Hungry Hollow

Lead singer and songwriter Ian Samuel has “hungry” and “hollow” tattooed on his arm. The combination of words make lyrics, he explains, taken from Everclear’s Santa Monica and re-appropriated into a band name that mimics the Edmonton five-piece rock outfit’s musical goals. “It’s an inspirational thing,” Samuel says, “always wanting more, and still feeling empty.”



For Samuel, happiness is an end goal, but being able to make music full-time is a step — and HungryHollow is one step further on this path with the release of their self-titled debut EP.

The CD will be released on Dec. 17, when the group takes the stage at The ARTery, 9535 Jasper Ave.

Samuel has been making music for awhile now, mostly releasing tracks as YouTube webcam videos. In 2011, he joined up with the rest of the group, and began writing and playing songs.

His first experience recording music, though, was a surprising one for the musician, both in technical terms, and in the fact that they laid down the tracks in a Spruce Grove barn owned by drummer Jason Sider. The band has had some trouble attaching a genre to their music, instead lovingly dubbing it with comedic, and indecent, terms, like “diarrhea rock.”

“(The album) started out as kind of break up songs, but it ended up being a mix of sort of relationship stuff and also real-life issues,” says Samuel.

“There’s a song about the environment, a song about being poor. I wrote that song when I was sitting around eating Kraft Dinner. I’ve been poor and I’ve been wealthy, and all sorts of aspects. - Edmonton examiner