Scott Holiday is a child of the desert. A beach dweller these days, the Rival Sons guitarist grew up in sight of California’s Mariana mountain range, on the edge of the Mojave riverbed. Summers were spent exploring, taking psychedelics and absorbing otherworldly surroundings. It left clear marks on his musical vocabulary, captured now in his kaleidoscopic debut (under the solo guise of HOL1D4Y) Topology. It’s trippy but hooky. Think Pink Floyd via The Beatles at their weirdest, wrapped in a cinematic package and punctuated by the distinct, suave yet gnarly guitar tones crafted in his day job.
“My stepdad had these massive outdoor speakers, and we would listen to [Pink Floyd’s] Echoes while the full Moon came up over the mountains, the stars out,” he says. “So when I think of desert music, I think of Pink Floyd and cosmic music. Topology fits into that world.”
The first music I remember hearing
Some of the first music I took in was on TV shows. The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine I remember pretty deeply – very psychedelic cartoon, comical and light and far-out. And stuff from Sesame Street like the Pinball Number Count song – you’d be hard-pressed to find a funkier song than that.
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The first song I performed live
One of the first things I learned and performed in front of junior high kids was Rush’s Fly By Night. I think we were playing this song maybe without a singer, so I was covering multiple jobs. Around the same time, I got up with my cousin, who’s a great singer, and we did [Extreme’s] More Than Words at my uncle’s wedding – we nailed that one.
The guitar hero
Jeff Beck. There’s something elusive and visceral and raw and creative and beautiful about Jeff. Also Dave Gilmour, Django Reinhardt, and then you get into the jazz world and it’s Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell. Of course, Hendrix and Page. I like modern players too, like Nels Klein, Jonny Greenwood, and Ruban Nielsen from Unknown Mortal Orchestra – nobody ever talks about him.
The singer
If you were gonna force me, I would probably say Aretha Franklin is the ultimate voice, and David Bowie the ultimate character-singer voice.
The songwriter
I could get into the Leiber & Stollers, but as a writer, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, George, John and Paul, and their individual works. Joni Mitchell, Prince…
The greatest album of all time
The first that popped into my head is The Dark Side Of The Moon, and in that world I also think of [Hendrix’s] Axis: Bold As Love, Led Zeppelin IV. But in hip hop you might pick A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders, or in the jazz world John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, or Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis. And Bob Marley’s Babylon By Bus .
The best cover version
Donny Hathaway’s cover of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy, his 1972 live version. Generally I feel originals are better, but you’d have to be so Lennon-biased to hear those two and go: “The Lennon version’s better.” Donnie’s just feels more realised to the meaning of the song.
The best record I’ve made
Probably Topology, because it’s the only one that is mine [laughs]. With Rival Sons, Great Western Valkyrie sticks with me for some weird reason, and I think Feral Roots is the other one – we had a certain groove, and a way we were writing that felt really succinct on those two records.
The best live band
Queens Of The Stone Age. We did a summer with them and they’re hard to beat. Those guys pack a punch. Also Nine Inch Nails.
The most underrated band
Spoon, from Austin, Texas. I love that band. I feel like they’ve never made anything bad. When I’m making Rival Sons records or my own, just in the ethic and the quality control, I think of a band like Spoon. They are a benchmark in my head. Gimme Fiction is great, but they have no bad records – even their B-side demos.
My Saturday night party song
If I’m on the bus and we’re gonna rev it up, and I’ve got all the crew dudes, I have the ‘Roadie Friday’ playlist. The first song that jumps into my head is Van Halen’s Dance The Night Away. And the first five or six Van Halen records, just put them on random – you’re gonna start partying when you hear these songs.
The song that makes mr cry
Keith Richards, Hate It When You Leave. There’s something raw with Keith that I just feel like it speaks to me. Keith sings a love song in a way that I feel connected to. Also my partner in Rival Sons [Jay Buchanan]. He wrote a song called Feel Better, that’s deep. And I love Deep Swimming on his new record.
The song I want played at my funeral
I would want the people I love the most to play things to feel great, and feel love and feel joy. Like The Bar Kays’ Holy Ghost, which is one of the funkiest songs ever put to tape, and with the message of ‘dance and live until we can’t dance and live any longer’.
Topology is out now via Sacred Tongue/Thirty Tigers.
