Holy Mother: The NAMM Show 2025 Interviews

Photo by Jack Lue

Holy Mother: The NAMM Show 2025 Interviews

Holy Mother recently released RISE, a masterwork of heavy metal that has garnered the long running band a good deal of attention. With shows all over Europe as well as a recent standout performance at The Whisky on the Sunset Strip, Holy Mother is bringing classic metal to a whole new generation of music fans. It was an honor to host Holy Mother at the Highwire Daze booth for an exclusive NAMM Show meet and greet. Here is an interview we conducted with the amazing Holy Mother 2025 lineup at the Anaheim Convention Center right after their signing…

Introduce yourself. Tell me what you do in Holy Mother.
Mickey: Hey, what’s going on? This is Mickey Lyxx and I’m the guitar player in Holy Mother.

Mike: Hi, I’m Mike Tirelli from Holy Mother. I’m the singer and sometimes rhythm guitar player as well.

Freddy: Freddy Villano, bass guitar.

Steve: Hi, this is Steve MacQueen, drummer of Holy Mother.

How did your show at The Whisky go, and what were some of the highlights?
Mike: Well, just showing up at the club and being at a historical venue like that is just an honor to play. It was a little anxiety on my end waiting to go on stage, you know—but it was nice hanging out, meeting some of the people I haven’t seen in a lot of years that live out on the West Coast. I got to see them again, they came to the show, had a great show, and that’s about it. Basically, it—just playing—it was just an honor, and we kicked ass, I gotta say that.

When was the last time you were on the West Coast to play?
Mike: I haven’t played on the West Coast in a long time. I don’t even remember, but, you know, I come out to NAMM a lot. I have friends out here. Last year, I was here.

Photo by Vivian Ortega

Let’s talk about RISE – the new album from Holy Mother. Is there any story behind the title RISE?
Mike: It’s just an uplifting title. When I actually wrote it, I was thinking of being in front of sold-out crowds, seeing everyone raising their hands—just like, RISE! You know, just as it says, it’s very uplifting. And you know what?  These days, with the way things are in the world, things are down. Everybody needs an uplifting. And when you hear RISE, at least it’s a positive thing. With all the stuff that’s going on right now—especially here in California, with the fires and who knows what else—so that’s it.

Freddy, tell me a little about yourself and how you became involved with Holy Mother.
Freddy: Well, I grew up on Long Island, so I’ve known Mike for a long time. We’ve played together here and there, on and off, but have never officially been in a band together. I’ve always wanted to be in a band with Mike.

Mike: And I wanna be in a band with you!

Freddy: My path has been kind of circuitous. I played with Dee Snider from Twisted Sister in a band called Widowmaker. I toured with Quiet Riot for a few years in the ‘90s. I’d been playing with The Rods, another ‘80s metal band. And Mike called, kind of out of the blue, and said, ‘Are you gonna be at NAMM?’ And I said, ‘As a matter of fact, I am.’ Then he said, ‘You wanna fill in on bass? We need somebody to play bass. We’re gonna be out at NAMM and at The Whisky for a show.’ And I said, without even thinking about it twice, ‘Yes, absolutely.’ And so here we are.

Mike: He not only filled in, he killed it. But he’s the guy—he’s the new guy. He’s the prominent man right now. He’s got no choice.

Let’s go over to Mickey here. How did you wind up in Holy Mother?
Mickey: Well, I would say about two, almost three years ago now, I played with Mike Tirelli for the first time. I did my solo project a lot, Mickey Lyxx, and I asked Mike to come up and sing for a show—for a couple of songs. He came up, we had a great time, and then about eight months later, I had freshly graduated high school. I got a call from Mike, and it was, you know,‘ We need a guitar player. We have this lined up—love to have you.’  For me, it was a no-brainer. I know who Mike is—everybody knows who Mike is—and right away, you just get the sense this isn’t hired-hand work. It’s a family, and we make music as a family, and we just are a family. And I think that’s the most important thing.

Photo by Vivian Ortega

Tell me about your solo project and how it differs from Holy Mother.
Mickey: So, my solo project has been more, as of the last album, very instrumental stuff. But I can say that the new stuff is different. We’re gearing more towards rock and commercial, like pop rock. So I think fans should kind of keep an eye out for something that’s different but that’s going to be very catchy. With steel shred guitar.

And Steve, how did you wind up joining Holy Mother?
Steve: Actually, the former drummer, Jim Harris, is a family friend of ours. And I met both Mikes from—I met Little Mike (Mickey) when we were kids, and he introduced me to Tirelli. When Little Mike was telling me that Jimmy was thinking about taking a step down, it was kind of like a mutual switch, a changeover. No bad blood, nothing like that—he just wanted to take a step down. Jimmy actually even said to me, ‘I want you to be the drummer for the band.’ So it was cool. It was very mutual, like, ‘You’re gonna take over my place now,’ which is awesome. He was very cool to do that.

And what were you doing prior to Holy Mother?
Steve: I played in a couple of cover bands at home. I was playing with Mickey Lyxx.

What’s up next for Holy Mother after NAMM?
Mike: Well, right now, we’re looking at some festivals in Europe and looking to do some headlining shows in Europe—hopefully in April or May. We’re looking at some different things. We’ve got the Alcatraz Festival in August and a couple of other ones that are potentially pending right now. And like I said, we’re looking for different tours after April-May. We’re touring in April and May in between. And, obviously, we’re all writers, so we’ll be out with a new album—hopefully by the end of the year. On Massacre Records.

Do you have any messages for Holy Mother fans who’ve been following you all this time?
Mike: Pretty easy—just thank you for following, taking care of everybody in the band and following myself, Mickey, Steven, and Freddy now. Just thank you for being there for us. We took an 18-year hiatus, and it’s great to be back. The album Face the Storm was out for around four years. Now, we got Rise, which just came out in June. And just thank you for being there. Hopefully, we can see everybody live when we’re ready to play your city, state, or country—or wherever. We’ll be there. But thank you.

Interview by Ken Morton

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