As most of you know, I completely adore Newcastle and its local music scene. I met Holly Rees last December and she touched me with her heartfelt singing and songwriting. I finally got the chance to ask her some question, especially about her incredible upcoming Canadian tour!
Why and when did you start making music?
“I started writing music a few years ago, I took my sister’s old acoustic guitar with me to university and taught myself some chords and covers and that slowly slipped into writing my own things, just for me. And then January 2017 my New Years Resolution was to do something that scared me and go play some songs at an open mic night. I did, and then I did it every week, and that then lead to gigs and then bigger gigs and then recordings EP’s and festivals and tours and here we are!”
Who inspires you?
“I love a lot of music! I’m a big fan of Courtney Barnett, Phoebe Bridgers, The 1975 etc and also a lot of older classic songwriting like Joni Mitchell and Billy Joel.”
From the period of you making music; what is your favourite memory?
“Ooh that’s a tough one. I think it’s got to be either playing my last big headline show in Newcastle with the full band – my biggest headline yet and it was just so amazing to play with my brilliant band to a packed show of brilliant people. Or playing Evolution Emerging Festival last year – that was so much fun, and the whole festival was awesome.”
What inspired you to go to Canada?
“Canada is just such a huge beautiful country, there’s so much to see and explore and I’ve just always wanted to come and experience it for myself. And being able to tour across it is just insane, I am so excited for all these shows.”
How did you arrange your impressive Canadian tour?
“Sheer determination and hard work really! I’ve been working so hard to pull all this together and I can’t wait to finally head out and start playing these shows!”
What are your future plans when it comes to releasing music and playing gigs?
“My Canadian tour starts on the 18th April, and that’s around 40 dates (some still left to announce!), including playing Canadian Music Week festival in Toronto in May, which is Canada’s biggest new music festival so I’m absolutely buzzing about that. I’ve also just announced a brand new live EP and single, both of which are rewards on the crowdfunding campaign I’ve set up to help fund getting to Canadian Music Week! “Text Me When You Get There” – The Live EP was recorded at my last UK headline show in December. It was such a fantastic show, and I’m super excited for people to hear the full band live experience through this EP. I really hope they like it. “Text Me When You Get There” – The Live EP comes out 3rd of May, the weekend before I play Canadian Music Week!”
Holly did incredibly amazing and got 100% on her campaign! For fans that want to still have a piece of the puzzle, you can donate through via link: igg.me/at/hollycmw
Photo by Will Gorman Photography
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