#CanadianMusicWeek Presents Hollerado
One of the biggest Canadian Indie rock bands, Hollerado returns to play Canadian Music Week’s SiriusXM Indie awards on Saturday, May 10th at the Kool Haus. The band originally formed in 2007 with band members Menno Versteeg, Dean Baxter, Jake Boyd and Nixon Boyd. They’ve played some of the biggest music festivals in Canada alongside huge rock artists such as Jack White, and Andrew W.K. Some of their hit singles include americanarama, and Juliette. We had the opportunity to interview members Versteeg and Baxter backstage before they hit the stage. Read our interview below!
Heard you guys were recently in Amsterdam?
Menno: Yea, We went on a tour.
Dean: Played a couple of festivals for liberation day in Holland. This is a wonderful holiday, a very celebratory occasion, and I had my favorite time in Europe.
M: We always have a good time when we’re there.
So I heard you guys have been a band since 2007? What are some of your greatest accomplishments?
M: Being a band still, that’s an honest answer.
But also being a Canadian band, you played with Billy Talent, Sum 41, and you toured cities like NY and Boston. What would you say is the hardest part about being a Canadian band breaking into America?
M: Being Canadian, I would say that makes it pretty tricky sometimes. It is difficult to some degree, but we try not to think about that and we do our job and let the other people deal with that.
You guys have been doing great, you played major festivals such as SXSW, Pop Montreal , and now you’re playing CMW. What makes CMW so special compared to the other festivals?
M:Our friend John runs it, and he’s awesome.
D:He’s our best friend and he runs it.That’s why we’re here.
M: John’s one of our favorite people, he’s running it and doing a kick ass job. He took it over this year, and I’ll be quite honest it was one of the worst festivals, and now it’s gone quite good. Great line up this year, quite good.
M: and we love our friend John.
There’s been a lot of headliners, Tegan&Sara, Ellie Goulding , you have seen bands like that headlining, you see acts like that on stage. Do you ever take anything from their performances, their act, their sounds, and incorporate it with your own music?
M: We try to take principally from their green rooms. The cheese, chips, laptops.
D: We played with Girl Talk and we took their bottle of Jack Daniels and left.
Nothing in the musical sense?
D: No, we’re fully original.
M: Just earlier today, Dean and I invited a new Chord. A G-Minor L, a new chord, that’s never been heard before and because of it we’re nominated for Group or Duo of the Year. We represent Duo’s everywhere.
Also regarding your new music video, “Desire 126”, it seems like an infomercial with Dave Foley. Where did the idea come from?
M: It was Marc’s idea, the director Marc Ricciardelli. He was like we should make this about a commercial, alright Mark, you put your name on it. Not ours.
D: We ended up putting our names on it too though.
With CMW, you’re a fan, I’m a fan. We’re all fans. What’s the one thing that attracts you to an act or a certain artist?
M: The Beard.
D: The bigger the beard, the bigger the audience. In the summer, it’s a very facial hair orientated festival. The big outdoor free parties that are always crammed and you’re gonna see a lot of facial hair.
M: And also who plays guitar the best. It’s a big part of it. It’s random but its who shreds the guitar the most and the beard.
You guys did start in 2007. I remember in 2007 I was into Fueled by Ramen bands such as Paramore, The Cab, Panic at the Disco, and they’re now growing and you guys have grown a lot. Is there one thing you wish you could have done differently?
M: We’re just talking about this on the way over here. I wish we started off not being so nice.
D: We want to try and be bad kids.
M: We’re super friendly to promoters, fans, other bands and we got this really stupid reputation of being nice. They’re so nice.
D: That’s probably whats hurt us, and whats hurt people liking us in the states and they know we’re not gonna crowbar on them. Starting 10 mins ago we’re bad kids.
Final question, CMW, and fans are newcomers. What can they expect from your performance tonight?
M: Six songs. We didn’t plan anything spectacular.
Hollerado is also nominated for the best Group or Duo of the year. You can check out their latest music video for “Desire 126” below!