Hollerado sets up in Montreal
MONTREAL (CUP) — There's a long-standing cliché that says a band's home is on the road, and to a certain measure the maxim is true. But all four members of Hollerado take the saying to heart.
One recent Saturday their van, plastered in hand-painted designs, was parked just outside of Le Divan Orange in Montreal. It was the first night of a month-long “residency” tour that will span February. From the driver's seat, guitarist Nixon Boyd explains how the van, littered with sleeping bags and pillows, has become a second home.
“We spend our time touring on the road. We're still kind of on the road so much that we don't really live anywhere,” says Boyd. “But with the residency we're going to stay mainly in Montreal.”
It's not the first time the band has embarked on a month-long residency tour - in fact, this year's schedule of playing Le Divan Orange each Saturday in February is tame in comparison to what they dreamt up last year.
The idea was “seven bars in seven cities seven nights a week” for the month of February. The seven destinations: Boston, New York City, Lacolle, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The band covered about 2787 kilometres of road - a week.
While the weekly tally might be astounding, the band had originally intended to take this year's residency tour up in the air. Vocalist and guitarist Menno Versteeg, perched in the back of the van, lays out what they had in mind for this year: to fly across Canada in a nation-wide tour.
On the slate of cities that would have become temporary homes were Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Halifax. The plan fell through after realizing the plane tickets would not be as cheap as they had expected.
February is the ideal month for a residency tour because it's the shortest month and it's symmetrical, explains Versteeg. This February also happens to be the same month that Hollerado is re-releasing Record in a Bag. Originally released as a digital download, the album will now be available on CD and vinyl.
As the title suggests, the record will come in a zip-lock bag, a signature that has been a feature of all the band's past releases. They came up with the idea after burning a spindle of CDs with just a few songs and realizing they had nothing to put them in. After rummaging in a kitchen, they settled on sandwich baggies, since they're the perfect packaging.
“At the time we were just buying recordable CDs while touring through Canada and the U.S. and burning them on a laptop as we drove,” Boyd says. “We just ran with that idea and figured we'd make it special.”
However, this time around there are added bonuses to buying the album - inside there may be handwritten notes, stickers, confetti or prizes, which include having Hollerado cut your grass or play your birthday party.
Part of the funding for Record in a Bag came from the $250,000 they won after participating in a battle of the bands hosted by a radio station in Ottawa. The band has also used the money to produce a music video for their single Juliette, which stars Margot Kidder, who played the original Lois Lane in 1978's Superman. The money has also funded a number of tours, including a recent stint in China.
While touring, Hollerado quickly found out that partying wasn't a justifiable expense.
“We don't get a fat cheque. They pay for stuff that we need so we can't just throw a rad party, even though when we first won we did that. We weren't exactly clear about how it worked, so we thought, ‘Oh my god we're rich!'
“We literally blew all our band money. We had saved up $3,000 in our three years of touring. We fucking spent it all, every last dime on beer, and gave it away,” says Versteeg. “Then they told us they don't pay for booze.”
One recent Saturday their van, plastered in hand-painted designs, was parked just outside of Le Divan Orange in Montreal. It was the first night of a month-long “residency” tour that will span February. From the driver's seat, guitarist Nixon Boyd explains how the van, littered with sleeping bags and pillows, has become a second home.
“We spend our time touring on the road. We're still kind of on the road so much that we don't really live anywhere,” says Boyd. “But with the residency we're going to stay mainly in Montreal.”
It's not the first time the band has embarked on a month-long residency tour - in fact, this year's schedule of playing Le Divan Orange each Saturday in February is tame in comparison to what they dreamt up last year.
The idea was “seven bars in seven cities seven nights a week” for the month of February. The seven destinations: Boston, New York City, Lacolle, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The band covered about 2787 kilometres of road - a week.
While the weekly tally might be astounding, the band had originally intended to take this year's residency tour up in the air. Vocalist and guitarist Menno Versteeg, perched in the back of the van, lays out what they had in mind for this year: to fly across Canada in a nation-wide tour.
On the slate of cities that would have become temporary homes were Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Halifax. The plan fell through after realizing the plane tickets would not be as cheap as they had expected.
February is the ideal month for a residency tour because it's the shortest month and it's symmetrical, explains Versteeg. This February also happens to be the same month that Hollerado is re-releasing Record in a Bag. Originally released as a digital download, the album will now be available on CD and vinyl.
As the title suggests, the record will come in a zip-lock bag, a signature that has been a feature of all the band's past releases. They came up with the idea after burning a spindle of CDs with just a few songs and realizing they had nothing to put them in. After rummaging in a kitchen, they settled on sandwich baggies, since they're the perfect packaging.
“At the time we were just buying recordable CDs while touring through Canada and the U.S. and burning them on a laptop as we drove,” Boyd says. “We just ran with that idea and figured we'd make it special.”
However, this time around there are added bonuses to buying the album - inside there may be handwritten notes, stickers, confetti or prizes, which include having Hollerado cut your grass or play your birthday party.
Part of the funding for Record in a Bag came from the $250,000 they won after participating in a battle of the bands hosted by a radio station in Ottawa. The band has also used the money to produce a music video for their single Juliette, which stars Margot Kidder, who played the original Lois Lane in 1978's Superman. The money has also funded a number of tours, including a recent stint in China.
While touring, Hollerado quickly found out that partying wasn't a justifiable expense.
“We don't get a fat cheque. They pay for stuff that we need so we can't just throw a rad party, even though when we first won we did that. We weren't exactly clear about how it worked, so we thought, ‘Oh my god we're rich!'
“We literally blew all our band money. We had saved up $3,000 in our three years of touring. We fucking spent it all, every last dime on beer, and gave it away,” says Versteeg. “Then they told us they don't pay for booze.”
