Introducing The Hollywood Waltz…

If a DeLorean had a head on collision with a Tesla you would have The Hollywood Waltz. The vehicle for the songs of Matt Druery, The Hollywood Waltz debut their lead single There For You is out now. The band has been previewing the single and songs from their forthcoming mini album, next month at Frankies Pizza, Sydney. Matt answers a few questions about the band and their new single.

How has the build up been to the new single There For You?
We’ve been working on this song for quite a while now – I started writing it a few years back, and have been tinkering with it on and off over the last year or so. When we started thinking about what would be a good song to put out as our first single, we all thought this one was a great way to introduce the band and what we’re about, and hint at what’s to come. When we all agreed and locked it in, we did some finishing touches on the recording to give it one last polish, and now it’s out in the world!

What is the story behind the single?
Lyrically, it’s a pretty bittersweet and slightly sad concept – being in love & in a relationship with someone who is nowhere near as committed as you, but rather than walking away, you’re so infatuated that you’ll always be there for them no matter what they do. This song doesn’t come from 100% personal experience, but it’s probably a bit of an amalgamation of seeing a few people I know in their relationships and my own feelings. Combine that concept with 80s synths & Linn drums, and out comes “There For You”.

What has the fan response been like so far?
It seems that people really like this one! It’s only been out for a few weeks, so it’s still early days, but we’re really keen to play it live and see how the crowd reacts to it!

How would you compare it sonically to some of your other music?
We have a bit of a blurry crossover from everything between 70s-glam rock and 80s-synth pop, and this song is definitely more based in the latter, but I think that when people hear more of our music and see how we play live to tie it all together, it will all make sense what we’re doing. I sort of look at The Hollywood Waltz’ songs collectively as one big mixtape or greatest hits album – I’d never compare our songs to Prince or Bowie or Hall & Oates, but if you take a ‘best-of’ album by one of them, they can duck and weave through all of the styles of production through the years, make the best of the technology they have around them & have super different sounding records, but somehow all the songs seem to tie in together perfectly. That’s what we’re hoping we can achieve in our music.

Is the band building towards an album or EP?
We are! We’re actually working on two EP’s simultaneously at the moment that we’ll put out over the next year or so, but in the meantime, there are few more singles we’re planning on releasing over the next few months.

Does the music come before the lyrics?
For me, it changes every time. Most of the time I’d say it’s music first then lyrics, but it’s always different. One day I’ll have a chorus hook lyric or a verse of words which I take into the studio and try match to music, and the next day I’ll record a whole instrumental track and melody for a song with no words in my mind at all and have to write the words to match the feeling of the music. The miracle is when it all comes together and you start playing a chord progression and suddenly start singing words to a fully-formed melody, but those are very rare!

Who would you say is the biggest shared musical influence/ inspiration for The Hollywood Waltz?
For a whole bunch of reasons, I’d say Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry has been our biggest inspiration. It may not be very apparent, musically, from listening to There For You, but I think conceptually and aesthetically, we’ve looked to them a lot for inspiration, and personally, I find a lot of freedom, musically, in their motto of ‘anything goes’ and how they find great beauty and individuality in all of the weirdness!

How did the band meet?
Some of us have been friends from school for ten years, and some of us have only known each other for a couple years after meeting through playing with different bands and becoming friends.

What inspired the band name?
I love when bands make a reference to their influences in their name, and The Eagles have always been one my favourite bands for so many reasons, so I started going through their albums to see if anything might work for us. I stumble upon their song called Hollywood Waltz, and it instantly struck me as a powerful image and a memorable combination of words, and more importantly, words that would look good put together on a poster. The song is quite a deep cut, but it’s also one of my favourites of theirs, so it was a no-brainer as soon as I saw it.

What’s next for The Hollywood Waltz?
We have a couple more fun things planned around There For You that will come out over the next month or so. We’re also very excited to be playing a residency at Frankie’s Pizza By The Slice in Sydney throughout September – Thursday 15 and 22. We’re changing up the setlist at every gig for the residency, so come on down and see a couple shows! We have another single planned for sometime in October/ November, with more shows to follow after that, so we’re busy and ready to roll!

Interview By Rob Lyon

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