A Chat with Gordon Holland (26.05.23)
With the poetic honesty of Carol King and the toe-tapping passion of Crowded House, Australian singer-songwriter Gordon Holland brings us the best of folk, rock and pop in his vintage melodies. We speak with Holland about his new EP Skipping Stones On A Salt Lake, what makes him unique as an artist, worst advice, and much more!
OSR: What does music mean to you?
Holland: To begin with, everything. Whether you’re a listener, a writer or a performer of music it can express things you’re not able to articulate, it can make you feel less alone and understood. It’s a friend, a guide, it’s there to celebrate the good times and help you in the not-so-good times. But it doesn’t have to be on that deep of a level either, it can make you want to dance or make you relax. Its meaning is tied to memories, experiences and feelings. No other medium quite does what music does.
OSR: What can you tell us about your EP Skipping Stones On A Salt Lake?
Holland: These are four songs that I wrote as a bit of a challenge to myself, I wanted to make some songs that would work at the simplest level – just me and a guitar or piano – but could still work with a full band too. I had been thinking about writing songs about characters, I usually write from my own perspective or some variation of that, so it was a new thing to me to write all of these from other points of view. Afterwards, I noticed there seemed to be a few recurring themes, things like travel, the nature of change or absence of change and family amongst other things.
I recorded it with Harrie, my bandmate from The Naysayers and had it mixed by Digby Gillings and mastered by Liondance Records. The cover photo was taken by my wife Cassie and it’s one of my favourite photos!
OSR: What do you hope people take from the EP?
Holland: I hope people can take their own meaning from the stories in the songs. In the past, I hadn’t really written narrative songs quite to this level and I was cautious about saying “this song means this” or “this song means that” because music is never that straightforward. Especially these kinds of songs. You might interpret something in these stories that means something very specific to your situation, I think that’s amazing and encourage that.
OSR: What do you think makes you unique as a musician?
Holland: I feel like every musician brings their own perspective, experience and idiosyncrasies to whatever they play or write, so everyone’s unique really. For me personally, as well as bringing my own life experience, I try to capture those quiet moments in between moments and write about those. I also absolutely love catchy melodies and harmonies and I don’t shy away from that kind of thing.
OSR: Which do you find more challenging: melody or lyrics?
Holland: It’s a pretty even split and it depends on the kind of song I’m writing; sometimes a melody just seems to come naturally and easily or sometimes the lyrics just flow quickly. Other times it takes ages to find a melody that I like or the lyrics really make me work for them. But I find that funnily enough, the harder I try the more challenging it is.
OSR: If you could change one thing about the EP, what would it be and why?
Holland: Thankfully there’s nothing I’d change about it now, I was pretty thorough during the recording process and had a clear idea of what I wanted it all to sound like. And the people I worked with from recording all the way to mastering and releasing have all been a massive help with their recommendations and advice to get it to the finished version!
OSR: If you could spend the day with one celebrity (not necessarily a musician), who would it be and why?
Holland: Brian Wilson, I would love to just spend a day chatting with him about his life, his experiences and his perspective and then sit at a piano with him trying out harmonies. And maybe I’d finally learn how to play ‘Surf’s Up’ on piano!
OSR: What are the best and worst things about being a solo artist?
Holland: The best thing is having songs that work just as well by myself as they do with a band. When you write with just your voice and one instrument it sets up the songs to be pared back or full and work just as well either way.
The worst thing is having to learn to stop my indecisiveness and make decisions. It’s a hell of a lot easier to do that with other collaborators, but I’m learning!
OSR: What about being an artist in today’s digital world?
Holland: The best thing about it is that the whole recording/mixing/mastering/releasing process is way easier than it ever has been. To be able to do it all via things like DropBox and email and then release via a distributor is just so much quicker, and you have that flexibility that just didn’t exist in the past.
But the worst thing is that you kind of have to be a jack of all trades, in as far as having to be not just a musician but promoter/social media manager/salesperson/graphic designer/videographer etc, etc. it’s not necessarily a difficult thing but it’s very time-consuming! But that said, with a bit of searching you can find great people to collaborate with on these things.
OSR: What is the worst piece of advice you have ever received?
Holland: That is such a good question! I feel like the worst advice I hear (either being told to me personally or other people telling me they’ve been told it) is to put all your eggs in one basket with a particular trend, style, fashion, etc. By all means, if that’s a natural fit then go for it, but ultimately you need to trust yourself and be true to what you really value.
OSR: Do you have future plans as a musician?
Holland: Absolutely! After my EP is out I’d love to get back out there and play some shows again, do some regional gigs in Victoria and even venture back to WA for some shows hopefully. I still have a whole album demoed and ready to be recorded too, and I’m planning it to be a full band thing, so fingers crossed that’s something that can be done this year.
Many thanks to Gordon Holland for speaking with us! For more from Gordon Holland, check out his official website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
