When Hollerado unveiled the pre-order packages for their new album, White Paint, we were amused to notice that one of the options came with a personalized song, written and recorded especially for the purchaser. What was truly remarkable about this was that there were 200 of the packages available, meaning that Hollerado would need to pen unique songs for each one.
As could be expected, frontman Menno Versteeg explains that the band have been working hard on finishing this massive pile of personalized tunes.
"It's a great exercise," the singer tells Exclaim! "That's kind of why we gave ourselves that challenge. It's fun just to write songs. Lots of them are really crappy throwaways, but we're not working on them for a month."
He continues, "It's completely no rules, mass produced creativity. Some of them are little 30-second ditties on an acoustic guitar. Some of them are completely linear with no chorus or no bridge and not like a normal song. Some of them are an electronic dance beat that repeats the person's name and some other weird stuff — music to trip out to. We're just going with whatever, really."
As much fun as the project has been, it has caused confusion among Hollerado's fans, some of whom thought that they would be able to direct the band to write a song to their exact specifications. Versteeg explains, "A couple people have sent us emails saying, 'Okay, so I want this one to start with a slow intro an then do a riff like you do in that one song 'On My Own' then go into a heavy chorus.' We're like, 'No, we're not being your songwriter for hire. We're kind of playing a game.'"
Versteeg notes that the anything-goes approach to mass producing songs has produced some interesting results. He hopes that some of the songs will someday be released in some capacity, but in the meantime, the band will be touring in support of White Paint. See their schedule with Billy Talent and Sum 41 here.
Read our review of White Paint here and stay tuned for a full interview with the band.
As could be expected, frontman Menno Versteeg explains that the band have been working hard on finishing this massive pile of personalized tunes.
"It's a great exercise," the singer tells Exclaim! "That's kind of why we gave ourselves that challenge. It's fun just to write songs. Lots of them are really crappy throwaways, but we're not working on them for a month."
He continues, "It's completely no rules, mass produced creativity. Some of them are little 30-second ditties on an acoustic guitar. Some of them are completely linear with no chorus or no bridge and not like a normal song. Some of them are an electronic dance beat that repeats the person's name and some other weird stuff — music to trip out to. We're just going with whatever, really."
As much fun as the project has been, it has caused confusion among Hollerado's fans, some of whom thought that they would be able to direct the band to write a song to their exact specifications. Versteeg explains, "A couple people have sent us emails saying, 'Okay, so I want this one to start with a slow intro an then do a riff like you do in that one song 'On My Own' then go into a heavy chorus.' We're like, 'No, we're not being your songwriter for hire. We're kind of playing a game.'"
Versteeg notes that the anything-goes approach to mass producing songs has produced some interesting results. He hopes that some of the songs will someday be released in some capacity, but in the meantime, the band will be touring in support of White Paint. See their schedule with Billy Talent and Sum 41 here.
Read our review of White Paint here and stay tuned for a full interview with the band.
