Sunday Junkie embrace an atmospheric alt-rock tension with ‘Holy, Holy’
The Worcester duo confronts the dangers of self-medication and denial through a third single set for release on Friday, February 7
NOW PLAYING : Listen to ‘Holy, Holy’ via Spotify
Recent singles ‘Vultures’ and ‘Haunted Head’ are now streaming
WORCESTER, Mass. [February 7, 2025] – When a band pulls back the curtain on its creative process and reveals being influenced by the ‘90s, it’s often related to a familiar type of sound. For Sunday Junkie, the Worcester alternative duo that formed last year from the ashes of scene spark plug Not Bad Not Well, the stated influence of the last definable decade is more about freedom – the freedom to create, the freedom to explore, and the freedom to allow an organic musical identity to crystalize on its own terms.
That approach shines through on “Holy, Holy,” the yearning new Sunday Junkie single that hits the streams on Friday, February 7. With a hazy, slow-burn ache and a dense cloud of calculated propulsion that belies its guitar-rock core, “Holy, Holy” is the third offering from the duo of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Tom Martin and drummer and percussionist Shawn Pelkey, following the fall release of a pair of striking debut singles in “Vultures” and “Haunted Head.”
Each track will be featured on Sunday Junkie’s forthcoming debut album, due out sometime later this year. But before an overarching storyline emerges, these inaugural Sunday Junkie singles each strike a specific mood. As “Holy, Holy” twists and crawls through a dramatic atmosphere of tension, the duo quickly positions itself as a band with a lot to say and seemingly not a lot of time to say it.
“We’re just trying to write great and honest songs,” admits Martin. “My favorite albums deepen the relationship you have with them each time you give them another listen, whether it be a lyric you didn’t notice before, a somewhat buried, but really cool, track, etc. And I hope on some level we can achieve that at some point.”
Every strong relationship, including the one between the artist and audience, is built on trust. And “Holy, “Holy” offers a raw vulnerability that, as its sound swirls through lanes of alternative, post-rock, post-punk, and whatever else catches the ear, allows Martin to open up a personal side.
“I had issues with drinking in the past, and the lyrics on ‘Holy, Holy’ pretty heavily revolve around using alcohol as a means of self-medicating and ignoring a larger, underlying issue,” Martin adds. “It can be pretty insidious when it seems to provide relief, but the toll it’s taking is more evident to those around you and they just hope you can eventually see it too. The line ‘Honey on our tongues / Sucking on the rind’ is more of a reference to having everything at your fingertips, not realizing it, and choosing to throw it away instead.”
Recorded by Pelkey and Martin, mixed by Jack Shea, and mastered by Jay Frigoletto at Mastersuite in Brookline, New Hampshire, “Holy, Holy” features Martin on vocals, guitar, bass and synth, with Pelkey holding down the drums and additional percussion. The long-standing creative relationship between Sunday Junkie’s two core members allows for another element of trust to decorate the project, where one grants space to the other to fulfill his vision of what the song should be.
While the jangly iridescence of anthemic October debut “Vultures” and the poignant buoyancy of November follow-up “Haunted Head” both offer a certain dramatism in its sound, “Holy, Holy” continues to world-build the vision Sunday Junkie through intense, heavy lyricism and a meandering, slightly chaotic precision that feels like it’ll skid off the rails at any given time… but simply never does.
“These three songs showcase our diversity,” observes Pelkey. “They feel like the tip of the iceberg, as they are all pieces from our upcoming LP. And though I wouldn't call it a concept album, at times it can feel like it. Even so, the tracks stand up well on their own. Once the record is released I think they might even make more sense to the listener.”
As “Holy, Holy” careens through its nearly 3:30 runtime, the dreaded I-word – influences – begin to ring clear, with a combination of ‘90s alt-rock (through strains of Smashing Pumpkins, R.E.M., Sonic Youth) and earlier post-rock and emo (the ethos and creativity of Appleseed Cast, Mogwai) providing a loose sonic roadmap of both past and future spoils.
“For the most part, the songs take shape without intent,” says Pelkey. “Every now and then Tom will write a track where I hear certain influences and I’ll try and nudge it in that direction. The first time I heard the ‘Vultures’ riff, it gave me a heavy Queens of the Stone Age vibe. That sense of nostalgia made it easy for me to write my parts. I’m sure that stems from the fact we share a lot of the same influences. The ‘90s alternative vibe is definitely strong with us.”
And true to form, from the often-referenced decade or any other, the core of “Holy, Holy” gestated out of a riff. It’s just one component to the torrent of sound kicked up by Sunday Junkie, one that grows louder and more refined with each release, but it's the compass that points to the aforementioned freedom in songwriting.
“Pretty much every riff starts with a ‘what would Radiohead do’ thought process and then ends up sounding nothing like Radiohead,” Martin adds with a laugh. “I love the atmosphere captured in ‘There, There’ and tried to recreate it in my own way but veered off at some point. The thing I like about Sunday Junkie is that we don’t have to adhere to any set genre and can mix and match as we please. It all ends up sounding cohesive in the end, but I hope we can consistently keep things interesting and feeling new.”
‘Holy, Holy’ production credits:
Tom Martin: Vocals, guitars, bass, synth, and lyrics
Shawn Pelkey: Drums and additional percussion
Recorded by Shawn Pelkey and Tom Martin
Mixed by Jack Shea
Mastered by Jay Frigoletto
Artwork by Tom Martin
Sunday Junkie short bio:
Sunday Junkie is a Worcester-based alternative rock duo composed of multi-instrumentalist, lyricist, and vocalist Tom Martin and drummer and percussionist Shawn Pelkey. The band released a pair of debut singles in Fall 2024 (October’s “Vultures” and November’s “Haunted Head”), with If It’s Too Loud praising its ability to present “a sound that is truly all of their own out of some of our favorite musical elements,” and Rock And Roll Fables citing “Martin’s warm bass lines interwoven with his riffs and Pelkey’s drum lines in a perfect sync that’s still a labyrinth-like aural odyssey.” A new single called “Holy, Holy” drops in February 2025, with more new music on the way, leading to Sunday Junkie’s debut album arriving sometime later this year.
‘Holy, Holy’ single artwork:
Art design by Tom Martin
Media praise for Sunday Junkie:
“Sunday Junkie is the latest band to form from the ashes of Not Bad Not Well and just released their debut single, ‘Vultures.’ The Worcester band (which includes Tom Martin and Shawn Pelkey of Not Bad Not Well) have crafted a sound that is truly all of their own out of some of our favorite musical elements. This new single has the disjointed post-rock of the members' previous bands, but in a kind of odd more pop based sort of way. The guitar's tuning is slightly off, and the song has a kind of jerky feeling to it, but it's also a solid power pop song. It's kind of like if At the Drive In and Cheap Trick decided to jam together. Sunday Junkie have some serious potential based on their debut single.”
“The ‘new’ in question today is “Haunted Head” which follows October’s ‘Vultures’ with a defining outing where Sunday Junkie deliver the kind of tunes at this stage of their relative infancy that fans will instantly recognize as theirs. For us, ‘Haunted Head’ has these Prog elements that were pretty prevalent in throwaway Nu-Metal diamonds in the rough like Pulse Ultra and The Apex Theory (and dredg to an extent) but with an Alternative sound infused at its core here with Martin’s warm bass lines interwoven with his riffs and Pelkey’s drum lines in a perfect sync that’s still a labyrinth-like aural odyssey with Martin’s yearning vocal delivery serving as the cherry on top.”
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