Holy Coves - Interview

We found ourselves at the Musician in Leicester, a smallish venue, with a big sound, ready to meet the "Holy Coves", a band that instantly got our attention when we got an email about them. There's some intrepidation when you're about to interview a new band because you never know what they're going to be like. As soon as the band piled out of their van enthusiastically, there was a good vibe, introductions were made, and Scott was keen to get cracking. While the band were setting up inside, I couldn't help but notice Ben's unusual guitars, in particular his first choice one. It looks unbelievably battered, but it plays great (and it's fair to say he gets an astonishing sound out of it live), and I know this because to my horror, Ben was fine for me to have a noodle around on it, and gave me it's history (he obviously loves it!). Banter follows between Lucy and the group, and we then retire to the front of the venue with Scott to fire our questions at him. And this is where things get interesting, you see, Scott, Ben, Jimi, Ash are indeed very laid back, but when it comes to music, it's entirely a different matter. I've not seen many as passionate about music as Scott, and it's great to see someone care that much about what they're doing. We've seen some amazing bands, Sound of Guns, Alter Bridge, Godsized, Twin Atlantic, The Glitterati, Little Fish, and they've all been incredibly passionate about their music, and now added to that list are the Holy Coves, and if this line up were to have a stage to themselves at say the forthcoming Download festival, I would be camped there right at the front all day long.

Lucy: How’s the tour going so far and what have the highpoints been?

Scott: Pretty good, last night we were in Coventry and it was absolutely rammed, packed out. Saying that, it’s been the whole experience, getting out there, playing to people who enjoy the music. The highlights, well we’ve had some laughs on the way, and that’s what it’s about. We’ve had some good friends put us up during the tour as well so we’ve not been stick in the van all the time. So yes, been a couple of nights where friends have put us up, and we’ve ended up with the house to ourselves, and that was really cool. So yeah, highs and lows. And I keep scratching myself, there was this one night, to be honest we’re pretty chilled out during the sound check, but when we’re on stage doing the set, we really go for it, anyway, this night, I snapped all the strings (shows us his hand which has cuts all across it!) and you can see what happened! It was quite dangerous really.

Lucy: You and Jimi were originally in “The Lizzies”, after that, how did the “Holy Coves” form?

Scott: It sort of just started when we were in the middle of “The Lizzies”. We had had a couple of jams together, Jimi and that, and when we did we had this freedom. You know, when you’re in a band, the four or five of you, it’s got to be for all of you, else there’s no point being in it. So Jimi and I realised that we basically liked a heavier sound, whereas what we were doing with “The Lizzies” wasn’t really where we were at if you know what I mean. So, we found that we had this freedom to express ourselves, and the sound came together, started to come out. The funny thing is, and it’s really strange, Jimi and I have been friends for years, but we’ve also been friends with Ben for a long time, and I had never met Ash until about a year ago, but he’s been best mates with Ben for years. So yeah, it’s sort of like the perfect band members came together with everyone on the same wavelength, liking the same music. And it’s just a godsend to have that in a band really.

Lucy: It seems like you’re all very natural in working together.

Scott: I would say so yes, it does work well. We try to jam the sessions out, I’ve not talked too much yet about how we work together, and the sound developed, developed, but it’s only now after about a year that we’re happy with the material enough to want to be out there, getting across to people. We’re still writing everyday, we were going to go in a weeks time to record the album, but we’ve put a hold on that for a while to do some singles, and then finish off the album, because we’re still progressing. So instead of putting it down now and getting to 6 months or 12 months later and thinking “no, we’re not happy with that”. It’s just really weird because it seems like it was just meant to be, just the way it all came about, meeting each other, it’s just loads of coincidences. It’s been really good.

Lucy: So where did the name “The Holy Coves” come from?

Scott: Ah no, there’s no “The”!

Lucy: Argh, sorry!

Scott: (laughing) No, there’s no "the" in the Holy Coves! It’s just one of those things, I even, just to mix it up a little bit, I even when we’re on stage sometimes call ourselves, “The Holy Coves”. Basically Holyhead, known as the Holy Island, is where we’re all from, so most people get that, but the Coves they think that because it’s “Holy Island” that it’s because of these beaches, and it’s not that at all! What it was, we were in the studio a while back and we found this old “Cockney Sayings” book, and we had a look through, and at that point we hadn’t even decided on the “Holy” part of the name, we were just looking for a cool band name. And we were flicking through and we found this “Coves”, and it’s an old cockney word for criminals, sort of “the lads”, so we added the Holy bit before that because of where we’re from. And we thought, “yeah, that looks good”. So that’s where it comes from. It was another one of those coincidences. It was just very “us”.

Lucy: On your EP you have a diversity of influences such as the “Velvet Underground”, “The Verve”, what are your other influences, including any non-musical ones?

Scott: Actually I would say that neither of those are my influences.

James: Funny you should say that because I noticed a couple of people copying and pasting that!

Scott: Ah yeah, but that’s the press for you sometimes isn’t it! But for me, I can name bands all night long, there are so many bands out there that I like, a lot of great bands, but it’s got elements of one of my favourite bands, early Smashing Pumpkins. Sort of Siamese Dream era, Spiritualised were one of my favourite bands ever. Spacemen 3 were good too. There are elements of Nirvana in there too, I mean Ben is a massive fan of Nirvana, and I like them too, but Ben is a massive fan of them. So bits of grunge in there, mixed up with a bit of the psych rock genre. Another huge influence is Black Rebel Motor Cycle Club and the Black Angels, my two favourite bands of now that are still sort of going and stuff. I mean I love the Smashing Pumpkins, but it’s not necessarily their sound now that influences me, but more the early material, the sound from years ago. I did sort of grow up listening to The Verve as a teenager, McCabe is an absolute genius on guitar with what he does, but it’s not where I’m at now.

Lucy: The Droner EP was released on the 14^th of February, how did these songs came about, and how much did David Wrench (Bat For Lashes) influence you?

Scott: David influenced me by getting me onto a lot of bands that I hadn’t heard of before, so it was an indirect influence. He’s influenced me by making me learn for myself and progress that way instead if saying “play it this way” or “sing it that way”. And it’s not just me who’s gone through a progressive stage with him, it’s been like that for the whole band. So yes, he has helped us a lot, as far as the songs are concerned too. With the EP out, it’s a wide range of our songs, but as we keep releasing new songs, we keep developing. That’s the exciting thing about it, we’re not going to release an album, put it out there, we’ll let the sound progress and make sure we have something we’re happy with. With the EP we have a solid set of songs, we just need to build on that now. So the EP is just the beginning. But you’ll notice that when you hear the songs as they are played now, they are a lot heavier.

Lucy: Who influenced you to be musicians (as opposed to DJ’s or footballers), and did you get a lot of support from your family?

Scott: Ah now there’s a story for you! I always wanted to be a football player! When I was a kid, that was my favourite thing. I kind of got into music when I was 15 or 16 years old, when I realised I wasn’t going to be a footballer! Music was always there, but it was those years where it started to play more of a part. I always wanted to be in a band, I always wanted to do music, it always sort of appealed to me, but I didn’t pick up a guitar until I was 16! And I taught myself, and help from other musicians that I met. I mean, Ben for a starters, I became a friend of his when I picked up the guitar, and the only other guy I knew who was into the Smashing Pumpkins was Ben, and he taught me their stuff on guitar and got me to a certain level. That’s where we had our first meeting. I used to play with this band like years ago, who did gigs and stuff at this place called Phoenix, in Holyhead. At that time, all the people my age were into Oasis, and it wasn’t that I didn’t like them, it just wasn’t what I loved.

Lucy: What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome?

Scott: Some of the challenges are to make sure you keep progressing, for me, to make sure I don’t stay the same, not to be boring, or sit there thinking that “this is us, and we’re brilliant”. I want to be inspired and inspiring, to get better, watch other bands and think “wow they’re incredible” and not be put on downer or anything like that, but to be pushed to achieve, so the challenge for me is to just learning and getting better. And, getting gout there, doing gigs, getting experience, and of spending this amount of time as 5 lads, that’s a challenge in itself! But it’s all challenging, that’s music, but it’s exciting too, and I like to challenge myself all the time. If you’re bored of something then what you produce is going to come across the same way in your music. When I’m playing I catch myself thinking, “I love these songs, I love this band”.

Lucy: What’s the best gig(s) you’ve been to?

Scott: I’ve been to a lot of absolutely amazing gigs, and it’s not necessarily always the big groups either. Only last week, I saw a band that have some of my mates in it, and they were absolutely amazing. I remember watching a band a while back called “We are animal”, and they were absolutely amazing. They did the gig, we actually supported them, and they had an hour jamming session at the end, and it was immense. That for me was great. A great gig is a great gig, and it’s not down to the size of the venue or anything.

Lucy: You’ve had some great coverage by the likes of BBC Wales, but how difficult is it to stand out from the rest of the crowd? Has the internet etc made it easier, or harder?

Scott: To be honest, I don’t listen to a lot of other stuff on the radio because a lot of it I’m not a fan of, because there’s a “certain type” of music that they have to play. It gets a bit frustrating because some of my friends are in bands and you compare to what’s being played on the radio, and then what you’re friends are doing and you realise that what your friends are doing is way better then that. A lot of the bands we’ve talked about tonight, or the ones you were talking about before the interview started, they won’t get much prime time airplay, and it’s not because they’re no good. Having said that, regardless of airplay, I want people are into our music for our music, they have to understand it, I want them to get it, not just like “oh, I like what you’re doing”, but I really want them to get it, to get what we’re about.

Lucy: The welsh music scene seem to be very much about bands doing their own thing, like Funeral for a Friend…

Scott: Not a fan of their music! Yeah, they’re not trying to be anyone else, and we’re not trying to be part of that scene, we’re not like this clicky welsh band, we’re trying to break away from that. The same for Manchester, they have a scene, but we’ve actually met a few bands on the fringe who are amazing, are way better then what gets put on the Radio and stuff. The good ones who can stick around can get a good underground following, but it’s hard to survive in that sort of environment. You know, keeping a job going and all of that. For us, we’re not giving up, we’ll keep on till we get where we want to be. The internet has made it easier to get your songs out there, yeah, of course it has, but at the same time, you need more then that, a Myspace page isn’t enough, you have to have the full package. You know, there has to be something about your lives, or something about the band, about the music that has to be “extra”. Times have changed you know, the record companies want a band that’s there with everything, complete, ready, and then they’ll buy in. Sometimes you question whether record labels are needed, I’m not saying that I don’t want a deal, but I do want one that’s right for the band, right for the manager.

Lucy: How do you react to comments (positive and negative, although we haven’t seen anything negative) made on the Internet, such as your Facebook?

Scott: I don’t really mind negative comments, it sounds strange but I kind of like people to not like us! What I mean is, I want the people who aren’t into our scene to not like us. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, so I don’t really care too much.

Lucy: Any favourite gigs / venues that you’ve played at?

Scott: There’s been allsorts of gigs to choose from you know, there’s been stupid gigs that we’ve done where you get like, where there’s no-one there or you don’t know anyone, and that might be one of my favourite gigs because the doors open, and you might get a load of people coming in who really get off on your music, and then get great comments from them at the end. And we’ve had a couple like that. We’ve just got to get out there and try to get to as many places as we possibly can, and we’re not going to be able to pull a crowd just for us everywhere, that’s going to take time to build up, until we’re well known. For me, not that long ago, at the end of a gig, and I was really enjoying it because the crowd seemed really into it, and someone came up and said “that was the best gig I’ve ever been to”, and it’s moments like that that make it, it’s better then anything. It’s great to have a full house and everything, of course it is, but if you have a situation where someone REALLY loves your music, then it’s a different league I think.

Lucy: If you could tour with any band who would it be?

Scott: Smashing Pumpkins, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Black Angels, but I have to say, “Stadium Rock” doesn’t really appeal to me. I’m not saying we haven’t got a mission for the band to be the best band that we can and to get audiences, but I don’t want us to be at a stadium level. They’re the sort of gigs I don’t enjoy going to any more, you know what I mean! I’ve actually fallen out of love with a lot of the bands that have taken it to that level. I mean I saw the Pumpkins, they don’t let me down, I went to watch them three days in a row, I drove to Glasgow, I drove to Leeds, and then Manchester, and they played huge sets to and it was amazing. I got songs off b sides off different albums at those gigs, it was great, and they would change their set order every time. I mean I’ve been to watch all the bands I’ve talked about, and they were all amazing to be honest. You look at Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and they’re not a stadium band, they’re more of an “academy” band. They still get huge crowds, but it’s more rock and roll, it’s cooler, and I like that. The crowds for them have got a great vibe, they know the music, they’re really into it, whereas you might get other bands playing at a stadium and you might get a load who have gone along that maybe aren’t that interested, like they’re tagging along with friends or something, which is fine for them, it’s just something that I wouldn’t do. I like Kasabian, I saw them live, stadium, and it was like they were playing to a click timer, and it was all about the album, I saw Kings of Leon before they sold out, I would never ever, you know that album, not the last one, but the one before that, it just finished it with me completely. I thought they were a really good band, and they were amazing live but it’s like watching top shop models now. You just think, “What the hell”. They had the coolest image as a band but they spoilt it. And actually I learnt something that made me really dislike them, did you know the guy with “The Mavericks” wrote something like their first three albums for them, yep, have a look online. They’ve never denied it though, but still, it means they’ve been put together very cleverly. And they said that they had so much sound in their albums that they had to play to a click, because of all these computerised noises. To me that takes away the feeling of a live band, I want the feeling of playing a song, faster or slower, you can’t do that when you’re playing to a click track. I might change my opinion in a couple of years time, but at the moment, that’s how I feel.

Lucy: Any side projects or plans for the future for the Holy Coves and where would you like to be this time ext year?

Scott: Well to be honest, we’re just trying to take our songs to as many people as we possibly can, I mean hopefully, I feel it’s just about getting in front of people and the music I there and that the people that are seeing us are connecting to it, and that they’re starting to talk about it, hitting us up on our pages and starting to follow us. Just to keep releasing and build up a fanbase, a good solid fanbase. That’s kind of the aim, the position to be in. We’ve kind of got a plan. You’ve got to keep things going on, but at the same time you have to be realistic, it’s not as easy as people seem to think or say it is. You’ve got to have the full team working with you, like we’ve got a press team, but we’re actually looking for booking agents, that will take it to another level as far as gigs wise. I mean we’re not far from that now I think.

T find out more about the Holy Coves visit their Myspace here:

www.myspace.com/holycoves

or their Facebook page here:

www.facebook.com/holycoves

By Lucy