All the way back in the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal days (the late 1970s) the North East of England around the Newcastle/South Shields/Tyneside area was something of a NWOBHM hot bed with any number of bands on the scene eager to break out. Hollow Ground was part of that scene.
The band formed around the middle of the 1970s the boys played their own brand of honest to goodness straight ahead I yer face metal. Direct, fast and powerful. Pumping drums/bass, frantic riffage and frenetic solos. The ‘Ed Bangers in the Tyne were content. Proper “earthy” rock.
But with all the competition in the NWOBHM melting pot not all could get out of it including Hollow Ground. A limited recording output at the time was all they had to see for their efforts. The highlight of which is their Warlord EP. Something of a NWOBHM classic and worth a pretty penny if you can track a copy down.
As a taster, listen to Don’t Chase the Dragon
Early career EPs were the done thing at the time – Def Leppard’s on Bludgeon Riffola for example. How I wish I still had my original copy of that. Ah well……..Other than the Warlord EP, Hollow Ground featured on the well-known NWOBHM ’79 Revisited compilation.
And that was that for the band when vocalist Glenn Coates bailed out to join fellow North East NWOBHM act Fist (must write about them soon) in the early 1980s.
Sporadic festival appearances have followed in more recent times as has a full length CD (also called Warlord) featuring a whole host of classic Hollow Ground from the good old days.
At time of writing (January 2016) the band appears to be active which is good news.
>> HOLLOW GROUND WARLORD ON AMAZON HERE <<
Hollow Ground on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Hollowgrounduk
Please support us and buy us a coffee.
