How Total Tommy became one of Australia’s most exciting new guitar acts: “I’ve always used it as a songwriting crutch”
When strangers ask Jess Holt what she does, her answer is relatively self-conscious: “I play guitar, but I’m a bit of a hack!” Under her Total Tommy moniker, the Melbourne-raised artist is recently responsible for some of the most versatile guitar music from Down Under, spanning indie, dream-rock, grunge and post-punk. It’s a far cry from the sun-kissed, breezy tones of DMA’S, Royel Otis and Spacey Jane – arguably Australia’s trendiest modern guitar sound.
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“Maybe it’s because of the climate,” smiles Holt, meeting Guitar.com at home in Sydney. “[DMA’S and Royel Otis] are two really good examples, but a lot of people say Australia doesn’t really have a sound, because we have so many influences from everywhere. There’s so many different guitar bands coming out of Australia at the moment – Swapmeet, The Belair Lip Bombs. My music, it’s like, ‘Is it here, or is it there?’ People are working that out…”
After three intensive years of songwriting, Holt introduced herself as Total Tommy in 2024 with her debut album bruises, a self-described “patchwork quilt” of atmospheric, heaven-sent indie-rock (Losing Out, Girlfriend) which packed an occasional punch (SPIDER, Amsterdam). Now, the Sydneysider is back with Trapezoid, a tough and unpredictable follow-up that drags Total Tommy even further down the grunge-rock rabbit hole. So you might be surprised to learn that, only six years ago, she was releasing pulsating alt-pop under the alias Essie Holt.
“I was listening to a lot more indie-pop at the time, and I wasn’t really hearing that much guitar,” she explains. “I felt bound by a genre – ‘this is your lane, make sure it’s really clear’ – which I don’t think is so much of a thing now [for artists]. When I started writing for Total Tommy, I was envisioning the live show, which was, ‘I want a rock band.’ It was the music I wanted to get back into, because I loved it as a kid and it’s always been in my bones.”
Image: Press
Ground Zero
After learning the flute, Holt picked up her first Valencia acoustic at 14 years old, pleading with her teacher to play pop songs instead of scales, before eventually gravitating towards learning everything by ear. While shifting some focus towards training her voice, she flitted between guitars in the background, most recently selling her Fender Player II Telecaster to buy the equivalent Jaguar. “I don’t really feel that attached to [my old guitars],” she shrugs.
Having forever idolised Courtney Barnett for her “intuitive” playing style, Holt underwent a second wave of kinship with her instrument when she ditched Essie Holt for Total Tommy. “I wrote all of my first Essie stuff on acoustic guitar, but it never made it into the music,” she says. “I’ve always used it as a songwriting crutch, but in terms of putting it into the production [through Total Tommy], it really pushed my voice in a different direction. Live, it’s a lot beltier.”
Although Holt has dabbled with a hands-free frontwoman setup, enabling her to soak up and bask in the glory of her riffs, rocked-up guitars have become a driving force of her artistry and taste. Alongside The Strokes, Fontaines D.C. and Momma, that influence includes plenty of British rock, which can lead to a mixed reception in Oz. “[Some] people are like, ‘Well, what’s the connection to Australia?’” she explains. “You [are expected] to really ‘own’ your country, and a lot of Australian artists do end up moving and making it big overseas before Australia pays attention,” she continues, pointing to punk-rock star Ecca Vandal.
Image: Press
London Calling
From a studio standpoint, Holt has done exactly that, because London is now her recording hub. Ever since a study semester in Brighton, she’s mentally associated the UK with making music. For any emerging artist, the prospect of regular 24-hour flights not only presents logistical obstacles, but also a sense of pressure, to make every second recording Trapezoid count. But Holt was determined to see it through, having found her familiarity in east London.
“When I’m in that zone, I’m like a sponge,” she tells Guitar.com. “You’re observing the world and everything’s poetic. You’re on the train, staring out the window, and lyrics come easily. It’s a muscle that you have to exercise and tap into. [Also], you’re in a completely different timezone to your friends, so there’s really no distractions. I love the pub culture, as well! I’ll have a pint, labour over my lyrics and listen to my demos. I romanticise that so much.”
Writing and producing her guitar lines alongside Tom Stafford (Joy Crookes, Orla Gartland), noodling around on his 1984 Yamaha SG-1000 in ‘Angel Tuning’ (CGDGAD) unlocked the door for Trapezoid. “The basis of the record was that weird tuning,” reflects Holt. “It sounds really stark, brooding, and the whole record’s off-tilt: that’s the meaning of Trapezoid. I really liked the wonkiness. I think bruises was very perfect, quite polished, and this one’s not.”
That instability shines through on the knee-jerk top lines of Girl, Interrupted, the wooziness and occasional volatility of City Of Mannequins and the thrashy pop-rock of Out Of Frame. The song structures on Trapezoid are suitably serrated, culminating in melancholy closer Tailgate and its rampaging climax of distortion. “I kept wanting to push it grungier and grungier,” Holt grins. “The live show is [like] that. I wanted it to feel darker.”
When Holt was in a post-pop creative rut, it was Microdose – her first single as Total Tommy – that pulled her out of it. The inception of Trapezoid is the closest thing she’s experienced since that moment; a feeling to chase and build around. Although her career path and songwriting has already taken many twists and turns, the guitar has helped her some find clarity. In turn, it’s forged an unbreakable bond with how she sees her art going forward. “The guitars will stay,” she reiterates. “I just want to be a kickass frontwoman with a rock band.”
Trapezoid is out now via Play It Again Sam.
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