top of page

Q&A: Our Hollow, Our Home


Southampton-based metalcore outfit Our Hollow, Our Home are making their entrance onto the scene with their highly-anticipated debut Hartsick. Aggressive vocalist Connor Hallisey discusses the creative process of making a record and what we can expect in the coming months.

“ Hartsick draws on every element from the EP, but turned up to 11! ”

Congratulations on the impending release of your debut album Hartsick. How did you find the process of writing and recording a full length compared to your previous EP work on //Redefine?

Thank you so much! The //Redefine EP, was essentially the first five tracks (excluding ‘Rest Assured’ & ‘Aversion’) we wrote together when we started the band. We are still immensely proud of the tracks on the EP, and we wouldn’t be where we are without them. I guess the easiest way to explain it is to treat the EP as a stepping-stone towards the album. Hartsick draws on every element from the EP, but turned up to 11! We’ve tried to make the heaviest parts heavier, the sing along sections more anthem-like and all whilst adding new elements into the mix. The process itself took just over a year and during that time we wrote songs, rewrote songs, took parts out of old material, and even finished songs only to deem them not good enough. We really wanted to make sure our debut full-length release was (in our opinion) – “all killer, no filler” – and we feel we have achieved that. We just can’t wait for you all to hear it!

Is there a cohesive idea that flows throughout the record or is each song its own entity? The tracklist hints some interconnection with titles like ‘The Sea Will Sleep...’, ‘The Wild Will Wait...’, and ‘The Forest Will Fall...’.

Lyrically, Hartsick covers a wide array of topics from self-reflection to politics and religion. Each track is an individual piece in its own right, however, the track titles have a running theme across the record and there are only a few points of complete silence throughout. The titles are all linked through the common theme of nature/animals. We are all massive animal lovers at OHOH, and with the concept of using skulls and taxidermy- like imagery for the artwork, we felt this tied in perfectly to set the album apart from other releases and brands it a separate entity in our catalogue entirely.

‘Worms Wood’, ‘Throne to the Wolves’ and ‘Feast for the Crows’ have already been released to the public. How are you finding the response to the tracks, as well as your rising popularity and recognition in the scene?

Honestly we find it extremely humbling to receive the constant support and praise that we do from our amazing fans and peers. If anything, it makes us want to hone our craft even further and push this band as far as we can take it. We are always striving to be better, and to have such tremendous backing behind us already, things will only be moving forward from here!

What was the biggest obstacle you faced when completing the record?

Making sure we had everything together in time for tracking aha! We were lucky enough to have the incredibly talented Daniel Kerr of Avenue Studios at the helm of the recording/mixing/mastering process who made the whole thing as fun and straight forward as possible. However, I think I overestimated how well I knew my lyrics for several tracks before getting in the studio; luckily I managed to pull it out of the bag thanks to the help of the other guys. You live and you learn!

What can we expect next from Our Hollow, Our Home? Can we look forward to tour dates for the record?

You most certainly can! We weren’t able to tour as much as we would’ve liked to last year as we pretty much put all of our money, time and effort into writing and recording the album. We have been an independent band from the start (aside from our amazing manager Mike Goncalves, and the equally rad Matt Benton from Hold Tight PR) and this can take its toll when trying to deliver our music to our fans the way they deserve, in the highest quality possible. We will be heading out on a UK headline tour in support of Hartsick this Spring, and also be hitting up mainland Europe before the festival season!

Hartsick will be released March 3rd.

Listen Here:

Featured Posts
Recent Posts
Archive
bottom of page