Hollerado Interview: SXSW 2010

Long before signing a distribution deal with Arts & Crafts and opening in Toronto for Jack White's band the Dead Weather, Manotick, Ontario's Hollerado self-released their 'Record in a Bag' -- literally, a homemade CD packaged in a plastic baggie. Cute. Yet it's worth a listen for the music: beer-drenched power-pop indie ditties you'll love singing along to. Menno, Nixon, Dean and Jake grew up on the same street and, with dreams of starting a band, started a moving company called Haulerado. Their SXSW Nacho House series features guests including Chilly Gonzales, Turbo Fruits, Let's Wrestle and more. Oh, and free beer and nachos, of course!

Describe your sound in your own words.

Clauffe K'rouroike (Words we just invented). Scrappy pet rock.

How did your band form?

Playing yardboard listening to the Yardbirds on the same street in Manotick. For those who don't know what yardboard is, it's a popular game played in rural Canada, similar to chinese checkers, except life size and you can score "tri's." It's played in open fields using curling stones and you ride on lawn mowers.

What are your musical influences?

Who can deny that the ringtone has taken over as the principle musical influence of most artists, in this cellular age.

How did you come up with your band name?

Pure math and sunshine.

What's your biggest vice?

Our biggest vice is a four-inch drill press. It's not that big though, I'm sure our dads have bigger ones in their garages.

What's in your festival survival kit?

A bag containing an unlimited amount of festival survival kits, our handy four-inch drill press vice, and Cold FX and Tapatio hot sauce and our trusty atlas.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

Playing the synth, watching Nick playing the synth, talking to each other about Nick playing the synth and slappin' da bass.

Beatles or Stones?

The Kinks.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

Meeting the singer of Bad Company at Sears.