for people to see and hopefully its flattering.
MHH: I'm definitely curious as any musician playing doesn't get to see what they're like on stage so it would be interesting. I'm definitely not watching myself play when I'm playing so why not watch it later? I love Youtube and I could be on it all day and night.
And with a show coming up later that night, it was decided to call it day and give the band some time before their set. As pleasant and chatty off-stage as they were exciting and innovative onstage, you'd be advised to note the name Holy Hail now and start dropping it into as many conversations as possible, they're worth it.