The Hollow

One of the best feelings in the world is to look out into the crowd and see the unmistakable look on someone's face that proves your music has just connected with them in some way; maybe it helped them to have a great time that night, or maybe it struck an emotional chord. Whatever the case may be, the Hollow is having a blast doing it. Drawing from the good times of bands like Aerosmith and The Black Crowes, the complexities of Tool and Porcupine Tree, the accesibility of Incubus and STP, the catchiness of modern rock radio, the stripped down soul baring of Damien Rice and Pete Yorn, and the emotion of the highs and lows of life, The Hollow blends all these together across their repertoire, resulting in a sound all their own, yet impossible not to like.

The Hollow is comprised of five talented young musicians who have home bases in Atlanta, Athens, Macon, and Milledgeville, Georgia. They deliver a rare blend of sonwriting, power, emotion, and performance that could easily become the voice of a generation. The principle songwriters, Lewis Smith, Brian Davis, and Scott Shelko, met in college and discovered they had common backgrounds - professional training since early childhood in piano and guitar (Smith), percussion (Shelko), and voice (Davis), as well as a strong mutual influence from bands like Tool, Dream Theater, Pink Floyd, etc. The Hollow has taken the unique aspects of these bands - the complexities, soaring harmonics, unusual time signatures, etc - and blended them with a catchy, more radio friendly style. As a
result, the music is highly accessible while still allowing the talent and complexities to shine through. Smith and Shelko have gone on to study their instruments at the University of Georgia in Athens and the Atlanta Institute of Music, respectively.

The music speaks for itself. The songs are widely varied in both style and content. The music is at times depressing, hopeful, angry, energetic, happy, desperate, or acoustic, covering a wide range of human emotion that is easy for all to relate to. One minute you may hear a straight up feel-good bar rock song like "Sooner Than Later," which will have you smiling and singing along in no time. The
next minute you could be hit with a tune like "Falling Out," which incorporates passages in 6/8, 7/8, and 11/8 time without losing any of its catchiness or accessibility, all before the first soaring chorus. Then you might experience "The Deep End," a wistful reminesce on lost love that begins with an acoustic guitar before adding piano, bass, and the full band. The last track on the CD features a final solo that incorporates a new instrument or a new part every measure for several minutes before finally fading out.

The Hollow has played all over the state of Georgia while its members are still in college. They have a strong loyal following from several Georgia locations, and they guarantee a great time and a great crowd every time they play. For a CD, booking information, or anything else, drop us a line on here or at www.myspace.com/thehollow2. Head on over there anyway - it has more songs that were too large to fit on SonicBids!