Holiday and the Adventure Pop Collective
HOLIDAY: Time off. Sometimes for reasons. Other times not.
ADVENTURE POP: A soundtrack guide for listener-tourists day-tripping through adventures in extreme optimism.
A sense of adventure is essential in any worthy creative endeavor, and it’s in abundant supply on Become, the new album by Holiday and the Adventure Pop Collective. The colorfully-monikered, San Diego-based ensemble has already won enthusiastic acclaim for its “Adventure Pop” sound, displayed on their indie releases and in stylish live performances. Now, the 13-song Become—on the enterprising combo’s own Adventure Pop label and distributed via Sony BMG—is set to introduce a national audience to their eclectic songcraft and ambitious creative vision.
Holiday and the Adventure Pop Collective is fronted by a two singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalists, Derric Oliver and Louis Caverly. On Become, the duo delivers a brace of tunes that combine a playful sense of experimentation with an unfailingly catchy melodic sensibility. Standout numbers like “Feel,” “40 Years,” “Out On A Limb” and the album’s title track feature a sun-drenched, countrified sound that whips an audacious assortment of stylistic elements into an impressively cohesive whole.
Oliver plays guitar, trumpet, tuba and piano, while Caverly is equally proficient on violin and keyboards. In the studio and on stage, the pair are augmented by a varied cast of seasoned musicians. Become features drummer Brian “Nucci” Cantrell, bassist James East, and guitarist Andy Powers, with others providing banjo, mandolin, accordion and additional string and wind instruments.
Holiday’s prior musical excursions have already won considerable praise from critics and fans around the country. The band’s hometown paper, SD City Beat, described Holiday’s vibe as “a vision of old-timey American cowboys drinking Starbucks, or the lonesome city slicker pacing the Old West in an Armani.” Meanwhile, noted rock critic Dave Marsh observed that their “intricate harmonic arrangements (and) clear appreciation of music in all forms from classical to cabaret to art-rock… make this instantly memorable music,” adding that their songs “get better with successive listens.”
Louis and Derric both grew up in San Diego enduring formal classical training while also absorbing a world of musical styles and genres. Despite having both grown up in the same town, they met 500 miles away while studying Entertainment Management at the University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music in Stockton, California, attending on music performance scholarships—Caverly for violin and piano; Oliver for tuba.
During college, Derric and Louis formed their first band, Phacehead, in which they began exploring many of the musical and lyrical ideas that would later form the basis of their “Adventure Pop” sound. After college, the boys moved the operation west to San Francisco and became The Formers.
Other interests and commitments temporarily led Oliver and Caverly in different directions, but their musical ambition continued to simmer. Even after Louis relocated to London, and Derric back to San Diego, Derric continued writing songs and cutting demos in his home studio, and actually handed the recordings off to Louis in an airport terminal as both were running to catch their respective flights. When Louis returned to San Diego in the summer of 2002, the duo decided that it was time to resume their musical partnership in earnest. They sat down over beers and decided that things were going to be different this time around. They spent the next year writing, recording and crafting their sound.
In the summer of 2003, Holiday and the Adventure Pop Collective released its debut album, GOOD (adventures in extreme optimism, vol. 1). They immediately followed GOOD with a trio of similarly well-received EPs: Start All Over Again, Wide Open: Sounds for A Country Road and Potential Is A Dangerous Thing, and all in 2003! They were working hard, and it wasn’t long before people started noticing. The track “Evel Knievel Can Fly,” from GOOD, was featured in a British TV documentary about the daredevil’s life. Meanwhile, “Annie Anymore,” from Start All Over Again, received national airplay on college radio as well as a handful of Top 40 stations.
In October 2004, Oliver and Caverly produced Becomewith Ben Moore at Big Fish studios in their home base of Encinitas, California. Striving for an organic, live sound, the album was recorded and mixed in 21 days on 24-track analog tape. They also collaborated with photographer and graphic designer Kevin Bishop on a video for “Out On A Limb,” which is featured on the enhanced portion of the album.
After releasing Become in April 2005, they began aligning themselves with other musicians to take on the road. They found a great spirit in bass player Takashi “Chi” Saito, who recently came to the states from Tokyo, Japan (and even more recently was abducted by a UFO); and beats provided by none other than television’s Michael Taylor Hahn. Together, they hit the road with vengeance; playing over 75 shows in 2005, with their sights set on 175 shows for 2006. With some impressive accomplishments already under their belt, Holiday and the Adventure Pop Collective is set to take their self-made success into exciting new territory. As music editor, Glen Starkey, from the New Times in San Luis Obispo, California puts it, they are “kickin’ ass and takin’ requests.”
“My lifelong dream has been to make a living playing music and doing things my way,” says Louis. “It was fate that Derric and I would blend our ideas to create a unique style of music, and we’re fortunate to have had the opportunity to develop the necessary skills to execute our vision.”
The boys have shared the stage with Raul Midon, Jessi Alexander, Kyler England, Yovee, Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, Merle Jagger, Dave Insley, Steve Poltz, Hacienda Brothers, Alex Woodard and Brian Karscig (Louis XIV). Louis and Derric have appeared on albums from Louis XIV, Alex Woodard, Yovee, and Transfer
