READ SOME QUOTES ON WHAT THE PRESS & MEDIA HAVE TO SAY ABOUT OUR DEBUT ALBUM, "SO I RAGE":
"This is a slick debut album from one of SA's hottest rock bands." YOU magazine - 28 OCTOBER 2008
"The local band goes a long way to filling the aching void left by the demise of Skunk Anansie, with gut-wrenching vocals and tight guitar riffs." CLEO Magazine - November 2008 issue
"Skunk Anansie fans rejoice. Joburg band Holly and the Woods have filled a void many fans feared would never be filled." Speakerbox.co.za
"...Holly and the Woods instantly strike a chord of uniqueness with their exhilarating entrance onto the South African rock scene." iafrica.com
Watch our BRAND NEW VIDEO, "Dumb (superstar)", here:
Watch our "NOT LIKE ME" music video here:
But wait, there's more!! You also get to watch THE MAKING OF THE VIDEO for "Not Like Me":
NOW FOR THE AWESOME BIOG, written by the awesome DIANE COETZER:
Ferocious songs with killer hooks and lyrics that swiftly snag you in all the right places is the defining feature of the debut album from South African five-piece Holly and The Woods.
Titled ‘So I Rage’ the album has been anticipated for some time by the group’s growing fanbase who’ve been tracking the group’s trajectory up the homegrown rock scene over the past few years. It’s also marks the entrance into the South African record scene of a polished, powerful hard rock group whose songs and execution can sit happily alongside the best global releases in its genre.
“We’ve worked long and hard for this moment, and wanted our first album to really be something that we are proud of,” vocalist and co-songwriter, Melissa Conradie reveals. Working towards that has entailed some serious time in rehearsal, a single-minded approach to the craft of songwriting, as much live work as they can get - and Matthew Fink.
Fink – a member of alt.country outfit Jim Neversink – is rapidly evolving into one of the country’s most forward-thinking rock producers with a deep and varied knowledge of the genre to draw on when it comes to fine-tuning a band’s sound.
“The instant I heard what Matt had done on The Sick Leaves album I knew that he would be the right producer for our band,” Conradie says. Initially the band recorded ‘Falling’ at B Sharp Studios in Gauteng some 18 months ago, but swiftly realised that they were not yet equipped to sit in the producer’s seat.
“That time may come,” Conradie says (giving a hint at the big – and longterm plans – she and the band have for Holly and The Woods), “but we are really chuffed with what Matt has done with our sound. He’s done an amazing job.”
That job has entailed allowing the propulsive forces that shape Holly and The Woods’ sonic terrain to stand alone, without (and this is important) taking over the songs. A great example of this is ‘Lay Me Down’ which thrusts John Meaker’s lead guitar centrestage in a way that spotlights his clear talent while at the same time giving space to the rhythm guitar played by Holly and The Wood’s co-founding member, Craig Henning.
Indeed it was Conradie’s advert as a vocalist looking for a band on a local music website the saw the formation of Holly and The Woods (whose play-on-words band name is indicative of the jaundiced view Conradie and Henning have of contrived and manufactured entertainers). That was back in 2006 but it was to be just over a year ago (May 2007 to be specific) that the final line-up of the band was settled on. “At one stage we had three guitarists – it was admittedly a bit over-the-top,” Henning says.
Now joined by Gary Ashford on bass and Chad Harbott (a teenage firebrand) on drums, Holly and The Woods has spent the last year notching up an impressive slate of live performances, bringing their sprawling and no-holds-barred rock to stages alongside the likes of Sarah Bettens (from K’s Choice), Prime Circle, Wonderboom, Hellphones, Karma, Love Jones, Cassette, Veeva Feeva (Australian band), My Epic, Walt, Running With Scissors, Lonehill Estate, Voodoo Child and The Sick-Leaves. They also snagged a highly coveted support slot with Seether’s Shaun Morgan late in 2007, an undisputed highlight of their live career that far.
Followers of the band from those first days will be happy to know that the album includes ‘Save Me’, the song that broke Holly and The Woods both live and on radio.
The song is possibly the best place to start for newcomers to Holly and The Wood’s coruscating but hugely accessible sound. It begins with the kind of crunching guitarwork that demands you listen before Conradie’s powerful vocals take centrestage, managing to channel the spirit of Skunk Anansie’s Skin while delivering a signature sound.
But there are plenty of other places to get your rock rocks off on ‘So I Rage’: the solar plexus-smashing ‘Get Out’, with its astutely placed backing vocals, is hard to resist and impossible to ignore – and just when you think you’ve pinned Conradie and her crew down as hard rockers who don’t let up the pace for an instant comes the lovely ‘So I Rage Gently’, a piano-propelled version of the album’s anthemic title track and a cut that is more than a hint at the versatility Holly and The Woods is capable of.
‘Falling’ - the single that went Top 10 on Kovsie Fm and has been play-listed on stations such as Radio 2000, Tuks FM, MFM, UJ FM and UCT FM – reveals yet another side to the five-piece: a slice of radio friendly rock, ‘Falling’ nonetheless allows Holly and The Woods’ now trademark sound to leak through the melodic thrust of this standout track (it’s also the song that inspired the quite beautiful tattoo on Conradie’s arm).
Alongside these standout tracks, there is much more to love on ‘So I Rage’ including the anthemic ‘Free’, and the evocative ‘Wandering Souls’.
That they have a fanbase waiting for their first album is something of a surprise to Holly and The Woods. Not that they don’t believe in their material or the way it has turned out under Fink’s intuitive hand. “It’s because we began playing in this band because we wanted to create music that we love,” Conradie says, “and then we played the songs live and realised that people were really connecting with what we were doing in a very deep way.”
For Conradie – who earned a reputation as a devoted label manager in the South African music industry over the past nine and half years and now works full time as part of HOLLY & THE WOODS – this has been a revelation. For Holly and The Woods fans both new and loyal, it’s what makes this band far, far much more than the disposable come-and-go celebrities that inspired their name.
2009 saw them become the newest CRIME LINE ambassadors, shoot a music video for “Dumb (Superstar)”, touring cape town, sharing the stage with international rockers THE ATARIS, John leaving the band and Michael Duke joining as the new lead guitarist, performing at Vrede Fest III in memory of Herman Pretorius alongside aKING and Heuwels Fantasties, releasing “Lay Me (Down)” as a single in September and now in the last half 2009, joining forces with Lee from Boudoir Live Productions, the world is their Oyster!
Hi, Just thought we'd drop by and let you know you can now pre order our album 'Smashes And Trashes'! You'll find all the links you need on the website skunkanansie.net. Also... You can now follow Mark's tour blog by subscribing to our myspace blog and catch his video uploads on our youtube channel youtube.com/skunkanansieofficial
Just thought we'd stop buy and let you know our new single Because Of You is out now! You can find all the links to you need to buy it in the blog on our page :)
thank you very much guys and girl :) wow you rock, and i like your videos wow!! we are pretty unknown here in germany :( bu who knows what happen in one year XD Greetings to africa from germany Mfg Willenos (igor<---Bass)
We think yous is awesome, question is when are we gonna gig together without it getting cancelled? :) Some forces are working against us not to play on the same stage as they know it shall be awesomeness. hmmm? lol *Hugz* The wondering girls
Thanks for leaving us a comment. Hope you link our new video http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=59927522 Our new song TEAR THE PLACE UP is going to be released free via our mailing list this week, You need to be signed up by 5pm today to get it or be sent the Ecard from someone else once it's released. So if you haven't already sign up at http://www.skunkanansie.net :)
Hope this finds you well & in a beautiful place surrounded by awesome people that love you completely for who you really are... Much love!!
We, being the South African rock band PARKLANE, currently going huge in Canada, have put all our new tracks up on our page & would love it if you had a listen & exposed yourself to our aural love.. Would dig some feedback too if you have the time nudge-nudge wink-wink. If you would like to get to know the band-members, Ryan, Daniel, Damo & I (Darin) have written up some bio's & thrown them up on our page..
We have also set ourselves up on iLike & would be super stoked if you hit the link below to give us a boost on that platform too. Click The Link for iLike http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmlsaWtlLmNvbS9hcnRpc3QvUEFSS0xBTkUrTVVTSUMvYWRk
And if you would like to join our official Facebook group and get more personal updates about shows & the unusual band banter, please click here http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmZhY2Vib29rLmNvbS9ncm91cC5waHA/Z2lkPTkyNjA2NDY1MTk0
Thank you for your support and for your friendship! The CRASH THE SYSTEM debut album "The Crowning" out on July 3rd in Europe
and on August 11th in the USA, Japan to follow...
featuring top hard rock vocalists Göran Edman (Ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, John Norum, Brazen Abbot, etc), Mats Levén (Ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, Infinite Mass, etc), Thomas Vikström (Ex-Talk Of The Town, Candlemass, etc) and Björn Jansson (Ex-Ride The Sky, Tears Of Anger, etc). The album also features the members of "The Murder Of My Sweet" and on additional guitars: Manuel Lewys (Machinery, Elwood, etc).
Hope all is well in the mother shitty!im kinda missing craig (too much food to consume by my lonesome).we just finished tracking our 1st single 'fat butterflies dont fly' so go check out OneDaySky.track should be up this week.over-and-out
Online Now!
