For Type O Negative, “I Don’t Wanna Be Me” landed in 2003 as the lead single from Life Is Killing Me, which came out on 17 June 2003 through Roadrunner. It stood out because it moved fast and kept things simple by their standards, closer to a punk charge than the slow-burn gothic weight most people file Type O under. Lyrically, it sits in a plain place: self-disgust, the urge to shed your own skin, and the frustration of knowing you can’t.
Lower Hollow came to it from a different angle. The band, founded in 2022, describe their sound as fast, aggressive and atmospheric, and they’ve already put out two full-length albums and toured around South Africa. Their songs sit on anger, loss, and the feeling of being stuck in a culture that “lacks transparency”, which makes this specific Type O track a clean fit lyrically, even if the reference point looks left-field on paper.
The cover had been on the table for a while, but drummer Ashley De Beer says the choice came together without a fight. “Everyone threw a couple songs in the hat, where there happened to be a few ideas of more gothic / industrial tracks. Reaching a consensus with Type O Negative’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Be Me’, certainly not a band or genre you’d easily associate with Lower Hollow, which made it perfect.” He also points out the obvious difference: “Vocally of course is where you hear the biggest difference to the original, where we of course have Kathryn’s vocals in a completely different world to Peter Steele. For Type O though, this song was somewhat different to their discography; a sort of black sheep track in a way where for us it felt more in line with our feel and sound.”
The single is out now via Mongrel Records.
