Zero is an amazing piece of work and it has been an epic journey for Hawthorne Heights to get to it. After dealing with label issues, HH found a place to call home and settled in to write their master stroke. JT Woodruff, the riveting frontman/guitarist for Hawthorne Heights, took the time after their early set during a WARPED stop to talk to Exiles about what is really behind Zero.
An interview with JT Woodruff of Hawthorne Heights.
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: After four albums of straight forward rock, you dropped a concept album on the fans with Zero. With the way the scene is now, do you think that the fans will get into a concept album?
JT Woodruff: You never know. One reason I wanted to do it is that I had this story in my head and also we have been a band for a long time and I wanted to try something new. We tried to make it a standalone as well as a concept record. You do not have to listen to the tracks back to back for them to make sense and I think some people will not even think that it’s a concept. Those that are into that sort of thing can dig deep and find the clues in the story.
Metal Exiles: How hard was it to make the songs work apart as well as together?
JT: We have made standalone records in the past so we knew how to do that so we had our song writing technique in place so all I did was adjust how I wrote the lyrics so they would be story based. In another way we wanted to tell the story was sonically as well. We wanted to have a big sonic landscape, like a giant blockbuster movie.
Metal Exiles: What mental state did you go in to have the story come out the way you wanted it to?
JT: I am a huge movie fan; horror, story based movies. I watched a lot of stuff to pull source material but I also watch the news and there is always something horrible happening. I took a few clips from that and really expanded what I saw and made it as ridiculous as possible and as conspiracy as possible. I don’t believe in any of that conspiracy stuff, I just wanted to make it as grand as I could.
Metal Exiles: So you’re not into the conspiracy theorist thing?
JT: No but our drummer and bass player are. I just relax, if someone shows me proof I am fine but I do not want to live my life with a bunch of what if scenarios.
Metal Exiles: To me Zero is the anthem of the future, do you see this becoming your calling card.
JT: I hope so, I hope that people can listen to this and it sparks something inside them, like a great movie can. There are some songs on there that start in a dark place but explode into this power anthem of redemption.
Metal Exiles: The story is pretty big. When you started writing it did you know exactly where you wanted to go?
JT: I have always been a creative person in general and I have always liked writing in general and this was the best way for me to tell a story. I did not want a novel type thing, just to take my knowledge of song writing to tell a tale. It’s a creative inspiration when you play chords and things start to speak to you. Once I wrote some ideas down they started flowing and flowing.
Metal Exiles: The album is very heavy and the attack is nonstop then you have the ballad Hallow Hearts Unite in the middle. How did you make it fit in with the rest of the story and sound of the record?
JT: It comes from one of the main characters; it is the girl he is searching for throughout the story. That tells the story of why he is searching and who she is. She is a regular girl that has problems like everybody else and he sees this going on throughout the town and when he says I think I can save her he is talking about everybody. Everybody that feels picked on and put down, he is trying to be their savior, to bring the town back to life.
Metal Exiles: I know here on the WARPED Tour you will find a lot of anti-suicide campaigns and you have the line in Hallow Hearts Unite Where you sing “she likes the pain because the pain doesn’t break her heart” in reference to cutting herself. How would you like that construed?
JT: I want it to be construed that people feel things in different ways and people should talk about their problems and never self-harm. A lot of our fans deal with this a lot and its very moving when they come up to us and say how they would cut themselves and then they would hear our songs and they would give them the strength to stop. That is what that songs about, thinking about the future, that life and your body is precious. You should think about your problems and talk to your friends and family about your problems, somebody will get you through, your never alone.
Metal Exiles: The album overall is very heavy but also very accessible, how do you think the fans will feel about the album when the album drops?
JT: You never know, I hope they listen to it and think that this is the best Hawthorne Heights album to date. That is what I hope but music is in the ear of the beholder. They could listen to it and say This is to poppy for me but I do not think it is poppy at all, I think it is dark, stranger than anything we have done and with uncomfortable moments and that is intentional. I just hope they like it and they understand where it comes from.
Metal Exiles: Taken By The Dark to me is the heaviest track on the record with the sickest, darkest vocals and you reserved it for the last track. Was it put at the end of the album to drive the point home?
JT: Yea, a lot of people start really hard out of the gate and slow down but we wanted to be different and build up to the end of the record.
Metal Exiles: Since you saved it for the end, what does the track revolve around?
JT: That track drives home the fact that the ecological group, the CALM, the group that took over the city, caused the fires that burned the city down and until that point you did not know that. It is about a company who the people think are doing great things for the environment and being charitable and at the end of the record you find out they are not.
Metal Exiles: So you are here out on the WARPED tour promoting Zero. What do you want out of being on WARPED this year?
JT: I am excited to play in front of the fans that have stuck with us from the beginning and excited to turn the people that were standing at the next stage waiting for another band to come on to our music. We are just excited to be out promoting Zero and happy that its WARPED.
Zero will be one of the “Must Have” albums of the year for anybody who has an ear for brilliantly written music.
Official Hawthorne Heights Site
BUY ZERO!
BUY ZERO ON VINYL!
An interview with JT Woodruff of Hawthorne Heights.
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: After four albums of straight forward rock, you dropped a concept album on the fans with Zero. With the way the scene is now, do you think that the fans will get into a concept album?
JT Woodruff: You never know. One reason I wanted to do it is that I had this story in my head and also we have been a band for a long time and I wanted to try something new. We tried to make it a standalone as well as a concept record. You do not have to listen to the tracks back to back for them to make sense and I think some people will not even think that it’s a concept. Those that are into that sort of thing can dig deep and find the clues in the story.
Metal Exiles: How hard was it to make the songs work apart as well as together?
JT: We have made standalone records in the past so we knew how to do that so we had our song writing technique in place so all I did was adjust how I wrote the lyrics so they would be story based. In another way we wanted to tell the story was sonically as well. We wanted to have a big sonic landscape, like a giant blockbuster movie.
Metal Exiles: What mental state did you go in to have the story come out the way you wanted it to?
JT: I am a huge movie fan; horror, story based movies. I watched a lot of stuff to pull source material but I also watch the news and there is always something horrible happening. I took a few clips from that and really expanded what I saw and made it as ridiculous as possible and as conspiracy as possible. I don’t believe in any of that conspiracy stuff, I just wanted to make it as grand as I could.
Metal Exiles: So you’re not into the conspiracy theorist thing?
JT: No but our drummer and bass player are. I just relax, if someone shows me proof I am fine but I do not want to live my life with a bunch of what if scenarios.
Metal Exiles: To me Zero is the anthem of the future, do you see this becoming your calling card.
JT: I hope so, I hope that people can listen to this and it sparks something inside them, like a great movie can. There are some songs on there that start in a dark place but explode into this power anthem of redemption.
Metal Exiles: The story is pretty big. When you started writing it did you know exactly where you wanted to go?
JT: I have always been a creative person in general and I have always liked writing in general and this was the best way for me to tell a story. I did not want a novel type thing, just to take my knowledge of song writing to tell a tale. It’s a creative inspiration when you play chords and things start to speak to you. Once I wrote some ideas down they started flowing and flowing.
Metal Exiles: The album is very heavy and the attack is nonstop then you have the ballad Hallow Hearts Unite in the middle. How did you make it fit in with the rest of the story and sound of the record?
JT: It comes from one of the main characters; it is the girl he is searching for throughout the story. That tells the story of why he is searching and who she is. She is a regular girl that has problems like everybody else and he sees this going on throughout the town and when he says I think I can save her he is talking about everybody. Everybody that feels picked on and put down, he is trying to be their savior, to bring the town back to life.
Metal Exiles: I know here on the WARPED Tour you will find a lot of anti-suicide campaigns and you have the line in Hallow Hearts Unite Where you sing “she likes the pain because the pain doesn’t break her heart” in reference to cutting herself. How would you like that construed?
JT: I want it to be construed that people feel things in different ways and people should talk about their problems and never self-harm. A lot of our fans deal with this a lot and its very moving when they come up to us and say how they would cut themselves and then they would hear our songs and they would give them the strength to stop. That is what that songs about, thinking about the future, that life and your body is precious. You should think about your problems and talk to your friends and family about your problems, somebody will get you through, your never alone.
Metal Exiles: The album overall is very heavy but also very accessible, how do you think the fans will feel about the album when the album drops?
JT: You never know, I hope they listen to it and think that this is the best Hawthorne Heights album to date. That is what I hope but music is in the ear of the beholder. They could listen to it and say This is to poppy for me but I do not think it is poppy at all, I think it is dark, stranger than anything we have done and with uncomfortable moments and that is intentional. I just hope they like it and they understand where it comes from.
Metal Exiles: Taken By The Dark to me is the heaviest track on the record with the sickest, darkest vocals and you reserved it for the last track. Was it put at the end of the album to drive the point home?
JT: Yea, a lot of people start really hard out of the gate and slow down but we wanted to be different and build up to the end of the record.
Metal Exiles: Since you saved it for the end, what does the track revolve around?
JT: That track drives home the fact that the ecological group, the CALM, the group that took over the city, caused the fires that burned the city down and until that point you did not know that. It is about a company who the people think are doing great things for the environment and being charitable and at the end of the record you find out they are not.
Metal Exiles: So you are here out on the WARPED tour promoting Zero. What do you want out of being on WARPED this year?
JT: I am excited to play in front of the fans that have stuck with us from the beginning and excited to turn the people that were standing at the next stage waiting for another band to come on to our music. We are just excited to be out promoting Zero and happy that its WARPED.
Zero will be one of the “Must Have” albums of the year for anybody who has an ear for brilliantly written music.
Official Hawthorne Heights Site
BUY ZERO!
BUY ZERO ON VINYL!
