Interview: HOLY FAWN — Rock In:flux

HOLY FAWN is a Phoenix-based rock band that has been creating a solid reputation in the world of rock music. Starting with the release of their EP, Realms, in 2015 the band continued to work on writing new music and touring. Their new album, Death Spells, appeared on Stereogum’s 50 best albums of 2018. HOLY FAWN is a band to watch moving into 2019, with a spring tour currently being scheduled.

We had the opportunity to talk with Ryan Osterman about Death Spells, their recording process, and what’s next for HOLY FAWN. Check it out below.

1. Thanks for sitting down to answer some questions for us! Let's get started with the typical first interview question - how did you guys form and get started? How long have you been playing together?

HOLY FAWN kind of formed a bit as a happy accident around 3 years ago. I was working with Evan & Alex at the time and after a bit of persistence both of them invited me over to just play some instrumental/improv music together. I don't know why I was a little apprehensive, I think I worked on my own for so many years and my previous long-term band was kind of fizzling out so I was just in a weird place. Anyways, I ended up going over there and Evan was living with Austin at the time and he jumped on drums and it was just a very therapeutic kind of moment. We probably played for 3-4 hours straight the first few times, setting up room mics with the limited equipment we had at the time just to document what we were doing but it became kind of a weekly ritual and something we looked forward to at the end of the week. During this time I was writing what would eventually become our first release, "Realms" so I showed them some of my recordings and they said if we ever wanted to bring those to a full band setting, they'd be happy to learn the parts. It all kind of snowballed from there but very organically and in it's own way.

2. Holy Fawn has come a long way since your release of the EP, Realms, to your new album, Death Spells. Can you tell me how the recording and songwriting process was different for each of those?

Well for Realms, I was just kind of alone in my apartment at the time and tracking ideas for either my previous project or something new. I didn't really know yet. I just knew I wanted it to be a lot more darker and ethereal. I started recording demos of newer songs, similar to how I did with Realms, but I'd left a little bit more of the instrumentation open if I could and we kind of let the songs open up a lot more. The biggest thing for me at least, with Death Spells was that I was kind of having to tear down these mental walls inside of me cause I was so used to working alone, recording alone, etc, that I can probably be a bit more neurotic and controlling than I should be. We recorded the album ourselves and I know I probably nitpicked every second of the album to the nth degree. The guys were very patient with me but also kind of helped keep things in check so that this can be a more collaborative effort. In the end, I think it was worth a lot of the kind of mental anguish and sleep loss and stressing out. We all learned how to be better friends, bandmates, and musicians, and I think we learned how to operate more as a whole unit rather than separate parts.

3. Your music combines ethereal, dreamy moments with heavy, searing surprises, ultimately creating one loud, wall of sound. Do you deliberately place these different pieces within certain areas of a song? Or does it just sort of come naturally through the writing process. It feels like your purposefully trying to convey certain emotions with the placement of each, but sometimes those naturally occur.

I'm not sure if anything is specifically deliberate to be honest with you, sometimes it just feels like that's the natural placement for each part to me. We do have choruses occasionally in songs, but I think we kind of thrive on a lack of structure in the traditional sense at least. I'd rather there just be parts in a song that need to be there rather than obligated repetition or whatnot. They do convey kind of abstract emotions though. Writing Death Spells was a really complex and difficult time for me mentally and emotionally and I think that some of those songs there are parts that exist as almost bookmarks to how I was feeling. Some soft or dull sounding roar or a visceral abrasive wall that drops off as soon as it surfaced. They do exist for a reason, but I think they all came out naturally.

4. The song "Yawning" from your new album, Death Spells, is a perfect example of that to me. It starts out as a post-punk song and then seamlessly switches gears to catchy radio-friendly rock song by the 2 minute mark. It's pretty impressive in its execution.

It's funny that you bring that song up, I fought tooth and nail to not have that be on the record but the guys and Kris & Jose at Whelmed Records broke me down over the couple years we recorded the album. I do like that song, I was just weary if it would fit in the spectrum of Death Spells but I feel like it really does hold its place in the record. I don't think any of us want to release the same album twice. With how varying all of our influences are I like that we have the ability to do everything from post rock, post punk, doomgaze, ambient, etc. I never want to pigeon-hole ourselves as JUST a post rock band, or JUST shoegaze yadada, you know what I mean? This is just HF, always some variation of loud heavy pretty noises.

5. The songs "Arrows" and "Drag Me Into The Woods" are two other impressive songs. Showcasing the pretty, yet heavy wall of sound Holy Fawn has become known for. You've done music videos for both of these as well. Can you tell me about the process for creating these videos and why you chose these two songs?

Thanks! Matt Cardinal (@bird_sounds) shot both of those and completely nailed the atmosphere we were aiming for. Arrows was filmed at my old house and we kind of came up with a loose story to shoot and got to work, for “Drag Me Into The Woods,” we wanted to kind of elaborate on the initial story of “Arrows” and so all of us got together and kind of storyboarded an idea, combining a lot of our varying stories into what eventually came to be the final video. Those two songs we felt kind of could capture what this new record was going to embody, (especially to someone who maybe had never heard of us and stumbled across us for the first time) without giving too much away.

6. Do you have any more videos planned?

We do, it'll be a part 3 to the sequence we've established so far but it's still being storyboarded so I can't really delve much more into it at this time.

7. What's the audience response been like for you guys? Especially when playing in front of people for the first time. I remember when I first saw you live, there were some unexpected moments when hearing your music for the first time, which I loved.

It's honestly been incredibly overwhelming, in a good way of course. I know we all worked super hard and poured everything we possibly could into this album, so when we finished we were all happy with the product, but I didn't think it would reach this far. It's been a lot of our friends in other bands kind of helping spread the word around about it and we're so incredibly thankful to have that kind of support from them and a ton of other bands we really look up to like Tides of Man, This Patch of Sky, etc.. It even got some s/o from Thrice, Lamb of God, and Cloudkicker which was absolutely surreal. We haven't played a lot since the initial release show but I heard some people singing parts back to us and I kind of could not believe that was happening. It seriously warms my heart. Being able to perform the songs we labored over for so long is such a release and being able to share those moments with anyone else that's interested is such a gift. I'm thankful every day to be able to do this with these guys and to have people listen.

8. Do you have a favorite song to play live? Or one that you think has had the most impact on live audiences?

Although we've only played it live like once? I think “Seer” is probably our favorite. We were champing at the bit to play that for nearly a year and a half prior to the release show. It's just moving for me and the washy second moment and the final ending are some of my favorites. It seems like people enjoy “Arrows” too for that kind of doomy/yelly ending? I'm not sure, it's always super dark up there but there's kind of an energy you can feel.

9. What's the Phoenix music scene been like for you guys? I know it can be tough for some bands to break into, but you've played some great venues here.

Phoenix will always be our home and heart. The scene is one of the most eclectic and accepting ones I've ever known and I'm lucky to have been able to grow up in it and see it evolve. Some of my friends are super successful heavy-hitters out here (ie Sundressed, Jared & The Mill, Playboy Manbaby) and it's just awesome to see your pals thrive and I think everyone does a really great job of cheering each other on from whatever capacity they can, be it via social media or showing up and packing the venue. All of the venues we've been able to play (The Rebel Lounge, Crescent Ballroom, Valley Bar, etc) are incredible, I don't know how we really lucked out by being able to play there frequently but it's really a gift and everyone that makes those shows happen and works there rule.

10. What's next for Holy Fawn?

I'm working on booking the last stretch of our Spring tour for 2019 currently as well as some one-off shows and so far it's looking really great. I think our goal for next year is to get this album into the hands of everyone we can and travel as much as possible while continuing to write. We've always been kind of along for the ride so we'll see what's up ahead.

Songs to check out:
”Arrows”
”Yawning”
”Drag Me Into The Woods”