Hallow Point is a metal band from St. Louise, Missouri, consisting of five members: Tony Milson on vocals, Aaron Chambers on lead guitar, Bill Brynda on rhythm guitar, Brandon Bollinger on bass, and Preston Seymour on drums.
I spoke with them at their Raleigh show, which is mid-tour on their “Blistering” tour for their new album, Beyond our Name. With the recent release this month of their “Blistering” music video, we spoke of the making of the video, their tour, and technique.
They played a great show in Raleigh, and after talking to them, it’s obvious that they are a group of passionate, brilliant, hardworking, and humble musicians. They were such a pleasure to watch and speak with. I can’t wait to see what’s next for them!
Side Stage Magazine: So I saw you guys just came out with your new music video for “Blistering.” It’s pretty sick!
Bill Brynda: Thank you!
What was that process like? Working with that director, and where did the concept come from?
BB: We worked with Josiah Moore. He’s done a lot of cool music videos. We stumbled upon his name, I think Aaron, you found him. He’s worked with Affiance, and then Sirens & Sailors and a couple other bands, so we asked him to do it, he said “yes.” He’s from New York, so he came to St. Louis for the weekend. He was a great guy, super professional! Couldn’t have asked for a better experience, everything else was super positive and we knocked it out in a weekend. We’re very happy with how it turned out, I think it definitely conveys the energy of the song, and we like to keep pushing it and everything. We think it turned out really great.
I like the really clean color palette you guys used for it- yellow and blue. It was like therapeutic. Normally metal, I think of just rage. I like the story you guys went with.
BB: Yeah. (To Aaron) Did you want to talk about the story?
Aaron Chambers: The concept-we wanted something that kind of tied in multiple ideas so it could be relatable on several different levels. The whole concept behind the song is kind of going through difficult periods lyrically, or dealing with someone who’s just kind of really negative or bad in your life and then kind of–I’m having a hard time [labeling that.]
BB: Cleansing. At the end of the video you see a huge fire where he burns everything causing him that pain in his life.
Tony Milson: There were flashbacks of his moments in life that were struggles and he takes a little piece of each of those moments and throws them away. You know, gets rid of them. It’s kind of his way of getting rid of his past.
BB: We’re definitely happy with how it turned out.
It looks really good! Is this your guys’ first album?
BB: We did one EP back in 2013 I believe, and then we just released this new one, Beyond our Name back in 2017.
TM: The first one actually was without him. [Brandon Ballinger, bass player]. He joined the band just like two and a half years ago.
How’s this tour been so far? You’ve been kind of all over the states, right?
BB: Yeah
TM: We were starting in our hometown of St. Louis and just kind of drove all the way pretty much the East Coast. And we got to go to the beach this morning, so that was really nice!
Oh nice!
AC: And now we’re here today [Raleigh, NC] and then we’ll start going back towards home. This is kind of the furthest
BB: The pinnacle point. It’s been awesome though! We’ve been playing a lot of new markets we never played before. A couple of first ones, we did St. Louis and Memphis, which we’d done before, but it’s nice that we’re sort of stretching our bounds. This is the longest journey we’ve ever done. We’re just trying to get out there and meet as many people as possible and get our name out there.
Are you guys playing any festivals?
BB: Not on this one. We’re actually playing Rocklahoma in May.
Nice! How many more stops on your tour before you’re done?
TM: For this particular tour, we have six more shows after today. We’re actually having our first off-day tomorrow. This’ll be our 9th show in a row, so it’ll be nice to have an off-day. And then we go six shows in a row and then end in Louisville on the Saturday of next week.
Anything on the horizon immediately after the tour?
TM: Yeah. We’re going to announce our next one, that’ll be in April and May. So, we’ll be keeping busy in the next few months.
Nice! Are you going with any larger bands in the next couple of months? Are you opening for anyone soon or is this just your independent tour?
AC: No. We book everything ourselves. We’ve been obviously trying and searching for booking agents. It’s a tough thing to break into, I think, but I think we’re still kind of figuring it out.
Who would you open for if you could open for anybody?
TM: We would probably be naming bands till like 1 AM.
AC: I would probably have to say Parkway Drive.
Preston Seymor: Or Trivium for me.
TM: That’d be a good one. Umm, Lamb of God. That was like the one band that inspired me to learn how to scream.
How do you do that without hurting your throat?
TM: I always tell people to watch The Zen of Screaming. It’s this DVD. This lady called Melissa Cross,
Is she the lady that’s classically trained?
TM: Yeah! Well, she is classically trained.
She’s like an opera singer, but she teaches people how to scream?
TM: Yeah! She’s taught David Draiman. She’s taught Randy Blythe from Lamb of God, and a bunch of other vocalists. But anyways, this DVD is basically the technique, breathing properly. Cause, you know, as humans, everything you scream is from the throat. You’ve gotta break that habit and it’s gotta be from the diaphragm. It was just a lot of hours watching that.
I was wondering cause I think I was watching Acedia and was like “Woah! That’s a lot of screaming!”
TM: Haha Yeah, obviously my voice is a little tired right now, but it doesn’t hurt or anything like that.
Is there anything you want to add about your tour or new album or video?
TM: We’re just really happy for everyone who’s come out to the shows. We’ve had a fun time so far. We don’t hate each other, so that’s really good! Since August of last year, we’ve been really ramping up the touring. I’ve think we’ve logged in, including this show, like 70 shows.
Since August?
TM: Uh-huh. Yeah.
Wow! That sounds exhausting!
TM: Yeah, there can be times where there’s exhaustion, but every day you’re just playing music.
AH: It’s really fun!
That’s all the questions I had for you. I’ll let you set up and I’ll see you at the show!
Watch their new music video below and stay up-to-date on all Hallow Point news on their website and social media pages.
www.hallowpointmetal.com
www.facebook.com/hallowpointmetal
@hallowpointmetal for Instagram
@Hallow_Point for Twitter
