Hollaphonic are a British electronic dance music production and DJ duo, consisting of Greg Stainer and Olly Wood. They were the first dance music duo to be signed to a major record label in the Middle East.[1]
Hollaphonic | |
|---|---|
_press_shot_2014.jpg) Greg Stainer & Olly Wood AKA Hollaphonic press photo taken in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | England, UK |
| Genres | Tech house, deep house, electro house |
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Labels | Universal Music Group Insomniac Records |
| Members | Greg Stainer Olly Wood |
| Website | hollaphonic |
Music career
edit
Their first single, “I Don’t Want It to End”, was released in February 2013 by Universal Music Group. It was ‘A’ listed on all national radio stations in the UAE and went to No. 1 on iTunes.[2]
Olly Wood has written songs and performed as an MC in the south coast UK garage scene as well as around the UK and abroad with Dub Pistols.[3] Wood was selected by Gulf Business as one of “the top 30 under 30 young achievers across the Middle East”[4] for his work with emerging talent.
In March 2013, Hollaphonic performed their first gig together before a crowd of 40,000 at the Dubai World Cup Night at Meydan Racecourse alongside Seal.[5] In December that year, Hollaphonic performed on the main stage ahead of headliners Calvin Harris, The Prodigy and Disclosure at Creamfields Abu Dhabi.[6]
Their debut album, Personal Space, was launched at a party hosted by Adidas Originals.[7] The album eventually reached No. 1 on the iTunes pre-order dance chart.[8]
In March 2014, they received Best Dubai Act at the honorary Time Out Dubai Night Life Awards.[9] They also won Man at His Best 2013 in the Music category at the Esquire awards.[10]
In November 2014, they performed at the Formula One after-race concert in du Arena on Yas Island, sharing the bill with DJ Armin van Buuren.[11]
Performing to a sell-out crowd ahead of David Guetta at the Live at Atlantis concert on Friday, 19 December, Hollaphonic posed with an audience of 12,000 for the UAE’s biggest ever selfie.[12]
Hollaphonic performed alongside Major Lazer and DNCE at Fiesta De Los Muertos in Dubai for Halloween 2016.[13]
Hollaphonic created the music for the Emirates Airline welcome video for their in-flight entertainment system ICE, which would feature at the start of every flight worldwide for five years.[14] They are name-checked at the end of the video.
Mercedes and Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum worked with Hollaphonic to produce a soundtrack for their viral video entitled Defy Your Limits.[15]
Hollaphonic was announced as the opening act for Pink at the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for the last race of the Formula One Grand Prix.[16]
They were on the main stage line-up of Creamfields in Abu Dhabi alongside Above & Beyond, Deadmau5 and Axwell & Ingrosso in December 2017.[17]
Hollaphonic became one of the first international acts to be signed to Tencent and Sony Music joint venture Liquid State, a pure electronic dance music label based out of Shanghai and featuring artists such as Alan Walker, Seungri, zhu, Li Yuchun, and Nicholas Tse.[18]
Hollaphonic became the first resident DJs in an airport as part of Dubai Airport #MusicDXB program, also run by Hollaphonic owned Holla Sonic. The airport has over 250,000 passengers travelling through every day.[19]
Discography
edit
Albums
edit| Title | Released | Record Label | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Space | 2015 | Universal Music Group | Peaked at number 1 on ITunes |
Extended plays
edit| Title | Released | Record Label | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stand Up[20] | 2020 | Sirup Records |
Singles
edit| Title | Released | Record Label | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| "I Don't Want It to End" | 2013 | Universal Music Group | featuring Shaduno |
| "Found You (Stay Alive)" | Universal Music Group | featuring Dia | |
| "Fabric" | 2014 | Universal Music Group | featuring Kevin Murphy |
| "Runaway" | Universal Music Group | featuring Aaron Camper | |
| "Dangerous" | 2015 | Universal Music Group | featuring Vince Kidd |
| "Turn the Lights Down" | 2016 | Universal Music Group | featuring Stephon LaMar |
| "Surrounded by Bass" | YosH Records | ||
| "Don't Walk Away" | 2017 | Somn'thing Records | featuring Quino & Brit Chick |
| "Spaceship" | Sony Music | featuring Bxrber | |
| "Nobody Like You" | 2018 | GMM Grammy | featuring Palitchoke Ayanaputra (Peck) |
| "New Ones" | Sony Music | featuring Aaron Camper | |
| "Shut Up" | 2019 | Sony Music | featuring Jasmine and Jazee Minor |
| "Save Me" | 2020 | Spotify Radar campaign | featuring Xriss Jor |
| "Wicked & Lazy"[21] | Spinnin' Deep | ||
| "Together" | IN/Rotation | ||
| "Sunglasses At Night" | 2021 | Controversia | Collaboration with Alok (DJ) |
| "Visions"[22] | Controversia | with Fflora | |
| "Better Days" | Good Company Records | ||
| "Cant Get Enough" | Tomorrowland Music | ||
| "Hold On" | IN/Rotation | ||
| "Parana" | 2022 | Tomorrowland Music | |
| "Ahora Compredo" | The Myth of NYX | Collaboration with Nome | |
| "Boomye" | Techne |
Remixes
edit| Artist | Track | Released | Record Label | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sigma | "Glitterball" | 2015 | 3 Beat | featuring Ella Henderson |
| Philip George | "Wish You Were Mine" | 2015 | 3 Beat | |
| Nathalie Saba | "Black Birds" | 2016 | Sony Music | |
| Dirty Vegas | "Reckless" | 2016 | D:Vision | |
| Paul Oakenfold, Eve, and Baby G | "What's Your Love Like"[23] | 2020 | Perfecto Records |
Chart positions
editTheir debut album Personal Space held the No. 1 and No. 2 spot from pre-order to release with both the standard and limited edition releases.[24]
In 2015 their track, "Surrounded by Bass", had a top 20 position on the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) BUZZCHART.[25] The track was also played on BBC Radio 1 with MistaJam and Capital FM by Coco Cole. This track went on to be released on UK label Yosh in 2016 managed by the UK bass group Foor.[26]
Awards
editReferences
edit- ^ Grundey, Adam (7 February 2013). "Hollaphonic Strike EMI Arabia Deal". Rolling Stone.
- ^ "Dubai duo Hollaphonic make their voice heard - The National". Thenational.ae.
- ^ "Interview: Olly Wood". Ahlanlive.com.
- ^ "30 Under 30: GCC's Top Young Achievers (21–30)". Gulfbusiness.com. 26 August 2012.
- ^ "Hollaphonic Performing At Dubai World Cup Race | MTV Middle East". Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ Hamad, Marwa (10 November 2014). "Dubai's Hollaphonic plan runaway success". GulfNews.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "Hollaphonic on Dubai show: 'hopefully it will inspire more local talent to make their own music'". The National. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "Hollaphonic - interview - What's On". What's On Dubai. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ a b "Hollaphonic". Time Out Dubai. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
- ^ a b "Bassem Youssef takes top prize at Esquire awards". ArabianBusiness.com. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
- ^ "Armin van Buuren plays epic set at Abu Dhabi F1 concert - The National". Thenational.ae.
- ^ "Hollaphonic and 12,000 Partygoers Take UAE's Biggest Selfie for Ahlan! at Atlantis". Ahlanlive.com.
- ^ Staff Report (25 October 2016). "Fiesta De Los Muertos in Dubai: Who to see this weekend". GulfNews.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "Emirates welcome on board 2016". Vimeo.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "Defy your limits with Mercedes-Benz Middle East and XDubai". YouTube. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "Hollaphonic". Facebook.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "Creamfields Abu Dhabi 2017: Hollaphonic are here for the long haul". The National. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "New Label Liquid State Will Focus on Dance Music in China, Work With Alan Walker". Billboard.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "DXB becomes world's first airport to host resident DJs". Gulfnews.com.
- ^ "Stand Up - EP by Hollaphonic on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "Wicked & Lazy - Single by Hollaphonic on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
- ^ "Visions - Single by Hollaphonic & Fflora on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ "What's Your Love Like (Hollaphonic Remixes) - Single by Paul Oakenfold, Eve & Baby E on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ "Hollaphonic, Personal Space". Timeoutdubai.com.
- ^ "Buzz Charts 07-07-16 - DMC World Magazine". Dmcworld.net. 7 July 2016.
- ^ "Hollaphonic". Internationaldjmag.com. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
- ^ "Hype Awards 2015 at EDEN - party pictures - What's On". Whatson.ae. 23 April 2015.