Everything that has a beginning, has an ending: After more than a decade of impactful music, Holy Holy are going on hiatus

Their impact on audience members and the music scene alike, both domestically and internationally, is worthy of spending a moment to honour.

Holy Holy has acted as a duo offering up anthemic songs, positioned as landmark life accompaniments to many of whom have collided with their music. 

Over a decade has elapsed since their initial single release – ‘House of Cards’, and the band has achieved much, but this year it will all coalesce in their celebratory Australian wide tour – A Grand Hiatus.

The tour will hit all major cities, as well as venturing to the coastal town of Torquay on Friday 16 May and in Castlemaine at the famed Theatre Royal on Thursday 15 May. 

Holy Holy feature in our March edition of Forte Mag – have a read here!

 

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Heading to Torquay acts as a relevant and important marker for Timothy Carroll, one half of the artistry behind Holy Holy. 

“The Torquay Hotel is a venue that, historically, have looked after us really well,” says Carroll. “And so, when we sat down to talk about this tour it was a venue we included in that conversation. There seems to be an audience of people who appreciate music in that region. 

“We know when we perform in Torquay the room is going to be full and it’s going to be fun. There is something really cool and special about doing little club shows on a big run because some of the big shows like Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne where you’re in these huge rooms are certainly exciting, but that also means that you’re a bit more in your head.

“When you get into these little club rooms and the ceiling’s low and the people are right there, you can reach out and touch them and see every expression on their face, it’s an excellent experience.”

And it is the experience of playing live shows, and connecting with audience members that has remained such a vital aspect of the way Holy Holy make and share music. 

“We’ve had a pretty intimate relationship with our fans,” he says. “After every show Oscar and I go out and sign merch, through meeting all these people, we hear all their stories. We’ve heard so many stories of people being born to Holy Holy music and people passing on to the next world to Holy Holy.

“These connections have made writing the music so much more powerful for us. With everything Oscar and I have in store going forwards we could have just slipped away without saying goodbye and thank you, but it wouldn’t feel quite right just to slip away without being honest with people.”

This integrity is obviously something of importance for the band, but it was when I provoked Carroll into the consideration of the legacy that Holy Holy might have left, or want to leave behind, that he unfurled what it is that has propelled the band up until this point. 

“I always resonated with the analogy of working with clay. At first your creative project is nothing, or it’s just materials. Then it becomes something as you mould it. Then it hardens and you arrive at a point where you can’t keep moulding it. 

“In that moment of tension, a magic appears. We experienced that consistently in the studio, and those times were really exciting and precious. But to see those ideas translated into being on stage and having a room full of people holding each other and singing along to our songs, as we all feel connected in that moment acts as a very, very deeply meaningful and deeply special experience to have had.”

Although Holy Holy feel privileged for the time they’ve acted as a band, there remains an ebb and flow, that in the essence of it reflects a full spectrum of experience that comes with the inherent humanness of being. 

“We’ve also had moments of doubt. Moments of being like ‘Oh my God, like, what are we doing? Does anybody actually reonate with what we are doing?’ There was certainly a sense of imposter syndrome, and yet I’m still super proud of everything that we did.

“It’s funny talking about legacy though, because there’s an aspect of relating to that where we will never really know what Holy Holy has meant to people.” 

This tour will be a special, and likely moving one. After many years of collaborating with other artists and musicians, you can expect to see a swathe of guests rounding out the stages at various shows, as well as a sonic depiction of their discography.

Get tickets to their final shows here. 

Words by Jacob McCormack