Holding Absence: The Greatest Festival Of My Life

Imagine releasing an album, crashing the UK album chart’s Top 100, and playing the first festival in the UK in nearly two years in the space of three months? Whilst it’s just a pipe dream for most, Cardiff’s rising stars HOLDING ABSENCE can proudly say it’s their reality. So, as guitarist Scott Carey stands backstage at Download Festival 2022 – the first Download proper in three years – what was it like being a part of 2021’s Download Pilot?

“It was absolutely amazing, like the Pilot was a really special one,” Scott beams with pride. “Obviously it was our first show back after the pandemic, so that was a really special show and luckily like people turned up to watch us, which is always really nice.”

Their set at the Pilot on its second stage just before SLEEP TOKEN felt like the opening ceremony to the era of The Greatest Mistake Of My Life. Whilst that only held 20,000 people, how do they feel closing out that era at a full-scale Download? “This year is up there at the same level, I’ll remember it for the rest of my life because it’s my first full Download with the band.”

Before they could make it back to Donington Park 365 days later, they had the small task of touring the world twice over. Considering they put an album out at the height of a global pandemic, that’s a little bit nuts – and the stuff of dreams, no less? “Since we put out The Greatest Mistake Of My Life, it’s just been crazy, like especially putting out an album during a pandemic, we didn’t expect to skyrocket as much as we have. The Download Pilot really kicked off a year for us where we’ve been to America, we’ve been to Australia, and we’ve done headlining tours and huge supports in the UK and we’re still going now, we haven’t really stopped which is a dream come true”.

You’re forgiven for living vicariously through Scott, – joined by vocalist Lucas Woodland, drummer Ashley Green, and bassist Benjamin Elliott -, but at the end of the day, it’s all they’ve ever wanted to do. Some of us wanted to be doctors or police officers; HOLDING ABSENCE wanted to be rockstars – and they still do. “I wanted to do this since I was 10 years old, like the fact I’m here now, I don’t ever want to take a second of it for granted” Scott continues to beam, his smile never fading. Whilst they’ve taken their time climbing festival stages the world over, they’re still young – doesn’t the pressure put on them by being a hyped-up band ever weigh on them? “No man, purely because we all really love what we do, and the day that we stop loving it will be the day we don’t do it anymore” he insists. “We’re all so passionate about what we do, and that includes getting up there every night and playing a show no matter how tired you are, no matter how aching you are from the night before. – doing this every night is a benefit not many people get to experience, it’s unreal.”

So whilst The Greatest Mistake Of My Life has taken them around the world and led them back to Download where that album’s journey really began, it’s also where the seeds of HOLDING ABSENCE were sewn so early on. And it’s putting everything into perspective. “The funny story is that me and Lucas used to be in a band [FALLING WITH STYLE] when we were like 15/16, and we won a competition to play Download in 2013 on the Red Bull Bedroom Jam stage, which was the smallest stage – so to do that nearly 10 years ago and then to be here now in a really good spot on the Avalanche Stage, it literally is a dream come true.”

Whilst they spend their day out at Download catching up with their friends in CREEPER, FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, and LOATHE, as well as catch legends like DEFTONES and IRON MAIDEN, they packed out the Avalanche Stage with a career-defining performance. So, what happens next? Well, they’re about to release a split EP – their second following 2018’s This Is As One collaboration with LOATHE – with their labelmates ALPHA WOLF. Titled The Lost & The Longing, they arrived at Download with it’s first single – Aching Longing. But hang on, how did this all come about?

“So we’re on the same label first and foremost, so it was an easy connection but we just happened to make friends with them about two years ago – we did a festival and were sharing a dressing room and stayed in touch ever since” he says, setting the scene. “When we looked at this idea of putting new music out, it was like who can we get in collaboration with that’s gonna be kind of complimentary but also quite far away from us in terms of sound. They were really keen because they’re in the same position as us where they put out an album in lockdown, so we were both looking to release new music this year so why don’t we all just do this cool thing together.”

Whilst The Lost & The Longing isn’t in our eardrums just yet – it’ll arrive August 15th via SharpTone Records – it’s certainly something cool to look forward to. But with so many bands staying away from split’s, is it a risk to follow-up The Greatest Mistake Of My Life with one? “I think people have been really taken aback by it, because not many bands do split EPs anymore but it’s such a cool concept, like two different bands writing songs and putting them all together – it’s such a cool thing more bands should do.”

And with any kind of new music, especially the kind that follows an album as critically acclaimed as The Greatest Mistake Of My Life, the possibility of a full-length follow-up and the pressure that holds will always linger – so how’s that making HOLDING ABSENCE feel? “You know what, there was a lot of pressure. After we put out The Greatest Mistake Of My Life and it went down so well, and we were like ‘okay, let’s start writing again,’ there was this pressure of ‘oh my god, how are we going to top that? How are we going to do better?’” he admits, pausing to think before adding. “But since we’ve been touring more and having some time off to listen to different music and get life experiences while travelling, we’ve all come home really excited to move forward and that pressure seems to have dissipated now because we’re all so confident in ourselves.”

Whilst it’s all ‘mom’s the word’ on anything concrete right now, there are some spoilers to share on what it might sound like. “We definitely have some heavier songs written, but we also have some songs that sound like THE KILLERS.” If you’ve raised your left or right eyebrow right now, don’t be alarmed. It’s something HOLDING ABSENCE hold close to their heart – the ability to hop between different sounds like bunnies at Easter.

“I think that’s a really important part of this band, we straddle that line of having heavy songs and having radio rock songs. I don’t think going in one direction is ever going to be a smart move for us, I always just want to write whatever sounds cool and whatever happens, happens. I don’t ever want to be like ‘this album is the heavy album’ and ‘this album is the sell-out pop album’ – I just want to write cool songs and hopefully they go down well.”

For more information on HOLDING ABSENCE like their official page on Facebook.