Holy Hail

Location: New York, NY

Bio: Fusing pop, hip hop, new-wave, and electro with an occasional country twang, Holy Hail creates one rollicking dance party. But don’t mistake them for your ... (more) average dance band: a good portion of these tracks is strewn with political undertones. The album opener tackles the Iraq war and at album close, the south’s big catastrophe Hurricane Katrina. In the middle, references are made to the environment, wire tapping, and the American-Indian genocide. It’s not heavy handed; most unsuspecting audiences find themselves dancing along unawares to the politically charged lyrical content. And mixing in tracks with more lighthearted themes like Las Vegas and NYC, their always upbeat dance-rock covers both the promises of America, as well as its sprawling dark side.

The Holy Hail story starts with Cat Hartwell. Originally from the south, she fled to NYC as soon as she could to DJ where eventually, she met Bronx born union rep Kevin Cooke at a 4th of July BBQ. Maybe it was the festivities or just all the beer, but they decided to form an Americana dance project -- with a twist. Holy Hail would put lyrically potency back into pop music.

But every good dance band needs a killer bassist. Enter Michally Kaye, a first generation American of Indian- Croatian descent and daughter of a Pentecostal preacher raised Jewish in Minneapolis. After a phone call from Cat, and without even having heard a song, Michally made a leap of faith and rather big move back to NYC to join.

Things continued to come together smoothly - with their second ever show opening for The Gossip. By their seventh, they were playing Rory Phillips’ Trash Club in London. Upon returning home, Holy Hail discovered that NYC’s pre- eminent dance punks The Rapture were fans and invited them to open some shows.

In 2007, the band got their first UK and US releases, in the form of dual vinyl EPs, which were well received here and abroad and set out on massive European tours in support. With the release of this album, Holy Hail is ready for their first tour of the US heartland.

The bands’ collective influences include Nas, The Fall, The Band, Gang of Four and southern literature. Holy Hail might be best described as mixing the political activism of Neil Young, the southerness of Leadbelly, the aesthetic of ESG, with the pop sensibility of the Tom Tom Club.

The bulk of the album was recorded and mixed by Eric Emm at Brothers Studio with Nicholas Vernhes of Rare Book Room and Alexander Posell, who plays drums for the band, producing a few tracks. While the live set doesn’t include a guitar, Michally and Cat contributed guitars on the record.
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