Scott Holiday- How Music Became His Healing Tool Through Emotional Struggles and Creative Growth

Music Saved Me Podcast

Guitarist Scott Holliday discusses his debut solo album, Topology, and the disciplined morning ritual that birthed its improvisational sound

Key takeaways

• Scott Holliday developed Topology through a daily practice of writing musical fragments without the pressure of finishing songs.
• The album features raw, improvisational drum recordings from Rival Sons bandmate Michael Miley.

Main topics

• Debut solo album Topology
• Creative improvisation rituals

Notable quotes

When you really love music, it can become like your best friend and you could feel like that you're not alone in a room.

Conclusion

The episode offers an inspiring look at how low-pressure, disciplined

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Music Saved Me. Speaker 1 (0:01) Welcome to Music Saved Me, the podcast about the healing power of music. Or let's just face it, the power of music, because it's huge. I'm your host, Lynn Hoffman. I'm so happy you're here today. For over three decades, Scott Holliday has been one of rock's most instantly recognizable guitarists. He is the driving force behind Rival Sons, a band that spent years reviving the spirit of classic rock while pushing it somewhere entirely new. But today we are talking about something different, a solo project that started not as an album, but as a daily ritual. This is so cool. And I dare anyone to try this type of exercise because it is not easy. Every morning, Scott would walk into the studio, pick up a guitar, follow one rule, write something. Not a finished song, just a fragment, a riff, a texture, a mood. No pressure to finish it. Just keep moving forward. Over time, those fragments started speaking the same language, pulling from psychedelic experimentation, vintage synths, and hypnotic groove-driven atmosphere. It's all built in part around raw improvised drum recordings from his longtime rival son's bandmate, Michael Miley. And the result is called topology. And if you don't mind me explaining, in mathematics, topology... I understand is the study of what stays the same even when everything else is allowed to bend. Scott's debut solo album, Topology, is out September 25th on Sacred Tongue Recordings via 30 Tigers, led by the first single, It's So Cool, They're a Dream. It's a project about instinct, discipline, and following a creative thread until it becomes its own world. Scott Holliday is right here on Music Save Me, coming up next, right after this, because we have to pay the bills. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Speaker 1 (1:56) Music saved me. Scott Holliday, welcome to Music Saved Me. It's great to have you here, and I love your room, your background there with the guitars on the wall. It's cool. Speaker 3 (2:05) Thank you. This is just my living room, and it is the coolest room in the house in this very humid, hot weather we're having. What a nice intro. I feel like I have to say a lot less now. That was really good. Thank you, Lynn. That was nice. Oh, Speaker 2 (2:18) wow. Speaker 1 (2:18) Well, I mean, you've done a lot, and you've been doing it for a little bit here. I'd have to say that, first of all, I'm so lucky that I got an advanced copy of the album, all nine tracks, and I let it track. And you have to. My husband walked in halfway through, and he's like, ooh, what's this? This is awesome. This is like bringing me back, but yet forward. And his words were literally, this is like cinematic. Just came out of his mouth. And I hadn't even read anything yet, like about. what you said about it or anything or what people have written about it. But it's really amazing. So I just want to say congratulations because what you challenged yourself with to get this up and out is quite remarkable. And before we get into it, though, welcome to the show, first of all. Speaker 3 (3:07) Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you for that. Oh, my gosh. Speaker 1 (3:10) It's so my pleasure. Scott, what's the earliest memory that you have of music saving you or getting you through something in Speaker 3 (3:18) your life? Okay, well, let's just jump right in. I like that. When I... When I thought about this question, when his music saved me, I went back to, well, my parents are divorced and they get along now really good. But, you know, we moved around a lot and I ended up spending like a lot of time alone. And I think that's as a child, maybe. eight years old or nine years old, 10 years old, this zone for me, I have really defined memories of being alone with a record player or a cassette player and really coveting the different music I could get my hands on and spending time with it almost. I've said this to other people, when you really love music, it can become like your best friend and you could feel like like you're not alone in a room And I'm sure you probably hear this a lot. Like you can, you can feel like that, that artist is almost like in the room with you and a friend. So I think probably around the age of like, maybe like nine or 10 was an area that I felt like this, that I could like be alone and not, not be alone at the same time. And I think that's a form of saving for sure, because. loneliness is a hell of a thing and when you're a kid you feel a little disoriented that way you know yeah in that in that kind of quiet seclusion and i think certain people are probably just naturally more inclined to being alone more and i'm definitely a people person as a musician i like to be alone and use that time but i'm i'm like a social creature and i think this kind of allowed me to exercise that even when I was alone. Speaker 1 (5:19) Yeah. Now you've spent 30 years in music. Plus, we can just leave it at that. Most of you were in a band context with Rival Sons. Most of what music means to you now seems a lot different than it did when you started out. Or at least it does after listening to this album because this is like, I know it's not, you're not trying to make a new genre. Speaker 1 (5:43) But it really sounds like a blending of my whole life. That sounds strange. I'm a kid of the 70s. I think it was the best decade for music ever. Of course, everyone says that in their decade of childhood. But still, it was quite an incredible amassment of sound that made sense. I'd love to Speaker 3 (6:03) say that it was absolutely... pointed and I think even with Rival Sons, but with Holiday as well, we'll stick to. There are things that are pointed, there are tones and ideas, I guess, but I think it's a lot more innocent for me when I'm creating. It's not like I'm going to make a real cool 60s guitar riff right now and I'm going to use a kind of like 80s drum groove to like post. punk or whatever drum groove and then i'm going to use this to do that and this to do that it's because that to me just sounds a little i don't know i think there's there's a way to create like that but i i think it can almost be a little disingenuine or sterile for me the creation is much more um it's much more raw it's what's there so those things that that you're feeling are just the things that are in me and i think this is how it is for artists we just We kind of open up what's inside and let it out. And I guess it's a little bit of the old stuff and a little bit of the new stuff. And that's what's there. So I think in producing it, it can start to get a little more technical. But generally what you're feeling is a really raw, interpretive, but genuine, honest expression for me. Speaker 1 (7:23) It's really incredible. And immediately you're drawn to it. Because it's something like you've not heard before, but you feel like you may have. And it all makes sense. It's like a relatable topic or something that you can, you know, like that you know everyone's going to relate to, but yet not know exactly pinpoint how because it touches people all in different ways. Where did that discipline even come from? And what did it teach you about yourself as a musician? Because that is not an easy task to set a goal and then do that every single day. Not knowing where it's going, really, either. Speaker 3 (8:00) I think that falls under the pick a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life kind of thing. That's how music is for so many of us. That's certainly how it is for me. Speaker 3 (8:15) I've been doing it for a long time now, writing songs. I've tried many different ways, but I've always found from the very beginning when I was working on a four track and just starting to record that when I get up, that first initial feeling, there's something there that as the day progresses, you start to fill the hard drive. You start to fill your head with ideas and complexities, and I'm always spinning plates and thinking. And the creation, by midday, comes out different and I have to refocus my energy, you know, but that early morning, like first thing is kind of where the subconscious thoughts kind of come forward. And even what's under my hand with the guitar or as a producer working and arranging and doing things, it's really fresh and raw and comes quickly. So. it was an easy decision for me to do it that way you know a cup of coffee grabbing some guitar and go this is just what's there let's not like it too it's like it's just too cerebral about it you know so i would have um michael my drummer um do the same kind of thing like wake up you have your coffee you just get behind your drums they're all mic'd up and ready just get back there i'm not going to tell you what