popwreckoning

Kansas City’s HOLY mountain took the time between touring and recording their debut effort to dazzle PopWreckoning with smiles, share secrets to success and give other insights into the band. Read the transcript of the interview or watch the video of it below:

PopWreckoning, Bethany: Can you tell me who you are and what instruments you each play?
Carlos, HOLY mountain: I’m Carlos. I play guitar and drums and I sing vocals.
Dave, HOLY mountain: I’m Dave and I play piano and guitar.
Elijah, HOLY mountain: I’m Elijah. I play bass, sing and play guitar. Shaker.
Cameron, HOLY mountain: I’m Cameron. I play the drums, the bass and I sing one time.

PW: How did you get together and form HOLY Mountain?
Cm: Well, last April {2009} we played a worship set at this church that I used to go to and we really liked the way it sounded. Dave was actually playing the acoustic guitar and singing. Carlos was playing the guitar. Elijah played the bass and I played the drums. We liked the way it sounded. So we went back to Dave’s house a couple of days later, set up in his living room and played a few songs. We just jammed out, but we ended writing our first two songs that way. So we thought maybe it will go somewhere and we just kept going.

PW: Where did name come from?
E: There’s this verse in the Bible–HOSEA. HOSEA chapter 2 and it’s actually on our t-shirts. It just speaks about the end of the age and the coming change. We believe it’s now. So this name has a lot of meaning to us. We didn’t completely agree on it to begin with. Cameron even said ‘I’d never be in a band called HOLY Mountain.’ After awhile it was the only one that stuck.
Cm: That’s what I said, too.
E: We went through so many names…I think we all kind of love it now.
D: I still don’t care.
Cr: That’s his opinion on everything though.

PW: Would you label yourselves a Christian band?
HM: We’re Christians in a band. That label, just the word Christian itself, it’s so misused. We believe in God. We believe in the Bible. We make music and write about it because it is the most important thing in our lives. But, we’re not playing in churches on Sunday night. I mean, I wouldn’t mind playing at a church, because, you know? We’re just dudes playing music that happen to be Christians and love the lord.
Cm: Amen.
Cr: Amen. Alright, let’s have a moment of prayer.

PW: How would you describe your sound/classification?
Cr: Simple, but big.
Cm: Post-rock with a heavy twist.
Cr: Hits you in the face.
D: Old, classic.
Cr: Hit you in the face and then pet your butt.
Cm: Haha. Ahh.
PW: I’d say you just invented a whole new genre.
Cm: I would say that there’s definitely a very strong post rock feel to it, but we don’t only come from that. You can pick up on that here and there, but there are definitely sounds from influences and people that do not play post rock. So, it’s interesting.

PW: What artists are your influences?
E: Neil Young would be a big one for me at least, especially in my guitar playing.
Cr: Sigur ros, the Appleseed Cast, Minus the Bear.
D: The Beatles.
E: Mogwai, American Football. Just a full collaboration of everything we listened to growing up. Even like Bossanova to classical music. We grew up with a ton of Bossanova music. Dave is a classical trained musician. I had no idea what Cameron grew up with.
D: Sleepy yawns?
Cr: N’Sync. We were loving that N’Sync stuff. Haha.
Cm: Yeah. That was a good one.
Cr: No Strings Attached.
PW: You guys knew all the dance moves.
Cm: Yeah, Backstreet Boys had a sick album.

PW: What is your songwriting process?
D: Usually one of us brings an idea and we just layer on that idea. Sometimes its nothing more than just two or three chords.
Cm: We’ve all been writing songs for a long time. There’s literally hundreds of songs that I’ve written, but then Dave writes the most killer song that I’ve heard: about 1 every six months. We go from it. We bring an idea. Seventy-five percent of our songs had some sort of context to it before it was brought in for us to go off it; 25 percent are just written while we’re jamming.
Cr: We write a couple of songs that just happen when we’re just hanging out and just jamming, but for the most part somebody brings an idea. It never turns out the way we think it will at first. We do a voting system. If 3 people like a guitar then it stays and the person that doesn’t like has to deal.
E: We feel things out a lot. It’s usually a lot of fun. Writing songs is one of the best parts about practice. We sit there and we just start playing. A lot of it is speaking and trying to figure things out. It’s fun.
D: It kind of sucks that we have to keep playing a set because I feel like we could be writing a new set about every week or so.
Cr: Recently, when we’ve been writing a song, we’ll sit and play that song for about 4 or 5 hours straight. Next practice we’ll just pick up and play that song again. We just abandon our other songs and just kill over and over until we’ve picked apart every note: change that note here, that little tiny part, we try to master the song. It’s always kind of a work in process.

PW: Dave – how does your classical training affect you in the band?
D: The classical training really only comes in on more of a technique level. Especially when I play piano…but I think, well I’ve played not just classical, but a lot of jazz, too. Most of my stuff, half of my stuff that I play in the set, I feel like I’m improv-ing every night.
Cr: That’s a problem when we’re trying to record. Haha. He plays whatever.
D: Through that jazz stuff you have to think quickly and think on your feet. Everything kind of comes through in the jazz. I wouldn’t say it is too much different than anyone else’s.
E: It is a little different process.
D: Yeah, I mean, sometimes I struggle with weird beats and stuff like that some of these guys throw out there.
E: Bear with me.
D: I don’t know. I think that since we all come from such different musical backgrounds; it’s a fun balance.
Cr: Even though me and Elijah are brothers, we have probably the opposite the idea of what we think in music is good, but for the most part, somehow we’ve worked together and we write together. we have pretty much the opposite idea on every aspect of life.
E: We like a lot of the same music, but for completely different reasons.
Cr: Exactly.
E: It’s really funny to sit and compare why. Pick a band we both like and I’ll give you a completely different reason for why I like it…Mine and his relationship when we both play, really affects our music.

PW: What’s your secret to success and being like family?
D: you shouldn’t think that we don’t [all get on each other's nerves.]
Cr: We’ve all been friends for so long. I mean Lei? has been my brother my whole life, Cameron has been my best friend since the 4th grade and he met L the same time. Dave went to high school with Cameron and we met him back then and we didn’t hang out as much, but it just goes so far back.
Cm: Now D and L and I all live together and Carlos is married living two blocks away. His wife, Jackie, is one of our best friends. We’re always around each other. We’re pretty much inseparable. With that comes annoyances, but it is so small compared to the love that we have for each other.
E: We’re family.
Cm: Yeah, we are. We’re family.

PW: What’s it like trying to be a KC band gaining Lawrence acceptance? Is there a division between the two cities?
E: Lately, we’ve been surprised at the connectivity between the two scenes recently. It seems like when one scene in one city kind of drops, then the other one builds up and then they help bring it over. I’ve been here for like 15-16 years now in the area of KC/Lawrence and I’ve gone back and forth a lot. It is really interesting to see the dynamic. I think they’re a lot more interconnected than some people believe. We’ve received a lot of help from bands in Lawrence and vice versa. It’s been pretty cool to meet people and people you barely know go out of their way just to help the music and help you out. In return, you want to try and help them out…It’s cool. We have such a unique geographical location being that there are two remarkably different music scenes very close to eachother and they really help eachother.

Cm: They’re really good music scenes. The cool thing that I’ve found out and a lot of our friends brought up is that in the music industry which is so make or break, you kind of have to fight for yourself, it is an industry where here there really is a lot of community between KC and Lawrence music scene. We’ve met the guys from some bands here, met them in passing, and they’ve been so friendly and genuine. It is really remarkable how much everyone wants to see everyone else succeed. It’s been a blessing.
Cr: Kacie Brown is also a big secret to our success.
E: Best manager ever.
Cm: We call her mom.
Cr: Mom and Dave’s babysitter, but we’re also Dave’s babysitter.

PW: What should people look out for in HOLY mountain’s future?
Cr: We’re just writing and trying to make our sound better and fuller and more in your face and just having fun. Look out for our smiles.
Cm: We’ve got some blinding smiles.
Cr: We’ve got some bllllinnnding smiles.

I love when music deals me a surprise card and last Thursday was full of wonderful surprises.

Surprise 1. The happy surprises began when I got off work early enough to make it to an AIDS benefit concert at the Bottleneck in Lawrence, Kan. The headlining act was an acoustic performance from Mime Game, a new project of a former Josephine Collective singer, but the band I wanted to see: HOLY mountain. The group was on my list of bands I needed to see, especially after I just barely missed them the last time.

When I arrived at the venue, another band was wrapping up their set of tunes that sounded minorly inspired by old school video game soundtrack music. They became my soundtrack as I browsed HOLY mountain’s merch table. The guys had a 3-song Sons and Daughters EP for sale, with handmade covers drawn by Sharpie. Some were practical images (mountains, simple diagonal lines), but others were completely out there (Rorschach-would-have-a field-day-doodles). These drawings actually served as a fitting teaser for the performance that was to come: music that was practical and well-thought out, but also not afraid to be adventurous and leave room for interpretation. These images and the performance were a statement that HOLY mountain is a band that doesn’t like to be boxed into one label or one design.

This brings me to Surprise 2. HOLY mountain really doesn’t fit into a genre. As I listened to them play “Make/Wait,” I started off thinking their pleasant sounds was much like that of instrumental band Explosions in the Sky. It began with a quiet whisper of a guitar chords strummed and allowed to echo off into oblivion. Then, a drum roll builds as the keys of the piano fill in the gaps. The drums cut out, and the piano continues. So far you’re thinking, beautiful, but not surprising, and I did promise a second surprise. Surprise 2 is that while I thought I had the band pegged as KC version of Explosions in the Sky, the guys surprised by proving that not only were they skilled at crafting instrumental landscapes, but that they were also vocally gifted. Midway through this tune, they added chilling vocal harmonies. “Make/Wait” still kept the focus on the musical phrases and less on the lyrical phrases. The voices were just another instrument, but this description of a single song is just a taste of the band.

.“Make/Wait”

On other songs, the vocals were more forefront and the emphasis was on the lyrics. With as many as three voices singing in harmony at various times during the set, the guys seemed as if they could give the Fleet Foxes a run for the money.

Surprise 3 was perhaps my favorite surprise of all. Already impressed by vocal chops and song craftsmanship from such a young band, I was again dealt another surprise when the guys began playing a sort of live musical chairs. Each guy in this band could not be pinned down to just one instrument. Guitars and drumsticks were constantly exchanging hands. With all able to sing and play multiple instruments, this is the first time where I’ve ever looked at a band and been confused who the frontman was, which is actually a refreshing thought. One guy didn’t stand out in particular because they were all equals. There were no lapses in skill levels when they changed positions. It seems rare to see a band whose members are so equally matched.

HOLY mountain wasn’t the headliner, and I’ll do the headliner Mime Game a favor by not reviewing too fully the pitchy performance (there’s potential, but practice please!). For me, the show began and ended with HOLY mountain. I can’t wait to see what is to come in the future of this band. If they’re already this tight when so new to the scene, I can only imagine how much better they’ll continue to get. Currently they just have an EP, but they’re in the process of working on their debut album.

Check back to PopWreckoning.com later this week to see an interview with this promising act.

Dear Internet,

Why must good things always come to an end and why is that when it rains it pours?

The same week that late night TV fans had to bid adieu to CoCo, Kansas City was bidding farewell to JoCo.

The Beaumont Club Saturday night was as packed with people as the line up for the final Josephine Collective show was as packed with bands. In what might be a Kansas City first, people actually showed up early to see all openers, which might have been in part to most of the openers being the new projects of Josephine members.

Though all information listed 5 p.m. for the show, the first band actually started at 4:45 p.m., so showing up at 5:10 meant I missed Holy Mountain, but based on the size of the crowd and hum of kind words about the act when I arrived, it seems like it would have been a great set. They’re local to KC, so I’m sure I’ll get another chance to review them.

The first act I did catch was amazing and set the bar high for the rest of the groups. I had no idea this sort of group-this sort of music-existed in Kansas City. The group seemed to have the recipe for awesomeness down. They had the basics: drums and guitar.  Then, they made it a little unusual by rounding the foursome out with a violinist and a cellist. But what really made them unique was what the drummer, Jared Bond did on the first song.

Jared already had me excited when he came out on stage because he is also the drummer for Josephine Collective and his group was the first of the offshoots that I was seeing. I guess he was inspired by the string players in his new group and he thought, ‘Hey, why not bow the drums.’ Can you imagine the shock of seeing someone whip at a bow to run along the cymbals? That’s something you don’t see every day.

The group’s sound, abetted by the Americana folk-style vocals and the driving riffs on the cello, was reminiscent of Murder by Death. They were all very skilled, but perhaps too much so — Chaski Zapata: loosen up. This isn’t a school orchestra concert. Granted, the group has only been together since fall 2009, so stage presence has room to grow, especially when the musical talent is already there.

The only real problem with this act is that they’re a little difficult to track down on the webs. At this show, all the promotional material billed them as Dolphin Lounge, but on stage it sounded like they kept introducing themselves as Root & Stem and then when I tried to track them online, they appeared to be known as Casa Real. I could understand being confusing and hiding if you are a shitty group, but these guys are good and I’m trying to shout about them from the mountaintops…well shout about them from the laptops at least. I’ve tried to contact them about their real name, so hopefully I’ll be able to update soon.

The indie pop trio Sailor Sequence followed the mystery band name group. I’ve talked about these guys before, but that show was colored by a drunken interference. It was kind of exciting to go from the folk rock into their cool piano melodies with crashing cymbals. They played five songs with each song better than the last. They’re like Explosions in the Sky meets Postal Service meets Twilight Sad.

They group glided through their five songs, taking just a few brief moments for singer Noffy to thank the crowd and sadly say that this would be the last in Kansas City, for awhile at least, while they adjust as some members move to Nashville. This group is fairly new to the scene, and already one of its greatest rising acts, so I’m sad to see them go. I look forward to seeing where the future brings them though.

The show was about midway through and it was time for two of the most anticipated openers. Ninety-Four and Black Oxygen. These two groups are the side projects of Josephine’s two lead singers, Alexander Sandate and Dillon Devoe, with Alex leading the Atlanta-based Ninety-Four and Dillon helming the Kansas City-based Black Oxygen.

Watching both groups, it was pretty obvious that the Josephine spirit would at least live on. Heck Ninety-Four practically looked like they were Josephine with six members swarming the stage. The same sort of energy and crazy intense rock was present in the acts. Ninety-Four leaned a little toward the harder metal with screaming more prevalent in the band’s first few numbers. Black Oxygen has been around for awhile, but they’ve gone through a minor rehaul since Dillon has joined. Regardless of their changes, I think they’ll still leave metal fans gasping for more. I felt Black Oxygen had a bit more consistency and control than Ninety-Four, but I think any Josephine fan will easily be pleased with what will come out of either band’s camp in the near future. At least the audience at this particular show seemed equally pleased with both bands and responded with appropriate fist pumps, moshing and claps to the beat.

After the taste of Josephine given by the side projects, the audience was geared and ready for JoCo, but while the singer’s got a rest before their final performance (and time to change their shirts), a final opener took to the stage: Kansas City’s popular alternative rock group Queen’s Club.

This is about the third or fourth time I’ve seen these guys and I just didn’t get it. To me they’re like the KC Nickelback if Nickelback added a dance beat to all their tunes. What I mean by this is that I just don’t get why the music is popular and yet it inexplicably is. The kids just ate that shit up. They danced, body surfed and I was in disbelief over the amount of fists pumping the air. Seriously? I want to like these guys. My friends say I should, but I just don’t get it and this is one club I won’t be joining.

I love getting more bang for my buck and at $5 a ticket, this show easily gave buyers their money’s worth, but all these bands later and I was getting extremely anxious for the headliners. When the full Josephine Collective (including Bond) finally came out, it was complete chaos, but in a good way. The band already has a bajillion members, but their close friends and the other bands surrounded the group as well serving as cheering sections. If you’ve ever had the privilege, it was like being at Girl Talk show minus the toilet paper and instead of electronic remixes, it was heavy rock tunes in the vain of The Used, Say Anything and Taking Back Sunday that got the bodies moving. Even during some of the band’s few slower numbers, moshing and crowd-surfing ran rampant.

Josephine Collective know how to throw a going away party. As they blasted through songs from their Living EP and We Are The Air, crowd-surfers ran rampant causing security to sweat, but Josephine to smile as Alex and Dillon hardly missed a beat as they dished out hugs and high-fives to the kids landing on stage.

One of the highlights of the set came early with the popular single, “Living.” When the guys sang, “It just stops,” the entire mass of bodies intensely moshing, surfing and singing froze before jumping back into the chorus as raucous as ever. Other great moments included an impromptu and jokingly sung tune about this being the band’s final shows that included mentionings of mustaches and other things. I also loved when one of the Sailor Sequence guys joined for a tune, and of course, I loved the colouration that the softer “Lye,” brought to the set.

“Josephine, Josephine, get back together,” Alex and Dillon quipped back and forth. But then they pointed at that much like an ex-girlfriend, you can get back together and, “Yeah, the sex is great, but then you start dating and you remember why you broke up.” Sad, but understandable.

We wanted the show to keep going, but with their entire catalog pretty much done, the boys had to let the final tune fly.

“Freebird.”

Yes, the group began to play “Freebird,” but sans special appearances of Will Ferrell and co. It was all in good fun before they began their final song of the evening and of their band’s lifetime: “Pray for Rain.”

January 23, 2010 – Josephine Collective reunited and ended it the way it should have ended. They will be missed, but with Dolphin Lounge/Casa Real/Root&Stem, Fire for Effect, Ninety-Four, Sensational News Commentary Groove and Black Oxygen, we can all still continue the JoCo love for years to come.