Holocene

We caught up with Holocene, currently supporting Skunk Anansie on their 25th anniversary tour, ahead of their stop at the LCR on Thursday 21st April.  
 
First off, how are you? 
 
I’m very good, thank you! I’m rushing with the adrenaline of the last five days of the Skunk Anansie tour and we just did Bristol yesterday. It feels like we’ve really settled into the rhythm of it now - it’s my first tour, so I’m feeling really good. We drove back [to London] last night and I managed to get myself a lie-in today, so that’s also great.  
  
How is the touring life treating you?  
 
It’s really good, and to have only released my first original single last October and to be on this incredible tour so early in my career as Holocene, it’s really something special. I always say I’m the luckiest person to have just been in the right place at the right time - my management got in contact with Skunk Anansie and then they wanted me to open on tour for them, which was ridiculously kind of them. I’ve been welcomed with open arms and they’re so accommodating. I’m adapting to all the different spaces and being on the road, and it is tough at times, but I’m just bubbling with excitement - every place brings something new and I’m just getting this sort of sugar rush from meeting and seeing all these people! In one word, it’s awesome. 
 
How does it feel to be touring with Skunk Anansie? It must be immense supporting a band that you’ve loved for years.  
 
I grew up listening to them - I was fed a diet of grunge music. Skin (the lead singer) is an icon. And they say not to meet your heroes, but I met mine and they’re lovely! I’m completely honoured to be on my first tour with my idols.  
 
You’ll be at the LCR here in Norwich on the 21st April - have you ever visited before? 
 
I’ve been to Norwich before, but I haven’t been to the LCR. We’re really excited to come and play there though, it’s a beautiful historic city. It’s a part of the UK that we haven’t got to yet, we’ve been up and down and now we’re going sideways! I’m excited to be back there performing this time, as well as being a tourist.  
 
And what do you think of the audiences that you’ve had so far?  
 
There’s such a diverse range of people that I’ve seen, and there’s even been people that I already recognise in the front row who have come down early to see me open up, and it’s amazing seeing that there’s supportive fans at each show who are, you know, chanting the name of the cover that I do because they’ve already seen me at a previous date. It gets me excited to think that if one day I have my own headline tour, I’d love to see people with that same energy in those audiences. Having that familiarity in all these cities makes them feel like home.  
  
Where are you most excited to perform on this tour? Have you had any favourite places or venues so far? 
 
I mean, I was really excited about the first night of the tour in Nottingham at Rock City, so that was a strong start, very rock and roll! But also Manchester on the second night was mind-blowing as it was a 3,500 capacity venue, and I started my set not long after doors opened and it was already full of people. I also control my whole set-up on stage as it’s very compact, and I could hear the crowd through my microphone in my in-ears. It was so loud. Also performing at the Dome in Brighton was great, as I studied there for uni and to come back to the venue where I saw so many gigs and then do my own thing as Holocene was a full circle moment.  
 
What was the writing process for your new EP, Kiss Me In The Dark, like and were there any particular inspirations behind it? 
 
A lot of these songs I wrote when I was sixteen, but I needed to find the right soundscape for them to fit into. I wrote so much over the years leading up to the pandemic, too, and I knew the songs would be rooted in rock but I wanted there to be more to them. Soundgarden, Grimes and Billie Eilish are definitely some inspirations. I listen to all sorts, though! I also studied Jazz so I have roots in that and it’s a clear influence on my writing as well. I write music that lends itself to a lower register, and I want to celebrate female voices in those lower registers, like Lorde, Lana Del Rey, Nora Jones and Nina Simone all have. That kind of music really gets me and influences me. I also love film scores and soundtracks, those Bond-esque kind of themes - the title track of my EP is sonically massive because of that, for example.  
 
What song is your favourite to perform at the minute? 
 
I’d say ‘Kiss Me In The Dark’ - it’s my last song of the set, and I get to play piano, switch to my guitar halfway through and jump around a bit more; it summarises the whole of the EP. It’s quite a cathartic, belty song too so it’s fun in many ways. My demo ‘Warpaint’ which I also perform was my kind of breakthrough song when I started writing at 16, and it’s just me and the guitar. It kind of commands everyone’s attention, it’s so different to what I perform in the rest of the set! 
 
‘Fossils’ touches on memories and time - if you could go back and revisit a particular musical memory you have, what would it be and why?  
 
Probably back to a few years ago when I was first getting involved with World Heart Beat Music Academy and receiving my musical education from them - I still work with them now - I had the opportunity to travel to Italy and Switzerland to sing for the heads of Gucci Timepieces and Jewellery, which was so amazing. It gave me the experience to be a more self-assured and confident musician, and encouraged me to just carry on taking the experiences I get offered.  
 
And my last question is a bit of a classic one - where do you see Holocene in five years' time?  
 
On a yacht! Just joking. Doing headline tours around the world and hopefully performing on Jools Holland and Graham Norton, those kinds of things. Even headlining Glastonbury! I’d love to go to America, too. I also definitely want to be writing for film and working on soundtracks, and to just continue collaborating with all the people I’m meeting along the way.