The Holy Coast Explore New Ways to Share Sound

Local synth-rockers The Holy Coast know something about today's average music consumer: mainly that they have the attention spans of gnats.

The trio comprised of Keith Walker, Brett Davis and Braden McCall recently put on their first live performance and have completed their debut album, but they're still carefully calculating the dissemination of their sound.

Instead of finalizing an official release date for their record, the group has decided to release one new track, along with an accompanying music video every month.

"What we're trying to do is reinvent how we approach everything," Brett Davis says. "We're trying to be innovative with the ways that we release our music which we haven't done too much of so far. We have a full album, but we're sick of the idea of the full album. I fucking love albums, but I don't know that the attention span is there anymore. We want to continuously release music and write new music so it's not like, 'here's an album, now move on.'"

See also: The Holy Coast Adds Dead Wildlife's Braden McCall to the Fold The Holy Coast Debuts Earnest Glitch Folk Single

Up on the Sun: What can you tell us about your latest video?

Brett Davis: Everything we do or have done has been pretty DIY. As we were writing this track and getting going, it just had a dark feel. It's called, "In Our Heads Again."

So we were thinking jokingly that we should use some old tracks for the footage. Braden's really good at editing and post-production and everything like that. So he's the one who put it all together. It was done casually but we ended up really liking it so we released it.

What's the story behind the track?

"In Our Heads Again" is a song about loss. We talk about Summer being gone, the track repeats that over and over, and it's just representing anything that has been over-romanticized in your head. So it's about things passing and holding on to them whether they're good memories or bad; Summer's a good way of making that analogy I guess.

When did you guys pen the track?

Actually it was written a few months ago. I had a version of it down acoustically. It didn't really coincide with Summer, it was just a theme that stuck with me. There's a line that says, "Summer took my girl again," so it's got more of a sinister sound to it compared to some of the other songs we've done.

It all came together within the last three months, though. We just got into a room and Keith and Braden just started synths and stuff like that.

The band recently got its first live show under its belt. How did it go?

Before this we've all been in more organic bands, and now we're incorporating more electronic elements so everything's kind of a new experience. When we played live we were still just kind of feeling everything out. It ended up working really well and it was a fun experience, but it's still a learning experience. I can't wait until we're at the point where we can achieve what I think we can achieve. We're sort of just taking steps towards that right now.

What was the atmosphere like?

It's tough to play DJ nights because people want to dance. We have beats and stuff but you always feel like you're the buzzkill. But it was fun to hear these tracks in a live setting finally.

What was the high point of the night for you?

When everything was working. Some of the recordings we used to get the elements out there were acoustic and live I'm using electric because it's hard for me to get a good acoustic sound. Some of the finger picking -- I'm not sure if it translated well, so we're still trying to figure that out.

It was a good feeling to get the sound out there and start to feel that connection with people.

And when's the next time we can see you live?

The next show is July 1. We're opening for the band Superhumanoids at the Crescent Ballroom. It's a Monday unfortunately but it will be fun to play the Crescent, that place is pretty fun.

It's an awesome venue because you can see a band that you just love there, it will be sold out, but it will still be intimate.