Despite what you may have heard, rock’n’roll is not dead — at least, not yet. Bands like The Hollow are working to ensure the genre stays relevant, even as the rest of the world says its time has come and gone.
The Hollow is an alternative rock band based out of Denver, Colo. The band was initially named Into the Hollow after a track title for a song by Queens of the Stone Age, one of the group’s biggest influences. They have since shortened their name to emphasize creepy imagery and feelings of emptiness typically associated with the word “hollow.”
“We like to assimilate … I think there’s a lot of imagery that comes with The Hollow,” said the band’s frontman, Spencer Townshend Hughes, in an interview. “I think that when people hear The Hollow usually they think of something very dark, emotionally very dark. It kind of embodies that sense of darkness. In a sense, you know, metaphorically it’s reminiscent of death — the hollow people, people feeling hollow, you know, filled with insecurities and all these things. Our reasoning for having this name is so that we have the opportunity to share with people the flip side of what the hollow is.”
That flip side, Hughes says, is the motif of The Hollow’s work: that though life may feel dark and heavy right now, it doesn’t have to forever; you have the power to do what you want in spite of the darkness you are fighting.
Born from Hughes’ creativity and passion, The Hollow has existed for three years, though due to various outside obligations, it hasn’t existed as a band for much longer than six months. It is composed of four members: Hughes on guitar and vocals, John Michael Bray, providing lead guitar and backup vocals, Ethan Kotel, performing bass guitar, and Brandon Davidson, on drums. Though up to now the group’s music has come from Hughes and his writing partner Sid Riggs, Hughes hopes to open up the composition to the other members of his band now that he feels they have achieved the concrete sound and style he spent three years striving to find.
Much of the inspiration for that sound comes from bands like Queens of the Stone Age and Muse, in addition to any projects headed by Josh Homme and Dave Grohl of Queens of the Stone Age. With as much inspiration as Hughes gets from these groups, however, Hughes emphasized that The Hollow’s sound will never mimic the sound of those two bands.
“I think that if I’m inspired by someone … no matter what I try to do to copy them I’ll never sound like them,” he said. “I’ve been influenced by so many different things in my life, it’s impossible for me to sound exactly like them.” In addition, “adding our creativity on top of it to separate ourselves is what we’re doing now.”
If the group sounds like something you are interested in, or even if it isn’t but you feel daring, make sure to catch The Hollow on Thursday, Feb. 18 at the Loading Dock, located at 445 S. 400 W. in Salt Lake City. They will be performing with two other bands, Ellipsis and Innocence Lost, for only $7 a ticket. This event is all ages. K-UTE will also be hosting the group the afternoon of that same day. Give this first time touring band a chance — like Hughes said, “[The Hollow is] surely not going to disappoint.”