Hollowed Sky formed in November 2016. Berchielli, Bradshaw, and Rupertus were coming off of extended musical hiatuses after previous projects fizzled out. In all honesty, they were just looking to jam.
Within seconds of the first jam session, the band knew they had stumbled onto something worthwhile. The jams started developing structures. They decided they needed to find a singer. Next thing you know, the band is ready to start recording.
Fast forward a few years and we see the band has released their second EP, Strings; recorded and produced by the band’s members.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Hollowed Sky about the latest project, technology, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
We often describe ourselves as an Annapolis band, but truth be told– we are all originally from Anne Arundel County, Maryland in the small towns of Edgewater, Arnold, and Severna Park that all surround the city of Annapolis. We practice in Lothian, Maryland; but Orem currently lives in the city of Baltimore. We classify our music generally as alternative rock; but we have elements of prog rock, space rock, modern rock, metal, and more. We strive to be rhythmically interesting, melodic, heavy (but not metal), lyrically deep, and never boring.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
Berchielli: Shortly after Kurt Cobain died, my friends and I were literally playing in a dumpster, and someone said “Hey, we should start a Nirvana cover band.”
Bradshaw: The what led you down this path question: My brother who is 10 years older then me has always been a talented musician (drummer, guitarist, vocalist, great all around song writer) and a big influence on me. I bought my first drum kit in 6th grade and have loved the never ending learning process and form of creative expression that Avenue has provided. I enjoy the way playing an instrument expands ones memory and agility. It’s a great way to live in the moment.
Orem: What led me to music is wanting to share what I could do with everyone– good, bad or ugly.
Rupertus: I started playing music in middle school where I learned to play the trumpet, which led me to playing guitar for a few years, and then (with some help from friends and family) realized that I was pretty good rhythmically and switched to playing bass. Watching a lot of my friends in bands eventually led me to playing in multiple bands myself.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
On our first EP, many of those songs were our first attempts at writing together and we didn’t quite know what we were supposed to sound like yet. You can hear it start to come together on that album with songs like: Breathing Life into the Sun, Soviet Red, and Earth and Sky; but we feel that we have truly defined our sound with our new EP “Strings.” From a production standpoint, we are constantly trying new things and of course we wanted this one to sound better and different than the last EP. We think it sounds a bit darker, which fits the nature of the material.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this over saturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
There are a lot of original bands out there to compete with, it can be hard to stand out. Another is that we believe streams are not properly valued monetarily in the digital streaming music marketplace.
What was the last song you listened to?
Berchielli: “Doomed User” by Deftones
Bradshaw: Dont remember, it was 6:30 in the morning.
Orem: “Human” by Highly Suspect
Rupertus: “The Pot” by Tool
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
We all usually use our phones as music players out of convenience like most other people, but we can tell you for certain that our new EP sounds best on CD, and it’s not even really close.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
We want people to listen to us wherever they possibly can, and Spotify seems to be the most popular these days. Having said that, Bandcamp does the best job of making sure artists who use their platform are properly compensated for their work when it comes to sales. We also like SoundCloud because of the interactive element.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
Hit us up on Spotify, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, and check out www.hollowedsky.com! We love getting comments and interacting with listeners/fans.
Anything else before we sign off?
Thanks for reading! We hope you’ll check out our new EP “Strings” and follow us on whichever streaming service you prefer.
