We sat down for an exclusive chat with Holly Spillar ahead of her show Tall Child heading to Underbelly Bristo Square during the Edinburgh Fringe – 30th July – 24th August. Tickets available here.
Can you summarise your show in two lines?
A show made on minimum wage with maximum rage.
It’s a silly, sing-songy show, about how I can’t afford to be silly and sing-songy anymore.
After the success of HOLE, what was the spark that made this the story you wanted to tell next?
I was working a rubbish minimum wage job full time, while trying to write a second show and work out how I was going to afford to do anything with it.
It felt like an impossible task and that made me angry enough that I started writing about it.
What do you wish more people understood about what it takes to make work as a working-class artist?
When you’re making art alongside a full time, low pay ‘normal’ job, that art can’t be measured up against people who have had time off to write a show. Creative industries don’t see working class people, they just see ‘incompetence’ when they measure our work up against artists with money and time. Because there’s a lack of working class people in creative industries, there’s a lack of empathy towards the way low income artists have to make work. The attitude is very much “If you loved it (making art) you’d find the money”.
What’s been the most validating moment for you during this process – something that reminded you it’s all worth it?
I got the keep it fringe fund! Which halved the amount of money I was going to have to find/borrow. We need more bursaries for low income background artists!!
You use a loop pedal in your set – how did you first start experimenting with that sound?
At uni I got the maximum loan (ka-ching!) and a termly bursary of £250 (double Ka-ching!). I loved Grimes at the time and would obsessively watch a video of her playing music on a rooftop in Mexico. I desperately wanted all the equipment she had, so I paused the video and googled everything I could see her using. The cheapest thing was my loop pedal, a £250 BOSS VE 20. I’ve used it for EVERYTHING ever since.
What would teenage you make of what you’re doing now?
Teenage me would be gutted I wasn’t making money from performing and even more gutted that I worked in retail and childcare.
BUT I think she’d like some of my songs, if nothing else. Bless her.