Hey, if you recall a few weeks ago, I featured am Australian band called Hollywood Heartache. Well I've been lucky enough to get an interview with them. They are currently touring in the UK with Room 94, get tickets HERE.
So here you go - the interview!
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For the sake of my readers,
please can you introduce yourselves?
AJ: Hey guys my names AJ. Oh and I like long walks on the beach.
KEVIN: AJ, I’m quite sure she asked nothing about walks on a beach… anyway I'm
Kevin.
WILL: Hello, I'm Will. Only because AJ brought this up I'd like to add that
he likes more than just walks on the beach. He loves anything water related.
When we’re touring he wants to stop anytime we see a beach. Which in Australia
happens a lot I swear the kids a mermaid (everyone but AJ is now laughing
uncontrollably) errrr I mean merman. Whatever, you know what I mean!
JOSH: Hey, thanks for taking the time to interview us. My names Josh - I bang
on the drums!
Your band formed only in 2014,
how did you all meet?
KEVIN: Well actually it's really not that exciting of a story, but at the same
time it's really a major part of why we work so well together.
WILL: Yeah, Kevin, myself and Josh all knew one another. AJ’s joining the
band was a bit different.
AJ: Wow man, don't make it sound all weird! I was thinking about learning
how to play the guitar, only problem was that I didn't own one. So I was
searching around on the net looking for a good deal on a used guitar and
somehow came across an ad for a band looking for a singer. So I said heck with
the guitar, my voice will be my instrument and I hit up the boys.
Who came up with the name ‘Hollywood
Heartache’ and were there any other names that you considered that you can
share?
JOSH: It was actually pretty simple…
WILL: Yeah we were all sitting around one night tossing around ideas and the
Hollywood part came up straight away.
KEVIN: Yeah, Hollywood just made sense, I mean when you’re a kid you always
hear about going to Hollywood to become successful and what not.
AJ: I can't really add anything here. The band was already named when I
joined.
JOSH: We really wanted a name that people could relate to in some way.
Everyone has or will most likely experience heartache at some point, so we added
that to Hollywood.
Who inspires you in your music
and have you ever met them?
KEVIN: I think I can probably answer for all of us, we were actually just
talking about this. We are inspired by all sorts of musicians really, I don't
think any of us could pick just one or two. We have so much respect for all
artists is every genre of music. I'm inspired every time I hear a story about
how someone that's massively successful now started by recording YouTube videos
in their bedroom.
AJ: Yeah Kev’s spot on with that.
Who writes your music and do
you all have some input?
WILL: We're very open minded when it comes to what we record. Sure we
absolutely write a lot of material, but at the same time we are always open to
listening to demos of songs people have written. We're actually getting ready
to record a new song that an amazing songwriter/producer wrote. This guy has
some crazy credits, I can't wait to be able to tell everyone more about it!
JOSH: I'm pretty sure you just told them more about it that you were really
supposed to.
AJ: He gets excited very easily.
KEVIN: AJ, you get excited when you see water, and you say Will’s easily
excited. Seriously get AJ a kid’s sizes swimming pool and he'd finish the
interview from there.
Do you have any plans for an
upcoming album?
JOSH: Yeah for sure, I mean a lot of people don't really know what goes into
putting out an album.
AJ: Yeah I totally agree, to end up with say 12 or so songs for an album we
would most likely record somewhere between 40 and 60 demos to pick those 12.
KEVIN: Being in Australia it’s obviously a bit different than being in London,
New York, or LA. By that I mean the talent pool is a lot smaller in Australia
because we have a lot less people living there. Don't get me wrong we have
worked with some amazing people in Australia but when it comes to working with
people in other countries it can be pretty time consuming.
WILL: Seeing as how I already said too much about an upcoming single I guess
I'll just go ahead and explain the process a bit. It starts with the band and
our Manager looking for great songs. In this case our Manager showed us a song
that we all knew right away we wanted to record. Our management is in the US
and this particular songwriter/producer is also in the US. So we start by
recording all of the vocals and instrumental parts here in Australia. From
there they get emailed to a vocal producer in Boston. He starts to produce the
vocals and whatnot, during that process he may ask us to re-record something or
sing something a bit differently. So we record the additional vocals he's asked
us for. Once he's happy with the vocal production that gets emailed to LA where
the producer who created the track mixes in our instrumental tracks and adds
whatever effects and whatnot he thinks make the song sound great. In this
particular case we’re working with two producers who both are amazing and
between them have platinum albums, number one singles, and have really worked
with some of the biggest names in the industry.
KEVIN: Yeah we're really excited about teaming up with these guys, but to
finish what Will was saying once the producer in LA is done doing his thing it
all gets sent back to Boston for a final mix and master. So as I'm sure you can
understand that process can take a bit. It’s important to all of us to do this
the right way. We don't mind spending a little more time recording this way. In
the meantime we still record some covers here and there to share with fans or
post clips from shows.
AJ: At the end of the day we want to release amazing material. Our fans are
amazing and we owe it to them to put out music that is professionally produced.
I wouldn't feel right asking fans to buy our music otherwise.
You have a large fan base on
social media, with nearly 50k followers on Twitter alone. How are you coping
you dealing with the fame?
KEVIN: Our social media numbers are something we are extremely proud of. We've
worked very hard to build our fan base. It's no secret that some bands pay to
make it look like they have more followers than they actually do. I can
honestly say that we have never once paid to inflate our social media
numbers.
WILL: I definitely don't think any of us think we're famous. That's funny
though.
JOSH: Yeah until people are camping out on my mum’s lawn I’m not going to
feel famous.
AJ: Heck with you guys, I love being famous and I handle it extremely well.
I only travel with an entourage of 5 people. I’m definitely kidding, I agree
with the boys. I’m not really sure when you find out your famous. Do you get
something in the post?
What’s the most interesting thing
you’ve ever received from a fan?
AJ: We had a really young fan make us little Minions with our faces on
them, they were pretty awesome.
WILL: Agreed.
KEVIN: Agreed.
JOSH: Those were definitely cool but I think the most amazing thing from a
fan was actually from Kev’s Grandmother. She bought our tour van for us.
WILL: Yeah, I totally agree. I didn't even think about that. I mean our
families are our biggest fans/supporters. Without them none of this would be
possible.
KEVIN: I wasn't even thinking about it like that. But yeah our families are
amazing and when my Grandmother purchased the tour van for us I was speechless.
I don't know that I'll ever be able to thank her enough for that!
WILL, AJ, JOSH: Thank you Kevin’s Grandmum!
What do you like to do in your
free time, other than music?
AJ: Sleep, yes definitely sleep. Well I guess when I’m not sleeping I’d go
for a swim!
KEVIN: Sleep for sure. I’m also really into the production side of things,
when we have free time I really enjoy messing around with Pro Tools and trying
new plug ins.
WILL: I think you're seeing a trend by now but absolutely sleep!
JOSH: Heck with them, I prefer to spend my free time entering Iron Man
events. After a serious long nap of course.
AJ: Iron Man HA HA HA! You'd pass out before you made it to mile 1 on the
run!
Each tell me one embarrassing
fact about a different member of the band?
KEVIN: Let's save that one for the next interview!
( I’ll be looking forward to
that ;) )
Check out Hollywood Heartache's song Summer Romance here. Follow them on Twitter for more updates on what they are doing - @HHeartacheBand
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So as you noticed, there is more coming up with these guys so subscribe to my blog or follow me on Twitter so you don't miss it!
Until next time...
Sophie
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