Monthly releases is the name of the game for local band Hollow Head, who just dropped their third single this year in anticipation of the May debut of their sophomore album. With the January release of “I Can See You,” the February release of “On My Mind,” and this week’s release of “Splinter,” the alt-rock foursome is giving markedly impressive sneak peeks of the impending self-titled album, officially coming May 2. There’s both rhyme and reason to this one-per-month strategy, with anticipation building exponentially as Hollow Head prepares for the album’s release party in just six weeks.
303 Magazine spoke with Hollow Head’s co-founders Elliott Miller and Jimmy Adame about their coming together nearly a decade ago, “playing music together since,” and the evolution that has occurred during that time period. That evolution has followed Elliott and Adame — from their meeting and their subsequent move from Michigan to Colorado to their meeting Ian Gerrard and John Baldwin on the world wide web and through mutual friends, respectively — and has shown up with a roundhouse kick to the local music scene in the form of this trio of single releases.
The band name itself came out of that evolutionary process. “We’re growing into this identity of being over-thinkers and only being able to communicate our cluttered minds through music,” said Adame. With that name came the music, an extension of the organic development the band finds so important about the creative process. “My musical background is just loving playing live and learning how to make people react in a live setting,” said Miller. In keeping that natural flow at the forefront of their music-making, Hollow Head’s goal is “putting a message and music before anything resembling image.” From a listening standpoint, the music itself breathes ingenuity from its rhythm to its lines, which was indeed the intention, according to Adame. “We want Hollow Head to be what we love about our favorite records — authentic.”
For Hollow Head, it’s all about the music’s live transformation and its relationship with the “active listener,” which is why dropping monthly singles made the most sense for their upcoming album release. “Singles are different because they’re way more high energy/aggressive,” said Miller. “They’re a better representation of what we want to express,” with Adame adding, they’re a “testament to how we’ve grown.” For the release of their sophomore album and beyond, they want the future to “look like playing more and more live shows for people who really care.”
That visualized future will start to take shape at the May 4 release party at The Black Buzzard, with musical support from Immigrant’s Child and Juno Rossa. From the fans to their musical peers, the local music scene has a lot of like-minded people in its midst, and Miller credits that aspect for having made “certain musical relationships we’ve developed stronger.” For Adame, he finds inspiration from the local music scene, the people in it and “their commitment to their community here in Colorado.” From this point on, Hollow Head can take those qualities of evolution, proactivity and commitment and bring them on the road with them on a summer tour that will induct their music nationally.