DISCOVER | Fate’s Hollow, Manchester UK.

Today on DISCOVER I’m joined by Reece, James, Tom and Adam from Fate’s Hollow. Fate’s Hollow are a four piece alternative rock band from Manchester, UK. We talk about fantasy weirdness, zoomers and breakfast soup.

Hi Guys, we’ll start with the boring generic questions – get them out of the way. Can you guys tell me – what’s the story behind your band’s name and how did you all meet?

Reece: So, the band is conceptual in nature, all the songs are part of a bigger story we’re trying to tell, and Fate’s Hollow is a fictional place within that story. It’s like a framing device, the Hollow is a place where animals gather to tell each other stories, and each album is ideally going to be one “story”. Its basically a way for me to do a whole bunch of different genres and weirdness without being bound to one particular world. I hope that makes sense.

James: I believe Reece has had the band for a while but never really got it off the ground. Tom and I have been mates and in and out of bands for about 15 years and he asked me to try out for Fate’s Hollow with him and we hit it off straight away. We had a different drummer at first who ended up being not being a suitable fit, so we parted ways auditioning little Adam, the sexiest and greatest drummer ever.

Adam: I discovered the songs online from demos Reece posted and instantly new there was something there, auditioned shorty after and got straight into things.

With the previous mention of the band being a framing device, Who are some of your musical influences – and how do they figure into your sound or songwriting approach?

Tom: Let’s all share our Spotify festivals!

Reece: Nah that’s too much work, I’m influenced by a lot of modern prog rock bands like Coheed and Cambria, The Deer Hunter Porcupine Tree and stuff like that but I’m also a massive fan of 70’s and 80’s pop rock, Toto, Men At Work, The Police etc. I’m sure all of that bleeds through in some way. We like to play with guitar harmonies here and there kind of like an Iron Maiden-y dual guitar, Thin Lizzy vibe.

Tom: From an influences perspective there is a lot of scope… we all have a wide variety of musical interests ranging from prog, punk, emo, metal to even pop. We believe our sound is a good blend of all these styles as Iron Maiden fans would love our riffs but prog fans would love our intricate time signatures.

It sounds like the musical influence scope is MASSIVE with bands ranging from ages to more modern times. What song that you have done so far would say you would be your favorite to play? (either original or cover)

Tom: My personal favourite is silver spoon! Showcases our pop punk influences and seems to be a massive crowd pleaser.

James: For me – My favourite to play is “Evil Things”. It’s a dark themed song, lyrically and the music behind it really sets the tone. I love the AlexisOnFire vibes I get from it as well.

Reece: My favorite song of ours is a toss up between our set opener “The End Of Summer” or “Evil Things”. “The End Of Summer” just has this sort of melancholic but hopeful vibe to it and a really fun main riff the whole thing is anchored around. “Evil Things” is just a nasty little joyride it’s immensely fun.

Adam: Probably “end of summer” for me just has so many good moments to look forward to really grabs your attention in my opinion.

A wide selection of favorites there then! Do you have any upcoming shows or tours? If so, where would people be able to catch you live?

Reece: We’re playing at Blossoms in Stockport on the 8th of December, and the Pint Pot in salford on the 22nd of December.

James: Need some ideas on what to wear for the 22nd. I think Christmas jumpers is a bit obvious.

When playing live what can fans expect when they see you live – are there any special surprises or anything that sets your show apart from others in your genre?

James: We’re hoping the music entertains enough. We’re all getting on now and jumping about isn’t great for the knees, Reece has nearly collapsed at each gig up to now. We carry a defib with our gear at all time.

I’m curious about this now and this ties into something else I’m sure people would be interested to know, do you have any funny or interesting stories from shows that you can share with us?

Reece: Yeah I basically have to suck my inhaler dry at the end of every set so if you wanna see a fat dude literally rock himself to death, come see us! … and I am personally cursed when it comes to technology and usually have some sort of technical error. First gig I had no in ear monitors and couldn’t hear my guitar the entire time, second gig I had no pedalboard because my guitar lead frazzled out – actually this last gig went surprisingly well, which means I’m going to die at the next one.

Tom: I nearly fell off the stage at our last gig…

Seems like there’s been some disasters happening along the way so far then. If you were given would you most like to collaborate with or support?

James: Alexisonfire if they didn’t play their new album.

Tom: Since joining the band Coheed and Cambria have become my favourite band, I did like them before but I have new found appreciation for them now.

Adam: Teenage wrist are one of my favourite bands, would love to support them.

Reece: I’d go with LS Dunes bunch of my favorite dudes in that band. I think we would work well on a bill with them.

Besides working on music, what do you guys like to do outside of music, any hobbies or interests that you’d like to share?

James: Literally playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC right now, so I would say gaming. I also spend a lot of time with my daughter I was going to put ‘I like playing with kids’ but thought it wouldn’t be received too well.

Reece: I read a lot of comic books, horror novels, stuff like that I also love collecting films too.

Tom: I like sports, football and rugby mostly and got a season ticket for my local rugby team.

Adam: I’d say exercise for hobbies, helps give me structure.

So we’re coming to the end of the interview now I have two more questions for you, one a bit more serious the other something more fun! Let’s start with the more serious one… What obstacles or challenges do you encounter when it comes to getting your music out there and heard by potential new fans?

Reece: The biggest obstacle i think is finding our audience in an organic way. Getting the right gigs, in front of the right people in a town that has got an absolutely massive metal scene when we aren’t really a metal band, it can be difficult to make that happen. We have actually hired a zoomer to handle our TikTok. My concern is how well does social media translate to actual presence at gigs. If we had 10k followers it wouldn’t mean anything if people weren’t coming out in numbers to see us. That’s something we’ve seen with other bands and its my personal worst nightmare.

James: There are conflicts within the band about what is the best way to approach getting our music out there. Some of us say we need to focus a lot more energy in to social media and some say we need to do as many gigs as possible. It’s finding that right balance. In the 20 years I have been playing in bands the scene has changed so much. Myspace was the only real social media for bands. Now, there’s so many and you have to have a different kind of presence on all of them. We were talking about doing fucking TikTok dances the other day. I feel like your presence on social media massively affects the attention you get where as it used to be how you sounded – Of course a good sound has to come with it.

James: I don’t think anyone in this band thinks we’re going to be rich and famous. We are all realists. We genuinely just love making music together and want people to hear it. Is that fair lads?

Reece: Speak for yourself I’m heading to the top.

So the final question to conclude our time together, I have a list in Infront of me of various questions each with a number on 1-10. I’d like you to choose a number between 1 – 10 and this will be the finishing question.

Tom: 2

Reece: 2

James: 2

Adam: 2, Indeed.

So, number 2 – the question chosen; Is cereal soup? Can you also, please explain your answers?

Reece: Wtf, what sort of lovecraftian mindbender is that.

Tom: Cereal is not soup, Would anyone eat soup for breakfast?

Reece: Cereal is just milk with stuff in it but soup can have croutons in it and bits of chicken and stuff.
James: So, the definition of ‘SOUP’ is as follows: 1. a liquid dish, typically savory and made by boiling meat, fish, or vegetables etc. in stock or water. Milk is not stock or water. Fatcts don’t lie.

Reece: ftacts

James: How did you MIS SPELL a mis spelt word? There are some fantastic breakfast soup recipes online by the way including “vegan peanuts”.

 

Artist: Fate’s Hollow / Label: Unsigned / Genre: Progressive/Alternative Rock
For Fans Of: Coheed and Cambria, Funeral For A Friend, Fightstar, Jimmy Eat World.

Can be found on the following platforms: Facebook, SoundCloud, Bandcamp
Next upcoming shows:
08.12.2023 – Blossoms, Stockport. 
22.12.2023 – Old Pint Pot, Salford.