|
|
 |
Holidays On Ice.
 Rising from the ashes of Leonardo's Bride, Frente! and Knievel, Holidays On Ice are the new indie supergroup to assault our airwaves. I caught up with its mastermind Dean Manning to have a yarn about Indonesian gongs, Speak and Spell and the joys of the Grace Emily.
Their debut CD 'Playing Boyfriends & Girlfriends' is a slice of pure pop goodness, featuring a myriad of musical instruments and the gorgeous vocals of Angie 'Frente!' Hart. "We wanted to work with a great bunch of people, first and foremost, and a great bunch of musicians," Manning explains. "We were choosy who we collaborated with and I think that's reflected in the record. Everyone brought in their own thing, that's why you collaborate with people. You can write a word on a page but there's so many ways to say it, so Angie just sang, Tracey [Ellis] went away and listened to the songs in their raw state and came back with these gorgeous bass lines and Naomi [Radom, of Coda] brought in the string arrangements."
It was a coup to get Angie on board. "She's got a gorgeous pop sensibility and because she's such a great writer and an amazing voice she can come at it from lots of different angles and her gorgeous character shows through for me."
The LP was committed to tape at Stella Sound in Los Angeles. "I started this amazing relationship with Justin Stanley [late of Noiseworks] when we were kids and he moved to LA eight years ago and Stella Sound is his studio. It's a fantastic place, it's full of gorgeous old keyboards and guitars and amps and drums: and I was also was staying with him and the studio is on his property."
Opening track Holidays features the trumpong, a sort of Indonesian gong. "It was one of those happy accidents. I was in a club and there were these Australian kids experimenting with all kinds of arrangements and instruments. This guy had about fifteen of these gongs spread out and it was so unusual. Having been to Bali a few times, that sound is something that's really deep in my subconscious and it spurred something: I really wanted to introduce that to the record somehow. I didn't know how and when the fellow arrived I still didn't know what he was going to play but I just said, "OK, let's set it up and see what happens." I ended up chopping a lot of the stuff and creating loops."
There are plenty of other fine touches, like the gorgeous computer voice on Spell Happiness. "There's this old machine called a Speak and Spell and I found one at a Vinnies store in Sydney. I've been working with a Spanish record label and a week later they said, "Hey, do you want to contribute to a kids record?" and I used it on that."
Manning is best known for penning the APRA award-winning tune Even When I'm Sleeping for Leonardo's Bride. I wondered if there was any expectation to do the same thing for Holidays On Ice.
"Even if you wanted to recreate it, it would be nearly impossible - that was ten years ago, with four very different people and I think it would be wasted energy to even try and revisit it. Once the record sinks it a bit, people will find new ways to describe it rather than what band we used to be in. To me as an artist you can't really think about what you've done and you can only just give everything to what you're doing so I never really took history into account and I'd like to think that whoever enjoyed Leonardo's Bride and Frente! will come along for the ride."
Holidays On Ice are looking forward to their Adelaide visit. "I love the Grace Emily and I've been there a few times, so it'll be great to play at a place that's a wonderful supporter of Australian music. I enjoy doing Uni shows and it's a good place to try new stuff out. Angie arrived in Australia four days before the first show so there wasn't a lot of rehearsal time, so I tried to book a few Uni shows through the tour, the more shows the merrier. We're only doing a short six week tour so if we can do a Uni show and club show in each town that's great."
Lauren Boxhall
 | Holidays On Ice play at the Grace Emily on Thurs 8 Sept and Adelaide Uni on Fri 9 Sept. |
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
