 KERYN POINTING befriends HOLIDAY SIDEWINDER from BRIDEZILLA – the classical/alternative/melodramatic pop ensemble from Sydney that officially “sound like no other band on the planet”.
After watching a montage of Bridezilla’s performances, I was perfectly intimidated by their front woman, Miss Holiday Sidewinder. Her pouty lips, messy hair and puffy-sleeved outfits exuded the style of an ‘80s fashion icon and managed to make me feel incredibly inadequate. Not to mention her breathy vocals, stunning lyrics and a five-piece band of equally stylish and talented saxophone, violin, drum, keyboard and guitar-playing friends. Oh, did I mention that Holiday is only sixteen years old? That’s why she sounds slightly weary when replying to what she’s been up to today.
“Oh, just schoolwork…”, she trails off [Editor’s note: this interview took place in November ‘07]. It’s not really a typical answer for most accomplished musicians (erm, unless you’re Operator Please). With two band members still in high school and another two freshly graduated, Bridezilla took a slight pause from shows to focus on the HSC. Understandably, they’re itching to play the likes of the Laneway Festival in March after several months break.
With their debut EP released lat last year, Bridezilla unleashed their pretty-yet-gritty sound to widely impressed audiences. Holiday humbly describes the tracks as “a couple of maudlin ballads”, and then turns rather sentimental when explaining the obtuse and fictional tune, St. Francine. “It’s quite cryptic. It’s the only song I’ve written that hasn’t been real! It’s a story. It’s one of the quite dark songs in there, but it’s what we’re all going through for the last two years”. And what a journey those past two years have been for Bridezilla. The five began as friends when their drummer, Josh, didn’t even know how to play drums. “I just knew him from the ‘hood”, Holiday laughs. “The kid around the block slapping his thighs. When I asked him to start playing he hadn’t played before. He’s come a long way.”
With an already impressive list of achievements from Bridezilla, including a feature article in Rolling Stone and appearing on the Aussie drama Love My Way, it’s refreshing to hear Holiday provide a perfectly humble answer when asked what her favourite moment has been. “I think it was our first show ever, actually. We only had one song, and we all ran outside and started doing the Flashdance jog and screaming”. Picturing Holiday and the gang dancing like Jennifer Beals after a gig (minus the dodgy leotard and leg warmers) only boosts their likeability, proving they still know how to have fun and act their age.
Two years shy of being a legal adult, it’s no wonder Holiday is slightly freaked out when Bridezilla is described as ‘having more sex appeal than any band could ever hope for’. So, what does she think about the sexy tag? “That disturbs me a little bit!”, she giggles, slightly embarrassed. “It was quite strange in the same sentence saying that I was fifteen, but yeah, flattering all the same. But, it’s not what we’re concentrating on. We won’t be whipping out the Kylie Minogue hot pants anytime soon!”
BRIDEZILLA play St Jerome’s Laneway Festival at the Zoo & Winn St, Fortitude Valley, on March 1 (alongside Feist, Broken Social Scene, the Presets, the Panics, Okkervil River and many more. Their self-titled EP is out now through Ivy League.
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