The Holy White Hounds story begins in 2005 with the friendship of founders and primary songwriters Brenton Dean (vocals/guitar) and Ambrose Lupercal (bass), who later on added James Manson (guitar), and Seth Luloff (drums). The resulting album, Sparkle Sparkle, coolly conjures The Strokes, Beck, Nirvana, Queens of The Stone Age and The Pixies. The band has been featured on the Rock homepage of iTunes as a New Artist Spotlight, and Apple Music Rock has added the band to their “Ones To Watch” playlist. They have even shared the stage with Cage the Elephant, Cake, Wavves, and Rob Zombie. To pre-order their upcoming “Sparkle Sparkle” album, set to drop May 6th click here.

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Chris Remmers: Why don’t we start by you telling us a little about where you are from. What’s it like growing up in Iowa?

Brenton Dean: Well, we are actually from Iowa and a lot of us are from different areas of the state. We have one guy from Waterloo, and everyone else is pretty much from Des Moines, Iowa. We absolutely love the state it has always been very good to us, including all the support we have received from locals and fans abroad. It’s funny because when you grow up in Iowa most of your friends are saying, “I can’t wait to get out of here!” But, for us, we never really had that feeling of escape. It just has this relaxing feeling and you never really have to go too far to get to any other part of the country which is pretty cool.

Photo courtesy | TumblingRun

CR: If someone were to be coming to Iowa for the first time, is there anything you’d recommend them to see while they were there?

BD: There is actually a beautiful city called Gutenberg in Iowa that I drive through often, and I’ve actually told many people it may be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.

CR: What captured that sense of beauty for you? Was it the buildings? Scenery? Architecture?

BD: I was just surprised a place like that could be in Iowa because it’s so pretty, there is this huge lake in the center of town which pretty much connects everything. It’s just an amazing place to visit and take in the sites. Everything was old yet beautiful just seemed like a diamond in the rough. Northern Iowa tends to be very beautiful and southern Iowa tends to be very flat. Some would say it’s kind of boring, but I don’t think so.

Photo courtesy | Kool Cats Photography

CR: That sounds like an amazing place to visit! Out of all the cities you guys have performed in has there been any that have stuck out to you in terms of crowd atmosphere? Was that in line with the city’s nightlife when you went out after?

BD: We really liked Tulsa, that was the first show on this tour. Usually the first show everyone’s kind of finding their baring’s, but the crowd was truly amazing. They were cheering before we even played a song which was nice of them to receive us so warmly even though most of them were there for other bands. We actually just played New York last night and that was a crowd that really grew as the night went on.

CR: That is awesome, I live 25-minutes away! Where did you play in the city?

BD: We actually played at the Paramount Theater. It was really a wonderful show.

CR: That’s is incredible! Did you get to explore the city a bit or were you on the go?

BD: We walked around New York for a long time, we took a few cabs to see different things. It was just an amazing experience being from Iowa. Took me some getting used too. At first I would get anxious, but now it’s just really exciting every time we go back.

CR: I totally agree. Me personally, I am from New Jersey, but not the part of Jersey most people think about. I come from the mountains and lakes and then to be in the city for the first few times is definitely overwhelming to see all these people, buildings, and hectic rushing everywhere.

BD: Yes, being in New York City sometimes feels like you are just completely lost in the matrix.

CR: You absolutely can get lost in the “matrix”. Every block you’re on you just never know who you will run into or where you will end up. Just one of the places you just never know what’s going to happen.

BD: You know what is odd? When I was a kid whenever we were playing our flight simulator games I was always convinced I could find my house flying around map. Even though I knew it was a delusional thing to think, but that’s how I feel when I’m in the city. If you just walk around long enough, you’ll find everything you need.

Photo courtesy | Constantin

CR: That is too funny, a boy can dream can’t he? So, to get back on track here, how do you feel music and travel really fit together in your life?

BD: Well, traveling while playing music is great, because it kind of takes you away from everything you know. It takes you away from your home, your job, and your family. So, it’s not always fun to be away from your family, but I think that time allows you a lot of time to reflect and think about how you feel and your songs. There is so much clutter in the mind of a band because there are so many things going on for everyone and it’s just a nice way to clear your head. It’s also a good time to get your [stuff] in order, as far as work and your personal life things, and it allows you that time you need to decompress from one aspect of your life while raging in another. It’s truly amazing because the things we get to do on the road like sit around listen to different genres of music, write new songs, or think of new ideas we otherwise wouldn’t have the time to do back home with a family, working two jobs and such so it’s nice to have the down time to really enjoy each other and freedom.

CR: Would you say your inspiration comes more from the traveling aspect of your life? Or more your family and personal life?

BD: My inspirations definitely come from home and my personal life. It comes from a lot of conjuring up memories of me as a kid, or things that happened to other people or myself. We are a band that doesn’t take ourselves terribly serious. Our number one goal is to always be having fun and that kind of drives us to do what we are doing now. As much fun as we like to have, we also take our writing and performances very serious. We like to give our songs a proper story and in many cases just a form of poetic justice.

Photo courtesy | Ines Hegedus-Garcia

CR: That’s amazing, and it’s a cool thing that inspiration can pop up anywhere from walking across the street, to driving in your car, to taking a plane somewhere. You never know where inspiration might hit you square in the face. So, lastly to wrap this up, what is the next big trip for and when is it?

BD: We ended our tour in Miami, Florida. Then we’re back in Iowa where we have a week off and it will be a nice time to decompress. After the week of decompression, we start up our touring on the west coast, and then we will make our way around to the east coast. So, we have quite a journey ahead of us. We are actually playing Bonnaroo this year, as well. So, that should be an awesome time. That is the latest announcement of our upcoming dates so we hope to see you guys come out when we are on the east coast!

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