Photo Courtesy of Holodek
Today, we sit down with the duo to discuss their unconventional journey, the challenges of building a fanbase 7,000 miles from home, and how the vibrant Filipino music scene has transformed their creative process.
Describe your typical songwriting process. How do Craig’s lyrics and Owen’s musical arrangements interact and influence each other?
Owen usually comes up with ideas musically for a song on guitar then builds a track around it at the studio. During this stage, we both bounce ideas off of each other about arrangement, length, style, influences & so on. After that, Craig starts to apply vocal ideas to the track which can also mean re-arranging the song to fit certain vocal ideas. The general process though requires bouncing off of each other a lot to finish a song as we have very different musical backgrounds. We would recommend anyone reading this to watch our vodcast on youtube to get more detail on how we started the band.
Has your move to the Philippines impacted your songwriting themes or lyrical content? Are there specific aspects of Filipino culture, history, or daily life that have found their way into your music?
Having been here for many years now, I would say the themes and lyrical content of the songs have been shaped by experiences I’ve had whilst living here, but having travelled around the world for many years, I’ve tried to include inspiration from all of the places I’ve been. In general I don’t focus on using culture or history within the lyrics themselves, but more around daily life.
I try to make the lyrics and themes accessible to all, no matter of background or culture, more universal, so everyone can find something relatable within each song.
Have you incorporated any traditional Filipino musical elements or instruments into your compositions? If so, how did you approach this integration, and what were the challenges and rewards?
On our first album we did use a wide range of genres and styles but sadly no Filipino musical elements. However, our current producer who worked with us on arrangements is from the Philippines. You can hear our work with him on our Spotify. Or another example would be that our music video for the song “The Glitch” on YouTube, was filmed in BGC and Taguig.
On the new album we are currently recording we are planning to incorporate a local singer as well as some verses in Tagalog and if anyone has any instrument ideas that would fit into an alt-rock/prog-rock sound we would love to hear some suggestions as we love and are inspired by all music and love to be as diverse as possible.
What prompted your decision to relocate to the Philippines and establish your band here? What were your expectations versus the reality of the move?
We actually didn’t move here to start a band. We both had been living/staying here on and off for years because we love the people, islands and culture. We both met around 4 years ago, knowing that we were both into music and always spoke about writing together and after a failed attempt, nothing happened. It wasn’t until 2 years ago we decided to start writing together properly and we haven’t looked back ever since.
What were the biggest logistical hurdles you faced in relocating your equipment and setting up base in the Philippines?
Thankfully, we only took guitars and amps over here. Whereas studio equipment and anything else has been bought here over the last few years & thankfully because we record everything ourselves there wasn’t a whole load of equipment to buy.
Describe your experience navigating the local music scene. What are some of the key differences you’ve encountered between the UK and Philippine music industries?
For Craig, while he was touring with bands from the Philippines, he found that many acts here would play multiple shows in a day which is very rare in the UK, Although, I should mention, this was quite some time ago.
We also find that shows here have far better attendance than back in the UK & the support for new acts is a lot better than what we have in the UK. A negative would be the amount of well equipped music venues, for example people will play in bars or malls instead of a proper music venue because they are hard to find or don’t put on as many shows.
What are your future goals for Holodek in the Philippines? Do you plan to collaborate with local artists or explore new musical avenues?
As I said before, on our new album we are writing and recording now, we plan to work with some artists here. We are also still working with our current producer on this album as well as teaming up with a Grammy Winning producer from the UK. We have also had some offers to tour in the Philippines which we intend on taking up once this album is completed.
How do you balance the desire to maintain your unique musical identity with the need to connect with a new audience and adapt to the local music scene?
We tend to write music for ourselves but when writing we do love to continuously adapt our style and move forward as a band which I think in turn, does open you up to new audiences. We also love to incorporate as many styles as possible and are always looking for new things to try which also widens the appeal to more people in any local music scene.
What is your long-term vision for Holodek’s presence in the Philippines and beyond?
Finishing our second album, touring as much as possible and seeing where it takes us.
What advice would you give to other UK-based bands considering a similar move to the Philippines? What are the essential factors they should consider before making the leap?
For any artist, I think as long as they have a passion for music and can write well, the Philippines has an amazing local music scene, passionate fans and a multitude of amazing locations to write music.
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