EMQ’s With HollowKin
EMQ’s With HollowKin
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with UK Modern Metal/ Metalcore band, HollowKin. Huge thanks to their Guitarist/ Songwriter, DJ, for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
Hi Ever Metal, thank you so much for having us; my name is DJ and I’m the main song writer and one of the two guitarists in HollowKin alongside Beau. We also have James on vocals, Dan on drums and Hodds on bass. We only formed in November of 2023 when a band myself, Beau and Dan were playing in fell apart. Dan, Beau and myself immediately had plans to create a new band and asked James if he fancied coming to sing/scream for us, as James and I had played together previously in a band. In 2024 we needed someone to appear in our first music video for our single ‘In Heresy’ to pretend to play bass so we asked a guitarist friend of ours, Hodds, if he’d play bass in the video and he ended up joining the band off the back of it!
How did you come up with your band name?
The band name, HollowKin, came from Beau’s brain. We had a short list of potential names we all liked but something about this one stood out. As far as I know Beau was simply experimenting with using different words that didn’t necessarily go together and putting them together and this one kind of… stuck. We’ve found out since that it’s actually the name of a fan-made Pokémon based on a ghost-pumpkin!
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
We’re all from the southwest of the UK in and around Bath. The Metal and Rock scene is historically excellent here reaching into Bristol and is definitely seeing a resurgence of late that we are definitely proud to be a part of.
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
In July we released our 2nd single called ‘Leech,’ alongside a music video that we had a lot of creative fun in making. You can check it out on YouTube and find the single on all streaming platforms.
Who have been your greatest influences?
I’d say musically we’re influenced by a variety of bands and musicians from the likes of Machine Head, Pantera and Killswitch Engage through to John Williams and everything in between and we bring those influences into what we do.
What first got you into music?
I think we all grew up listening to Rock and Metal and so have always been entrenched in the lifestyle and culture that comes with it; something about the angst and noises of Heavy Metal spoke to us and quietened the noises in our own heads.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
That’s a super difficult one to answer on behalf of the whole band but for me personally I think someone like Robb Flynn of Machine Head, Max Cavalera of Soulfly or bands like While She Sleeps and Malevolence would be truly amazing.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
Download. That’s what we’ve all got our sights set on. We’ve all been regulars at Download Festival since 2003 and Castle Donnington is something of a mecca for us. It feels like home. To play there would be a dream come true and we’ll keep working until we get there!!!
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
I wouldn’t say we’ve had anything weird per se, but it was pretty wild to recently get sent some fan-art that someone had made of us from images of us at a recent gig. I think we were all a little taken aback by that, that someone had taken the time out of their day to do that.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
We appreciate you more than you could ever know – thank you so much for supporting us, listening to our music, watching our videos, and sharing HollowKin far and wide!
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
For me personally it would be one of my guitar heroes, Dimebag Darrell. I was heartbroken when he died, especially the circumstances under which he was murdered. So many rock stars are gone too, too soon. Joey Jordison, Chester Bennington, Chris Cornell and so many others – we are so fortunate for the legacy they leave behind that will live on forever.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
As a creative person I find a certain level of peace from making music. Something about it quiets my mind and settles my soul and even the heaviest, heaviest of music brings me nothing but joy to make. On the flip side of that I find it so hard to find time to create music and play guitar balanced around family time, work and all of the other fun and time consuming responsibilities that come with being an adult.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Social. Media. Being a musician is amazing but having to master social media and its ever growing plethora of platforms and algorithms that we must now appease sucks all of the fun out of it. I’d love it if we could go back to a time before the Instagrams and Facebooks of the world and just focus on making music and playing shows. Social media can be an amazing tool for exposure but it can also become a part time or even full time job to manage it on a daily basis to try and reach new audiences all the time.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Again for me personally it would be either “Through The Ashes of Empires” by Machine Head or “Iowa” by Slipknot. Those albums came about at a time in my life where my musical tastes were getting set in stone and I feel like I’ve built most of my musical tastes and guitar playing styles off of those. They were such huge parts of my life in my early teen years and I listen to them both regularly with zero skips!!!
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
Ohhhh tricky one, they all have their own merit. Downloads and streams allow you to get your music into peoples ears in such an easy and seamless way – but the artistic creativity you can have with physical copies of music – especially vinyl – is amazing to combine audio with visual and create something amazing.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Our gigging career is still in its infancy but we played an absolutely amazing hometown show recently near Bath that just went off – it was a spectacular night and we all came off stage absolutely buzzing.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
I’d still absolutely be doing something creative – probably with film, photography, graphic design or something else in the arts. My brain doesn’t work like most others, unless I’m doing something creative and making something. I just shut down and go on auto-pilot through life. I have to be making. I have to be creating.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Just us boys in the band, a couple bottles of rum and a few crates of beer!! We always have a killer time when we’re together and generally use any excuse for a get together!
What’s next for the band?
We have a really busy year ahead of us for the rest of 2024. Our next single, Pilgrimage, releases on Friday 23rd August, we have a few gigs lined up across the South West and a music video shoot to look forward to for our fourth single “The Devil In Your Garden”. Alongside that we have our first festival appearance at Misery Loves Company in Bristol on Saturday 28th September and our first headline UK tour from 4th – 8th October! It’s going to be a jam packed year for HollowKin!!!
What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
We use all the usual ones, Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), TikTok, YouTube and our music is on every streaming platform available. You can find all of our links from our LinkTree at https://linktr.ee/hollowkin
Time for a very British question now. As an alternative to the humble sandwich, is the correct name for a round piece of bread common in the UK either a Bap, a Barm (or Barm Cake), a Batch, a Bun, a Cob, a Muffin, a Roll or a Tea Cake?
I mean… I grew up calling them rolls but a bap is also acceptable in my book! Some of these I’ve never heard of!
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
No, thank you for having us. We just want to say we appreciate all of you who have found us and are streaming our music, watching our videos or following us on socials. We’re excited for 2024 and all that it’s going to bring for us and can’t wait to bring you all along for the ride! Come find us on Instagram @hollowkin_ to stay up to date with everything we’ve got going on!
Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
