After years of playing shows in the local New York area, Long Island veterans Hold Fast Hope are debuting their first EP, Traitors, out now The highlighted single Fade delves into themes of sadness, being stifled, in between, and uncertainty. To promote the record, Hold Fast Hope embarked on a 3-date weekender, which spanned across NY, CT, and PA. Although no release dates have been announced, the band plans on releasing a music video in the near future to promote, as well as hoping to tour in the summer and fall. About the record, the band states:
‘Traitors PT I came first in the writing process, the main riff was brought to us by our drummer, Dan, who had been sitting with a guitar for a little bit. His influence definitely made that the heaviest track on the record, by far. We had a blast in the studio with PT I while we were making different sound effects for the bridge section. All the extra noise you hear was us basically throwing around & smacking a guitar that was being processed through so many layers of reverb & modulation you couldn’t even tell what it was. The opener, “Ripple”, was written after we had met and started listening to the guys in Gates (Pure Noise Records). We wanted to write something that, although wasn’t as heavy or distorted, could carry the same emotional strength as the other EP tracks. “Fade” was without a doubt the single, it fell together so simply in the beginning and we were able to expand on it from there. In the studio, our producer decided he didn’t feel enough of a “punch” from the bridge section we had written at the time, so our guitarist, also named Dan, had to improvise something of a guitar solo on the spot, which really ended up tying the song together in the end.;
Hold Fast Hope came onto the Long Island scene in early 2016 when they released their debut single Fortune Favors with an accompanying music video directed & filmed by Samuel Halleen (Dance Gavin Dance, August Burns Red). From there the band has gone on to perform a number of shows across Long Island, NYC & New Jersey including performances at Citi Field opening up for a Mets game in the main rotunda and New Jersey Fringe Festival. The 4-piece’s sound blends alternative and post-hardcore rhythms and melodies with an overlying ambient texture, with influences ranging from Thrice & Glassjaw to Foxing & Citizen. Hold Fast Hope recorded their debut 4-track EP ‘Traitors’ at VuDu Studios (Glassjaw, Gates, Hail The Sun) in Port Jefferson, NY with Dom Nastasi & Mike Watts. It is set to be released on March 30th on Downport Records. They released their first single from the EP, “Fade”, on February 1st ahead of their ‘Traitors’ EP Release Party at Revolution Music Hall in Long Island, NY. They followed with two more release shows in Phoenixville and Wallingford over the next two days. Currently the band is writing for follow up releases in 2018 and planning to tour through the Summer & Fall. Traitors is out now.