PropertyOfZack had the chance to chat with Eron Bucciarelli of Hawthorne Heights just last week and it turned out into a great interview. Eron and I discussed the band’s decision and reasons for leaving Wind-Up Records, the different situations they’ve been in with labels in the past, how the band must give it their all with this release and current touring, and much more. Read up and enjoy!

For the record, could you state your name and role in Hawthorne Heights?
My name is Eron Bucciarelli and I play drums for Hawthorne Heights.

It was obviously announced that the band and Wind-Up Records had split ways last week. When exactly was that decision made though?
We started talking about splitting ways a couple months ago and it was a matter of working out details. We talked about it a few months ago.
POZ: So it wasn’t something that came about as soon as Skeletons was released or anything like that?
Eron: The situation at Wind-Up changed over the course of the year that Skeletons came out. The record had the misfortune of coming out right at the same exact time that the two owners of the company, who supplemented the budget of Wind-Up with their own personal bank account as a hobby, were getting divorced. Finances became much more of an issue for the label in general, whereas before they put us in the studio with Howard Benson and spent a ton of money making the record. Things like having a real string arrangement cost like $20,000 or $30,000, but they spent the money because it sounds a little better than it being programmed. We thought it was cool and great. Once they got divorced, the label cut back and had to really get down to basics and watch where they were spending money. They didn’t put a lot of money into the promotion of any of their bands, not just us. They were trying to figure out over the last year who would be purchasing the company from the couple that owned it. There were a lot of financial questions going on while we were trying to get them to promote us, but the reality of it was that everyone was figuring out if they’d have a job or not. When they brought it up to us it made sense and we knew it was time to go our separate ways. I have no hard feelings towards them. Everyone there has been super great to us. It’s just bad timing for our album and the label in general.

Hawthorne Heights was among Cartel and Bayside with signing to Wind-Up, and you three were really the only similar bands on that label. Was that sort of an added plus in signing with the label?
When we started talking we didn’t even realize they were talking to Cartel. It was right around when we signed. When they signed Cartel we thought it was cool because they were branching out away from the radio rock bands. It made us feel more comfortable. The owners were very generous too with how they spent their money and everyone there who was there had been there for years, so it seemed like a really great thing going in.

Do you guys feel like you lost ground over the past year with the label situation?
I wouldn’t blame losing ground on Wind-Up by any means. I would say because of our own decisions and filling a lawsuit against Victory Records in 2006 made us lose a lot of ground. We were riding high at that point, we were admittedly a little arrogant, and we were absolutely naive about how the industry actually worked at that time. We were certainly naive about how lawsuits worked because that’s a whole different ballgame all together. I think it was because of that that we lost a lot of momentum. When Fragile Future came out Tony didn’t have a lot of incentive to promote it as heavily as he promoted the other records because he didn’t have our fourth album as well. It didn’t make sense for him to invest in our career and pump tons of money into it. When we got to Wind-Up it was great, but financial hardships befell them. I think it’s a series of events that led us to where we are today.

Two labels later with not so great experiences and the band started Cardboard Empire. Were there nerves at all in branching out on your own, or was this the only way you guys saw that you could do it?
When it came down to it, we didn’t even think about shopping to other labels. We just thought that we were finally free to do our own thing. We have invaluable experiences from this business. We’ve seen the highs and super lows and everything between. We’ve seen good labels and bad labels. The music industry has changed dramatically in the past few years as we’ve been in the limbo area of our career and we’ve witnessed these changes. We’ve seen what labels are doing correctly and not. When it came down to Wind-Up and us parting ways it wasn’t even a question to us. We know what to do and we’re confident in our abilities to promote ourselves at a high level. We know how to get our music out there to our fans. Our pre-sales on our webstore are flying out, so it was one of those things where we knew what we wanted to do. We’re sort of control freaks too I guess. It just made sense and enabled us a lot of benefits that labels can’t give us. A lot of labels these days sign bands to 360 deals, but the only problem with that is that most labels take a piece of every revenue stream that a band has. Then they still keep a majority of the record sales. The only problem with, most labels out there only know how to sell music, and physical music at that. It makes no sense to giveaway the rights to our other revenue streams when most labels won’t promote those streams. Labels think that if they promote record sales that everything else will come along. It doesn’t work like that though. Labels need to promote a band’s entire brand. They need to hire people that know a thing or two about tour promotion, selling merch, and publicity for movies and video games. Right now most labels don’t offer that, so it doesn’t make sense to give a piece of our pie away.

Have things been running smoothly so far just in terms of doing it all on your own?
It’s a relief in one way and supports our argument regarding what we’ve been saying to people behind the scenes a lot that obviously our media exposure isn’t what it used to be and we understand that. We were able to build up a huge fanbase over the last couple of years however, and most of them have stuck with us. You can see it in things like our Facebook numbers. That’s without any sort of promotion. That’s people liking our music or rediscovering us. That’s encouraging to us. One of our pre-sale options was $150 and it sold out in two hours. We thought that was incredible because we didn’t know what to expect. We never got a real piece of the music sales. It’s definitely been very positive.

In a recent interview you stated that Hate is an EP where you guys are getting all of the emotions off of your chest whether it be with Victory or Casey. Is there a reason you weren’t able to grasp onto those emotions for Skeletons?
I think we were kind of in denial for a while. We tried to put on our happy face, I guess. We tried to pretend that everything was all-good, even though we were still dealing with the loss of our friend and were still kicking ourselves for the decisions we had made in the past. A lot of that came out in discussions in the van or backstage, but it wasn’t coming out in the music. When we sat down to discuss the EP we all agreed that the music itself needed to reflect all the things and conversations that we had whether it be about the music industry or the stupid decisions we made. We wanted to let go of that anger.

In that same interview you sort of listed all the mishaps the band went through in the last few years for suing and being sued to issues with management, among other things. How difficult has it actually been to push through all of that as a band and to be a cohesive unit again? No one would be shocked if that brought any band to an end.
I definitely think that there were times there that it was a struggle to continue on. We’re not in the business of putting on a happy face anymore. We’re being way more honest than we’ve ever been in every way. We were really close to packing it up at several points. It’s a lot of shit to go through. I really believe that it’s because of our fan’s outpouring of support that have kept us here and kept us going. One comment I read was that we know how to milk the drama, but people don’t really understand. We’re not trying to milk anything or use our past to sell more records now. It’s just something that we went through that changed us right down to the very core. Until you properly get all that stuff out, it’s going to continue to impact everything. It’s who we are at this point.

We know that these are all angrier songs, but what kind of environment did that create in the studio?
It was kind of electric. It was one of the first times since we wrote Silence In Black And White that we were really excited about what was coming out. Even though we were dealing with those emotions, everybody was really positive about the music in general. We were really excited to call the shots and not have a producer talking about what will sound good on the radio. Who gives a shit? We’re not trying to write songs for the radio. We did that a little bit, and it’s fake. I think that’s why a lot of bands on the radio now sound exactly alike. They write “radio hits.” We had success on our first two albums because we wrote what we wanted to write and the mainstream focus just happened to turn to where we were. We’re just going to be who we want to be, and if mainstream radio shifts again, great. If they don’t, we’re still going to have songs that we want to play.

You guys released “Four White Walls” as the first taste of the EP. How has the reaction been to it?
Honestly, I’ve seen one negative comment, which is weird for me. Normally we get smashed on message boards and stuff. People have been super positive about it. A lot were checking us out again for the first time in years and enjoyed it. That make us really, really excited.
 
The band is heading out on the You Are Not Alone Tour beginning next week for about two months. Do you think it’s going to be difficult to completely throw yourself back into the swing of things?
We broke it up a little bit. We have a few breaks between the east and west coast. I think we’ll slide right in. We love being out on the road with our fans.

Do you sort of see this as the band’s large push to gain footing again? Are you putting it all out there?
We’re definitely looking at it as a fresh start. This is something entirely new to us and we’re calling all the shots. We’ll either make it all or lose it all off of this EP and tour. We’re pushing harder than we ever have. It’s essentially a fresh start.

There are set to be another two EPs. Has writing begun for the second or third one yet? Or will you guys be touring, writing, recording, and touring once again?
We have several songs that weren’t finished for this EP that we’ll use to start off of for the next EP. We’ll probably start writing more on the road for this tour and our next tour. We have our own studio too.
POZ: Is there a specific concept for the other two yet?
Eron: I can’t talk about it yet. It goes along with Hate, but we’re not divulging that yet.

You mentioned that you guys were a little bit arrogant earlier in your career. Is this next year going to be very telling for the band’s future in stripping everything down to a DIY aspect?
Absolutely. We have no choice but to do it all ourselves. In our opinion, the real underground punk rock/hardcore/emo scene has taken a huge hit in the last few years. I think there’s been a big resurgence over the past year, but you don’t see these little hall shows anymore that we came up playing, and it sucks. What we learned way back when when we first started has stuck with us and helped shape who we are today. It guides us a little bit in what we do now. In terms of mainstream success, we’re taking a step back and are focusing on other things. We’re pushing harder than we’ve ever pushed though to promote ourselves and to write the best songs that we can. We’re pushing way harder than we have in at least five years.