Drinking cider and making metal. HollowKin certainly know where it’s at!
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We’re all from around Bath in the South-West UK. We’re just a bunch of cider-drinking west country bumpkins.
How did you meet?
Being from a place with such a small music scene we have all crossed paths in some way. DJ and Dan have known each other and been playing in bands since they were teenagers and me and Beau have played shows together in previous bands. DJ was just the orchestrator who got us all together in our final HollowKin form.
How long have you been playing as a band?
Not even a year yet. December 2023 was our first practice as a (nearly) fully formed band. We have been really pushing everything and feel like we are basically playing the music game on double speed. We were in the studio by the end of January 2024.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
There was a list of possible names when I joined which we were sitting with to try and find which one sat best. HollowKin was one of Beau’s and just felt like it had a nice ring to it. We did find out afterwards that it is the name of a fan-made Pokemon, a little pumpkin ghost bug thing. It’s cute!
What are your influences?
DJ is hugely influenced by stuff like Machine Head and Lamb of God with his riffs, and then we like to play with the melodic side of metalcore from stuff like Architects and Spiritbox. Personally I love stuff which ranges from hyperpop like Cookii or Brakence to doom and noise like Primitive Man and Gnaw Their Tongues.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Our sound is so heavily built around a foundation of groovy-as-hell riffs. We call ourselves metalcore because we like to lean into melody from time to time, but we definitely sit closer to the metal side than the core side. There are flecks of thrash, nu-metal and hardcore peppered throughout too.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
You can basically put our songs into two camps, painfully introspective or societally furious. There is a lot of musing on mental health and nihilism, or anti-religious, anti-class cathartic protestation. I like to often put these subjects through the lens of storytelling or allusions to fiction, horror films, classic literature or whatever. I really struggle to hold back my obsession with Dante’s Comedy. It leaks into most stuff I write.
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What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
So far,at the time of writing, we’ve only played 4 shows and they’ve all been super fun! Our live shows involve a lot of headbanging and metal face gurning. We have spent a lot of time working on our live set to get it flowing as nicely as possible, we throw in the odd sample and movie quote to add some atmosphere. We have our first tour starting on October 4th which we are pumped for as much as for a chance to really get our live show nailed down. We have lots of ambitions to create a really cool live experience.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show
Well, having only done 4 shows we haven’t had anything too crazy so far. I enjoy spending some time down in the crowd, but we have a Halloween show coming up which I’m sure we will pull out something wild for!
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Well, DJ has quite the collection of guitars, but I know his current favourite is the Matt Heafy signature Epiphone 7 string Les Paul. Beau has a BC Rich with a gorgeous black speckled neck. They both use Victory heads and Orange Cabs.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Our debut EP Confessions & Failures release date is on the horizon, 15th November. We have been releasing singles in the lead up to it, the most recent being “The Devil in Your Garden” which coincides with our tour on October 4th. Then we have a few other shows coming up that we’re really excited about.
What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?
Live shows! We will have our EP out and it’ll be writing and playing live as much as we can. We are talking about our debut album already, so that’ll be on the cards.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
There are so many people we’d love to support, Machine Head or Trivium would be amazing, Architects or anything with Max Cavalera in would be crazy. Then opening, Held Under are a brand new band from our area we are going to be playing with soon who are definitely worth keeping an eye on.
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Header image by Finn Crawley
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