Before pop stardom seemed like it would be their reality, Liz Nistico and Louie Diller of Los Angeles duo Holychild perfected it as a state of mind. The pair, who met in 2011 when Diller served as a guest musician in Nistico’s dance class, would draft detailed five-month plans for their dream career, outlining goals for music videos, live shows and even wardrobe. “Our music is a little weird, so we stopped at nothing to make sure everything we did was at a really high level,” says Nistico, 24. “Our attitude was ‘Fuck if we know whether anybody will like this-but the production quality is going to be so killer that whether or not they like it, they won’t be able to deny it.'” The strategy worked: Self-produced YouTube videos for a handful of smart, hooky tracks — including “Best Friends” and “Playboy Girl” — attracted a dream team that now includes Grouplove manager Nicky Berger, Kevin Shivers of William Morris Endeavor and the band’s new label, Glassnote Records. “The last artist that came in here with this much vision was Mumford & Sons,” Glassnote founder/CEO Daniel Glass says. “[Holychild is] like a couple of kids with this joie de vivre, but at the same time, they’re totally in control and very serious about their craft.” Holychild will play South by Southwest in March and release a debut EP, “Mind Speak,” in the spring. If the duo’s latest master plan pans out, a full-length will arrive in fall.
