Hollow Zoo

Interview With Hollow Zoo

SBS:  Hello and welcome to ya!  It’s always best to start off with some kind of introduction to who you are and what kind of music you make, isn’t it?  Tell us a bit about yourself & the history of your music, and give the people out there reading a couple of concrete reasons as to why they should be listening!

Hollow Zoo:  We are Hollow Zoo, a progressive Nu-Metal band from Las Vegas.  We formed in 2022 in the break room of our offices.  It was just two of us at first working on some random songs and jamming, then our first guitarist joined, and we recruited a singer we knew from our past and started to get more serious about our sound.  We recorded our first full length album in the fall of 2024 and released our official first single “Never Do What You Say” in January of 2025.  We felt with all of the things going on politically it was a good time to drop a protest anthem.  If you like music that blends genres and has a little bit of everything then you should check out our music.  We like to experiment with different elements of songs but everything we do has our signature off the wall sound and Azeron’s vocals are unmistakable.

SBS:  While we’re still getting to know you and quite possibly introducing you to these pages of ours, what would you say is the newest and/or most exciting thing you’ve got going on with your music right now?  Is there anything you’ve been working on that just got released, or something happening behind the scenes that you haven’t mentioned yet?  What should your fans be looking forward to this year?

Hollow Zoo:  We have a couple of exciting things going.  We are opening for ORGY on June 19th at the world-famous Whiskey-a-go-go venue in L.A.  If your readers are in the L.A. area and want to see a killer show they should grab some tickets from us on Eventbrite.

As far as new music, we are working on a new 6 song EP to be released next year.  We have two singles mixed and ready which we will drop later this year.  We’re really excited for these new tracks.  They are a little harder than some of our previous stuff, but they still sound like us.  The first single is titled “Blur the lines” and it should be out right before our show with ORGY in June.  Also, if any of your readers are in the Las Vegas area they should stay tuned for news about some exciting shows we are working to put together for the Metal and Punk Rock crowd out here.

SBS:  So far to-date, what do you feel like is the song of yours that listeners respond to the most?  Do you feel like you knew they’d like it when you first created it, or was it just another song to you at the time?  Sometimes it takes a few spins and a bit of time before we realize how special a song truly is.  What is it about this particular track that you feel people connect to?  If someone was to ask you to play one of your songs to get them interested in your music, would you choose the same one that listeners seem to enjoy the most, or would you risk it and choose something different from your catalog instead?

Hollow Zoo:  This is an interesting question.  I think there has been a big difference between what streamers like and what we hear from the crowds when we play live.  Our most popular song on streaming has been either “Filth Box” or “Never Do What You Say,” however live we get more people who want to hear or liked “Already Dead Inside.”  “Never Do What You Say” is usually the second most talked about song live.  ‘Already Dead’ being the most popular was bit surprising to me only because we thought that “Until You Bleed” or “Filth Box” would be the most popular, even live.  It has been fun to see what songs people like to stream and what they like live.  I wouldn’t have thought there would be such a stark difference in those two things.  The song we would play a new listener is most likely “Never do What You Say.”  ‘Never Do’ has had good feedback both streaming and live and it also has a little bit of everything we do as a band in it.  Some of us would probably say it should be “Nightmare,” which is a song we all love, but one which we really haven’t really promoted.  It is also a bit longer and more experimental so I’m not sure if it should be the song we play for someone first.

SBS:  Is there a concert you’ve been to that…maybe it was the best you’ve seen, maybe it wasn’t, but it was a completely unforgettable moment in time that you might not even see from the same band or artist again if you saw them play in the future?  Know what I mean?  Like, maybe a band you saw was touring a certain album and they never played those songs again…or like, maybe an artist climbed up the frame of the stage like Eddie Vedder did, and of course he’s probably not doin’ that now as an older dude…there are countless examples of amazing shows from the artists & bands we love most that we will never see happen twice.  Tell us all the details you can remember about an unforgettable show you saw, and why you don’t think that if you saw that same artist/band today that it could all happen again.

Hollow Zoo:  That’s a tough question.  I think we all have probably had that experience, so picking one out over the others would be hard.

I’m going to answer your question with one of our own, isn’t that the entire reason to see live music the chance to see a band you like do something incredible or something new that you may never see again?

I think that your question captures the essence of what a live musician is striving for.  To put on an unforgettable show.  One of the things we all talk about, and love is when an artist isn’t afraid to experiment with their own songs.  To answer more directly there are several performances that we could think of that we don’t think could be recreated.  There are a bunch of reasons we don’t think we would have the same experience.  For some of the performances it was a special time or a specific venue, for others it was because the band played one-off versions or new arrangements of a popular song.  It might be just as amazing an experience but it would be so in its own way.

SBS:  I’ve heard it said many times that it’s harder to write a song in a happy mood than to write one when you’re feeling down.  Of course, for some folks, the opposite is just as true…I guess maybe that’s a reflection of who we are on the inside perhaps?  From YOUR perspective, what’s the particular emotion you associate with the most, or connect to the strongest when you’re creating your music?  How does it play a role in what you write & why do you feel like that specific emotion gets the best songs out of you?

Hollow Zoo:  From our experience most of us write music and lyrics as a way to get our emotions out constructively.  We don’t feel like it’s harder to write a happy song, but we do think that you write what you feel.  If you’re not motivated by happy things when you make art, your art won’t have as many happy elements in it.

The second part to that, is sometimes as writers, we are just telling a story or writing about something completely made up and so the emotions or mood of the story aren’t tied to our personal emotions at all.  For instance, “Until You Bleed” is a song based off all the messed-up relationships I have seen my friends, family and others go through.  The view of the storyteller and the story being told are 100% made up to fit the narrative of toxic relationships, especially ones where neither person is really “bad” they are just bad together.  It’s not based on anyone specific nor is it based in any one sexuality.  

SBS:  Let’s ask ya this…would you rather create a massive hit song that the whole world knows and sings along with, or risk toiling in obscurity for the length of your career to fully keep your artistic integrity intact?  Is it really that much better to be one of those artists or bands that are only known for one song, or is it better to build a whole catalog you can proudly stand behind that might not be known at all?  One-hit wonders tend to get judged pretty harshly and are often crushed under the weight of constantly trying to find that second hit – but the flipside of that coin is the right hit song can be so financially lucrative that it can often be enough to build a whole career around.  Still…I have to wonder whether or not that would suck all the joy right outta the craft…maybe it’s really better to have no hits than one hit – what do you think you’d prefer and why?  Do you feel like creating a hit song is truly crucial to a music career?  If it’s not, what’s the alternative?  Can you still have a career without really becoming known?

Hollow Zoo:  Ah, the old “one hit wonder” dilemma.  Being that we are a Metal band we never give much thought to if our songs will be “hits.”  We like to write music that tells stories, sometimes those stories have personal elements or emotions in them and sometimes they are just topics we think are interesting or cool.  We love to see how the audience reacts and interprets those stories.  That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t be happy to have a ”hit” song, even if it was just one.  Every band wants to be successful but this industry will try to take your integrity and soul at every turn, so we don’t blame the artist that people call sell outs for doing whatever they think will lead to that success.  We don’t think that is something Hollow Zoo could ever do.  If we ever have a hit song, we won’t be frantically trying to write the next one.  We’ll be writing music that we’re proud of and sharing it with the world.

SBS:  Alright.  Personal taste.  It’s a weird thing right?  Impossible to predict, isn’t it?  We always talk about A-sides and B-sides when it comes to making music, and I like to believe that albums are generally put together with the artist or band bringing their best (theoretically, the A-sides) to an official release.  But once a song has been put out there into the world, it takes on all kinds of different meanings to every set of individual ears listening, doesn’t it?  For example – I’ve heard plenty of songs on what are considered to be B-side albums, or second songs that came along with a single that I might like even more than an A-side.  On the same side of that coin, just about every artist and band I know of tends to like certain songs they release much more than the ones their fans respond to the most.  So…I guess the question is…is there really such a thing as an A-side or a B-side to begin with?  What’s the point in worrying too much if everyone out there will draw to their own conclusions about what they like anyhow?  Should we just put absolutely everything we make out there online & let people be the judge?  When we label something as an A-side or a B-side, doesn’t that somewhat limit the listener’s objective ability to assess how they feel about a song on their own?  Who really decides what’s an A-side or a B?

Hollow Zoo:  We think that the A-side or B-side idea kind of simplifies something that is more complex.  There are a lot of reasons a band leaves certain songs off a record.  In the past you might have had 20-25 songs and decided to pick the best 15 for the album, that doesn’t mean the others weren’t good, just that the band had to cut something.  Maybe some of those get saved for another record and become hits or maybe the band thinks they aren’t as good and releases them as B-sides.  Other times the band might consider the songs to be unfinished or the recordings may not live up to the band’s expectations.  It can also be tough as an artist to determine what songs to cut because, at least in our case, we like all our songs for one reason or another.  Another issue is determining what will be more broadly appealing to your listeners and how that affects what songs you release as singles or use to promote your album.  In the past the record label decided what was A or B and sometimes the band had to cut their favorite song or one that would have been a hit.  Currently with all the options to self-publish the bands have a lot more control over what they release and how.  There are all sorts of other issues with being your own label and publisher but at least you can have some control over your own art.

SBS:  Who’s someone you would be able to pinpoint as an influence on your music, or who you are as an artist, that even your fan-base might not have expected?  How has that person affected the way you make your music, and do you really feel like the influence ends up showing up in your sound, or not?  Maybe it’s something they said, maybe it’s something they did, maybe it’s something they accomplished that you hope to as well someday…maybe they’re simply iconic, or have become legendary.  Tell us why this particular inspiration matters to you & how they made an impact on how you view the art of music.

Hollow Zoo:  We have all sorts of musical influences as we all have a diverse musical background.  We have a lot of non-musical influences as well, so it’s hard to narrow It down to any one person or artist.  We are influenced a lot by the 90s music scene and how diverse it was, we also draw influence from some of the newer bands and artists of the last few years.  As for influences of a non-musical nature they range from people in our own families to writers, philosophers, mavericks, pirates and painters.  One thing we can point to a specific person on, is our philosophy on live performances, which we took from Dimebag Darrell, and that is to always play every show in the moment and rather than worrying about it being perfect.  Just make sure it conveys emotion and strive to make every performance unique. 

SBS:  I’m going with a motto of being unafraid to fail this year, because I think even though I’ve failed in so many things that I’ve tried, maybe I still haven’t failed enough to have learned to not be so afraid of it yet, you know what I mean?  We can learn so much by failing…by trying different things…by stretching outside of our comfort zones – and heck, we don’t even know if we can find success at all unless we’re really willing to see what we’re capable of, right?  So let’s ask you this – what do you consider to be your biggest failure with your music to-date, and ultimately, how did that experience actually end up helping you later on?  What did you learn from whatever mistake you made & how did it assist your evolution?

Hollow Zoo:  Our biggest failure to date has probably been the inability to keep the original line-up of members.  In some ways that was inevitable just based on the way the band formed and the things the members who left already had going on in their lives.  Working so hard to make this music and put out what we all agree is a kick ass album only to have people leave right as we are gaining some momentum on live circuit has been tough.  Until this year we had managed to keep the core songwriting part of the band together.  That changed with the departure of our lead guitarist recently and even though he wasn’t the main song writer, he had a flair for adding to the songs and making them better.  We won’t know how much his departure will affect our sound until we get serious about writing new music.

SBS:  As I always like to remind people participating in our interviews, there is no such thing as an interview that has ever covered everything that someone would want to talk about, this one included.  We cover that here at sleepingbagstudios by offering you the ‘open floor’ at the end…a space where you can talk about anything else you want to.  You can mention anything we didn’t bring up.  You can talk politics if you want to.  You can swear.  You can tell us which websites we should go to in order to listen to your music.  You can tell us your favorite movie if you like.  Heck, you can full-on repeat yourself and say something you’ve already said if you feel so inclined – it’s YOUR space to say whatever YOU would want to say to the people out there, completely free of our influence on the conversation…all I suggest is that you take it for a ride and make good use out of it.  Thank you so much for talkin’ tunes with us!!!

Hollow Zoo:  If you made it this far congratulations, we want to say thank you for spending your time with us.  If you like unique and sometimes off the wall Metal, that blends many genres into a unique sound, go give our music a chance on any major streaming service.  You can also get some of our music for free by downloading it from Bandcamp.

We’d also like to offer all of you who made it this far a chance to win some free merch.  All you have to do is go watch one of our music videos on YouTube and leave a comment with #sleepingbagstudios after it.  If we get 50 comments across all videos, we will pick five winners at random, to each receive a $15 credit to spend in our online merch store.

Find out more about Hollow Zoo from their official website at:  https://hollow-zoo.com

Ya ha!  This link right here is the key to being the next artist or band featured here at sleepingbagstudios, so instead of just ignoring it, click it instead!