After releasing their sophomore album, Brightly Painted One, in May, Tiny Ruins embarked on an international tour of New Zealand, Australia, North America and Europe. 

Once a solo project of Hollie Fullbrook, the New Zealand band now includes bassist Cass Basil and drummer Alexander Freer. Together their sound is whimsical and classic, calling much on the work of late 1960’s folk acts. Hollie’s voice is sophisticated and timeless, and plays much importance to entirety of Tiny Ruins’ as any instrument. Their work is effortless, personal and entirely gripping. 

Hollie let us in on her favorite albums and her talent for writing a seriously sad song, along with the ongoings of Tiny Ruins as as she and the band traveled across the midwest. Check them out this Wednesday at Allston’s own Great Scott.

AP: How’s life on the road been? 

Hollie: A whole whirlwind of hard times, beautiful times, exhausting times, great times, sweet people, new places, thousands of miles, diners, gas stations, reading ‘east of eden’, newspapers, coffees, late nights, early starts, motel beds, dogs, a few wild animals, mountains, plains, beers, burgers, playing records in wonderful homes, lively conversations, long silences, contemplation, and playing mostly songs from our second album Brightly Painted One.

AP: Have you had any crazy experiences, favorite spots or shows?

Hollie: In terms of native New Zealand mammals, we total a seal and a bat – a little underwhelming. So we’d been keeping our eyes peeled in the hope of seeing a bear while we were driving through the Rockies. We ended up seeing two bears – a black bear and a teenage Grizzly, fossicking about in the grass on the roadside. Pretty incredible.

AP: Are you traveling with anything you couldn’t go without?

Hollie: It’s not very exciting, but I’d be lost without my ability to see – so my contact lenses are held very dear to me. I lot my glasses in Australia at the beginning of tour, so they’re all I have left now. I sometimes speculate on how long I’d last in a full-blown apocalyptic disaster where everyone had to fend for themselves…I would be squinting and fumbling around like a little earth mole.

AP: Aside from just your music, your aesthetic (videos/photos/album artwork) seems specific to a more backdated time period. Is there an inspiration behind it, or just a look  you prefer?

Hollie: My first album’s cover art was from a 1950s fishing magazine…but it was more about making the album cover look like a cheap paperback novel…that album had sort of a structure of short scenes and stories to it. Our second album is more of a modern painting, done by a friend who is at art school in Auckland. But it’s again inspired by a Bengali book cover from the late 60s that I found online while I was looking for Joan of Arc. It has a kind of cut-up, colourful Picasso feel going on. Our press photos have always been taken by the same friend, Georgie Craw…any other photos are one-offs from people who we meet while on tour or whatever. Videos are a mixed bag – we have a bunch of ones people have made themselves, one was recently made by Neil Finn, and we have this really modern British one made recently for the song ‘Carriages’ – there’s no particular oldtimey aesthetic that I’m going for really, but all the artwork for our albums has been carefully chosen to symbolise or suit the music inside, or to cast some kind of mood.

AP: A lot of your songs seem like firsthand experiences. Would you hold this to be true, or is writing more of a way of storytelling for you?

Hollie: They are all drawn from experiences, yeah…I don’t really just pull stuff out of the air and make up characters…they’re all based on people. But I enjoy playing with words and storytelling in order to get across the deeper thing I’m trying to say, which isn’t always apparent while I’m writing the song.

AP: You write a great sad song. Do you prefer a more melancholy sound?

Hollie: You’re right, I have always have been drawn to melancholic songs. I feel comfortable there. I grew up playing the cello, which is about as sad as an instrument can get…it doesn’t necessarily have to be a depressing song lyrically – although I also don’t mind that – it’s more about chord progressions, tone, arrangement…for instance, as a kid my favourite Beatles song was ‘Fool on the Hill’, with its ascending melody and minor key chorus, the simplicity and those flutes!…I like weirdness and sort of that feeling of subconscious desire, nostalgia, in music. It’s different for everyone, but music has always been, for me, a way to contemplate somehow, or kind of ‘get back to myself’, if that makes any sense. So it’s not necessarily sad like feeling mopey, but music has a way of connecting very closely to my emotions generally.

AP: What’s your relationship like with Shining Bird?

Hollie: They are a bunch of lovely dudes we recently toured Australia with. We are label mates there, but it was the first time meeting them. It’s always cool when you do a bunch of dates with one other band. 

AP: Is this your first time in America?

Hollie: I crossed the USA as a lone 18 year old back in the day. I had a guitar with me, but wasn’t playing music in any official sense. So I did see a lot of the place then, but this is entirely different. It’s the first time we’ve toured as a band here and in Canada.

AP: What do you think of it here?

Hollie: We just wish we could spend more time in each town and get to know it a little better…we’re always moving on to the next place. We have found some awesome breakfast places though, and we’ve loved most of the venues we’ve played at, met some great people, seen other bands…we are traveling in a van, and so we get to see a lot of the landscapes changing. I’m totally sick of rest-stops…of the general ‘system’ of highways and cities and motels…but there is a lot to love…a lot of novelties, like fruit pies, bottomless filter coffee, even tipping is kind of a fun sweet thing for us.

AP: Any plans for your Boston stop?

Hollie: Oh boy. We’ve never been there. Please come to the show and let us know a good breakfast spot. I hear Boston is really pretty. I think there is a harbour? Did tea get thrown into it? I’m looking forward to hearing the accent too.

AP: You can only listen to five albums for the rest of ever. What are they?

Hollie: You are really laying down the hard questions!

Leonard Cohen’s Songs of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan’s Desire, Neil Young’s After the Goldrush, Chopin’sPreludes & Nocturnes & this great Nina Simone compilation I’ve had since I was a teenager.

AP: You can only eat five foods for the remainder of eternity. What would those be?

Hollie: Broccoli, Beans, Roast Chicken, Potatoes, Chocolate

AP: You can only play in five venues for the rest of tour. Which would you choose?

Hollie: So long as they have a decent PA, loyal little crowd, beer and a good atmosphere, we are happy.

AP: What do you miss about home?

Hollie: “Our beds!” (chorus from the back of the van), being able to go for a run easily, breakfast with my folks.