Deeds: Boise indie band Hollow Wood dances into 2016 | Idaho Statesman

Bassist Jeff Bull Jr. realizes how the situation might appear to the rest of us.

His Boise indie group, Hollow Wood, has generated increasing buzz since its genesis in 2010. Hollow Wood has performed around the country. Its vocally charged folk-rock has been featured on national TV. A year or two ago, the young band seemed poised to jettison things to the next level behind visceral songs such as “Oh My God,” which went into rotation locally on 94.9 The River.

But Hollow Wood hasn’t exactly taken the globe by storm. Not yet. The band hasn’t even released a full-length album. Just two EPs.

So what’s been going on lately?

“I know to the outside, it probably seems like we haven’t been doing anything,” Bull Jr., 23, says. “But we’ve been writing a ton and working on a ton of things. To the outside, it might seem like we are twiddling our thumbs and hanging around doing nothing.”

That perception would be false. Hollow Wood’s other core members, singer-guitarist Adam Jones, 22, and guitarist-singer Hayden Jensen, 21, just returned from a week of songwriting in Nashville. Hollow Wood starts rehearsing this weekend for “Live,” a multiple-night, late-January collaboration with Idaho Dance Theatre. (Details: idahodancetheatre.org.) And Bull Jr. promises that the mythical full-length Hollow Wood album will materialize in late 2016 or early 2017.

“In a few weeks, we’ll be starting to record some ideas and see where they go, and start pushing full force on new music in general,” he says. “... We would love to release it as soon as possible.”

Even after the album gets finished, releasing it will take time. The group’s career is being guided by Red Light Management, which handles acts ranging from My Morning Jacket to Dierks Bentley. This album’s emergence must be a well-promoted operation.

Until then, don’t expect tons of noise from Hollow Wood. Sure, they’ll rock Treefort Music Fest in March. They’ll play some festivals this summer.

Otherwise, it will all be about songwriting. Recording.

And, yes, the occasional foray into the local dance world. By the way, don’t worry. Hollow Wood won’t attempt any rug cutting during Idaho Dance Theatre’s performance.

These dudes don’t boogie. At least not normally, Bull Jr. says.

“It depends on how many drinks we have in us,” he quips.

Yes! Theater lawsuit

Last year, Idaho State Police’s Alcohol Beverage Control informed theaters that they might be breaking state law if they dared serve alcohol at screenings of the racy “Fifty Shades of Grey.” After a sting, ISP then threatened to revoke Village Cinema’s liquor license.

Fast forward to now. A lawsuit filed by Meridian Cinemas, which owns Village Cinema, contends that undercover ISP detectives “ignored Meridian Cinemas’ posted signs and employee instructions and consumed alcohol in an auditorium showing ‘Fifty Shades of Grey.’ ”

More important, the lawsuit argues that the decision to show “Fifty Shades of Grey” — and other mainstream films that potentially violate this statute — is protected by the First Amendment.

Kudos to Meridian Cinemas for suing. It’s the only way that things finally might get changed.

More in my column Sunday.

Rock on, Nampa

Here’s an eyebrow-raising nugget from this week’s Nampa State of the City address: “Mayor suggests three-acre entertainment corridor next to Ford Idaho Center.” That’s according to the Idaho Press-Tribune’s Twitter feed.

Wow. Nampa is all fired up lately. They’ve got a bona fide San Diego County brewery, Mother Earth Brew Co., setting up shop. They’ve got a new general manager at Ford Idaho Center promising to rejuvenate that venue.

But come on. A three-acre “entertainment corridor”? What, are they going to build theme parks and roller coasters and infinity pools looking out over the farmland?

I like it. Go get ’em, Canyon County.