The Queen of Cats

Interlude 2: That Dangerous Journey Into the Abyss

Author's note: There is some censored swearing in this chapter. I tried to write it without those words, but it did not seem honest somehow. I hope you feel the same way.  

Also, I'm going to be dedicating each  chapter to a new writer who is skilled at his/her craft and could use some more reads. 

This chapter is dedicated to @MackieJay who wrote an amazing piece of fiction called High Tide. It couldn't be any more different from this  story. It is expertly written and is far superior to the piece of junk you're currently reading. Seriously. Exit my book and read her book. Then, if you get the time, come back to read this thing. 

Thank you. 

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Excerpt from Rolling Stone issue 1238

Holy Wood: What is the Abyss?

Why the biggest rock band in the world went acoustic.

By Alan D. Tompkins

For the first time since their debut in 2006, the four members of Holy Wood seem just a bit uncomfortable to be back in Britain. "We had to record it here, mate. Otherwise we never would have left America." Jeremy Whitney, electric guitarist and now violinist, is a tall, imposing figure with an exuberantly loud smile.

"It's kind of like, tradition, you know?" keyboardist and sometimes bassist Viola Mannet says. At 24, she is the youngest member of the band. ("We thought it'd be cute to have a little girl on stage with a tambourine and shit." Whitney jests, receiving a playful punch in the arm from Mannet.)

"Not really because of that, though. I mean, we really have a team set up here you know. With Consie and everyone." Frontman and rhythm guitarist Howard Moores says. Rail thin and unshaven, he's the least dapper looking member of the four-piece. He's referring to Conner P. Durand, the group's long-time producer.

Despite not putting out any music for almost a year, the group has been busy writing and recording their fourth studio album, That Dangerous Journey Into the Abyss.

"It feels like a huge relief." Mannet says. "We played the new songs live a couple of days ago. On one level it felt really great to just pass them on to the audience. To let go of them, if you know what I mean. But then, it also felt really weird to play the songs outside America and outside the studio."

"Yeah." Abe Marling, drummer agrees. "That and it was a pretty big change, you know, with the acoustic instruments and stuff."

The four brits were the poster boys (and girl) for the nu-rock movement in London. "We met in a freaking punk-bar. How much more rock n' roll can you get?" Whitney says.

I ask why they made the shift.

"It had to do with the lyrics." Moores says. "I mean, we always write like that. First the lyrics and then the instrumentation."

"Yeah, I mean for the last two records," says Mannet. "we just made up the lyrics and smashed them out on electric guitars in sound-check. It wasn't like that this time."

"I think 'cause we decided to take a break, you know." Moores goes on. "We had a lot more leeway to experiment. We tried with our usual set-up. Two electric guitars, a bass, a keyboard and a shit ton of drums. Didn't work."

"Which was really weird for us. We kind of felt like we were losing our touch, you know." Marling says. "I mean, we seriously couldn't put any of the words to music."

"Then, we started stripping layers away, you know? Like Jeremy started playing acoustic, and it sounded just a bit better. And then Whitney-bird over here dusted off his fiddle. And I shifted over to an upright-acoustic." Mannet says.