Making new music during the pandemic was never difficult for the Chicago retro rock and soul band Hollyy. Unlike other artists who took long breaks or lost their creative strides, the members of Hollyy said little changed for the five-piece band, at least in terms of their desire to create. In fact, things might have gotten a little bit better. The results of this can be heard on their new EP, “If You’re Ever Lost,” released earlier this month.
“We called it our pandemic baby,” said band member Tanner Bednar. “(There were) some songs that had been in the works for eight months to a year and a half.”
According to the group, elements of some of the songs began prior to the beginning of the pandemic, but were reconstructed as isolation and social restrictions were enforced with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The group utilized file sharing of demos online when they could not be in the same room together. And rather than fall to a sporadic rehearsal schedule, they mostly maintained their regular practices, albeit on Zoom instead of in person.
“It was just a total revamp of how we were doing things before because we were so used to being with each other at least three days per week,” Bednar said. Prior to the pandemic, the band practiced in band member Rocky’s basement. The space also includes a studio. “It was pretty cool how we put it all together.”
During this time, the song writing became interpersonal, focusing on dialogue the group was already having with each other. Their collaborative writing style, implemented right before the pandemic began, flourished under the creative restrictions of the last two years. The group described it not unlike “therapy” for the band and the strength of the songs speaks to that. “I think it was pretty natural,” band member Rafe Soto said.
When they did begin to work together in person, the group practiced in a garage, with each band member taking their own corner or part of the room, distanced from the others. As the pandemic raged on, the band bounced back and forth between in-person rehearsals and Zoom calls, making adjustments based on case numbers and severity of risk.
“We didn’t want to stop,” said Pete Giere, another group member. “I think if we had stopped, we would have driven ourselves crazy. I think definitely having a prior sense of, ”OK, this is what we’re working on,’ carried us into having a goal.”
When it was safe to do so, the band (which also includes musician Dom Zeier) even played a decent amount of shows, something that was a rarity for many other bands and artists around the city.
In addition to utilizing a new method of practice, Hollyy also experimented with how they recorded, incorporating new production techniques on the EP that elevated the sound. Part of that was their own instinct, but a great deal of it came from their work with famed music engineer Mark Needham, who the group worked with for the first time. Needham has worked with major groups like Fleetwood Mac, The Killers and Imagine Dragons, among others.
“I think we all just remember this one session we had with him online. He’s known as a mixing engineer that can really quickly put together some magic,” Bednar added. Over their hour-long session, Needham tweaked and added to their songs in a way that surprised and delighted the group.
“It was a lot of teasing over the years, not just for the band, but for everyone,” Tanner said. Band member Brandon Couture agreed, adding, “It’s kind of been a roller coaster for us. We’ve been lucky, even last year as numbers dropped and people started getting vaccinated, we kind of had to rework our process and it’s kind of been good. We were rebuilding our processes, getting better.”
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Britt Julious is a freelance critic.