HOLLOW FRONT are:

Tyler Tate  |  Dakota Alvarez  |  Brandon Rummler  |  Devin Attard

When Hollow Front released their debut album Loose Threads amid the chokehold of the pandemic, it was with only measured expectation. Yet after clocking over 1 Million streams in its first week and now boasting over 4 Million in a matter of months, it appears the album surfaced at its destined point in time. Quickly snapping the attention of heavy fans and industry alike, Loose Threads’ arrival declared Hollow Front an immediate must-watch.

Formed by lead vocalist Tyler Tate and later joined by guitarist/vocalist Dakota Alvarez, drummer Devin Attard and bassist Brandon Rummler just a few years ago, Tate describes the band’s sudden explosion as a force arriving without permission. Where his previous bands – spread out across the Grand Rapids area since he was a teen – hadn’t gone far beyond the local border, Loose Threads saw Hollow Front become an almost overnight COVID success story. Offering a moment of reprieve from the outside chaos and a reminder that we aren’t alone, Loose Threads finds Hollow Front freshly signed to UNFD and positioned on the verge of a global breakout.

“I think the difference [in the reception] this time was really the realness of it,” reflects Tate. “I can feel that people are relating lyrically to the album, I mean it’s not happy at all, it’s really dark and sad – an open wound – where previously my lyrics were just made up and I don’t think they really said anything, but this is real shit.

“I’ve always been struggling too much to think about [the impact], but to see that people have connected to some of our pain and know they’re not alone is such a warm surprise…. A lot of people are going through dark times, especially this year, you know Loose Threads came out at the perfectly worst time ever, we didn’t plan on dropping it during a pandemic, but we thought “well what else are we meant to do?”

“I think people can really relate to that battle, life is hard in general, when you’re a kid you don’t expect it to be so heavy.”

There’s a palpable authenticity to Hollow Front, the Michigan locals who found themselves – some as complete strangers to each other – in a room playing music together only a few years back. On Loose Threads we hear the band literally going through growing pains – adjusting to life’s waves, grieving personal losses – all charged by the dynamism of a fresh group of musicians now working together.

Musically, Loose Threads summons the heaviness of names such as Wage War and The Ghost Inside with the melodics of the likes of Polaris. Tate credits the addition of clean vocals (Alvarez) on this record as opening up the next door to Hollow Front’s sonics, adding that producer and friend Lee Albrecht completely filled the dynamics of the writing room and saw the band able to put pain to paper like never before.

Thematically, Loose Threads finds Tate unravelling the shock of a relationship breakdown and single fatherhood, meanwhile Alvarez adds searingly honest stories on lost love and witnessing a friend contemplate suicide. But despite the personal meaning to the band, Hollow Front assert that this record is a crutch for anyone overcoming something, Tate declaring: “I think it’s very symbolic of the lone wolf breaking free, free from whatever it is holding him back from chasing whatever his heart desires.”