Holly was born in the town of Mazomanie, Wisconsin. Music definitely had a strong presence in Holly's childhood due to the fact that her mom, Candace Kreitlow, is an accomplished musician and recording artist. The only question was, when would she follow in her mom's footsteps? The answer came right away in a trial by fire. At six years of age, Holly was asked to perform on the stage by her mom. She used the songs she had seen her mom perform with her folk bands. The experience was so overwhelming that then and there, Holly decided to become a performer. And with her mom, they formed the duo Generations.

Piano was amongst the first musical instruments that Holly learned to play. She had her first piano recital at age seven, where she played an original piece. From then on, the piano became an essential tool for her songwriting. Holly's affinity for music allowed her to zoom past the novice stage to become a recording artist in just a few years. Holly and her mom, under their group Generations, started independently releasing albums, namely: Dream Maker (1996), Lift Me (1998) and Millennial Child/Waiting For You (2002).

Sensing that schooling wasn't going to help her achieve the goals she had in mind, Holly dropped out of high school and moved to Los Angeles. In hot pursuit of a musical career, Holly met with producer/songwriter Jonathan Ingoldsby and started a writing session. Armed with plenty of original material and undeniable talent, Holly got signed under Linkin Park's (yes, as in, the popular mainstream rock band Linkin Park) label, Machine Shop/Warner Brothers. The signal lights went green and they started work for an EP. But before they were able to complete it, an unexpected twist occurred.

Mike Shinoda (guitarist of Linkin Park) approached Holly for a guest appearance on his solo side-project in the rap category under the moniker, Fort Minor. The resulting collaboration was the song Where'd You Go, which features Holly singing parts of the song and Shinoda rapping. The song became ultra-popular and peaked at #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 2006. This opportunity shot Holly's career sky-high with eventual touring, music videos, and major TV appearances.

The planned EP was then turned into a full-length to take advantage of Holly's newfound stardom. Three more songs were written (in addition to the 8 originally written for the EP) to complete the album. Like Blood Like Honey was born. The record was released on June 6, 2006 under the Machine Shop/Warner Bros label. Like Blood Like Honey is full to the brim with pop jewels. The record was well-received by those who had been waiting for more of Holly and was met with widespread critical acclaim.

The glamour and stardom afforded by Where'd You Go seemed like a double-edged sword. It's easy to spot the difference between Holly's musical direction versus her guest appearance on Shinoda's project. Eventually, it created a distance between Holly and the label, which resulted in her asking to leave. This would be the beginning of a long and painful struggle. The two years it took to break free of the record label dragged Holly to the point of being totally broke.

Fortunately, there is one more positive that came out of the experience: being linked to countless other artists in the same field. One of the most important links created was with Duncan Sheik. During her troubled years, she got to tour with the famed musician-singer/songwriter. The collaboration didn't end there, as she worked with Sheik on his latest album Whisper House (2009).

Finally free of the label, Holly is now preparing a new record. The new album, tentatively titled O'Dark Thirty, features a collaboration with Ingoldsby and Sheik and is slated to be released sometime this year (2009). In the meantime, Holly is planning to release a 5-track EP soon to fill the void created by her “disappearance" from the music scene. She can also be seen in various projects including: Deep Deep Sleep, Perverts In Love, and a yet-unnamed project with Louis Schwadron aka Sky White Tiger (you can participate in the naming of their band by posting on Holly's MySpace along with your congratulatory note for FPA-ship).

KGRL is very proud to present our August 2009 Flower-Powered Artist, Holly Brook. Holly along with Louis Schwadron (aka Sky White Tiger) joined KGRL in the studio for an exclusive performance shot in high-definition video and audio. The live session includes songs that will debut in this feature! Check out our CD pre-review of Holly Brook's upcoming record titled O'Dark Thirty and gaze at Holly's photos shot by our good friend Jeff Koga. There's also a comprehensive interview with Holly Brook and Louis Schwadron in video, audio, & transcribed form.

As per our usual monthly feature, we are giving away 3 signed CDs! Just so you know, this is going to be a special giveaway as we're going to be giving out advance copies of the 5-track EP (Editor's Note: The 5-track EP bit in the giveaway was striked out because Holly had a problem with her recording negotiations. Unfortunately, this means there's a setback with the EP and it affected the giveaway.) as well as Holly's fantastic debut Like Blood Like Honey! Just e-mail us at contests [at] kgrl.fm and tell us why you deserve to win. Don't forget that you can request a FREE copy of the FPA live session DVDs as well!

While the album is not yet fully mixed and the order of the songs is not yet final (on my review copy), they sound almost ready for release. They just need a few final touches, perhaps a little tweak with regards to the L-R stereo mix. For this pre-review, I will give you an insight on what to expect on the new Holly Brook CD, but remember that some of the details (including the order of the songs) might differ by the time of the CD release. I'm actually very excited to share this pre-review and play the songs for you. Why is that? Let me explain in detail.

Upon loading the record in my player, I was greeted with a familiar song titled It's Raining Again. I say familiar because I already heard this song from our FPA live session with Holly. In its raw acoustic piano form, this song already shines. Upon hearing the record version, my heart skipped a beat. It was simply marvelous. Breathtaking. It has a dark, haunting and moody melody. With the plucked viola or cello (not sure which) that pulsates throughout the track and upbeat drumbeats, this song is given an entirely new dimension. This song will soon be heard on a commercial for a biodegradable water company. While you are waiting for the record version, you can check out the live session video below to get an idea.

The next song is titled Man On The Mountaintop. It's also another song that Holly performed in our FPA live session. I really didn't think much of it when I first heard it. It didn't grab my attention as much as It's Raining Again did. Imagine my surprise when I heard the arrangement it had on the album. There's an upbeat drum, bass, and a full-band arrangement. I just found myself saying “WOW!” I guess the full-band sound really gives this song more depth and the hook on the chorus is much more highlighted. It sounds very much like a highly-melodic danceable tune.

Perhaps you have heard of the next song I'm about to discuss. The song is titled Haunted and it was posted on Holly's MySpace way back during the Halloween of 2007. If you were unlucky enough not to have heard it, you can do so by checking out the video below. The live session version almost has the same take as the album version. The only difference is a subtle nuance that I instantly noticed upon first listen. In the last chorus of the album version, Holly sings two of the notes a step higher. It sounds very odd but it fits perfectly. I love it! The song, as the title suggests, sounds dark and haunting. But even if it was posted on Halloween, she isn't talking about the supernatural ghosts. I'll leave it to your imagination to figure out what she's talking about in the song.

Speaking of odd sounds, It felt a wee bit weird hearing the intro of the next track, Dry. It sounds like action-movie background music that turns into an electro-pop tune. This is a new sound for Holly Brook. It's something that totally isn't in her debut album. I am loving the new sound: richly-layered, orchestral-sounding electronic music. As I usually do for great music, I put on my headphones, pumped up the volume, closed my eyes and concentrated on the song. This song gives me a feeling of swimming in psychedelic sea of colors. It's that trippy.

Rare Bird is an old song of Holly's that can be found on Youtube (live version). It features Holly playing a dulcimer and singing in her unique, silky-smooth sultry voice. The arrangement is quite simple with only percussions and a touch of string instruments added. It works perfect that way. I haven't said it before but Holly's voice is quite identifiable. What I mean is that when you hear Holly singing, you can tell it's her. This is such an amazing song that deserves its rightful place in what seems to be an intense record from Ms. Brook so far. It seems like an endless barrage of exquisite tracks.

Next up, we are treated to a Zero-7-esque vibe in the song Simple Escape. It's an intense and highly-melodic electro-pop track that will surely keep you glued in place until the very last note. I like how the organic sounds are incorporated in the midst of the electronic backdrop. This song is simply wow. And I mean, WOW! I wouldn't be surprised if Holly will get to be invited to do vocals for the duo (Zero 7). I am hoping they do because Holly's voice is perfect for the genre.

Grey. Oh Grey! Oh Grey! How lovely a tune you are! Just in case you didn't get that, the title of the next track is Grey. Grey is really intoxicating. It starts out sounding like a music box with a choir of angels singing la-la-la-la that goes into a slow emotive ballad for the verses and finally blooming into a sweet electro-pop bliss. The ultra-catchy melody is sure to find its way into your memory bank. You may later find yourself humming or even singing the tune.

The piano-driven ballad Ordinary Tune enchants us with its classical-sounding, dark and mysterious melody. This song was inspired by the Twilight series of books by Stephanie Meyer. I'm not really into this series so I don't really know much about it, but I would imagine that this song would fit the movie adaptation perfectly. It's a dual-natured song that goes from slow and serene to an almost rock-out loud style. This is one of the most depressing songs in the record and yet it's also the heaviest-sounding. I wouldn't really classify it as goth rock but it comes close to sounding like an Evanescence song.

Lastly, we are treated to an exceptional acoustic guitar-driven track titled Falling Out Of View. After listening to eight marvelous tracks, I had my doubts on whether the last track could deliver the same quality, but thankfully it did! This song sounds very different from the rest as it's all acoustic. Yet, it never feels separate from the rest of the tracks. It's probably the dark moody atmosphere that makes it so. I know the order of the songs isn't final yet, but from what I have heard, this exact ordering should be final. It just works perfectly. This final acoustic track feels like placing a period at the end of a sentence. It definitely belongs at the end of such an amazing musical journey.

I feel so lucky to have been one of the first to be given an opportunity to listen and pre-review Holly Brook's latest offering, O'Dark Thirty. If you've been a fan of Holly since her debut, you owe it to yourself to be on the lookout for this album when it hits the shelves. For those new to the music of Holly, there's no better album to be introduced to her music by than this one. This album takes pieces of various genres and presents them in a masterful way. From what I've heard from this review copy, I can say without hesitation that this is one of the best records I've heard this year. Watch out—Holly Brook is back!

Haunted 71.1Mb

It's Raining Again 77.1Mb

Ordinary Tune 137Mb

*All three require WMV codec for Mac and Linux.

WMV Codecs:
For Mac - Flip4Mac
For Linux - http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/download/

Listen to Holly Brook's responses in High Quality MP3 Stream using the player below:




Transcription excerpt from the interview:

KGRL: Can you tell us who influenced you the most in your songwriting style?

Holly Brook: Songwriting-wise, I kind of just take from a lot of different things. Joni Mitchell was the thing I grew up listening to, and then now I'm just into so many different varieties of music—from dance music to rock to, you know, really anything that's good quality.


KGRL: What was the first song you wrote? Did you ever get to record it?

Holly: The first song that I ever wrote with lyrics was called The Sky Song, and I performed that on a record that my mom and I made when I was eight. [There's] a cute little story about it. I was playing it at a convention in New York once and Pete Seeger asked me for a copy of it, so I was pretty stoked.


KGRL: How about the songwriting process between you and Louis Schwadron (aka Sky White Tiger)?

Holly: We have a very similar sensibility when it comes to songwriting, I think. That's why we love playing together so much.

Louis: Yeah. Recently we've been getting into writing parts of songs and sending them to each other, and then getting together when we c—I live on the other side of the country so when we get together, she comes to my side or I come to her side. We get really focused for intense periods and can flesh out songs and record them, and sort of take ideas of songs and really [make] them bloom into full recordings, which really then gives us the energy and the blueprint to then take them out and do them live in any number of formats.

Holly: Yeah.

Louis: This is a wonderful, intimate version. We're going to do it for ten-thousand people at a rave—

Holly: One day.

Louis: —at some point. That'll be another intimate version.

Holly: A different kind of intimacy.

Louis: Yeah.

Holly: Drug-induced. I mean—

Louis: Right.

Holly: I'm kidding.

Louis: Dance-induced.

Holly: Dance-induced. Love-induced.

Louis: Love-induced. Yes.

Holly: Love-induced.

Louis: Yeah.


-> READ the full transcript along with high/low quality mp3 of the Interview by Clicking Here! <-