Interview: HOLLOWAY ROAD, Nashville Meets London, Canary Wharf

If you hear ‘UK country’, one of the acts you probably think of is Holloway Road. They’ve been on the UK country scene for a fair while now, so it was great to catch up with them at Nashville Meets London this year (you can read my review of their set here). Read our interview for info on their *secret* upcoming EP, the evolution of UK country music, and the influence of Essex on their songs.

Ciara’s Country (CC): Welcome back to Ciara’s Country! I’m joined by Holloway Road’s Robert and Jack at the third annual Nashville Meets London festival in Canary Wharf.

Jack (J): Woohoo!

CC: I’m thrilled to meet you both – back on my radio show I used to play your stuff and the listeners loved it! It’s lovely to see how far you’ve come and watch you perform today.

J: That’s awesome. It’s great to be here.

CC: We’re halfway through the year now – how has 2018 been going for you guys?

Robert (R): It’s been busy. We’ve been doing a lot of behind the scenes type stuff this year – new EP, recording, that kind of thing. We’ve been trying to squeeze these shows where we can. It’s been good so far.

CC: You hinted on stage about this new EP.

J: Yeah, we’ve been hinting about this new EP for ages – ever since C2C I think we’ve been hinting about it. But it’s coming, we promise.

CC: Any more hints you can give us?

J: It’s going to be the next month or two. That’s all we can give you!

CC: That’ll have to do for now.

J: It’s going to be quite a long body of work for an EP.

R: All the bangers.

J: It’s going to be awesome. There’s going to be more tracks than the last EP.

CC: Have you decided on a name for the EP yet?

R: We have. We kind of have…

CC: So much secretiveness!

R: With a name, you’ve got to stick with it so we can’t get it wrong.

J: It’s coming. And it’s going to be great.

CC: I look forward to it. You kicked off today’s festival in the rain, how did you think the set went?

J: The rain was out but the people still came out so that was brilliant. We were a bit worried at first if people would show in the rain, but there’s loads of people here.

CC: You mentioned as well your quarter of a million streams on If She Falls – I saw some people singing along to that.

J: It’s good having people know the words. It never gets old.

CC: What’s your favourite song to perform live?

J: We’ve never been asked that! My new favourite is a new one called Get The Girl, that’s my favourite to play live at the moment.

R: I quite like Broke, the other new one.

J: Yeah, I think both of those are fun to play.

CC: From my perspective, Holloway Road has been a staple of UK country over the years.

R: Thank you!

CC: How has the UK country scene evolved since you’ve been in it?

R: The amount of it is the most obvious thing I would say. I think it’s just changing towards a more commercial direction.

J: I think people are stepping up a lot more now. A few years ago, UK country was finding its feet. It’s really getting there now.

CC: And you guys proudly announce you’re at the crossover of country with pop and rock.

R: Yeah, quite proudly announce that.

CC: So must be good with the direction the genre’s going.

J: Yeah, absolutely.

CC: Who are you listening to at the moment?

J: Russell Dickerson, Morgan Wallen. They’re our two favourites at the moment.

CC: Well, Nashville Meets London is a great opportunity for lesser known acts to make their names, is there anyone who falls into that category you think people should be listening to?

J: Everyone we like has got a bit of a fanbase already!

R: You’ve stumped us!

J: If you haven’t listened to Russell Dickerson, listen to him.

R: He played here last year as well.

J: We’ve got a great friend from Essex called Lisa Wright, she’s awesome. Check her out. Nashville Nights, that was where we started – we were the first band to play. That’s a good place to find people.

CC: Speaking of Essex, has growing up there influenced your music?

J: Yes, absolutely. People always say ‘you don’t look like you’re country stars, you look like a couple of guys from Essex,’ that’s because we are! Country’s all about being real, and we’re just being ourselves, so if we can put a bit of that into what we do, or a lot of that into what we do, then we’re doing something right.

CC: Is there a song that you’ve written that you’re particularly proud of?

J: All of them.

R: Apart from that one we wrote the other day, that was toilet.

CC: So that one’s not on the upcoming EP, then?

J: No. But all the one’s you’ve heard, we’re proud of!

CC: Okay, final question! What’s one question you’d love to be asked in an interview but never have been?

J: Ooh! See if you asked us what question we’d not want to get asked or get asked all the time, we’d be able to tell you, but I’ve never thought of that.

CC: What’s that question then?

J: Where’d you get your name? Why country music?

R: One question I’d like to be asked is what my favourite crisp product is.

CC: And the answer is?

R: Wheat Crunchies every day of the week.

J: My favourite crisps are Salt and Vinegar Squares. And Discos.

R: Or Roysters. I like them too.

CC: Well when you hit it big time, all the fans will just be sending you loads of crisps then.

R: Good, I don’t do one pack of crisps, it’s got to be two.

J: At least!

CC: Thanks for the tip! And thanks for answering my questions today!

All: Thank you.

And if you’re wondering, my crisp picks would be Doritos Chilli Heatwave or Paprika Pringles! I hope you enjoyed today’s interview – if you did, be sure to drop me a message in the comments below and follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry. More interviews and concert reviews coming soon – thanks for reading!