Interview: Hawthorne Heights

With the release of their new album, 'Skeletons' in the US last week. Alter The Press! caught up with Hawthorne Heights drummer Eron Bucciarelli to discuus the new album, their move to Wind-Up Records, the concept behind their forthcoming 'Get A Ticket, Get An Album' US tour and more.

ATP: Skeletons is your first album with Wind-Up Records. What made you sign to the label and what did they have what other labels didn't?
Eron Bucciarelli: Wind-Up is very artist friendly. They're all about doing what's best for the songs. If that means spending a little extra to have a real string arrangement as opposed to a digital orchestra, they'll pony up. This differs greatly from most labels these days that are cutting everything back as much as possible. Wind-Up believes in artist development and doing what's best for the band's long-term career, where as a lot of labels these days are looking for a quick one hit wonder.

ATP: What can fans expect from 'Skeletons'?
EB: Musically 'Skeletons' is a rock record plain and simple. Its a blend of old HH with some new stuff mixed in for good measure.

ATP: Is there any meaning behind the title?
EB: After everything we had been through over the last few years we were so beaten down and emotionally defeated. Likewise, everyone in our country had just gone through a similarly traumatic experience with the recession; losing jobs, life savings, their homes, etc. It was almost as if everyone, ourselves included, had a huge wake up call and had to collectively scale everything back, strip things down to the bones and focus only on what was truly important in order to rebuild. We were all reduced to skeletons.

ATP: Did your troubles with your previous label influence this record in any way?
EB: Of course, it’s hard to have such a traumatic experience and not have it affect your art, because that's an expression of our thoughts and emotions.

ATP: Tell us about the lead single, “Nervous Breakdown?”
EB: 'Nervous Breakdown', as the name entails, is about feeling so stressed out that you feel you're going to lose it. For us, that pertains to the circumstances surrounding our legal tribulations, but I think everyone has had a sense of total frustration and helplessness about a situation which has nearly pushed them to the brink of collapse.

ATP: In recent years you've been often tagged as an "emo" band. Has it been difficult to shake this off and do you think Skeletons will make people re-think their opinion of Hawthorne Heights ?
EB: I have a beef with that tag because to me, we sound nothing like what I consider true emo bands, bands I sometimes listened to growing up. Nevertheless, we and a bunch of other bands got slapped with that tag in the mid 00's because lyrically, we wore our emotions on our sleeve. I don't know any band that isn't emotional. I think this album is a huge step forward for us musically/lyrically, but time will tell if people still slap us with that tag.

ATP: How has the band evolved musically since 'Fragile Future'?
EB: I think in ways we've taken elements from our past sound, blended them with a little bit of 'Fragile Future' and mixed in some new elements. We've tried to take a lot more time writing the songs, so I think that lengthy process of writing, demoing, re-writing and repeat has helped the songs sound more put together and thought out from anything we've ever done.

ATP: How has the writing process changed since the band first started, or do you feel it’s still the same way?
EB: It's still pretty much the same. One person brings in a part or an outline of a song and we work on it until we're all happy.

ATP: Your forthcoming US tour is being promoted as 'Get A Ticket, Get An Album'. Who's idea was it behind this concept and what was the reason for it?
EB: It was our idea. The economy is still hurting in many places, so we want to give fans a bargain, get our new album out there and play some fun shows!

ATP: What can fans expect when they come to see Hawthorne Heights live?
EB: A fun, energetic show with a good mix of songs from every one of our albums.

ATP: What do you have planned for the rest of the year?
EB: Touring, touring and more touring.

ATP: Any plans to return to the UK?
EB: As soon as our label releases Skeletons in the UK, we'll put something together to get over there.

ATP: Is there anything final you'd like to add?
EB: lease pick up our new album if you can get a hold of it. We're super excited about it

'Skeletons' by Hawthorne Heights is available now on Wind-Up Records.

Purchase 'Skeletons' on iTunes.

Official Website

Hawthorne Heights on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

Sean Reid