Lost in Hollywood: Amon Garrasi on Heartbreak, Heavy Music, and a New Era for German Metalcore

Lost in Hollywood: Amon Garrasi on Heartbreak, Heavy Music, and a New Era for German Metalcore

Lost in Hollywood are quickly becoming one of the most exciting new voices in modern metalcore — blending emotional honesty, massive choruses, and a sharp, contemporary heaviness that feels both familiar and refreshingly new. With their self‑titled album arriving March 20th via Arising Empire, the Hamburg‑based band is stepping into a new chapter, one shaped by personal upheaval, creative collaboration, and a growing international fanbase.

I sat down with vocalist Amon Garrasi to talk about the band’s rapid rise, the heartbreak that shaped the new record, their recent tours, and the tight‑knit German metalcore scene that helped them get here. What followed was a candid, passionate conversation with an artist who’s ready to take his band far beyond their hometown — and hopefully, one day soon, straight to Hollywood itself.

Introduce yourself and tell me what you do in Lost in Hollywood.
My name is Amon, and I’m the singer for Lost in Hollywood. We’re a modern metalcore/alternative band from Germany. I handle all the vocals and a lot of the songwriting. Up until early last year, I also took on most of the management duties, but now we have a great team working with us, which has been a huge relief.

Where is the band based, and what is your local music scene like?
We’re from northern Germany, based in Hamburg. There are a lot of local bands here, and the scene is definitely alive. Last year we headlined a local core festival, and it was incredible to see how many people came out and how many great bands were involved.

I wouldn’t say there’s a specific “northern German metalcore” sound, but there are tons of influences from all over — especially France and the U.S. That mix really shapes the scene here.

How did you end up signing with Arising Empire?
It’s actually a pretty cool story. About two years ago, we played a showcase at the Reeperbahn Festival, which is basically a big convention for people in the music industry. After our set, we met two guys from the band Venues and asked if we could maybe join them on their next tour.

Turns out those two guys were also A&Rs for Arising Empire. That was our first contact. They checked out our music, we exchanged messages, and after we independently released our first album — which did really well for us — they reached out and said they wanted to work together. It took a little time, but we finalized the deal and officially signed around April of last year.

Let’s talk about a few songs from the new album. Starting with “Should Have Known Better.” What inspired that one?
We wanted to take the elements we’ve used before — the heavy parts, the softer pop‑leaning choruses — and push them to the next level. At the time, I was listening to a lot of Catch Your Breath, and they definitely inspired the chorus.

We also worked with the singer of Our Mirage and the guitarist of Future Palace, so everyone brought their own flavor to the track. It went through a lot of changes, but for me personally, the main inspiration was bands like Catch Your Breath and maybe even Sage’s “Statue 6.” That kind of vibe.

And “Should Have Known Better” — what should you have known better about?
It’s that feeling you get after a relationship ends. Once the pain and heartbreak settle, you start realizing there were so many signs that things weren’t right — signs you ignored. It’s that moment of clarity where you think, “If I had paid attention, I would’ve known this wasn’t going to last.” That’s the core of the song.

Now let’s talk about “Pretty Skin.” That one’s amazing.
Thank you so much — it’s one of our favorites too. Lyrically, it’s about the phase after a breakup where you’re trying to find new love or new positive feelings, but the past relationship still haunts you like a ghost. It’s always there, and it keeps you from fully committing to someone new. You need more time to process everything before you can move on.

Musically, it was actually inspired a bit by Limp Bizkit — even though it doesn’t sound like them. We were listening to a lot of their stuff at the time, and I think the chord progression, especially in the beginning, has a bit of that nu‑metal flavor. We wanted something that fit our sound but still had those harmonies and that energy.

You have a few guests on the album as well. Let’s start with “Like a River,” which features Of Virtue. How did that collaboration happen?
Yeah, that’s another really cool story. We work a lot with the guys from Half Me, and when they toured the U.S., they met the members of Of Virtue. Around that time, we had “Like a River” almost finished — we were just waiting on production and mixing — and we showed the track to our friends in Half Me.

Their singer said, “Man, I know Tyler from Of Virtue. You should work together — he’d fit this song perfectly.” So the connection was made. We talked with our management and Arising Empire — Of Virtue are also on the label — and everything lined up.

We’re super happy they wanted to be part of it. Honestly, it might be my favorite song on the album.

You mentioned Half Me — let’s talk about “The Art of Being Torn Apart.” How did that collaboration come together?
That goes way back to 2023 when we released our first songs. At that time, it was just our guitarist and me in the band. We were trying to figure out how to promote our music, and that’s when we met Chris, the singer of Half Me. He supported us from the very beginning — playlist pitching, contacting creators, everything. We built a lot of history together.

A couple of years later, at the start of last year, we signed with the same management as Half Me. So when it came time to work on the album, it was kind of a no‑brainer. We got together in the studio and actually wrote the song with Chris — not just the feature part. We wrote the lyrics and vocal lines together.

He’s an absolute beast when it comes to vocals, so having him on the track was a pleasure.

Next up is “Love Is Dying,” featuring Philip Strand. How did that one come about — and why is love dying?
That theme shows up a lot on the album, to be honest. When we started writing, we didn’t set a concept or anything. I just wanted to write from the heart, and at the time I was going through a really tough breakup. So that naturally shaped the lyrics.

“Love Is Dying” is about that moment in a relationship when you feel something is wrong, but you can’t quite explain it yet — and you start realizing it might have to end.

As for the feature, I can’t talk about every detail yet because we have another collaboration coming that hasn’t been announced. But basically, we were working with another artist who said, “I know Philip Strand from Normandie — you guys would fit perfectly together.” He connected us, we emailed Philip, and thankfully he said yes. We’re really happy with how it turned out.

Toward the end of the album, there’s “Chasing Dreams.” What inspired that one?
“Chasing Dreams” was actually the first song we wrote for the album. At the time, we were listening to a lot of dark R&B — artists like Darci, that kind of vibe. That definitely influenced the song. There are a lot of production elements and beat‑driven parts in it, and we wanted to blend that with heavier elements.

We put the song together pretty quickly because we knew we were going to sign with Arising Empire and wanted to start the next release cycle as soon as possible. We needed something to show them.

As for the music video, we hadn’t figured out our visual identity yet, so it looks a bit different from the later videos. But I’m still super proud of the song — it really set the tone for everything that followed.

“The Fire” is one of our softer songs, but it has such an emotional chorus. We played it live a lot last year, and the crowd reaction was amazing — everyone shouting “fire, fire, fire” with us. Those moments really stuck with us.

It felt like the right way to end the album. It still has heavy parts, but not too heavy, and it ends on a really catchy hook that people can remember and sing along to. It has a wholesome, uplifting feeling, and we wanted listeners to finish the album with something positive — maybe even wanting to start it again.

How did your recent tour with Set Your Sails go, and what were some of the highlights?
It was so cool. We released a song with Jules, the singer of Set Your Sails, in late 2024, and when we shot the music video, we asked if we could join them on tour. Everything worked out perfectly, and we ended up playing ten amazing shows together.

There were so many sweet moments, but the absolute highlight was their hometown show in Cologne — playing in front of 600 people who were super into both bands. The energy was unbelievable.

One of the coolest things was that Set Your Sails had a group of fans who followed the entire tour, and a lot of them stuck with us afterward. Some of them come to every show we play now. That’s such a beautiful thing to see.

You’re about to head out on another tour with Archers and Tropic Gold. What are you looking forward to most?
This will be our first tour with dates outside of Germany. We’ve played one festival in Sweden before, but we’ve never toured internationally. So we’re really looking forward to Paris, Milan, Prague — it’s such a blessing to play in so many European cities.

I don’t know the guys from Archers yet, but I’ve heard they’re super sweet. I think it’s going to be an amazing experience being on the road with them for two or three weeks.

Your band is called Lost in Hollywood. Have you ever been to Hollywood? I live about 10 miles away from it.
I wish! I would’ve loved to visit already, but no — none of us have been to Hollywood yet. When we came up with the name, we were listening to a lot of System of a Down, and they have a song called “Lost in Hollywood” that really resonated with us.

It’s about getting lost in the music industry and the fake social‑media world, and that felt very relatable at the time. So we went with it. But we’re definitely looking forward to our first U.S. tour. Hopefully it happens soon — maybe 2028. Let’s see.

Yeah, fingers crossed. And of course, you have to play in Hollywood.
Any clubs you’d recommend?

Absolutely — there’s a club called the Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip, right in the heart of Hollywood. That would be perfect for you guys.
Let’s see what the next months or years bring, but we want to make it happen so badly. It’s going to happen — I know it.

Before Lost in Hollywood, what other bands or projects were you involved in?
For me and our guitarist, we were in another project before this, but it was just a local band — nothing professional. Our bassist has more experience; he toured Europe with a few bands, including one called Coyotes, who toured with Northlane and The Word Alive.

Our drummer also toured with the same band, so he and our bassist definitely had the most experience in the music business. When our guitarist and I started, we didn’t know anyone or anything — we had only played local shows around Hamburg. But we knew we wanted to take it seriously, so we talked to a lot of people and eventually met the right ones.

What would you like a listener to remember most after hearing your music for the first time?
I want them to remember the choruses — and scream them as loud as they can at our shows. That’s one of the best feelings for us: seeing people in the crowd who know the words and sing with us. I hope people listen to the album enough times that they can shout every line when we meet live.

What do you think of other German metalcore bands like Annisokay and Our Mirage?
I know both bands personally — they’re super cool guys. I love their music, and we’d love to play with them someday. The German metalcore scene is really connected.

The singer of Annisokay and the singer of Our Mirage are both producers, and we’ve worked with both of them. Chris from Annisokay mastered our whole album, and we wrote and produced two songs with Timo from Our Mirage.

Even if I didn’t know them personally, I’d still love their music. The scene here is alive and well. I was at an Our Mirage show last weekend — the club was sold out, and it was such a great party. There are so many amazing bands here.

Do you have any messages for your fans in the U.S. who are reading this?
Yes — if you’re reading this, I hope you know how badly we want to come to the U.S. It’s going to happen someday. Until then, connect with us. Write to us on Instagram — we try to answer every message.

Let’s keep in touch, ask us anything, and let’s enjoy the music together. We hope to see you as soon as possible.

In Conclusion

As Lost in Hollywood prepare to release their self‑titled album and step onto bigger stages across Europe, it’s clear the band is entering a defining moment. Their blend of emotional honesty, modern metalcore intensity, and collaborative spirit has already begun resonating far beyond their hometown — and Amon’s passion for connecting with fans makes it easy to see why their following keeps growing.

Whether they’re screaming choruses with packed German crowds or dreaming of their first show on the Sunset Strip, Lost in Hollywood are a band driven by heart, hunger, and the belief that music means more when it’s shared. And if Amon’s enthusiasm is any indication, it won’t be long before those dreams carry them across the ocean and into the arms of fans waiting in the U.S.

Until then, the invitation stands: turn the volume up, learn the words, and be ready to scream them back when Lost in Hollywood finally arrives.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

Lost In Hollywood on Instagram