Everything You Wanted to Know About Folk Duo Hollow Coves’ Matt and Ryan
Australian indie-folk duo Hollow Coves has a way of creating music that serves as little moments of zen within our otherwise stressful lives, and we haven't yet met a track of theirs that we didn't love.
Hailing from Australia's Gold Coast, Hollow Coves consists of Matt Carins and Ryan Henderson, beloved for their uplifting and honest storytelling and anthems of gratitude for the great outdoors and living life as a whole. After meeting through mutual friends in 2014 and beginning a musical collaboration, their tunes quickly took off, with Matt quitting his job in carpentry and Ryan setting aside his civil engineering career to pursue a life of music. Now, they share singing and songwriting duties with alternating lead vocals, and we adore the way their complementary approaches to music make them even stronger together. The duo just released their latest comforting single, "Letting Go," and to celebrate, here's everything we discovered about the two as our latest Man Crush Mondays.
(Photo credit: Catherine Bernier)
Matt
Name: Matthew Albert Carins
Hometown: Gold Coast, Australia
Birthday: March 13
Ryan
Name: Ryan Paul Gillies Henderson
Hometown: Gold Coast, Australia
Birthday: April 24
Zodiac sign: Taurus
Fun Facts:
1. Matt is definitely a morning person.
"I guess it's from early surf checks to beat the wind before it comes up. I also just love going to bed early, so touring definitely goes against my natural routine."
-Matt Carins
2. Ryan is the younger of two siblings.
"Just one older brother. I think it probably helped me to develop a bit of resilience. You learn to take what life throws at you—or at least what your brother throws at you. You learn to endure. I think there's also an ability to be able to learn from your older sibling. You can observe how they live, both the good and the bad, and choose what you want."
-Ryan Henderson
3. The best concert Matt ever attended was seeing Sufjan Stevens with his brother in Dublin.
"It was the most special and dynamic show I've ever experienced. At times, you could hear a pin drop, and at other times, it felt like a jet plane was in the room. "
-Matt Carins
4. Ryan's biggest guilty pleasure is his massive sweet tooth.
"There's this Cadbury chocolate called Marvellous Creations, which has these little jellies and popping candies. It's terrible but wonderful at the same time. So, either that or the occasional guilty pleasure pop song."
-Ryan Henderson
5. Matt picks Marvel over DC—mostly because of Groot.
"The Guardians of the Galaxy films are all such epic movies."
-Matt Carins
Also read about: Hollow Coves' Matt Cairns Shares the Romantic Moment That Inspired Their Song 'Purple'
6. Ryan's favorite fun fact is that dragonflies have six legs, but can't walk.
7. If Matt could live in any fictional world, it'd have to be Narnia/
"I grew up reading The Chronicles of Narnia when I was younger, and I was always so fascinated by that world. I really loved the meanings behind all the stories."
-Matt Carins
8. Inside Out is Ryan's favorite Disney movie.
What's your favorite Disney movie? Why?
"I think it's just a really beautiful message and a healthy reminder to embrace all of our emotions."
-Ryan Henderson
9. Matt isn't much of a gamer these days, but he used to play a ton of Far Cry in school.
"I was obsessed with Far Cry because I thought the graphics were so damn good. We had this architecture and graphics teacher at school that was pretty old, and somehow I got away with playing this game Far Cry during classes because somehow he thought I was doing graphic design work!"
-Matt Carins
10. You might not expect it, but Ryan is a massive Billie Eilish fan.
Also read about: Everything You Wanted to Know About Rapper and Lo-Fi Artist Powfu
11. To Matt, the band's new song "Letting Go," is all about relying on the people he can trust most.
"I think an underlying message within the song pulls me back to my friends and family when I'm struggling with something or need advice. Instead of running away from them, I know the people who know me the best are always going to want the best for me."
-Matt Carins
12. To Ryan, the new track is about getting back to basics.
"To me, this song is about realizing the importance of letting go of things that don't actually matter and coming back to 'home'—returning to simplicity and finding freedom by stripping away all of the clutter."
-Ryan Henderson
13. Matt considers himself a bit of a people-pleaser.
"I always want to be slow to judge people, and I always want to understand the reason behind why they think the way they do."
-Matt Carins
14. Ryan says his faith is core to everything he does.
"I can't really think of anything else that has had as much impact on who I am as a person. I didn't grow up with faith. My family isn't religious. It's something I only found when I was 24. However, ever since finding faith, it has changed how I see the world."
-Ryan Henderson
To learn about last week's Man Crush Monday, click HERE to discover everything you wanted to know about TikTok's viral street busker, Victor Ray.