Holding Poison is a rock band based just outside of London. The band consists of Matt Blackwell and Jack Findell and they are our latest artist spotlight.  The Penguin Rocks presents this interview with Holding Poison.

Is there a story behind the band name? The band’s been around for just over a year now. The name was hard to find, we had around 30 different names which either had been used or just weren’t right. After searching and searching we stumbled across ‘Holding Poison’ at around 1 am… Had a ring to it so we went for it! 

Tell me about your latest record. Our latest record is a track called ‘Destination, Same Old’ - we wanted to release something different from our previous tracks. We all have personal favorites however Curbside gets the most votes in our camp. 

Who are the members of the band and what instrument do they each play? So on paper, we are a 2 piece consisting of Matt Blackwell (Vocals, Guitar, and bass) & Jack Findell (Lead Guitar). Although we front ourselves as a 2 piece we have a team of people that come in and do the live stuff.

How many records, eps, or singles has the band put out in total?  So as last year was our first year we managed to get quite a bit out the door - 3 singles, 1 EP, and a Live Album - you can find all of them on streaming platforms!  

What was one of your favorite gigs? What made it memorable? Matt: We’ve only done 2 gigs as a band, one being a full live set which we released as an album. For me, the live session was the one that stands out. We turned up and smashed it. Although it was very very cold, I think it was -3 when we stopped recording. Great fun though!  Jack: The frostbite was definitely worth it, that was good fun. 

Where does the band regularly play shows? Where would you like to play if you could? Matt: The plan is to get some local shows in 2022, by local I mean London. I’d love to one day play somewhere like Brixton or the ally pally, that would be cool! Jack: Yeah I’d love to do Ally Pally. The 100 club would be fun too.

What would be the “next step” that you’d like to see the band take? We are just focused on writing and recording music, that’s what we enjoy. We are still in the process of building our setlist and the next EP will really help with that. I guess after that maybe some decent support slots to get the stuff out to the people! 

Finally, if the band does any cover songs. What artists do you cover? Who would be an artist you haven’t covered yet that you’d like to cover? So we have covers John Mayers - Love Song For No One & Foo Fighters - Low. We also covered medication by Queens of the Stoneage at a show. The main thing with our covers is we want to keep them unpredictable and something you may not hear a band play. So all we’d say is come to a show to see what we try next! 

You can follow Holding Poison on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, and SoundCloud. 

The Artist Spotlight series features interviews with artists and bands from around the world.  If you would like to be considered for an interview, email [email protected] and provide a link to your website or socials for us to check out.  There is no cost to being part of the series.  Interviews run at The Penguin Rocks and NewJerseyStage.com