Thee Hoolies

Having no lead singer, bassist, guitar player or drummer makes Thee Hoolies an interesting band. Comprised of Devon Floyd, Kevin Gustafson, Christopher Sleightholm and Matthew Palmier, the band functions as an egalitarian collective. “I think we got together because we all wrote songs and we all liked what each other wrote and thought it would be a neat way to put a band together,” said Gustafson.
Each member sings and rotates between playing the drums, guitar, bass and piano, with the occasional song calling for accordion or Dobro, a kind of resonator guitar. The talented young men also share in the songwriting and play each other’s songs.
“We all try and sing together because there’s something special about when there’s lots of people singing,” Floyd explained. “We are four people who are all writing songs but if we can play them and sing together then they’re our songs.”
With a blend of indie-folk/rock, Thee Hoolies produce a sound unlike most of the music being created in Regina today. “We’re different because there’s four of us and we change instruments numerous time. It seems to work,” guessed Palmier.
“Different but not better,” Floyd added modestly.
Having four singers and songwriters makes for a series of diverse songs. Songs like “Sunsets” has a mellow vibe, whereas “Armageddon” has the crowd singing and drinking along. “Down In Mexico Blues” has a bluesy/rock feel and “Blood On My Doorpost” is just good ol’ rock n’ roll.
Thee Hoolies gained fans and impressed audiences throughout each leg of their climb to the finals of the recent Last Band Standing competition at the Lazy Owl. Although they describe their music as depressing, the shows are high energy and Sleightholm notes, “It seems like people at our shows have fun.” It’s music to drink, dance and sometimes lament to.
Formerly dived across Western Canada, Thee Hollies recently reunited to make music. Now back in the same city, future plans include a possible Western tour in August and to record and release a homemade EP in the summer.
When it comes down to it, Thee Hoolies are all about the music and are a very “no gimmick and no frills” kind of band. “We play whatever instruments we can and try to make sweet music,” said Sleightholm in summation. The quartet is hardworking, and since a different might sing each song, they are never boring- not to mention dreamy.
Thee Hoolies will be playing at McNally’s Tavern on April 10 and at the Cathedral Village Arts Festival on May 24.

- The Carillon - University of Regina (April 3-9, 2008)

Thee Hoolies learned a thing or two from Sesame Street – namely, that it’s always best to share.
The four young men who make up the alt-country throwback group have lived all across Canada’s west. Devon Floyd and Kevin Gustafson both stuck around in Regina, while band mates Chris Sleightholm and Matthew Palmier resided in Calgary and Vancouver respectively. In the past while, though, the band has assembled in the Queen City, where they regularly play gigs.
Along with now having a city in common, group member all duties on vocals. They alternate from song to song, each also occasionally playing drum, keyboards, bass, guitar or resonating guitar depending on the occasion. The result is a rollicking hybrid of vintage rock, heartbroken folk and amped-up country.
Along with their upcoming headlining gig at McNally’s, they’ll be playing the Cathedral Arts Festival, followed by a run of summer action culminating in the recording of a self-produced CD.

- Prairie Dog (April 10-23, 2008)

It seems psych rock has once again stumbled hazily back to the forefront of the Canadian indie rock scene — but, unfortunately, not before the recent dissipation of Saskatoon giants Golden Smoke. Still, with their demise the mantle of psych scene supremacy in Saskatchewan is very much up for grabs — and it looks like Regina’s Thee Hoolies are leading the pack.

Although sonically the four-piece has more in common with Bob Dylan than Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Thee Hoolies offer plenty in the way of otherworldly instrumentation and slowly-drawled vocals to prove their psych-rock street cred.

Utilizing lap steels, accordions and whatever guitar happens to be laying about, the band makes deliciously drugged-out folk rock, rolling out acoustic gems that are gloriously rough in all the right spots. Interestingly enough, all members of Thee Hoolies share vocal duties – a fact that does much to keep their songs from becoming staid.

Although the band experienced a few growing pains and the usual pitfalls that haunt any touring band, Thee Hoolies are a refreshing alternative to the oft-boring, straight-sounding acoustic music passing as “rock” these days. - Planet S, Feb. 2009

September 20th will be a night of celebrations with the simultaneous CD releases of Going Steady, Rah Rah’s highly anticipated second release, and Thee Hoolies impressive self-titled and self-recorded debut.
After a summer of diverse experiences this show will certainly showcase a more mature side of both bands.
Recently I met a handful of Rah Rah and the whole of Thee Hoolies over cookies on a crisp fall day. Flannel and hoodies were donned by most as a sign of our impending winter. With as little interjecting as possible from the Carillon, the bands sat down and discussed the trials and tribulations of musicianship.

Samra Sahlu (Rah Rah): How many tracks are on your CD?
Devon Floyd (Thee Hoolies): Five, how many are on yours?
Sahlu: Twelve!
Floyd: That’s way more, did you record live?
Marshall Burns (Rah Rah): Oh no. It was over the course of eight months.
Floyd: Did that affect how it sounds?
Burns: Ya, it’s not as organic.
Floyd: Did you record your first EP live?
Burns: No but we recorded, mixed and mastered it in six days so there’s sort of a different energy to it.
Kevin Gustafson (Thee Hoolies): Are there any songs on the new album that you’re already playing around the city?
Sahlu: Ya, most of them. A couple that we forgot how to play so we don’t play them anymore. We’re going to have to relearn them.
Burns: We have a slow song writing process. A couple of them are rerecorded tracks from the first one and we’re giving them a proper release. How did you guys do yours?
Floyd: We recorded in Chris’ basement and bought some drum mics. We would record everything at the same time to start off and then put in vocals after.
Burns: How long did that take?
Matthew Palmier (Thee Hoolies): Well we weren’t really planning on doing the five songs, it just kind of came together. It didn’t take very long and most of them were our first take and then we would maybe do a couple of overdubs and mostly those were our first take too. It came together pretty quickly, maybe a month.
The Carillon: So along with the completion of both your CDs, you both did some touring this summer…
Burns: How many shows did you play?
Floyd: Just five, Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna and two in Vancouver. We lost a van… well we sold a van to a junkyard.
TC: Was it a stressful experience when the van broke down?
Palmier: I think I aged five years over that experience.
Christopher Sleightholm (Thee Hoolies): We’d been up all night and then it broke down in the morning in Chilliwack.
Palmier: But it was the funnest time of my life. It was enjoyable even though a lot of shit happened.
Sahlu: When we went in February we were really lucky because we got to go with a couple other Regina bands, Geronimo and National Frost, and it was just this moving party for a few days, so that was kind of cool. How did you guys plan your tour?
Palmier: I probably called a hundred places and got five shows.
Sahlu: Well that’s a pretty good rate.
Burns: Well ya if they don’t know who you are it’s pretty tough.
Palmier: Ya, they would be like, “who? Three hoodies?”
Burns: This summer we played a show in Estevan which was really funny.
Floyd: Where did you play?
Sahlu: At the Leisure center. It had a pool, a rink and a library. We played in a gym with The Glory Holes.
Burns: One of the best bands I’ve ever seen.
Sahlu: They did an acoustic cover of “Paper Planes” and made the bullet and cash register sounds with their mouths. We’ve had some interesting experiences.
Burns: Ya, my body is just not made for the road diet.
Palmier: Oh ya, that was awful.
Floyd: We all threw up on separate occasions. I ate a bag of cheesies every day for eight days straight.

The rest of the conversation became a series of incomprehensible mumbles about doughnut addictions, bowl movements and the unpleasantries of touring. The bands learned a little more about each other and in turn we learn more about them.
Both CDs will be available for purchase September 20th at The Exchange.
- The Carillon (Sept 2008)

Regina Folkers Thee Hoolies went out on their first tour this summer. Too bad for them, their fan wasn't able to make it back with them and stayed in Chilliwack. "It's pretty amazing," says Devon Floyd. "We made it through the mountains and just died there for some reason."
There, the band was treated to a somewhat prophetic site.
"An eagle flew up with this huge salmon and dropped it in the middle of the highway. He just lay there for a little while until one car came speeding by and just smashed it. Just pink everywhere," he says.
A broken van, busted Volkswagen Jetta and two knives from parents later, the band is back in Regina after playing all their shows. Despite this string on the road troubles, please remain calm and collected.
In fact, they're positively gentlemanly. Perhaps that’s because the four members met at a Christian youth group. “We used to lay hands on each other,” says Floyd.
As they got older, they moved away from one another – Floyd and Kevin Gustafson to Regina, Matt Palmier to Vancouver and Chris Sleightholm to Calgary.
“We used to just jam and play other people’s songs,” says Sleightholm. “Then we all moved away and started writing our own. We’d write songs and send them to each other. We really started liking each other’s stuff.”
They got the idea into their heads that they should form a band. In each city they lived in, they began to perform as Thee Hoolies to get their name while deciding which town to settle in. Eventually, they all found themselves in Regina. “Nice long winters,” says Floyd of what brought them to the Queen City. “Keeps you inside, out of trouble.”
As a group, no one person can claim the title “frontman.” All four Hoolies share vocal duties – along with bass, electric and acoustic guitars, keyboard and harmonica – from song to song.
“We’re all pretty limited on our instrument abilities – we give the song only what it needs and not much more than that, usually. We play every instrument like a guitar,” says Sleightholm.
This approach gives the band a divergent sound depending on the line-up of musicians deployed. Nothing shows this more than the self-titled EP, which will be celebrated at the upcoming double album release with Rah Rah. From barn-burner “(Baby, You’re The) Blood On My Doorpost” to the sweet and pretty “Bones” to the dark folk-rock tune “Crime” all the way down to the lyrically-impressive “Sunsets” and the rousing closing classic “Leavin’,” the EP is a diverse collection of songs.
Impressively, the EP was recorded and mixed by the band themselves. Most time, basement studio work yields crappy recordings destined for MySpace Hell. Thee Hoolies, however, managed to pull it off.
“It was fluke, really,” says Palmier. “We were going to record a bunch of songs but then we figures we were running out of time. We just looked at the songs we had almost completed and it fit. It worked out perfectly.”
When you have four fine fellows working on an album, that doesn’t hurt either. Having an extra hand in the recording process isn’t the only bonus to having this many truly involved – if one can’t sing one night, someone else can sub.
Floyd describes one such occasion.
“One of the guys just ate something they shouldn’t have,” says Floyd. “They thought they could eat it for breakfast and they ended up not eating it till two in the afternoon.
“Then, we found him looking at men’s fitness magazines, talking about how every single Bob Dylan was the best song ever.”
All in a day’s work for a band on a mission.

- Prairie Dog (Sept. 11-24, 2008)

"On both the inside and outside cover we see a surreal collage in which a diversity of human and animals is pictured. Life is weird, so much is clear. We find this also in the music of this Canadian band 'Thee Hoolies'. The band was formed exactly one year ago (January 2008) and consists of 4 gentlemen who all act as songwriter, musician and producer on this debut EP. The EP consists of 5 songs, a 23 minute long introduction which was simply delightful. Remarkable that a 'new' band can make such a well [composed] first album. The compositions surprised us by their intrinsic beauty and maturity. We heard (amongst other instruments) lap steels, drums, guitars and even an accordion which makes us remember the captivating music of The Band, The Doors, The Jayhawks, The Triffids, the acoustic Beck or even Fleet Foxes. The band is influenced by much more. On their MySpace page they name as their most important influences: ‘Hula Hoops, Rainy Days & Cold Winters’. Songs, with titles such as ‘Crime…’, ‘Bones’, ‘Sunsets’, ‘(Baby You’re The) Blood On My Doorpost’ and ‘Leavin,'’’ possess the enchanting captivation of musical times long past, but are, like in the best surreal tradition, at the same time original and contemporary. The psychedelic-folk of Thee Hoolies is, in our opinion, perhaps most comparable with an irresistible drug, a bit more addicting after each 'use'. The band toured the west of Canada last summer and plans a full length CD for the summer of 2009. We can hardly wait. Thee Hoolies are the first big discovery of the year." Translated to English from Dutch website www.rootstime.be - www.rootstime.be, Feb. 2009