By day: A freelance headhunter for restaurants across the country
By night: Singing and playing guitar in Charleston clubs with her band, Lindsay Holler’s Western Polaroids, and with other musicians on an ad hoc basis
Discography: Malleable (2006), Love Gone Awry (2007, Lindsay Holler and the Dirty Kids), Helltembre (2010, Lindsay Holler’s Western Polaroids)
Her sound: Gritty Americana “supported by a little twang and a little late-night clarity”
On the track: Dave Linaburg ’06 on lead guitar, Ben Wells ’07 on bass, Michael Hanf ’08 on percussion and vibes and Nick Jenkins ’05 on drums
The story behind “Grove Street”: “It comes from when I was a student in the College’s music department. I was leaving class and saw this guy walking through the parking lot. He was tall with dreadlocks, and he had these baby blue silky athletic pants on and a Black Crows T-shirt. I was just intrigued by him – those pants! So I followed him for, I don’t know, two blocks. I was in awe of him. It wasn’t super-stalking, but still. We ended being really good friends and collaborators. And he lived on Grove Street.”
The songwriting process: “It happens in all different ways. Sometimes the lyrics come first, sometimes the music. And sometimes there are those magical moments when everything comes out at the same time. If it comes, I have to be ready to catch it before it passes. But lyrics are the most important part of the song to me. Lyrics jump out at me, and I’m always writing things down. Those things find their ways into songs down the road – so, I guess the process is always happening for me.”
Transferring to the College’s music program: “Such the right decision to leave the Berklee College of Music. The thing about the College’s music department is, it’s real; it’s practical. It teaches you the things you’re going to need to know, and you get the experience of putting on shows, booking gigs – real hands-on experience. Never would I have gotten the opportunities in Boston that I got here. And I would have never had the kind of support and collaboration that the College’s program gave me. It’s a really helpful group.”
The dream: “I would love nothing more than to have one single band – my own little gang to be a part of. I’d love to have that old-school, one-for-all-and-all-for-one thing going on. But you’ve got to adapt to what’s going on, and this is how it’s done right now. You play with whoever, whenever. You’ve got to hustle, and that means having multiple projects going on all the time. It’s not such a bad thing – you learn a lot of different stuff with different people. But I still long for the day when I have that one band that I can really form that bond. Because that translates: It comes through in the music and in the performance.”
Check out more music by Lindsay Holler.
Lyrics of “Grove Street”
I’m on the wrong side of my dishonesty
and I’m gonna come clean, about me
and your tight jeans
my wandering eye is startin’ to bleed
I don’t want to corner you
I don’t want to complicate
I see your lips move and I just anticipate
how you taste
drag it out, don’t stop, don’t tease
set me straight about this suggestive scene
you know I like it when you take the upper hand
no mercy
just come and get me, only ’cause you can
I’ve got to stop my fingers rubbing your leg
’cause I can’t tell, if you care
drag it out, don’t stop, don’t tease
set me straight about this suggestive scene
you know I like it when you take the upper hand
no mercy
just come and get me, if only ’cause you can
Listen to all of the songs on The Soundtrack.
– Photos by Sully Sullivan
