Dynamic indie folk duo Hollow Coves will be coming all the way from Australia to perform at Manchester’s YES (The Pink Room) on 20th November. We caught up with member Ryan Henderson to find out all about their sudden success and their brand new album Moments.
Tell us about the Brisbane indie-folk scene.
The indie-folk scene in Brisbane is really small. Pretty much all of the indie-folk artists in Australia know each other or have met each other.
You were a long-distance band for a while when you were writing your first few songs. How did you work around this?
It was an interesting period. I had been living in Canada for about a year and Matt [Carins] was travelling through Europe and we had just released ‘The Woods’. The song ended up getting a lot of unexpected success online and we were blown away by the response. We decided we should write some more songs so we started sharing ideas back and forth via Dropbox and Skype. Eventually Matt ended up coming over to Canada and spending a few months finishing up the songs. We definitely got a lot more done when we were together in person but you can get a surprising amount done over the internet.
Your debut single ‘The Woods’ reached a million streams before you’d even performed live before. What were those first few shows like?
Terrible haha. Before Matt came over to Canada, I started performing at open mic nights just to try to get comfortable on stage. I was so nervous. I’d never performed in front of people before. The first time I was so nervous I couldn’t play guitar and my singing was a mess. I ended up just doing 3-4 open mic nights a week for a few months. Then when Matt came over we decided to do a show and play our songs but we still didn’t feel super confident so we didn’t promote it as a Hollow Coves show. We just called ourselves Matt and Ryan. It’s definitely been a process getting more comfortable on stage and we’re still learning.
You say your success was sudden and unexpected. What’s helped you adapt?
Time. It’s just been a process of us trying to catch up. Playing as many shows as we can. Consistently re-evaluating where we’re at and trying to find ways to improve.
Even though you both love travelling, do you still find you get homesick while touring?
Yeah definitely. We have it pretty good where we live on the Gold Coast. We have a great community of friends and so we always inevitably end up missing them. Especially towards the end of tour.
If you could design your dream tour bus, what would it look like and what features would it have?
Recliner seats, extremely comfy beds, enough beds for all of our friends to come with, trampoline and ball pit, small cinema room,
What are you most looking forward to seeing in Manchester? Do you have any preconceptions about the city?
Second hand stores and cafes. We’ve been before when we were on tour with Walking on Cars and found some really cool little spots so looking forward to being back.
You’ve just released your debut album. What experiences or parts of the world inspired its themes?
A lot of the themes in the album were inspired by a combination of messages from our fans and different that we have experienced in our lives. After our first EP we got an overwhelming amount of messages from fans telling us that our music had helped them through tough times. We were compelled to write music that could speak into people’s lives, give them hope, and inspire them to see the beauty in this life; to focus on the positives.
Which tracks of the album are you most looking forward to debuting live?
Probably ‘Anew’. We’ve added another part into the live version and its so much fun to play live.
Have you got any messages for your fans?
Smile to strangers and keep seeing the beauty in the little things.
Tags: hollow coves / interview