During the early years of the band, many demos were recorded and ripped to CDs which were often distributed for free. The demos were titled “Demo in a Bag” and the name references the fact that the CDs were “distributed” in plastic bags with homemade confetti.
In 2009, they self-released their debut album Record in a Bag in 2009 as a free download on their website. The name of their debut references their string of demos. Later that year, the band entered and won a “battle of the bands” contest in Ottawa, Ontario which was hosted by a local radio station. With the $250,000 prize money, the band reissued their self-released debut and formed Royal Mountain Records. Royal Mountain Records has since helped launch the career of other Toronto, Ontario artists such as PUP and Alvvays.
In 2011, the band was nominated for the Best New Group Award at the Canadian music awards show the 2011 Juno Awards, but lost out to Said the Whale
On February 26, 2013, the band released their second LP, White Paint. The pre-order sales of this album lead to the ambitious 111 Songs project which was eventually released in 2015. At the time, Hollerado stated "as part of the deal we would write them a custom song. The idea was the person would send us their name and where they were from and two facts about themselves, and a few months later we would send them a song we wrote for them”. The band sold over 100 of these packages before they realized the tremendous amount of work all these original songs would be. “111 Songs” actually resulted in two years of work on the songs and many of the songs were used in the band's third full-length album Born Yesterday which was released in 2017.
In early 2019, Hollerado announced the group would be disbanding following one last album and tour. Retaliation Vacation was released later that year and the band embarked on a final tour titled The One Last Time Tour. The band played their final shows on December 11th-13th at the Danforth Music Hall with a final performance at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on December 14, 2019.
Since the disbandment, frontman Menno Versteeg (vocals, guitar) has joined the Canadian supergroup Anyway Gang and released some music under the moniker Mav Karlo. Jake Boyd (drums) is part of the newly formed supergroup Girlfriend Material. Nixon Boyd (guitar) is an additional guitarist/tour guitarist in “Anyway Gang” and is credited as as a producer/composer on many albums/songs from bands signed under Royal Mountain Records.
Fresno Chunk
Hollerado Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Digging through a junk pass most of my life
And I never felt nothing, but something to do
And I’m doing alright now, I’m digging with you
You’re doing in Fresno by coming down fast?
I ran out of ways of making it last
So I case round the highs, I was saying nighty night
My auntie drove up in a old pickup truck
By the end of the driveway she’s picking through junk
I stand but I asked her how much for that light?
She said it ain’t for sale, ‘cause I need it tonight
Oh this is the time when the scavengers roam
She pointed to jump as in front of each home
Said come with me, search for lie of your own
And we’ll meet my friends and we can get stoned
I said nice to meet you and I looked in her eyes
She was bout lovely 40, she looked more like 65
A mother and a daughter with some stories to tell
20 years searching refuge for some usage she could sell
She spoke of the son, she’s left him with the sister when he was only 9
But she still sends him letters letters letters from time to time
But he never writes back, no he never writes back
Said I’m sure he’s fine
You say you will keep his football,
I said maybe that’s what we’ll find
(Chorus)
Oh won’t you dig with me all through the night
Digging for something most of my life
And I never found nothing but something to do
I’m doin alright now, digging with you
We just drowned our suburbs, California laid to waste
Although at times stay steady steady, through the tides of our taste
We found a cabbage patched all, a pack of playin cards
A toy Superman cape
And she cut up all her drugs on a dress and her 3 legs
A circle of trucks like an indian camp
I eat your amphetamines and everybody danced
Eye of fire, we’re building it
Torn over trash
Slacking off and on a place
And had a Halloween mask
And a ray gun with a broken trigger
Some dark sun glasses
(Chorus)
Oh won’t you dig with me all through the night
Digging for something most of my life
And I never found nothing but something to do
I’m doin alright now, digging with you
Yea I think of the stories I promised to tell
I know in me nothing but I hope you’re well
I’m sorry my letter, it hasn’t come still
But I never wrote you and I never will
(Chorus)
Oh won’t you dig with me all through the night
Digging for something most of my life
And I never found nothing but something to do
I’m doin alright now, digging with you
In Hollerado’s song Fresno Chunk, the lyrics describe the experience of digging through junk with someone else, possibly in search of something valuable, but also for the sake of the activity itself. The first verse sets the scene of digging through a mountain pass for most of the singer’s life, feeling as though it was just something to do. The second verse introduces the character of the singer’s aunt, who drives up in an old pickup truck and takes the singer on a journey to search for treasure through the junk on the outskirts of Fresno. They meet a mother and daughter who have been searching for usable items in the same way for 20 years, sharing stories along the way.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh won’t you search with me up through the mountain
Let's explore and discover something new together
Digging through a junk pass most of my life
Spending years sifting through garbage and useless things
And I never felt nothing, but something to do
I never felt anything valuable except that I was busy doing something
And I’m doing alright now, I’m digging with you
But now, I'm okay because I'm with you and we are searching together
You’re doing in Fresno by coming down fast?
Are you also running out of options like me?
I ran out of ways of making it last
I have exhausted all my resources and ideas to make things work
And I couldn’t find nothing but a broken flashlight
All I could find was a useless, broken flashlight
My auntie drove up in a old pickup truck
My aunt arrived in an old car
By the end of the driveway she’s picking through junk
She is rummaging through other people's trash at the end of the driveway
I said nice to meet you and I looked in her eyes
I greeted her and made eye contact
She was bout lovely 40, she looked more like 65
She looked much older than she was
20 years searching refuge for some usage she could sell
She spent decades searching for items she could sell for profit
But he never writes back, no he never writes back
Her son never responds to her letters
We just drowned our suburbs, California laid to waste
Our community is deteriorating and it feels like a disaster
A circle of trucks like an indian camp
Trucks parked in a circle like a Native American camp
Eye of fire, we’re building it
We are building something with great intensity
Slacking off and on a place
We are taking breaks and resting from time to time
And had a Halloween mask
We found a Halloween mask among the junk
And a ray gun with a broken trigger
We found a toy gun that was broken
Yea I think of the stories I promised to tell
I remember the stories I said I would share
But I never wrote you and I never will
But I never actually wrote those stories and I never will
Oh won’t you dig with me all through the night
Let's keep searching together all night long
Digging for something most of my life
I have spent most of my life searching for something of value
And I never found nothing but something to do
Even though I never found anything, at least I kept myself busy
I’m doin alright now, digging with you
But now, I'm okay because I'm with you and we are searching together
Contributed by Levi K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.