LOS ANGELES, CA- Two years ago, Katherine Pawlak suffered unfathomable losses. Within six months, both her mother and father had passed away.
It’s the kind of life event that can irreparably crush a person’s soul. But a warrior fights through the heartache and hardships, and Katherine p/k/a “Kat Leon”, decided to embark on a journey of healing through her music. Having disbanded her prior recording project (Sad Robot) following the tragedy, she emerged with her new outlet, Holy Wars, in early 2017. By November, the group’s debut EP, “Mother Father”, was released.
We’ve had the pleasure of catching (and reporting) on two Holy Wars shows in 2017, but without the knowledge or history behind the music. In both instances, we were captivated by the energy that this band fed its audience. The energy was electric: intense and visceral. However, knowing all of the pain and healing that Kat put into writing the music, and seeing her embody all of those emotions on stage, amplifies that energy 10 fold.
Their performance at The Moroccan Lounge celebrating the release of their debut EP was, as anticipated, fantastic. They performed almost all of the cuts from the EP and one non-EP song (“Nothing”). The only song from the EP that wasn’t performed was, ironically enough, the title track “Mother Father”. I spoke briefly with Kat after the performance and she mentioned that her partner Nicholas had just returned from touring with The Beta Machine and they weren’t able to get the song performance ready for the gig. I don’t blame them. An emotional ballad like “Mother Father”- a song that serves as a heartfelt memoriam to her parents- deserves perfection.
The band has teased on their social media accounts that they’ve “got so much more [us] in 2018” and that “[they’re] just getting started”. The new year can’t come soon enough.
Follow Holy Wars on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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LIVE CLIPS
