Freya Hollick, On The Rocks
“Scotch on the rocks, it’s a deep burn!”
Melbourne (via Ballarat) chanteuse Freya Hollick is sipping the brown liquor between quick darts around the room and bursts of vocal energy. She sits like a hummingbird caught in a web; unable to fully expend her energetic side in this quiet city bar. Freya is another of Melbourne’s dazzling secrets; since the limelight is usually reserved for metrosexual indie rockers and burgeoners of bore, more interesting and creative of musical types are fit to create their own following. Freya has done this both with her solo endeavours (an otherworldly sound fixed with dreamy, spidery guitar and the occasional ukulele) and fronting improv-psych-rock band ANTS. A pixie in an op-shop dress, I find out a little more about her influences, amongst other things...
“Magnetic Fields! (Laughs) Well, I really love Syd Barrett’s lyrics, they’ve influenced me a lot in how I write, they’re sort of nonsensical but you can tell it’s him talking about something serious to do with himself, I dunno if you can tell that but I always feel that way when I listen to his music. It’s sort of pained and full of expression. I don’t cry all that often but I cried when I found out he’d died”
Freya states that “The ultimate way to pay homage to those you admire is to sound nothing like them” which, considering her intriguing, beguiling sound, is a win in such an endeavour. “I was 16 and a half when I started playing guitar, lessons weren’t really my thing because it was all so structured. The guitar is such an interesting instrument; it’s like an extension of your body”
“I’m experimenting with a lot of things at the moment and planning on incorporating them into my solo stuff, but I guess the one thing for me that I really enjoy about making music would have to be writing the lyrics. It doesn’t always take very long, I guess the best songs are the ones you write all at once, and don’t work on it too much. There are some musicians whose music is so calculated that you can’t really find what it was meant to be...it’s almost like they’re trying to find words, flipping through dictionaries...” Freya states frankly, clinking the ice in her glass in thought. “I hate people that are completely faking it. There are genres I don’t like and such, but I can respect people who do their thing well...it’s just....wankers shit me (laughs)”. I chuckle over my own drink because, well, they shit me too.
Once a giggle fit and the odd cockney accent (a fellow Mighty Boosh fan I have found!) has passed, I ask Freya what she loves about making music; “The one thing that really gets me going about playing music is, not necessarily gigs, but when you sit in a room and you’ve written a song and...when you know it’s exactly right, it is a really amazing feeling. It’s great to meet people at gigs who are into the same music as you, it’s not about money or being famous, it’s about people enjoying what you do”
Although not a wholly unknown name, Freya is yet to grace the larger stages of Melbourne’s musical society; but is that a plan? “I really enjoy playing smaller venues, it’s so intimate, like playing in your bedroom and people actually pay attention. I know people still would if you played somewhere bigger, but I enjoy playing in a venue where people aren’t there to get drunk, they’re there to experience the music”
Having just completed a rather expansive list of Melbourne musical acts for whom to keep an eye out, I quiz Freya if she has any suggestions: “There’s a guy called Jeremy, he plays in the Priory Dolls, I’ve only seen him play once but his solo stuff is great. Frances Plagne is amazing, I thought he was a geezer from way back but he’s a local guy. I can’t go past Conway Savage, he is always gonna be a favourite, I saw him at Pure Pop [Records] a few weeks ago, he’s so startlingly honest. I love going to Make It Up Club [Improv musical extravaganza, Tuesday nights Bar Open in Melbourne], there’s some really brilliant musicians there” Freya tells, before draining her glass and chinking the ice around in her mouth and over her teeth. “ I’ve been getting right into doo-wop, like Sister Act” she claims, with a silly smile coming over her bright face.
“So you like Whoopi Goldberg?” I query (the notion being almost foreign in my mind)
“Nah. I mean, she goes alright....haven’t met her, can’t really say whether I love the chick or not just yet” she states, mock-posh.
After yet more useless conversation about Sister Act Two versus it’s previous incarnation, Freya tells me how the dynamics work in ANTS; “We all get along really well; it’s a sweet little thing to be a part of. Like hanging out with your best friends....with instruments!”
So where to from here, the eternal question. Playing with the flame of a candle, Freya declares, “I just really wanna play a whole lot of gigs and have people who come to them ...it does help (laughs)”
“In terms of releases, I’m gonna sit in my room with my microphone plugged into a tape recorder and record everything I’ve done...then I’ll sell them at gigs, like a lucky dip”. Before heading to the upstairs of the bar, where mulled wine calls [I had never tried it before; I shall never again. It smelled divine, but that was as far as the affair went], I have to ask Freya my ever- present question: if fruit lived in a society, which would be king?
After a surprisingly staid time of thought to ponder to query, Freya laughs genially and declares; “The pineapple, cos it’s spiky but sweet. Plus it has a fucking sweet hairdo”
Freya Hollick plays:
25 Sep- Karova Lounge (Ballarat, Victoria)
4 Oct- Irene Warehouse (Brunscwick, Melbourne)
20 Oct- Old Bar (Fitzroy, Melbourne)
29 Oct- Wesley Anne (Northcote, Melbourne)
