HOLDING SAND
PHOTO COURTESY OF HOLDING SAND  l  WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/holdingsandmusic

Interview answered by Clément Horvath (Vocals)

DID A LOT OF “BRAINSTORMING” GO INTO DECIDING WHAT TO CALL THE BAND AND HOW DID YOU EVENTUALLY END UP CHOOSING “HOLDING SAND”?

Not a lot actually. I had this name stuck in my head for a while. I actually wanted to use it for three other projects, but we ended up choosing other names. But this time, all the guys loved it, so here we are! I think it sounds pretty cool, and there’s a lot of meaning behind it.

HOW DID ALL OF YOU MEET AND DID THE BAND START BY PLAYING LIVE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE OR DID YOU FINISH AN EP FIRST AND THEN WENT OUT AND PROMOTED IT BY PLAYING SHOWS?

I was singing in a rock/metal band called Edison, when Franck (Guitar) and Coralie (Bass) were looking for a singer. They contacted me, thinking I would introduce them to other singers I know. As a matter of fact, my band was falling apart, so I joined them and we started writing songs pretty quickly. We recorded as soon as we could, because as far as I’m concerned, this is the best way to define your personality, find your own sound. It’s a base for the concerts to come. Then we started playing gigs, and made our way little by little.

WERE THERE SOME LESSONS YOU LEARNED DURING THE RECORDING PROCESS FOR YOUR FIRST EP “EBB & FLOW” THAT MADE THE RECORDING OF YOUR NEW EP “ON SLEEPLESS NIGHTS” A LOT EASIER?

I don’t think we changed the way we record, because we were quite happy with the way we sounded on the first EP. However, we changed the way we write songs, as we found out that some songs like “The Burden” may sound cool on a CD, but are pretty weak when played live, on the verses especially. There were some mistakes we used to do during the writing process that we managed to avoid. We focused on our live performances, which made our new songs more energetic and efficient.

HOW DOES THE BAND APPROACH THE SONG WRITING PROCESS AND WHO WOULD YOU SAY ARE THE MAIN WRITERS IN THE BAND?

Franck writes most of the riffs, he comes up with his best ideas and we all add our stuff to it. In the meantime, I’m writing a lot of lyrics. Then I pick up the ones that fit the song the best, and the vocal lines come naturally. We are now used to work together, so the writing process goes pretty fast.

THE COVER ART FOR “ON SLEEPLESS NIGHTS” LOOKS REALLY COOL. WHAT WAS THE CONCEPT AND IDEA YOU WERE GOING FOR WITH THIS COVER?

Thank you! The singer of the Italian band Dufresne made it for us. It fits the whole idea behind our lyrics. The EP talks about weakness, dealing with a situation that looks impossible to overcome. There are always predators out there waiting for you to do the wrong move. On the back of the CD, there are two poor people, and they seem lonely and helpless… That’s how I felt when I wrote the lyrics.

DID YOU RECORD “ON SLEEPLESS NIGHTS” AT THE SAME STUDIO AS “EBB & FLOW” OR DID YOU WANT TO WORK WITH SOMEBODY DIFFERENT THIS TIME AROUND?

No, it’s the same guy. We recorded both EP’s with David Potvin, in Angers, somewhere in the French countryside. He’s such a cool guy.

I NOTICED YOU ONLY HAD ONE GUITAR PLAYER IN THE VIDEO FOR “SUPERMAN”. WHEN DID YOU ADD A SECOND GUITAR PLAYER AND HOW WOULD YOU SAY THIS HAS IMPROVED THE BAND’S SOUND?

Yeah we always wanted to add another guitar to the mix. Matthieu joined us a few weeks before recording “On Sleepless Nights”. He learned the songs amazingly quickly and goes along pretty well with Franck. They complete each other; Matt is more into solos, whereas Franck likes heavy rhythmics. The writing process is thus far more interesting, and we sound heavier. That’s all we wanted!

CAN YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME YOU PERFORMED ON STAGE AND DO YOU STILL GET “BUTTERFLIES” BEFORE EVERY SHOW?

I started playing in bands when I was 12, and I did my first show in front of nearly 500 people. I almost passed out. It’s been ten years now, so I’m getting used to it. I think it’s the same for Franck and Coralie. Pierre and Matthieu are a bit more nervous, but it will disappear eventually. It’s a shame though, because I love the feeling you have when you walk off the stage, and you feel like you’re gonna fly or something. I recently started doing stand-up comedy to get that feeling back, as it’s the most stressful thing you could ever do. But we’re still very excited when on stage, and feeling comfortable actually allows you to go ape shit and enjoy the show even more.

THE BAND RECENTLY COMPLETED A NATIONAL TOUR OF TWENTY FIVE DATES. IS THIS THE LONGEST TOUR YOU HAVE DONE SO FAR AND WHAT ARE YOUR BEST MEMORIES FROM THE TOUR?

We toured over the whole year, so it’s not like we’ve been playing every night. But we did awesome shows, and we’re looking forward to October, when we start touring again. We met incredible bands we made friends with, and it’s really exciting to play away from home. We love our city, but it’s too safe and we see the same faces every time. We would like to hit the rest of Europe, it’s actually a plan we’re working on. So the best moments are yet to come!

ARE THERE MORE TOURS PLANNED SOON OR ARE YOU TAKING A BREAK AFTER THIS LAST ONE?

We are currently writing some new material, and we’ll shoot a new music video for the song “On Sleepless Nights” in October. Then we’ll hit Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes, our hometown Tours, and other places all over France. We would like to play in Germany (for the beer), Denmark (for the girls), Belgium (because we would be out of beer by then) and Netherlands sometime next year. We don’t care where we go, we’ll basically take everything we can, we just want to play as loud as we can, anywhere!

ANY OTHER COMMENTS OR ANYTHING ELSE FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR?

Yeah check out our Myspace and watch our music videos! We hope you’ll like them, even if there’s no vuvuzela in there. Thank you for the interview!

INTERVIEW BY NEIL VAN ZYL