Las Vegas metal band Hollow Zoo talk to us about their debut album and the lessons they've learned in our latest Spotlight
- photogroupie
- Jul 17
- 3 min read
PLEASE TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF...
We are a 5-piece metal band from Las Vegas. Formed by Ninefinger Nate in 2022, we didn’t complete our line-up until mid-2023. Our members are Azeron (vocals) Ninefinger Nate (guitars/vocals) David (Lead Guitar) Krysten (bass) and Rob (on drums). We started releasing music late last year with our single “Die Over there” and currently we have several tracks out on all the streaming platforms.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW SINGLE ‘UNTIL YOU BLEED’?
It’s a story about how love can become very toxic and morph into hate. In the story one person in the relationship recognizes this but doesn’t know how to remove themselves from the situation. Azeron and I (Nate) wrote the song and for me (Nate) it was very personal as I have seen first-hand many times how toxic and twisted the concept of love can become in people’s heads. I grew up with these types of relationships surrounding me, luckily I learned that lesson early and I have the best wife and relationship a guy could possibly hope for.
WHICH SONG WOULD YOU SAY SUMS UP YOUR SOUND THE BEST?
That is a tough question, our songs vary so much in composition it’s hard to name just one that captures our sound as all our songs are very different from each other. If we had to pick just one song to play for someone to try and capture our sound it would probably be “Nightmare” it’s one of the first songs I (Nate) wrote for the band and it kind of encompasses all of the different styles you will find in our other songs.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO MUSIC?
All of us found music in different ways. For me (Ninefinger Nate) I was always into listening to music but what got me into playing was watching my uncle play the bass in bands when I was a kid. He was the coolest uncle, and I always wanted to follow in his musical footsteps.
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL WRITING AND RECORDING DAY LOOK LIKE?
Our writing process for the album was a lot different than our current process. For the Album I (Nate) mostly wrote the ideas that became all the songs, then I would bring them to the group. Once the former drummer ad I had something resembling a song we would jam it with Dave and finalize it, then Azeron and I would do the vocals, I ended up writing 80% of the bass lines in the studio. With the addition of Krysten on bass and Rob as the new drummer, we have been able to take a more varied approach. Everyone else has started to contribute ideas that we are working into our newer material.
HOW DID YOU GET YOUR BAND NAME/ STAGE NAME?
You know we tried a lot of names out but either they were already being used, or they just never fit the band. Hollow Zoo is a name we came up with as a social commentary on how society in kind of a hollow construct and a prison of sorts, it’s like a zoo where humans are both the visitors and the attractions. Visually that lead down a rabbit hole for me (Nate) and so I also started creating a whole universe and lore based off the idea to go along with our music. That in turn has kind of guided our approach to things like merch and other media.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE HARDEST THING ABOUT YOUR MUSIC JOURNEY SO FAR?
The music industry is more brutal than it’s ever been, so there are a lot of challenges and hurdles that pop all the time, but the biggest hurdle is just trying to sustain our momentum and not let the stuff life throws at you, derail us.
WHAT'S BEEN THE EASIEST?
The easiest thing for all of us has probably been the chemistry between everyone. We all get along really well, and it feels like we have all been friends for years even though some of us just met.
WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING IF YOU WEREN'T MAKING MUSIC?
I think that all of us have music in our blood, but I suppose in a universe where we didn’t we ‘d all be doing some other form of art.
WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN?
As an artist, it’s cliché, but always record. We have been saved so many times by that wise saying.
WHAT'S NEXT?
We have our debut album coming out in August on the 9th. We also have a comic book about the band coming out with the album. We are working on some new music videos and we will have some live shows starting later this year.
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https://hollow-zoo.com/
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