News: Sad tidings as HOLY HOLY announce hiatus and expansive Australian hiatus tour.

In very sad news the highly talented duo HOLY HOLY today have announced they are going on a hiatus, with an extended guest-filled Australian tour as a farewell. After more than a decade, five albums, and countless shows across Australia and beyond, the duo — comprising producer and composer Oscar Dawson and songwriter and lyricist Timothy Carroll—have decided to take a rest.

Carroll says of the decision:

Being in HOLY HOLY has been one of the greatest honours of my life. The memories we made and the songs we wrote will stay with me forever. I’m so grateful to our team, our collaborators and most of all our audience for how much they have given us. Next year, I’m moving to Sweden for a couple of years, and Oscar is living in London, so now feels like a good time to step away and work on other projects.

We’d like to give a special shout-out to Ryan Strathie, our incredible drummer and long-time collaborator, and Graham Ritchie, our bass player and spirit guide, two of the most talented musicians we’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with and two of the most gracious and lovely people too. It’s been such a privilege working with them both.

This is tumultuous news for one of the region’s most exciting and dynamic bands – both on record and live as reviewed by our writers here at Backseat Downunder on multiple occasions (here, here, here and here). In my interview with Carroll way back in 2021, he said of the band:

We’ve got such strong kind of sense of the style we like – what we bring melodically to the music has such a flavour or character to it that I feel really comfortable trying different things and knowing that ultimately it will still sound like us. I don’t think there is any risk of someone saying this does not sound like Holy Holy. It’s just playing with different kind of parameters of what the project can be.

A sad loss to the industry.

HOLY HOLY leave us with a catalogue of five iconic albums, a double platinum single, one platinum and four gold singles, and over 150 million streams on Spotify alone. Known for their deep, idea-dense songwriting, ever-evolving sound, and penchant for working with collaborators and guests, HOLY HOLY will play one final series of shows around the country before calling it a day for now.

Dawson says:

We’ve booked a run of shows at some of our favourite venues across the country and we can’t wait to share these songs with our fans one more time. We’ve always loved playing live, hanging out with the support bands, and meeting the crowd after the shows to hear their stories. This is going to be a special run. The hardest part will be picking the setlist.

For this hiatus tour, HOLY HOLY promises a setlist featuring songs spanning over a decade of their work, along with a lineup of special guests. Over the years, the duo has shared the stage and collaborated in the studio with notable artists such as Sumner, Queen P, Kwame, and Clews. The band says:

We have always loved writing and performing with other artists; sharing a song with someone creates a special kind of bond, and when you get up on stage and perform together, you become like family. So we’ll be hitting up our contact lists and seeing who we can convince to come down and party with us.

But is this the end forever? The band says:

For now, having a break and getting lost in other projects is what feels right. We’re not sure what comes next, but we’ll always love the times we had in HOLY HOLY.

One thing is for sure: they will be sorely missed.