One early catalyst was another childhood memory – most likely a conflation of several – in the family car en route to a campsite somewhere in the UK. It was Holly, their mum, dad, older brother and younger sister all squeezed in with backpacks on their laps. The middle child fondly remembers playing their Game Boy and begging to hear Black Holes And Revelations again and again. Not that Holly had a clue who Muse were or why they liked that particular CD so much. They just knew and loved every word, singing along as the road opened up before them. “Those holidays seemed so magical,” they say with a beaming smile.
Although nobody in the family circle played an instrument, Holly’s education was solid as music was always present in the Minto household.
“Mum was a goth and dad was a punk,” they explain, “so they were subconscious enjoyments for me.”
Indeed, they cite The Damned, Kate Bush and The Cure as artists who inadvertently soundtracked those carefree days growing up in the Southport suburbs.
In an effort to explore their burgeoning talents and find an outlet for a seemingly boundless reserve of energy, Holly took lessons in singing, bassoon, violin, trumpet, ukulele, judo and drama.
“I just oozed music,” they say. “I sang when I was walking everywhere. I hadn’t even realised yet how important all of this was. I wasn’t thinking of being in a band; it was all just begging for an outlet.”
In Year 9 came an epiphany. Overhearing some “cool” girls in school cooing over Bring Me The Horizon – words that meant nothing to Holly’s “uncool” 14-year-old ears – they decided to find out what all the fuss was about. Borrowing a friend’s handset that night, the jazz and classical enthusiast hid under their duvet and ventured down a rabbit hole. There, they discovered All Time Low and Vic Fuentes on A Love Like War; My Chemical Romance’s The Ghost Of You introduced itself as their new favourite song; Thnks Fr Th Mmrs by Fall Out Boy came next; and finally, Diamonds Aren’t Forever by Bring Me The Horizon. In those songs, life was forever changed.
“I lay there blushing!” they recall. “For the first time, I felt understood. I think that moment, under the duvet, is the reason we’re an alternative band now. That was the first time I felt like music could transcend, could be a community and this whole other experience.”