I spoke to local metalcore band Our Hollow, Our Home before
their set at Takedown Festival about the Hampshire metal scene, Facebook fans and
the reaction to their latest EP.
How does it feel to be back at Takedown Festival?
Josh: Amazing! We love this festival, since it is our hometown… Apart from Tim,
Pompey, wahey! Yeah, it is great! So many sick bands, shout out to Advanced Promotions for
putting it on every year.
It is the best day out and the start of summer!
What has changed since you played Takedown last year?
Tim: We are more unfit!
Toby: We have released a CD! That is a little bit more important!
Josh: We have released a CD! We are concentrating on the summer, getting touring and we have a lot of things planned. It is probably just taking it that step up, just being a bit more serious about it.
Tim: We’ve had summer festivals and touring. We have to push the EP a bit, but we have a new video coming out. Yeah, just having fun.
Josh: Amazing! We love this festival, since it is our hometown… Apart from Tim,
Pompey, wahey! Yeah, it is great! So many sick bands, shout out to Advanced Promotions for
putting it on every year. It is the best day out and the start of summer!
What has changed since you played Takedown last year?
Tim: We are more unfit!
Toby: We have released a CD! That is a little bit more important!
Josh: We have released a CD! We are concentrating on the summer, getting touring and we have a lot of things planned. It is probably just taking it that step up, just being a bit more serious about it.
Tim: We’ve had summer festivals and touring. We have to push the EP a bit, but we have a new video coming out. Yeah, just having fun.
What bands are you planning to see today?
Tim: I’m going to see the boys in Create To Inspire, they are good lads. We have already seen Prolong The Agony, they are good mates of ours. I want to go see Moose Blood and Blood Youth. There are so many bands at the moment, there are too many to choose from!
Josh: For me it is Mallory Knox, I don’t really listen to Charlie Simpson but it would be interesting to see him.
Tim?: We are majorly gutted because we clash with Creeper! And they are like the band of the weekend for us and we can’t see them, but hey ho! Come see us, not them! (laughs)
In the time that you have been together you have gained over 10,000 fans on Facebook, how does it feel knowing that you have reached out to so many people?
Tim: It’s amazing! We are used to growing up in bands where you get 2000 fans and you are really excited. You have to take a step back and just be like ‘wow’. We have done nothing to warrant that many people paying an interest in us, so it is pretty special.
Josh: It is awesome! When we struggle, when we are like ‘god we have put so much money into this band’ it makes it all worthwhile, it really does.
Tim: I’m going to see the boys in Create To Inspire, they are good lads. We have already seen Prolong The Agony, they are good mates of ours. I want to go see Moose Blood and Blood Youth. There are so many bands at the moment, there are too many to choose from!
Josh: For me it is Mallory Knox, I don’t really listen to Charlie Simpson but it would be interesting to see him.
Tim?: We are majorly gutted because we clash with Creeper! And they are like the band of the weekend for us and we can’t see them, but hey ho! Come see us, not them! (laughs)
In the time that you have been together you have gained over 10,000 fans on Facebook, how does it feel knowing that you have reached out to so many people?
Tim: It’s amazing! We are used to growing up in bands where you get 2000 fans and you are really excited. You have to take a step back and just be like ‘wow’. We have done nothing to warrant that many people paying an interest in us, so it is pretty special.
Josh: It is awesome! When we struggle, when we are like ‘god we have put so much money into this band’ it makes it all worthwhile, it really does.
What are your views on the Hampshire metal scene?
Josh: At the minute it is going really well, we have got local bands that are killing it! Creeper, Bury Tomorrow. Obviously they are getting places! But then you have got other bands such as Prolong The Agony who are doing really well and it is just really good to see. A few years ago there wasn’t the community in my eyes that there is now.
Tim: It is like the local bands coming through, there was sort of a gap there for a while and now you have got the boys in Gone By Tomorrow and Saint[the]Sinner. We supported their last show and all of them just make the scene a community, instead of just being bands that occasionally play together.
Josh: At the minute it is going really well, we have got local bands that are killing it! Creeper, Bury Tomorrow. Obviously they are getting places! But then you have got other bands such as Prolong The Agony who are doing really well and it is just really good to see. A few years ago there wasn’t the community in my eyes that there is now.
Tim: It is like the local bands coming through, there was sort of a gap there for a while and now you have got the boys in Gone By Tomorrow and Saint[the]Sinner. We supported their last show and all of them just make the scene a community, instead of just being bands that occasionally play together.
What has been the reaction to the //Redefine EP?
Josh: From what I can tell from the reviews that we have been reading it has done really well. It has been a long time coming and it has been painful for us to get that EP out. I cannot stress how hard it has been for us, but it is out! Download it on iTunes, Band Camp, come buy it at a show, illegally download it in some way, shape or form!
Tim: It has been a labour of love to get it out, but it has been worth it just to see people say that they are going to listen to it, people checking it out… It is worth it, all of the way!
Josh: From what I can tell from the reviews that we have been reading it has done really well. It has been a long time coming and it has been painful for us to get that EP out. I cannot stress how hard it has been for us, but it is out! Download it on iTunes, Band Camp, come buy it at a show, illegally download it in some way, shape or form!
Tim: It has been a labour of love to get it out, but it has been worth it just to see people say that they are going to listen to it, people checking it out… It is worth it, all of the way!
How would you describe your music to someone who has not
heard it before?
Both: Cheesy metalcore!
Josh: We don’t think that we are that heavy, but when we play live we are pretty heavy! Catchy heaviness! We could play any stage of this festival! (laughs)
Both: Cheesy metalcore!
Josh: We don’t think that we are that heavy, but when we play live we are pretty heavy! Catchy heaviness! We could play any stage of this festival! (laughs)
What inspires you to keep writing music and performing?
Toby: Well I am the only one who writes anything! I don’t know, I watch a lot of classic films. I get a lot of electronic bars from soundtracks like Gladiator and Lord of the Rings. Things of an epic scale I don’t like can be limited to a single genre. I will take elements from all sorts of things in life and focus and channel it through music.
Toby: Well I am the only one who writes anything! I don’t know, I watch a lot of classic films. I get a lot of electronic bars from soundtracks like Gladiator and Lord of the Rings. Things of an epic scale I don’t like can be limited to a single genre. I will take elements from all sorts of things in life and focus and channel it through music.
What advice would you give to any aspiring musicians?
James: Don’t act like us! (laughs)
Toby: I would say that the best thing to do is to get into a practice room together
and write a good couple of songs, maybe four or five, and when you have got
those five choose one that you think is your strongest song and don’t skimp on
recording. If it means that you save and work a Saturday job or whatever, try
and raise £800 and go to a professional studio because in this day and age the internet is everything, so people will judge you and merit you on your online
presence. So by having a good track online for people to listen to is the best
way I’d say to start anything.
Josh: Just to add onto that any Tom, Dick and Harry can get a MacBook and record something, so the quality of that recording is so important!
Tim: I think that the work never stops as well, you can’t stop pushing yourself and you can’t stop pushing your band name. Just try and get people to listen to it, you can’t just take a break from that or it won’t be worth it.
James: Don’t act like us! (laughs)
Toby: I would say that the best thing to do is to get into a practice room together
and write a good couple of songs, maybe four or five, and when you have got
those five choose one that you think is your strongest song and don’t skimp on
recording. If it means that you save and work a Saturday job or whatever, try
and raise £800 and go to a professional studio because in this day and age the internet is everything, so people will judge you and merit you on your online
presence. So by having a good track online for people to listen to is the best
way I’d say to start anything.Josh: Just to add onto that any Tom, Dick and Harry can get a MacBook and record something, so the quality of that recording is so important!
Tim: I think that the work never stops as well, you can’t stop pushing yourself and you can’t stop pushing your band name. Just try and get people to listen to it, you can’t just take a break from that or it won’t be worth it.
What should people expect from a live show from Our Hollow,
Our Home?
Toby: A bit of a party, I suppose! We play heavy music but we don’t necessarily come across as big bruiser guys who are like ‘YEAH!’
Josh: We like everyone when we play live to have a great time. We played at The Joiners a few weeks ago and it was a party! We don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Toby: You have got to understand that a lot of people forget that when you pay to go and see a show that it is a show. So like you wouldn’t pay to go and see West Side Story just standing there would you, you expect an act. We try and put on a show, that is what we do.
Toby: A bit of a party, I suppose! We play heavy music but we don’t necessarily come across as big bruiser guys who are like ‘YEAH!’
Josh: We like everyone when we play live to have a great time. We played at The Joiners a few weeks ago and it was a party! We don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Toby: You have got to understand that a lot of people forget that when you pay to go and see a show that it is a show. So like you wouldn’t pay to go and see West Side Story just standing there would you, you expect an act. We try and put on a show, that is what we do.
What else do you have planned for the rest of this year?
Josh: We can’t say… Festivals! We have got a couple of things that we can’t say but that makes it exciting. We have got touring, festivals, we want to push the new video as we said earlier. We are going to try and build up what we have done last year and cement ourselves a little bit more.
Toby: Along with continuing write the new release I suppose. We have made some headway with it, but I would like to get a lot more nailed in on the pre-production side so I can expect where to shape the record.
Josh: We can’t say… Festivals! We have got a couple of things that we can’t say but that makes it exciting. We have got touring, festivals, we want to push the new video as we said earlier. We are going to try and build up what we have done last year and cement ourselves a little bit more.
Toby: Along with continuing write the new release I suppose. We have made some headway with it, but I would like to get a lot more nailed in on the pre-production side so I can expect where to shape the record.
www.facebook.com/ourhollowourhome
Photography by Rob Campion
