By Brittany Plothow
Why would an LA band play their inaugural show at Velour in Provo, Utah? “Velour is home,” said the members of Mount Saint. They’re playing their first show together on July 26th here in Provo alongside SWIMM, The New Electric Sound, and Coral Bones.
Brittany Tolman, formerly of Imagine Dragons, met Clint and Calvin Riley Holgate when their former band, Battle School, opened for Imagine Dragons at Velour and they became friends. That friendship turned into a writing partnership a year ago. Clint and Calvin Riley were based in Philadelphia at the time and Brittany was in LA. They corresponded through email while on opposite coasts. Eventually, the Holgates joined Brittany in LA and the trio became Mount Saint.
Provo is know for an ever-growing and impressive music scene that has given us some fairly big fresh-faces in the music business, with Imagine Dragons and Neon Trees being the most widely known. So why move the band to LA? Among other reasons, the music industry is bigger in Hollywood and the venues are much more numerous than Provo’s two major music clubs.
Mount Saint still loves Provo and credits Velour for bringing them together. They believe by bringing it back to where they met and debuting at Velour they are honoring the scene that made the band possible. “Tthere’s something about Velour,” they said. “There’s more magic there. There’s something special about the scene [in Provo]”.
The New Electric Sound is another LA-Provo transplant band who recently signed with a management company in California. Mount Saint has found there is a strong community of Provo musicians in LA. They are often found hanging out together and even share a community practice space with each other. “It’s a community,” they said. And this community may have produced yet another powerful music force in Mount Saint.
Provo Music Magazine 