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It wasn’t long ago when Liz Nistico and Louie Diller were just two college kids making music in the Washington D.C. area. Now L.A. based the duo have turned their tunes into sassy, upbeat, jams for the masses. Together they are holychild and GroundSounds just got an exclusive interview with the pair, check it out and discover their refreshing music below.
You guys originally met at George Washington University in D.C., can you tell us about the “first encounter” and how you guys eventually started creating music together?
Liz: Louie played live music for my modern dance class. We met during my senior year and we eventually started hanging and making art together. We bonded over music but I never imagined that we would be in a band together. At some point, we would wander into the rehearsal spaces at GW and that’s where we did our initial jamming/songwriting.
How did you guys decide on the name holychild?
Liz: It’s a bizarre story, but I acquired a sweatshirt that said HOLY CHILD in large letters on the back. It was absurd and I wore it everywhere. Louie, and pretty much everyone else I knew, would give me shit about the sweatshirt, and when we needed a name it was the first thing we suggested.
We are all anticipating the release of your debut EP Mind Speak, can tell us a little bit about working on this project? Is there a release date?
Liz: Mind Speak is a collection of songs about the role of the female in our culture. I was feeling pretty depressed and frustrated with societal pressures to look, act, and speak a certain way and the songs all deal with that from different angles. We don’t have a release date yet, but we’re anticipating spring 2014!
Louie: Mind Speak has been quite the adventure. What started in our bedroom ended up at #3 on the HypeMachine charts (the first single, “Happy With Me” that is), which was a pleasant surprise. Over the past month or so, it honestly has been a whirlwind in terms of the strong reaction the first couple of singles have received online, and now, whether or not to self-release the EP or release it on a label. At the moment it is looking like the latter, which is exciting, since we’ve been pretty selective on the business folks we’d like to have represent holychild. That being said, we’re looking at a spring 2014 release for Mind Speak and rolling it out in a really exciting way we can’t comment on at the moment.
Can you guys tell us about the day you made ‘Playboy Girl’? What was it like working on this video? Did anyone get sick from all the sweets?
Liz: Oh my gosh, it was a lot of fun, but yes one girl did get sick. I have mastered the art of eating and quickly spitting out food for photoshoot reasons, so this was something that we all had to keep in mind. It was really great to work with everyone on set though, and I’m especially fond of the director, Jancarlo Beck. He and I are really on the same page aesthetically, so I love working with him and playing with ideas.
What are you favorite donuts to eat?
Liz: This depends on the day! No donut discrimination here.
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the tracks “Happy With Me” and “Best Friends”?
Liz: Again, both these songs really deal with the role of the female from different angles. “Best Friends” has to do with inherent competition that exists between women. This really upsets me, and I wrote the lyrics sarcastically mocking the unnecessary rivalry between girls. “Happy With Me” says that our culture is wrapped up in superficial values, and if we just got over them we could spend our time conquering much greater issues. I’m kind of sarcastically saying, “Stop thinking about who looks better and join me on the other side where that doesn’t matter! Don’t you realize you’re stuck there!” Even though I feel that I am stuck on that side, too.
How do you guys typically create your songs, do you start with a guitar riff, a beat, lyrics, or just an idea/concept?
Louie: The creation of our songs is a case-by-case situation. Sometimes the source will be a guitar riff, other times a melody, other times a beat, etc. Liz does tend to take care of the majority of the lyrics though, while I tend to take care of the majority of the production. Everything else though, such as arrangement, melody, harmony and rhythm is split evenly 50/50 between us.
Who would you guys like to collaborate with in the future?
Louie: A dream we have for holychild down the road is to establish ourselves enough to a point where we can use it as a calling card to collaborate with anyone in any capacity. What inspires us to create art ranges so much that we honestly aspire to do everything from starting a pure-pop side project, to an experimental modern dance company (in Liz’s case), to recording an Afro-Cuban Yoruba inspired drum and vocal album (in Louie’s case), to so much more that we’ll just have to leave it at that for now. For the foreseeable future though, our #1 goal is to get our feet off the ground and establish holychild in contemporary popular music as a middle ground between top 40 and experimental music.
Could you guys share some life advice with us?
Liz: I don’t know if I’m qualified to give life advice, but I’d say follow your intuition and passions. That’s something that I’m working on everyday, because it’s easy to doubt yourself when obstacles in front of you can seem so overwhelming. But really, it’s just all about trusting yourself and seeing things through. We’re all trying to do that.
Louie: I know this by now that there are simply no short cuts in life. Life is a constant juggling act of balancing one’s practice with one’s performance with one’s playtime with one’s work time and the day-to-day struggle in between all that. For all the glory there is in performing on stage or being the star of a show (whatever one’s show may be), there is a ton of work that goes down behind the scenes the audience does not see nor hear (nor cares to see + hear) and one should never neglect. In addition, life for me after college has been a non-linear path that has mandated me to craft my own network, relationships and schedule out of thin air. I think it’s best to try to enjoy every aspect of this process, or at the very least, try to learn from every experience in it.
What’s next for holychild? What are you guys currently working on?
Louie: Right now we have a lot on deck. We’re dedicating the next two-to-three months to writing and recording new jams in anticipation of our debut full-length album (which I am way excited about!). In addition, we got a slew of Cali shows these next couple of months, but from SXSW in March and on, we’re looking at touring non-stop. This touring will be in support of our debut EP release (Mind Speak) in spring 2014, and our debut LP release in fall 2014.
