in with Crime Line and spread the word on how people can anonymously SMS tip-offs for any crime leads they have to help catch the criminals. We’ll always be linked to Crime Line and help in any way we can to further the awareness on how people can safely tip-off crimes and help our fellow South Africans. No-one should live in fear. <Y>2010 was a busy year for you guys, apart from Thornfest and Splashy Fen, it was a also a year in which the band had to regroup. Tell me more about why you guys decided to part ways and what prompted you to give it another go… Being in Holly & The Woods and having a rock band is so much fun! Music should always be about that and when it starts losing its fun factor and starts feeling like work, something’s wrong. We broke up in April 2010 after it started feeling like that, but it only took six months for three of us in the band to realise how much we missed and still wanted this band. So we regrouped and had to find two new members when the other guys had already joined new bands and projects. Music is in our blood and it’s something we just can’t walk away from. <Y> With the regroup in mind, who are the new members? Tell us more about them. Lee-Jaime Havenga joined us on drums and has recently received his degree in music from COPA, so now he’s after his Masters. Darren Drawbridge joined us on lead guitar and used to play for Jo Day, so he’s a rocker by heart! They are such great musicians and guys, and they bring a nice refreshed energy to the band, seeing that the original three of us have been in it for six years already. <Y> Apart from recording, what is on the cards for Holly & The Woods for the rest of the year? We just want to play as many gigs as we can and start getting out to the rest of the country more! It’s been too long since we’ve been in the Cape for shows and we’ve still never done gigs in Durban, Bloem, Potch and so forth, so we’ve got quite a few places we need to get to. We didn’t realise what a great KZN fanbase we had till we played Splashy Fen in 2010! We had a tent full of KZN fans so happy to finally see us live, so we need to get to them. <Y> Where can fans go to find out more about the band, upcoming shows and releases? PAGE16
We’re really good with updating online, so join us on Facebook on http://www.facebook.com/ hollyandthewoodsband, follow us on Twitter @ hollythewoods and we have a mailing list on http://www. hollyandthewoods.com/. Also if you sign-up to the mailing list, you’ll get “Surrender” as a free download. <Y> You guys really are seasoned rockers, you have been playlisted on loads of major radio stations and you have performed to live audiences plenty of times, so there is no doubting your commitment. What does it take to stay fresh and energised and take on new projects? Wow, thanks! Yeah, we’ve been working really hard and we haven’t even achieved a fraction of what we’re looking to reach. That’s what keeps us going, having so much we want to achieve. We’d love to be as well known as a Seether or an aKing in South Africa and make our mark as one of SA’s top female-fronted rock bands. Most of all though, the music we get to make and writing new songs, and seeing fans’ faces when we play those new songs, make it all so worthwhile! <Y> As a band, what have been your greatest stumbling blocks to date? Learning to be patient with success. We’re seeing bands all over the places popping out of nowhere and becoming the new hot thing, while we’re cruising along doing what we do. We’ll never have that obvious commercial rock sound for South African radio, so if radio happens to play a single that’s great, but we don’t write for radio, we write the songs we love. Because of that, we’re on our own journey with our music and where it will take us no-one knows, but we’ve learnt not to rush it. ■