Calling 2009 a good year for Montreal rockers Hollerado is a massive understatement. "When you called me this morning and asked, 'How are you?' I was like, 'Fucking awesome, cause I don't have a day job anymore,'" says the band's guitarist, Menno Versteeg.
He and his band-mates' newfound financial freedom comes from winning $250,000 in an Ottawa battle of the bands. It was yet another feather in the quartet's collective cap after starting the year self-releasing their debut, Record in a Bag. By May, they were touring in China. They won another contest in June giving them the opening slot for the Dead Weather's Toronto gig, before capping off the year with their ambitious "Half World Tour," which brought them back to China as well as sending them to South America for the first time. "We figure if we're going to be a new band, we might as well also be a new band where we're exotic."
While the last 12 months will undoubtedly be hard to top, Versteeg is cautiously optimistic. Arts & Crafts are re-releasing Record in a Bag this month, and the group are already working on new tunes. "It's a long road. We've gotten some amazing opportunities and still no one's heard of us," he says. "I don't think we're really the type of band that will be the new cool band of the moment, we're not weird enough. We're writing our next album right now. That's what kind of kills it or does it for most bands."
He and his band-mates' newfound financial freedom comes from winning $250,000 in an Ottawa battle of the bands. It was yet another feather in the quartet's collective cap after starting the year self-releasing their debut, Record in a Bag. By May, they were touring in China. They won another contest in June giving them the opening slot for the Dead Weather's Toronto gig, before capping off the year with their ambitious "Half World Tour," which brought them back to China as well as sending them to South America for the first time. "We figure if we're going to be a new band, we might as well also be a new band where we're exotic."
While the last 12 months will undoubtedly be hard to top, Versteeg is cautiously optimistic. Arts & Crafts are re-releasing Record in a Bag this month, and the group are already working on new tunes. "It's a long road. We've gotten some amazing opportunities and still no one's heard of us," he says. "I don't think we're really the type of band that will be the new cool band of the moment, we're not weird enough. We're writing our next album right now. That's what kind of kills it or does it for most bands."
