We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nicholas Dees. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nicholas below.
Nicholas, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?
It’s hard to pin point it down to one thing. In this businesses, it’s hard to get a leg up, and who you know can make or break opportunities you’ll have. Before around March of 2018, Hold On Hollywood wasn’t much more than a local rock band trying to make a name for ourselves. We dropped an EP, played some decent headliners here and there, and hopped on with some nationals coming through town, but it’s harder than ever these days to get people’s attention as an artist. Which, is kind of funny when you think about it. With social media and the internet, the potential reach an artist can have on their own is unbelievably massive. But, it’s a double-edged sword really, with everyone having access to so much more content of all kinds, that leaves you with SO much to dig through, that things get lost in the mess more often than not.
Everybody is always looking for that “break” and we weren’t exactly sure where to find it, but we knew we had to take every opportunity we could get. We didn’t know it at the time, but that first “break” would come for us in the form of a contest we would enter, and ultimately go on to win that put us on stage opening for none other than Bon Jovi on March 23, 2018 at the Toyota Center here in Houston. In the span of 3 weeks, we went from wondering what the next step was, to them all coming to us, and everyone in town listening to the radio knowing who we were. That’s mainly because that opportunity came through 94.5 the Buzz who hosted the contest, and what could have very easily been a one-and-done experience ended up turning into an amazing working relationship over the coming years that led to so many amazing things.
Through this experience, we were able to make friends with Rod Ryan, the morning show host, and Elliott Wood, the Program Director of The Buzz. Elliott and Rod saw something in us and what we did leading up to, and on the days of and following, the concert with Bon Jovi. As Elliott would put it, there was a “story” to be told here, and it was far from over. At the end of the day, he is the one who got to decide if it went any further. No one could have predicted that it would any longer than the Bon Jovi gig, which was amazing enough as is. But his one act of kindness, to choose to say, “hey, these 4 boys have something special about them and people need to know about it.” was enough to change our lives for the better for years to come, even now. He put us on some of the biggest shows of our careers, which led to so many other opportunities and avenues we’ve explored since, and it’s been nothing short of a dream. We’re touring with Candlebox this year, and that friendship started back later in 2018 as well when Elliott invited us out to House of Blues to meet the guys when they were in town. Kevin Martin (singer of Candlebox) took to us and treated us like old friends and before we knew it, asked us to do some dates with them. We’ve done a few runs because of this that have all been out of this world, but this year we’re doing the most dates we’ve ever done with them and it’s been amazing so far, and there’s only more to come!
At the time, I couldn’t imagine it would have led to all it did. The emotions I was overcome with when we won Bon Jovi was unreal, but the months that followed shaped us into what we are today, and I’ve made memories and learned things I will keep for a life time about the business I’ve grown up in. The potential for the future always gets me so excited, and it’s only proved to me more that you CAN achieve the things you set out for, and that I want to do this with all that I am.
Nicholas, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Nick Dees. I play guitar, sing some back-ups, and write some tunes in a band called Hold On Hollywood. I personally got into music at a young age because my Dad played guitar as a hobby at home and they were always around me at the house. He never played in bands really, but he did work on the business side of things, and got an early start in the music industry with doing merchandise for bands. As a young teen, I would travel around with him and a band he worked with called The Velcro Pygmies, and I would sell their merch with him at shows that he printed. Every now and then, the Pygmies would call me up to play a song or two with them, and I simply just fell in love with it all. I learned a lot about performance and putting on a show from them, as they are masters of their craft, but they are also really well versed in the business side of music. I feel a lot of musicians don’t have the luxury of being able to study or learn anything at all about that side of things adequately, and I am very thankful to have had those roots instilled in me early on. I truly believe this allowed us to start off on a much better note when starting my own band.
As for Hold On Hollywood, we formed in December of 2014, kicked off in April of 2015 with our debut show opening for the legendary Drowning Pool at long-standing Houston venue BFE Rock Club, and have been on a wild ride ever since. We’ve toured around the country, had songs on radio and chart on Billboard even, played with some of the biggest names in the business that we grew up huge fans of, and made so many friends and memories along the way. Devin (drums) and I met in 6th grade, and have been friends ever since. We started playing music together in our first band before HOH around 8th grade, and did that for a few years through highscool and a bit after to get our start. After that band ended, we met Ian (vocals/guitar) and Corey (bass) at the bars and clubs around the northwest Houston area at shows and open mics, jamming with other guys. We found we all had a similar interest and direction we wanted to go in, and happened to all want to do something more serious with our musical careers that we weren’t finding in the things we were dabbling in at the time.
The name and idea behind Hold On Hollywood was something I had for awhile and had been talking to my Dad about over the years of being involved in the music business with him. This grand, larger than life experience of a modern rock band, operating on our own as if we were a label supported project. The full merch rollouts, larger than life shows, all the online outlets covered, etc. Devin was very much still wanting to continue playing music together, we just needed the right members to fill out the line-up, and Ian and Corey couldn’t have come into our lives at a better time. Combining everyone’s talents and personalities created such a well-rounded machine that we could fit into any scene we found ourselves in. We adapted and overcame always, trying to be better than we were before.
I’m really proud of the fact that we have created original music and done some things of note with it. It’s amazing to feel people are connecting to music YOU created yourself, and not just a cover you’re playing. Don’t get me wrong, we love covers and always do some in our sets, and have played many cover gigs over the years to make the ends meet. But those moments when you’re on stage, playing to a big crowd of your own, all there for your songs, singing them back to you at the top of their lungs, believing every word through and through… It’s something else, man. I really can’t describe it in words. It’s a dream.
The four of us in Hold On Hollywood grew up fans of rock of all kinds, pop-punk, emo, metal, even pop music, there’s so many influences. Modern day R&B and hip-hop sounds have started to influence us as well, and we’ve created what we feel is an original sound from this gigantic melting pot of noise we’ve consumed through our lives and shaped into something new. We pride ourselves in our live show particularly and the ability to be entertainers first and foremost. We love to play live and be in front of an audience, making that connection. We always come out before and after our sets to meet and mingle, make friends and just try to enjoy every aspect of the experience that comes with being in a band. We truly love what we do, and we feel you have to in order to do music in any serious aspect. It can be one hell of a business to be in, but at the end of the day, it’s what you make it. What you put in, you will get back ten fold.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
If there was one goal for us in Hold On Hollywood, I would say it’s to just grow and grow as much as we can. We simply want to be the biggest and best version of ourselves we can be. We want to play shows around the world, make more music, meet more people, and make many more memories doing what we love. We want to grow the HOH Family and make something that’s going to leave a mark in history somewhere. There’s many ways that can be achieved though. It doesn’t mean we have to be selling out Madison Square Garden or Wembley, having number one songs all on radio or in movies, but we definitely would love to achieve all of those things too! As long as we can say at the end of the day that we gave it our all and tried our best to be better than we were yesterday, then we’re doing good.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I think now more than ever, it’s SO important to push and talk about the things you love. As we all know, with social media, there is a strong oversaturation of so many people with talents and art of their own they are expressing. And there’s so much good stuff out there! But, with that comes the negative side of it being hard to break through all the noise for individual artists without built-in audiences already like I mentioned. The most important things I think anyone can do for an artist is to talk about them, and buy what they are putting out. If you like something, let people know about it. Invite them to a show, show them a song, play it for them in the car, buy them some merch. This is how artists grow, and the more people you get doing this, the faster it amplifies. Word of mouth travels faster and further these days than ever before, and when those numbers start going up on social media and streaming services, big names start to care and take a look at these up-and-coming artists. That’s how you get the next household name.
Next to that, buying merch, music, art, whatever it is someone is selling, is directly helping them build their business into something bigger and better. We all love art, and we all love the artists that make it. But the truth is, it costs a lot of money and time to make art. For the vast majority of artists, money is hard to come by, and they’re constantly hemorrhaging it out to produce more art. So if you can, please support your artists you like with the occassional purchase of art or merchandise, music, etc. This is free promo for them too when you walk around wearing their stuff, post on your social medias in the clothes or at shows, share the art with others, and may encourage new fans to get involved and do the same as you. These things can be invaluable and add up fast. At the very least though, if you can’t put money behind it, talking about something you love costs you nothing. You may not have the money to spare, that’s okay, many of us don’t. But you can still talk about them. Just let people know what’s going on. The wonders this can do can take someone from the bottom to stardom in no time at all if it grows rapidly. But you can’t do that if no one knows you’re doing something to begin with.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://holdonhollywood.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/holdonhollywood
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/holdonhollywood
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/holdonhollywood
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/holdonhollywood
- Other: https://holdonhollywood.bio.to/featured
Image Credits
Kaylee Guy Henry Santos Blake Ralston