PropertyOfZack is thrilled be posting it’s interview with Matt Ridenour of Hawthorne Heights! Matt was kind enough to answer some questions on the band’s upcoming release, Skeletons, label drama, and future touring plans. Enjoy the read everyone!
For the record, could you please state your name and role in Hawthorne Heights?
My name is Matt Ridenour and I play bass.
Well, Skeletons comes out June 1st and the countdown has begun. How do you think fans will receive the album?
I hope people receive it good. We put a lot of time into it and it sounds like our band and we tried to do some different things. There are some softer songs and some harder songs and hopefully people response well to it.
How was it working with Howard Benson again?
It was really cool. We actually never worked with him [in person]. That was the first time we worked with him. It was online that we did our previous record with him. This was the first time we ever worked with him and it was really good. He runs a tight ship and everybody has a job there and it was really cool to watch. Everyone has their own thing that they’re really good at and nobody really strays from that, so it was pretty interesting to know what everybody does the best. It was really fun, and cool to hang out in LA for an extended period of time rather than the day or two that we’re usually there.
Where does the name of the record come from?
Basically, we were starting over from scratch. We just signed on to a new label and were starting fresh and going in there with a whole new attitude and were ready to write some new songs and we weren’t really worried with what they sounded and just were waiting to see what would happen. It just kind of has to do with basically starting over from bare bones.
You mentioned that you guys switched off of Victory to Wind-Up. How’s the relationship been between the band and the label so far and was it good to get away from Victory after the few problems you guys had?
I mean, it was just because there so many bridges burned on both sides, but I don’t think anyone has any real hard feelings. We sued them, and we probably should have [Laughs], but it is what it is and everybody came out of it alive. So, we’re kind of just writing it off as the past and it is what it is.
Being that this is a new start for you guys, would you say this is the album you’re most proud of?
I would definitely say that. We’ve probably spent the most time on it. We’ve always kind of gotten on the road and have had to write songs on the road, come back, demo them for a couple weeks, and record. But with this one we were kind of stagnant because we didn’t have any label support so we focused on getting really good demos, really good songs and kept reworking and reworking them until we were really, really happy with what we had. I’d say, just on that standpoint, that we spent the most time and had the most time to spend on these songs. And it’s always really fun to play new songs that you haven’t played before live, and it’s fresh to hear.
What were some of the bigger musical inspirations, if any, for Skeletons?
I mean, our bands really weird in the sense that everyone of us listens to completely different stuff. I listen to a bunch of hip-hop and some rock. Micah listens to classic rock. JT likes Tom Petty. And we all listen to Springsteen, but everyone just kind of listens to what they want to listen to and we get together and write together. Whatever comes out, comes out. Nothing happened like, “Lets make it sound like this.” Whatever happens, happens. Because we all bring such different tastes it makes the writing process longer and harder just because not everybody’s totally on the same page with what they like. There’s time when somebody will bring an idea to the table and by the time its done with all of us putting our input on it it sounds totally different, so it’s kind of cool to watch.
You guys announced that Micah Carli would be filling in on unclean vocals as on tour and on the album, was that a hard decision for the band to make after Casey?
Micah has kind of done that a little bit, done some screaming and stuff. For the live shows there would be parts that our old guitar player, Casey, did that we just couldn’t do. But overtime Micah wanted to take that on and see what happens with it. There would be songs we wouldn’t play because there was a screaming part but now that he’s taken that over it’s kind of opened the door to play pretty much anything we’ve ever written. It wasn’t really a hard decision, it was just, what everybody is comfortable doing, we should do. Luckily, he’s really good at guitar because there would be no way I could sing and play what he does at the same time.
How have crowds been reacting to the return of unclean vocals live?
Yeah, I think the people that like our band like it for a reason. Most of them understand the situation, when somebody passes away we can’t really do it, but then you bring it back with somebody in our band, then they appreciate it. We wanted to be able to play some of those songs, with the screaming. Everybody’s kind of said, “Whatever you guys feel comfortable with.” They’ve kind of just gone with whatever we’ve done, which is good because it’s kind of taken the pressure off of us.
Do you see this album as more of a return to the sound of Hawthorne Heights pre-Fragile Future? Or will that sound be heard on Skeletons as well?
I’d say it’s got a little bit of everything we’ve ever done on it and some stuff we’ve never done before. There’s some screaming on it, there wasn’t any on the last record and Micah does that. So in that sense it’s like our older stuff but I don’t think it sounds like our older stuff. Hopefully it’s one of those things where if you like our band you’ll like our new album. It’s definitely a step in a more mature direction for us, but it’s not so far out of the loop that it doesn’t sound like our band, you know what I mean? It’s kind of a mix between everything and then growing on top of all of it too.
You guys are going out on a few days with Bayside towards the end of June, are you excited to be playing with them?
Yeah, I’ve seen Bayside, personally, more than any other band in my entire life. I can’t even count how many times I’ve seen them and I watch them every time still. We’re also really good friends with those guys. We’re really excited for that. We haven’t toured with them in a long time, so it will be really fun. We all still keep in touch with all those guys and have ever since we met them, so it’ll be cool.
There aren’t many dates besides a couple next month and those dates with Bayside, should we keep our eyes out on the look for some addition tour dates to be announced soon?
Yeah, we are trying to figure out something for the end of May through June for when our album comes out. We should, barring anything crazy, be out on the rode by the end of May. That would be my guess.
Do you guys expect to be our most of the summer?
Yeah, we’re going to be playing as much as we can get out.
Do you think Europe could be a possibility this year?
We hope so. We’re down to do whatever. We haven’t done Europe in so long. We just tried to go to Canada and unfortunately we didn’t have the right papers. But we’re just ready to get back into it and do everything we can and play as many places as we can and just see everybody that we haven’t seen in a really long time
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Do you expect nothing else than a big year for Hawthorne Heights?
We hope so. At the end of the day we’re really proud of the record we wrote and recorded. So we’re really excited to get it out there.
Well, I think we’re good, thanks so much for your time. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Just, go pick up our album on iTunes or preferably at a record store because people don’t go to record stores anymore and it’s sad. So pick up our album and go see us live.
