Meet Holden Glazer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Holden Glazer.

Hi Holden, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
It’s always so interesting reflecting on my life, especially when it is considered a story because it feels so in progress still. The story is always and still being written in the best way. I grew up in Marlboro, a fairly small suburban town in central New Jersey. Most kids I knew were focused on athletics, but I was always way more interested in music. I began playing piano at five and at eight years old, I joined a local band program in my area called School of Rock.

At school of rock, I met a bunch of awesome like-minded people who would go on to become some of my closest friends and future bandmates. It was during this time that I taught myself how to play bass, guitar, and some drums. I loved learning new instruments and finding ways to use them together. It was until 15 though, as a high school freshman, I took the leap with my best friends Jake, Drew, and Evan at the time and formed the band The Catching. Once that began, it was all I could focus on. School, friends, relationships, anything took a back seat in my mind. All I wanted to do was make and play music, especially when I felt the rush of playing live with original music. For the rest of high school, I played shows on the Jersey Shore with my band until I graduated and that’s when the real fun/work began. At 18, I opted out of going to college and went on tour instead for many months, gaining tons of perspective and performance experience along the way, all while seeing the country. Once we started touring, it became a constant, as the band and I were on tour on and off three years straight. It was in 2017, though, that I made the biggest jump and decided to move to Los Angeles, a decision I am forever happy about. The band moved out with me in 2018 and we got immersed in the culture of LA, playing shows to nice local crowds and recording in many different studios. Fast forward a year and a half later, we had just come off of our first headline tour across the US and I was feeling uneasy. I was actually happy that it was over rather than eager to play more.

After some discussions and disagreements, The Catching came to its natural end and I was relieved but scared. It felt like starting at square one, even with all of the experience and knowledge that I had gained being in the band. I began working on solo material right before the pandemic hit, constantly wondering what the right steps were for me. I had been writing some songs I was proud of, but I wasn’t certain. It was in June of 2020 that I met a mentor that began to teach me about film composition, scoring music for movies and that is when I immediately fell in love with music all over again. It was a side I had never thought about but was just as intuitive, creative, and diverse in its landscape. I had always loved movies too, so it felt like a direction that had always been waiting for me. As soon as I began to dive in, I was brought onto projects with one of my buddies, Chris Shaw, and have been collaborating with him ever since. I also have started a new band called Blind Mirror due to my inspiration going through the roof due to scoring, that has some amazing songs I cannot wait to share. It’s been a great journey so far, and I’m actually more excited about what comes next, as I finally am on a path that I feel fully confident in.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In reality, yes, it has been a smooth road, even with any of the negatives. I think that obstacles and challenges are a natural part of something that is meant to be great. They are meant to teach lessons. Self-doubt is certainly an obstacle when you’re a creative person, as I tend to think something isn’t great before I think it is, but I’ve learned to let go of that more and more. The biggest challenge of all has been finding my voice creatively because it is so easy to just settle into your inspirations versus really just allow yourself to make what comes out of you. The more I’ve done that, the happier and more satisfied I have been. It is also is easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing nowadays, but that is something I’ve learned to care less about as well over the past couple of years. Aside from that, the general pursuit of music as a career is never easy, but the reward is so much sweeter, mostly in terms of being satisfied with what you are working on creatively.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As I’ve continued to grow, I have found it harder and harder to answer this question, but for good reasons. Overall, I would say I’m a musician, but it goes deeper. I am a singer, songwriter, musician, producer, composer, and overall just creative in the musical sense. I can’t just put one label on what I do because it is always shifting within all of those titles depending on how I feel. The good thing is that each part influences the next. The one I would identify with the most is songwriter, though, because whether it’s for my band, solo project, someone else, or a score for a movie, it is the writing of the songs that I feel I am strongest at. I would say I am most proud of my knack for melody, which is my biggest strength and the part that comes most natural to me at the same time. My range of influences and how they have impacted my style is what sets me apart, I would say. I have never fit in one lane, as my rock influences can be seen in scores I work on or my composing can be seen in my rock band. I would also say my voice sets me apart, as I have a natural rasp I’ve grown to embrace more and more that I don’t hear often from a lot of singers.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I have a love-hate relationship with my phone, but I pretty much live on my voice memos app, the modern day version of carrying a tape recorder around. Most of the memos are just me rambling melodies that pop up, but having that at my disposal for ideas is beyond essential for songwriting, composing, and everything else. In terms of books, I am constantly diving deep into my inspirations history, so I absolutely love reading autobiographies about the artists I love or finding interviews online and getting to understand the mind space that the artists were in when they were creating. I can’t rave enough about the Jim Morrison book, No One Here Gets Out Alive. I also really love classic dystopian fiction novels like Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World. Those influence my lyric writing a lot.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @holdenglazer
• Twitter: @holdenglazer
• SoundCloud: Holden Glazer