Click the Artwork to order the new Holopaw CD from Sub Pop
CuriousJeff Hays and John Orth have been playing music together for 10 years
now. They started writing songs in John's travel trailer on the
Tuscawilla Prairie in Micanopy, Florida where John lived at the time. They
recorded these songs on a handheld tape recorder certain that nothing
would ever come of them. These recordings were circulated around town and
led to invitations to play house shows. Other members were
conscripted to play proper venues (a lineup that came to include Michael Johnson,
Tobi Echeverria, and Ryan "Beachwolf" Gensemer). One of these early
shows was a benefit at The Ark warehouse (R.I.P., F.T.W.) in
Gainesville, Florida. Through random circumstance, Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse
was in attendance and soon after asked John to work with him on his solo
effort, Ugly Casanova. Over the next year they co-wrote four songs
("Hothcha Girls", "Barnacles", "Smoke Like Ribbons" and "Cat Faces") that
would make up a portion of the Sub Pop release, Sharpen Your Teeth.
After the release of this record, Isaac set up Holopaw with recording
time with Brian Deck at Engine Studios in Chicago. Isaac intended on
releasing the final recording himself but soon realized that with the
recording of a new Modest Mouse record he would not have time to follow through. He
shepherded the band to Sub Pop where they released two critically acclaimed
records, one self-titled and the next Quit +/or Fight. Soon after their
second release the band members followed different paths with Michael, Tobi and Ryan moving to Philadelphia leaving John and Jeff back where they started.
In early 2007 John and Jeff began work on their next effort. They
imagined a self contained project that would culminate with a hushed,
acoustic record that might be reminiscent of their earliest recordings.
After writing the second song towards this end, (the tentatively
titled "Art Teacher", Jeff turned to John and proclaimed, "We need a band." It
was obvious that the sprawling arrangement of the song demanded dynamics
that the two of them could not deliver. Over the next few months Jodi
Bilinski (drums), Patrick Quinney (guitar), Jeff McMullen (bass), and
Christa Molinero (cello) joined the band. "Art Teacher" had set
the template for the songwriting and introduced some of the characters
that would inhabit the rest of the songs. The Little Stallion,
Honeybee, the Lazy Matador, the Hobbyist, and the Conductor, play out their
lives across 11 songs that echo the twists and turns of their narratives.
Strings and horns swirl around their stories of love and lust. The
songs are more expansive in their arrangement than earlier efforts and
generally more up tempo. Less hush, more roar. To achieve this
bigger sound, Holopaw enlisted Jeremy Scott at Civil Defense studios in
Brooklyn, USA to record their efforts. The record is in the final stage of
mixing and will soon be available.
