HOLY WOW! is exactly what today's music scene needs. A little grunge, a little goth, and a lot of rock. Front man Dmitry Wild is Russian born, New York raised, and California grown. He found a way to channel all of his energy into music. By his late teens he had already been a part of many collaborations with local bands. Dmitry and his wife Jennifer Claroscura even formed a group called Wild Things. Everything changed for Dmitry when his father fell ill and sadly passed, but this gave Dmitry the push and inspiration to live life to the fullest and follow his own passions.
HOLY WOW! formed in 2016, Dmitry is the sole creator of this edgy project. He has an extensive background in music and it's evident in HOLY WOW!’s incredible single “Dreamland”. The song gives off an old school rock vibe, while still keeping things indie and modern. It’s hypnotizing rhythm keeps your interest, while the lyrics let your mind wander. The guitar chords are spectacular throughout, the electric back-beats are groundbreaking and we can’t get enough of Dmitry Wild’s vocals! It’s haunting, it’s mystical, it’s transcendent. HOLY WOW! is giving us a fresh new Franz Ferdinand feeling, with a twist. HOLY WOW! released a debut album in January 2019 and we’re already dying to see what’s next.
Listen to “Dreamland” here and get to know more about HOLY WOW! below.
Hello, welcome to BuzzMusic! Can you tell us more about your background and how you got into music?
Hi thank you. My background is really vast. I came from Moscow to New York with my fam when I was 14, then I started playing music at 19, because being an immigrant sucks, you feel like you are living in a bubble and I wanted to break out, I wanted to be part of New York. I fell into music in the early 90's and the radio waves were blasting grunge non-stop. I joined a jazz band in High School, I thought I could play bass, but got kicked out of it for playing so bad. Feeling the angst and not giving a damn, I picked up bass in my first band I created with my friend Vinni from college. We called it Table Dreams, and we wrote songs about Immigration, getting your passport and moving out and getting high. We sang in English and even got somewhat of a following. I performed wearing Mozart's wig and drank so much vodka before shows, I barely remembered even performing. Then we fell apart, or I disbanded it, cause I wanted to play British influenced goth rock and Vinni wanted to play metal. I met my wife and we made a band Wild Things and then we moved to California, and I made another band there called Weapons of The Future, and it was quite a fun ride, we started getting a following there, but the drugs took hold of our sanity and people started losing connection and then I had to come back to New York and after my Pap left this earth I created another band called it Wizard Sex, in the style of Rock-n-Roll blues rock, but always felt like I am not quite saying or singing what I want. I always felt like I am stuck between being a clown and an intelligent poet so I finally disbanded it as well. I wanted to take the reigns and drive my own ship. Lastly I created HOLY WOW! to express the sound I was hearing and I created a whole album mostly by myself which I was finally very happy with.
If you could do a collaboration with one of your past bands now, who would you do it with?
I really miss playing with the musicians from California, When I started playing with a bassist Ash Andersen in Wild Things and then we found Andres Lopez who played drums and we just renamed Wild Things into Weapons of the Future - things were good, and we were starting to sound cool. Of course we had to get more musicians in the mix, which was also great, but the issue unfolded when you had 5 people and it became difficult to navigate what we wanted and what we were doing and on top of it all I had to move back to New York for a family emergency, but I always thought California has some great people and musicians, but recently I found a way to collaborate with Ash Andersen. We are running a blog together, called Rock-n-Roll.biz where she is an editor. Check it out.
We know your wife is also in the music industry, can we expect to see another collaboration with her in the future?
Oh I am not sure about that. She lives inside her dreams and through her dreams. Look her up on youtube and you will see (Jenniffer Claroscura) She said she is a retired musician, she doesn't feel like it's her calling and I understand, but I still remain her biggest fan, when she sings, mystery seeps through the mic.
What inspired you to write Dreamland? Tell us more about the meaning behind it!
Unless the title doesn't disclose it, it is about the world of dreams. How we are driven by things in this life beyond our perception. Dreams are a big aspect of that. We are reliving whatever we dreamt already, since the dreams teach us about our future, all I know is that if we hear whatever our dreams are telling us, our lives will change and the change will put a Mona Lisa smile on our face. That smile that knows it all, but yet decides not to disclose. Mystery lives in the Dreamland if I may say so.
What can we expect to hear next from you?
I am working on a single now. One song that I have recorded back in California, called He is Like Air, about people being transparent like air, and the other one about the city how it's changing me from the inside, but I don't fight it, I accept it, since I know we have to bow to someone.
Connect with HOLY WOW! on social media
Facebook: www.facebook.com/holywowband
Instagram: www.instagram.com/holywowband