Getting to Know… Hallows Die | Interview 🎤

For the 228^th Q&A on The Musical Hype, we get some awesome insight into the craft of eclectic, Toronto metal band, Hallows Die.  

“W

e’re just, awful at the whole self-plugging thing.” Understood, 🎙 Hallows Die, understood.  Even so, the Toronto, Canada metal band makes a thoughtful statement characterizing their music: “We’ve become something completely different than what we were, we like to think the metal fans out there can appreciate the evolution into something a bit more eclectic.”  Evolution as a musician is always awesome! Throughout the 228^th interview in our Getting to Know… series, we get some great info on the band including goals and current and future endeavors: “I’d say our major goal would be to have a record or two of really good music ready to go and do everything we can to get it our into the world.” Awesome! Without further ado, here is 🎤 Getting to Know… Hallows Die: Interview No. 228, with vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist 🎙 Ryan Bovaird answer our burning questions!

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Starting things off, for those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes Hallows Die distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?  

🎤 Ha, starting off on a difficult note. We’re just, awful at the whole self plugging thing. Probably the most unique thing would be for anyone who’s been looking into our catalogue (from before and what will come out). We’ve become something completely different than what we were, we like to think the metal fans out there can appreciate the evolution into something a bit more eclectic. We’re not afraid to experiment and go in some odd directions. In a live setting as well it generally translates into a unique blend for heavy music lovers across the spectrum.

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Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did your Hallows Die form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had early on?

🎤 We began in high school, around 2006. Just a couple of punks who wanted to make some noise. Some 4 or 5 years later we formed into the iteration we are now. Nothing too exciting really, was just rotating members until we found the 4 who could stand being in the same room as each other.

We’ve never really set any concrete goals, which is probably a bad thing. But we always had ideas, there’s a lot that we dreamed about 10 years ago that we’ve gone on to accomplish, opened for some really reputable acts, toured the country a ton of times, won a few awards, so I guess that would kind of amount to what any kid would start dreaming about when they decide to play music.

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Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?  

🎤 Absolutely. We’re all a bit older now so obviously our thoughts and ideas have shifted. We spent a bunch of years touring pretty constantly, I believe there was a time there where we clocked in at over 100 shows in a calendar year. All booked by ourselves so it’s a lot of work. We’re definitely not done touring yet but I think our goals have mainly shifted to doing all of the back end work, internet promotion etc. We’ve also evolved as writers; nothing we do now is even close to what we’ve done in the past. I’d say our major goal would be to have a record or two of really good music ready to go and do everything we can to get it our into the world.

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Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 We always hate getting asked this question because it tends to be disappointing to the interviewers. If you’d sit us all down at the table and just talk music for a while, your jaw might hit the floor because of how odd the conversation would be. That’s probably the funniest thing about all 4 of us is that our palettes are so diverse you might not believe us. 🎙 Pat [Rogers] is big into the guitar virtuosos, the Vai’s, DiMeola’s etc., 🎙 Gabe [“Master” Bateman], I’m pretty sure, has a shrine to Rush somewhere, 🎙 Dylan [Gowan] binges on anything weird and Progressive, and my guilty pleasure is old school synthpop and Industrial. I [🎙 Ryan Bovaird] could go on to name names but your article would run forever.

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Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

🎤 Oh man, this is a seriously tough one. If there’s one thing I wish we had done over the years it was keep a journal. The chaotic thing about us is that it’s always an absolute circus. We’ve had anything from wheels fly off trailers, two rival gangs squaring off during a show in northern BC, through Saskatchewan in the middle of the night driving in worst rain I’ve ever seen having to keep my eye on the tornados off in the distance, hitchhiking out of a no cell service area into a town in the middle of nowhere to try and get a tow. We never had shit luck, we just always had really good bad luck.

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Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?  

🎤 Personally there’s not any specific for me. I don’t think for the other guys either. We actually go through these strange rotations where we’ll all love a specific song, then 4 days later couldn’t care less for it and another one moves up the list. For me anyway the songs are all very mood dependent. I’d hope it’s kind of like that for anyone out there who picks up the music as well, feel like it allows for a broader understanding of all the songs.

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Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

🎤 Dylan, Pat, and Gabe are all the nicest dudes I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with. Funny thing about the band is, I’m the only one who doesn’t have some sort of formal training in how to kill you. All 3 of those clowns were/are crazy into martial arts and hold all sorts of belts and such. You’d just never ever guess they’ve all got some sort of killer instinct. It’s terrifying for me because I’m the general shit disturber. I’m sure they’ve all come close to smacking me across the chops more than once.

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Closing things out, what is Hallows Die currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

🎤 Well, we just released 💿 Masks, it’s available on all the streaming services or if you want to check out our website (www.hallowsdie.com) there’s all sorts of good stuff there. We’re really looking at giving this a small push just because it’s been on the shelf for so long. We’ve dropped a few videos and such as well so we’re always putting out something. Beyond that we’ve just finished all the music for the next album, we’re working on lyrics now. It’s our first concept album so the normally arduous process of penning lyrics becomes an even more involved and hair pulling process.

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Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward.   

🎤 Thanks so much amigo. Keep in touch.

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Getting to Know… Hallows Die: Interview No. 228 [📷: Hallows Die, Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype]

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