Hollerado's New Music Video Is So Much More Than A Music Video

We've been into Toronto rockers Hollerado for oh-so-many years now — since back in the days when we were all music editors with SoundProof and they were capturing attention with their decision to play weekly residencies at venues in Toronto, Ottawa Montreal, Boston, New York, Hamilton, and Lacolle ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Things have gotten even better for them since then. They've put out music on Arts & Crafts. They got nominated for a Juno. They even share two members with Stella Ella Ola — who have quickly become one of our favourite local bands. But we've never liked Hollerado more than we do right now. And that's because we just finished watching the video for "So It Goes".

Frontman Menno Versteeg wrote the song on the day his grandfather died. "It just absolutely poured right out of me," he explains in the video. "It came even before any tears." It's about his grandfather's experiences during the Second World War, fighting for the Dutch Resistance in Rotterdam after Hitler invaded the Netherlands in 1940. He was captured by the Nazis, only to have his life saved by a German officer — a favour he would have the opportunity to return after the war.

The band travelled to Europe to film the video for the song. And Versteeg was able to met the grandson of the German who had saved — and been saved by — his grandfather. It's an incredibly story. And it makes the video for "So It Goes" so much more than just a music video.

Oh and it's a pretty damned good song, too: