PropertyOfZack had a chance to catch up with Omar from Hit The Lights last week for a great interview. Omar and I discussed the band’s recent headlining tour with The Story So Far, their situation with Universal and Razor & Tie Records, the writing process for Invicta, touring in 2012, and much more. Read up and enjoy!

For the record, could you state your name and role in Hit The Lights?
I’m Omar, and I play guitar in Hit The Lights.

Your fall headlining tour with The Story So Far, Such Gold, Divided By Friday, and A Loss For Words is coming to an end pretty soon. Can you just discuss the overall tour and your time with the supporting bands?
We were really stoked to do this tour. It was our first US tour in like the last two years. We were stoked to go out with a bunch of great bands that we all really liked. It’s been a great experience.

This is really your first tour in a long, long time. Were there any nerves about being able to connect to your fan base again?
We just had to suck it up and do it. There were some rocky shows, but there have been some amazing shows too. It’s been an amazing surprise to come back and see this many people still into the band after being off the radar for so long.

Are you expecting rough spots these next few months?
We just knew that we were going to have to go through this on this tour. It’s been a rebuilding process. We did it before and our fans stuck with us, and that was incredible to go through. We just kind of new it was a career building experience we had to go through again. I think it’s all cake and crazy from here [Laughs]. People say that, right?

This touring came after the announcement of your signing with Razor & Tie Records, but it was confirmed that you left Universal in August. Can you just fill fans in on some of the struggles with the label and why you left?
The way it went with that is that we were working with the label for a year or a year and a half doing a bunch of demoing. We’d get done with the sessions and give them the songs and they’d tell us to keep writing. That process went for maybe a year or so, and the head of the label got switched out in the spring. All of the developing artists got put on hold, so we wanted to be let go instead of getting put on the shelf. They were really cool with it. We started working with Razor & Tie pretty much right after that, and they’ve been amazing so far.

Was it difficult to deal with that for over a year?
It was definitely tough, but the experience taught us a lot. We got to work with a lot of people that we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to work with. It came to this boiling point with us where we wrote 40 or 50 songs and a majority of them got scrapped. We took the latest bunch of songs that we worked on this year. I think we really used that experience to make sure great songs were on Invicta.

This was a new writing process for you guys obviously Do you think it helped you develop as a band?
Definitely. Everyone honed in on their own craft. This is the most collaborative that the band has ever been as well. It was our first time writing with Kevin too, who is an incredible writer. All of that coming into play makes it unlike any other Hit The Lights record.

Hit The Lights has always been known as more of a pop band rather than a “hard” band, but the new album was recorded with The Machine and Mike Sapone. Both of those producers are highly respected, but under a sort of different genre. How did working with them come about?
They’re two really intelligent and amazing producers. We definitely felt their genius while working with them. We were fortunate to work with both those guys on this record and I’m really happy with how it turned out.

Did you want to also work with them because you had a certain sound in mind?
We were supposed to go in with somebody else and that fell through. We were on the east coast and trying to figure out what to do. We didn’t think we could work with either of them, but we met up with them. We met with both of them hoping one of them would be willing to do the record. We ended up vibing with both of them and they both had great input on the demos we had. We really lucked out working with those guys.

Do you think the songs flow well enough with both producers?
That was something that other people talked to us about. People didn’t know how it would be a cohesive record, but we felt confident in the songs and the record. We knew the talents of each producer. It turned out how we envisioned it.

How has the reaction to Invicta been?
It’s been great. We’ve been playing two of the songs live and kids know the lyrics at the shows, which is huge for us. It’s a perfect set up for the album.

The EP was your first release on Razor & Tie Records. How has the relationship been to this point?
They’re super supportive and have great input. They have an amazing team and we’re stoked to work with them in high gear.

Does the EP give a good look into what we’ll be hearing on the LP?
Yeah, I think so. You’ll have to hear the album. I think it’s just a taste of the album. It’s a taste of cake and gravy, you know [Laughs]?

I believe the band recently shot a new music video. When might we see that released?
We might be seeing it in the middle of the month. So whatever the label wants to do with it. Hopefully around the release of the record.

Following this tour, you guys will be out on the road for some holiday dates with Every Avenue. Are you stoked for those shows?
We always get in trouble with those guys. I’m really looking forward to it. It sucks that it’s only five dates.

What can we expect in terms of touring in early-2012?
We’ll be pretty much out for the rest of our lives. The next tour we do is in the middle of January to the middle of February. Then we have a week and a half off and jump on another tour from there. They’ll be support tours. They should be announced soon.

There have been rumors that the band confirmed a Warped Tour spot for the summer. Can you confirm that?
I’m not going to say nothing about nothing [Laughs].

I can only imagine how many songs you guys worked on. Are there definitely extras that you have saved up?
We could probably make three or four decent b-side albums [Laughs]. I have no idea what we’re going to do with all these songs.

Obviously you want to give attention to this album, but would you like to release something sooner than later again?
Oh yeah, definitely. The one awesome experience that came out of this process was that we’ve come out of it so juiced and ready to do something else. There’s no way that we could wait that long.

Do you see 2012 as a year to make up the ground that may have slipped?
Exactly. We’re really hungry for it. A lot of that is going to be on the road and back in the trenches.