Tokyo is a crazy place to make music. There must be about 10,000 shows every night, so it may be a bit difficult to spot good newcoming rock band. Hollow Suns is one of them, even though the 3 dudes aren't really newcomers. Let's meet Shuhei Dohi, lead/singer and guitarist of the Tokyo-based quartet.
Hello Shuhei ! How are you doing ? Please could you introduce yourself and Hollow Suns ?
Hi, I’m Shuhei Dohi aka BONE$. I play in a four-piece rock band from Tokyo called Hollow Suns. I’m the lead singer and guitarist in the band.
What is it like to be a rock band in Tokyo ? There are thousands of shows every week there, and hundreds of rock bands. How do you make a name if the world’s biggest megalopolis ?
It’s true that there are a lot of rock bands and shows happening every week in Tokyo. However, Hollow Suns is the one and only band with its distinct style of music.To explain a bit further, before we formed this band, each member of the band used to be in a different Hardcore or Punk band. I️ haven’t met any Alternative rock band with the punk rock attitude in Japan yet, which makes it hard for us to find bands to share the same stage with. We would always play Alternative rock amongst Hardcore or Pop-Punk bands.
You guys play a lot of shows in Japan, but I know it’s tough for a Japanese band to tour overseas. What are the reasons and do you have plans to bring Hollow Suns outside of Japan ?
We are a part-time band but we play as many shows as we can. It’s challenging to fulfill your full-time job and be on a tour at the same time. What’s more challenging is to make connections all around the world. Older bands like ENDZWECK, SAND and LOYAL TO THE GRAVE have achieved international tours by making arrangements on their own, which gives us hope that we would be able to do so as well in the near future.We would love to go overseas, but we still haven’t got the chance to. If anyone reading this interview is interested in having us in his or her country, we are always open for invitations.
You also played in Cleave (punk/rock), which is not much active these times, and you play in Doggyhoods (hardcore). It seems you still have a strong link with the hardcore scene, and Hollow Suns often plays shows with hardcore bands in Tokyo's most hardcore or punk venues (Hatsudai Wall, Shinjuku Anitknock, …). What’s the audience reaction ? Aren’t they much surprised ?
As I️ mentioned earlier, I’ve always been involved in the Japanese Punk and Hardcore scenes. I’ve also been in different kinds of bands before, which made me have wider connections with various types of people. I want to distillate Punk and Hardcore style into Alternative rock, the music genre I’ve grew up listening to since I️ was a teenager.We get various reactions from the crowd during our performances.
What are the plans with Hollow Suns ? Any new record soon ?
We are releasing a split album (EP?) and touring with the band called And Protector. The opportunity came on a whim, and we disclosed the news during our show on the day we had decided on this project. We don’t have much details about this, but all I could say is that And Protector is an extremely great band that I highly recommend you to check it out.
We’re almost done. Is there anything more you’d like to say about Hollow Suns to your fans ?
If you are interested in listening to our music, please check us out on
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