JuicyBands.com: Hoobastank

Hoobastank is one of my favorite alternative metal bands!
Today HOOBASTANK drummer, Chris Hesse came in for an interview.
I was really excited to do this interview, because i'm such a huge fan! Here's what he had to say.

JUICY BANDS: How long has Hoobastank been together?

CHRIS: Since 1994, but we got signed to a label in 2000.

JUICY BANDS: How did you guys come up with the name Hoobastank?

CHRIS: Doug's brother is the vice president of BMW Motorcycles and lives in Germany. And there is this street out by his house that is called Hooba Street or something like that and before Doug could pronounce the name, he called it Hoobastank and it was kinda a cute thing and his brother still teases him about it to this day. When we were looking for band names it's almost impossible to find a band name that hasn't been taken. Anything remotely normal has been taken already. I don't remember how it came up but someone said it and we were like yeah.

JUICY BANDS: I think the great thing about the name Hoobastank is once you hear it you never forget.

CHRIS: Once you remember the name of the band, you're right, you'll never forget it.

JUICY BANDS: What's your favorite song off the your newest CD?

CHRIS: That's a good question and people use to ask that question about the last CD and I don't really have a real favorite; I have a couple of favorites. We have a song "Out Of Control" and another one called "From The Heart," which is more like a hard heavy rock emo song it's really emotional, but I'd have to say those two are my favorite.

JUICY BANDS: Is "From the Heart" as emotional as "Running Away"?

CHRIS: Yeah, to me it is. Because it has a lot to do with the band and if you listen to the lyrics it's about the band and where we all came from and what we overcame to get here.

JUICY BANDS: My favorite song from the first album is "Running Away," what's your take on what the song is about?

CHRIS: The song was inspired because Doug and I had parallel relationships at the same time we were both dating girls, we were trying to settle down and the girls weren't into that. So, it's kinda a combination, we had these great girls and great chemistry and they didn't want to settle down.

JUICY BANDS: Usually it's the girls that want to settle down not the guy.

CHRIS: Yes. [we both laugh]

What about the song "Crawling in the Dark" that's one of the first songs I heard from you guys way back when and it's always been one of my favorites, I love that song! I've rocked out to that song so many times in my younger days pretending I was a rock star. [laughs] What's that song all about?

[laughs] that's awesome! "Crawling in the Dark" that was one of our first songs to blow up and hit #1 on the charts, we were really excited about that one! I'm glad you like it, a lot of work went into that. It's basically about overcoming obstacles and all the things we went through in order to get signed and get from we were then to where we are now.

JUICY BANDS: Where does Hoobastank get their inspiration for their songs?

CHRIS: Most comes from our real life experiences. None of us have really good through really tumultuous times. Most of the songs are pretty positive, its just kinda what we go through and just about everyone does.

JUICY BANDS: Hoobastank did a benefit concert for a middle school in Calabasas, CA. and raised $19,000 for the school, how did the band get involved in that?

CHRIS: We all live right in that area and our producer, Howard Benson had the idea. His kids go to that school and he is very involved with it and he brought it up to us and he was really excited about it, so we agreed to do the show. It's the first time we've been able to give back and do something positive for our community and it felt really good to do. It was really fun. The vibe of the show was really great and it's were we grew up so it was like playing in our backyard.

JUICY BANDS: Would Hoobastank consider doing another benefit concert?

CHRIS: Absolutely.

JUICY BANDS: Are you currently married or do you have a girlfriend?

CHRIS: I have a girlfriend, we've been together for quite some time now and live together, I love her a lot.

JUICY BANDS: That's sweet. What do you do while on the road, to kill time while touring?

CHRIS: We play a lot of video games [laughs] watch movies, read a lot, exercise a little bit and lift weights. I won't touch weights when I am home because there is a million things to do, but there is a lot of down time when your on the road, so I usually come home from touring in great shape [laughs].

JUICY BANDS: [laughs] bet your girlfriend loves that!

CHRIS: Yeah, she does, she likes me either way.

JUICY BANDS: What are some of the video games you play?

CHRIS: We play Halo, everybody plays Halo. We have a couple of sports games too.

JUICY BANDS: What's the best thing and worst thing about touring?

CHRIS: The best thing is playing. We don't have to think about anything all we do is just play every night, we're around each other 24/7 and we're all really good friends. We do everything together. The worst thing is being away from my girlfriend. I bought a house this year so to leave is really hard. To leave my girlfriend and our pets to go on the road is more difficult then anyone can imagine.

JUICY BANDS: What kind of pets do you have?

CHRIS: One dog and two cats. We have a toy poodle who is smaller than both of the cats. The cats tower over the dog. Poor Dog. [laughs].

JUICY BANDS: That's awesome! [Laughs] What are some of the more memorable tour moments you've had?

CHRIS: Lots of them, lets see, in Spain, me, Dan and a couple of other guys rented scooters and rode all over Barcelona. None of us are real partyers so we don't have good stories about strippers and stuff in bathrooms when we get off stage [laughs]. So just small stuff like riding scooters in another country. That was really fun! Some of the shows we've done, we've played in front of as many as 70,000 people. People are all over place and I have it on video and the camera zooms way out there and you can't get anyone's face, there's just so many people and they're there to see us, which is pretty awesome!

JUICY BANDS: Where do you see Hoobastank in five years from now?

CHRIS: Hopefully we'll still be touring. [laughs] We just want to make a career out of it. We're a band that wants to be around a good 10 or 15 years at least. We want to be like Ozzy or ACDC, where in the future people think about us and think, "Hoobastank, now that was a great band!"
We want to be legendary, we're all interested in a long term career. Nobody wants to be the band that has one album and then disappears. So, we just hope we can keep touring and making records.

JUICY BANDS: Well, based on the first CD I think Hoobastank is going to be around a long time.

CHRIS: Thank you. I appreciate that.

JUICY BANDS: Your welcome. Is there anything you would like to say to the fans of Hoobastank?

CHRIS: I'd like to thank everybody in general. If it wasn't for all the kids that come to our shows we wouldn't have a career. Thank you to everyone who has bought our records and rocks out while listening to us. I think it's awesome that people can listen to us and then when they tell anyone else the story, they're saying, "and Hoobastank was loud and we were all there having a good time" I think that's great.
We don't forget that for a second. We're not a band that is pretentious. If there are people out there that haven't listen to our records and that think we're a one of those one hit song radio bands, then they should come out to our show. We put on one great show, we give our all everytime! The show is much different than the record, it's so much fun and there's so much energy, it's awesome!

JUICY BANDS: Thank you so much for your time, it was a great interview and hope to see you again.

CHRIS: Your welcome, it was fun, i'll be back. [laughs]

For More on The Hoobastank be sure to check out:

Hoobastank Official myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/hoobastank

After a Los Angeles high school battle of the bands in 1994, frontman Doug Robb met guitarist Dan Estrin and the two decided to form a band. Add in bassist Markku Lappalanien and drummer Chris Hesse and you have Hoobastank (which at the time was spelled Hoobustank). The group started playing gigs around LA and soon released the self-produced They Sure Don't Make Basketball Shorts Like They Used To in 1998, which helped them build a following across the entire state of California. Island Records signed the band in 2000 and released their eponymous debut in 2001, featuring the single "Running Away." After touring the world, the band began recording their sophomore release in 2003, but were sidetracked when Estrin was injured in a freak mini-bike accident. When "The Reason" was finally released in December 2003 and the title track reached number two on the Billboard top 100. The band released Every Man for Himself in 2006, including the single "If I Were You," which confronted the rumors about difficulties between Robb and Vertical Revolver frontman Scott Weiland, with whom they toured in 2005.
Hoobastank blend nu-metal and nerd-rock (a la Weezer), retaining the relevant lyrics of the later while keeping the tight sound and riffs of The Deftones and Limp Bizkit. As part of the post-post-grunge circle of bands that made it in the '00s, they have carved out a niche for themselves by not tying themselves to the heavy mood of their first album and exploring the other sides of themselves. Their second major release, The Reason, showed them as a more mature, calm band, taking their time with most tracks, as if they get caught up in the music as much as we the listener do. That said, the newer Hoobastank sound is simply an evolution of what we've heard before and that's what makes the band one our favorites -- they're not afraid to push themselves and give us something new as they continue to discover their musical capabilities.