Indie Spotlight: Holly & Evan

Riffraf's Indie Spotlight is our attempt to shed some light on indie artists around the world who have been creating music, recording and touring without the support of a label or major financial backing. Chapman, Jay Leibowitz, Jem Warren, The Active Set, Joanne Weaver, Boiled in Lead and Birdeatsbaby are just a few of the indie artists who have been featured in the "Spotlight."

Today, we'd like to introduce you to Holly & Evan.

Singer-songwriter-guitarist Holly Taormina and singer-songwriter-bassist Evan Conway met three years ago at an open mic and have been working together ever since, presenting their unique blend of traditional and original blues and roots based acoustic songs throughout the Capital Region.

It's time for the blues duo to spread their wings.

What are some of your influences, musical or otherwise?

Holly & Evan: Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Cream, Skip James, The Beatles, James Jamerson, Paul Chambers, Charles Mingus, Eldee Young, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Ramsey Lewis Trio....

What do you find appealing about the Blues?

Evan: The Blues is the music of the people. It has been around for many years, and will always be in one form or another, because it is based in human emotion of the rawest form. To us it is the only way to go, because it allows us to express sadness or heartbreak in a more meaningful way, and it is very therapeutic to get out our aggressions in songs too.

How does the songwriting function? Is it a collaboration?

Holly & Evan: The majority of the songwriting is done by Holly, both lyrics and music, but Evan helps put it all together or suggest different ideas as necessary.

What has been your favorite gig?

Holly & Evan: Our favorite gig was the Capital Region Blues Network Showdown at The Linda WAMC Performing Arts Studio in Albany, New York. It’s a pretty big hall with an amazing sound crew, and it was FULL of music fans. Every single one of them was engaged in the performance, and even though we lost a tie for the first place spot, it was still a wonderful experience. A good show for us is the combination of playing well, sounding good, and having an appreciative audience. We can certainly live with that.

What has been your least favorite gig?

Holly & Evan: Every band has a comical “least favorite” gig story, and we are no exception. To date, our best “least favorite” gig would have to be the one we performed for the Amsterdam Wrestling Hall of Fame. Imagine, if you will, a dumpy hotel bar with a plethora of loud old men, obnoxiously drunk and shouting the news at one another. Add to it a choice between last year’s skunky Yuenglings and three different liquors. And finally, add in about a dozen no name wrestlers from 30 years ago, reliving their glory days, in full costume and regalia, to steal any last bit of attention we may have had. It was a real WWF moment in our lives, and we “wrestled” with it for a long time.

What's the music scene like in Albany?

Holly & Evan: Albany has a fairly diverse music scene, with a lot of great people (generally older musicians) who will do everything they can to help newer/younger musicians.

What's next musically?

Holly & Evan: Lately we’ve been working on our new songs, and recording them. Holly writes A LOT of songs, so there is a lot of work, but so is organizing the songs for multiple players. We haven’t put out an official CD yet, but we will be doing that very soon. It took quite a bit of time, but all the songs will be well rehearsed when it comes time to record.