Hinder Interview with Blower and Mark King
Sunday, July 13, 2008, 5:41 p.m. CST
Blower, Mark King and I discussed touring, Take it to the Limit, music videos, Hinder’s performance at O’Malley’s in Chicago, Blower being struck with Mike Rodden’s acoustic bass guitar and about being the new arena bad boys.
AARON KEKER: All right! Hey everyone! This is Aaron Keker from Always Acoustic™ backstage with Blower and Mark from Hinder. How you guys doing?
BLOWER: What’s up buddy!
MARK KING: Good! Good!
AARON KEKER: How does it feel to be touring again?
BLOWER: Feels good.
MARK KING: Yeah, it’s great. We were up in Vancouver doing the album for like… three almost four months. So, all that hard work just being there. And now every time we play it live, so this is great.
BLOWER: Back to drinking and getting to see some beautiful chicks after the show.
MARK KING: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: [laughs] [referring to Areatha, who was with me backstage] Like Areatha, right? [laughs]
BLOWER: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: [laughs] What is your favorite thing about touring?
BLOWER: Probably partying. [laughs]
MARK KING: Yeah… when I was a little kid even I told my parents that I want to see every city in the nation if not in the world. And now the fact that I get to do that, it’s just amazing for me, even though you do not always get to see them every day. But like days off, I never thought I would even come to Chicago even you know. So it’s cool to see new places all the time.
AARON KEKER: You can read on The Smoking Gun’s web site about various bands or musicians’ backstage food and drink requests. What are some of Hinder’s requests?
MARK KING: Booze, booze and more booze.
BLOWER: Cups and ice. We are very easy to please. [laughs] [wind blowing profusely] Just make sure there’s booze. [laughs]
AARON KEKER: Jäger, I think too, right?
MARK KING: Jäger.
BLOWER: Jäger. Yeah, we got a new Jäger machine for the bus. It pours a little more Jäger this time.
[wind blowing profusely and audio is not available for the next question and answer, just the text]
AARON KEKER: Does Austin handle a majority of the songwriting for Hinder?
BLOWER: I would say Austin and Cody.
AARON KEKER: You guys practice acoustically on the bus?
BLOWER: Yeah! Actually, that’s how we pretty much wrote every song ––
MARK KING: Yep.
BLOWER: that we have ever done. If it doesn’t sound good on acoustic first, then it doesn’t sound good as a full band.
MARK KING: Yep.
AARON KEKER: Right. Exactly.
BLOWER: Acoustic is definitely a key.
AARON KEKER: What bands or musicians inspire Hinder?
BLOWER: I would say collectively probably Guns N’ Roses but –
MARK KING: Aerosmith.
BLOWER: Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe. Just the classics, you know.
AARON KEKER: You guys met Axl yet?
BLOWER: Ah, no! No. We actually turned down that tour because we knew he was going to cancel half the shows [wind blowing profusely] and he just shows up whenever he wants to. We did not want to treat our fans like that. So we never thought we’d be able to say… we turned down a Guns N’ Roses tour. [laughs]
MARK KING: [laughs]
[wind blowing profusely]
AARON KEKER: [laughs] Right. I noticed on Hinder’s web site and MySpace page that your new album will be released on November 4th.
BLOWER: It could.
AARON KEKER: Is there a symbolic reason that Hinder could be releasing Take it to the Limit on Presidential Election Day?
[wind blowing profusely, some of Mark’s answer is not available on audio, just the text]
MARK KING: You know, go out. I guess you can’t get booze on that day, that sucks. But you know, go out and vote and pick up our album. You know, it makes sense. Hope you get in.
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
BLOWER: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: Talking politics can be a very heated debate, does Hinder distance themselves from all of that?
[wind blowing profusely]
MARK KING: Yeah, honestly we just don’t have time to get into politics being on the road all the time. So, I know who they are. I really don’t know what they really stand for. I need to do some studying before I go vote.
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
BLOWER: We like to just talk about the fun of rock and roll.
MARK KING: Yep.
BLOWER: We don’t have to get all the seriousness involved in it.
AARON KEKER: All right. Besides “Take it to the Limit,” “Thing for You,” “Running in the Rain” and “Use Me” what additional songs are going to be on the new album?
BLOWER: I just went blank.
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
MARK KING: What did you say “Thing for You?” That’s the one we were playing ––
AARON KEKER: Yeah.
MARK KING: live.
BLOWER: We played that earlier.
AARON KEKER: You guys played that last year. That probably was going to be on the new album.
MARK KING: That will be on there. There’s going to be eleven songs total. Also, we recorded some B-sides that you know will be special through iTunes and WalMart or wherever you pick up your album.
[wind blowing profusely and remaining part of Blower’s answer after “Up All Night” is not available]
BLOWER: You know we have four ballads… We got a song called “Up All Night.”
MARK KING: Mike Mars laid down a solo for us too ––
BLOWER: “Take it to the Limit.”
MARK KING: Yep. The title track if that’s where you are at.
AARON KEKER: Now “Take it to the Limit,”… you guys wrote that song and it’s not the Eagles ––
MARK KING: Right. It’s a new song. I don’t even know the Eagles song. I should really look into that. [laughs]
BLOWER: Yeah! [laughs]
AARON KEKER: Does everyone ask you about that?
MARK KING: Yeah! All the time.
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
BLOWER: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: Extreme Behavior reached multi-platinum. Do you think Take it to the Limit will reach platinum status?
BLOWER: We always hope.
MARK KING: Yeah, exactly.
BLOWER: We always hope, you know. We’re getting good responses with “Use Me” right now. So, I think if everything goes as planned, it will hopefully be doing just as well or better, is the idea.
[wind blowing profusely, so beginning of question is not available on audio, just the text]
AARON KEKER: Back in January 2007 at the Congress, Austin remarked “Hinder played at a pizza place in Chicago.” What was the name of that pizza place?
MARK KING: We just talked about this ––
BLOWER: We just talked ––
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
MARK KING: Was it O’Malley’s?
BLOWER: Was it O’Malley’s?
AARON KEKER: I don’t know.
MARK KING: I think that’s it. I think that’s what we decided.
BLOWER: I think it was O’Malley’s.
MARK KING: [laughs]
BLOWER: [laughs]
MARK KING: We just heard a story about that. I guess back when we got paid fifty dollars and they gave us a case of beer. And the promoter afterwards called [laughs]
and told our tour manager that we weren’t worth it. We weren’t worth a case of beer ––
BLOWER: We weren’t worth a case of beer.
AARON KEKER: What?
MARK KING: and the fifty bucks. [laughs]
BLOWER: [laughs]
MARK KING: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: Crazy, man!
BLOWER: Now we’re here. [laughs]
AARON KEKER: Now, what’s he thinking [laughs], you know.
BLOWER: Yeah, really.
AARON KEKER: So, Hinder has had a drastic upward swing since that pizza place, so are you guys surprised by the success of Hinder?
MARK KING: I wouldn’t say surprised. We know we’re lucky to be in the position that we’re at. We know we’re blessed and we don’t take it for granted. But I wouldn’t say we’re surprised by it because, you know. We worked hard for it. We wanted this for since we’re little kiddos probably so.
AARON KEKER: Right.
BLOWER: Yep. We definitely worked our asses off to get to where we are right now. We’re never going to be satisfied. We’re always going to keep taking it to the next level. And ––
MARK KING: We are going to “Take it to the Limit.”
BLOWER: Ooh!
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
MARK KING: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: [laughs] There you go.
MARK KING: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: I read online that “Lips of an Angel” was almost shelved from Extreme Behavior by the label.
BLOWER: Yes.
AARON KEKER: Why was it almost shelved?
MARK KING: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
BLOWER: Oh, Tom. He’s gotten so much shit for this story. Yeah, he listened to it and thought it was a B-side and didn’t even want to put it on the album. We told him to f*** off and put it on there. Now he’s shooting himself in the foot. [laughs]
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
BLOWER: [laughs] Oh no. Now he’s claiming … oh, I liked it since the beginning ––
MARK KING: Yeah.
BLOWER: and everything like that. [laughs] So, that was funny.
AARON KEKER: [laughs] Hinder released videos like “Better than Me,” “Lips of an Angel,” “Born to be Wild,” and “Get Stoned.” How come Hinder never released videos of “How Long” or “Bliss?”
MARK KING: It never came around. I don’t know. Videos, actually we are going to shoot one tomorrow in L.A. but videos don’t get played enough. So, it’s hard to invest that much money in something that’s never gonna get played.
AARON KEKER: Yeah.
BLOWER: Plus we’re always busy just touring and playing shows damn near every day so it never got fit into the schedule I guess.
AARON KEKER: See I like to go online and download your guys videos because they are very entertaining.
MARK KING: I love videos.
AARON KEKER: Yeah, you got that aspect now, not as MTV as much.
MARK KING: Right.
AARON KEKER: Where you can go and buy it.
BLOWER: Right.
MARK KING: Very true.
AARON KEKER: So… Mark, you guys shooting a video for “Taking it to the Limit?”
MARK KING: For “Use Me.”
AARON KEKER: “Use Me.”
MARK KING: Yeah! We’re going to fly out to L.A. early… [wind blowing profusely and remaining answer is not available]
BLOWER: [wind blowing profusely] It’s going to be a fun one. Partying. Probably drive really nice cars and hang out with naked women all day long.
AARON KEKER: [laughs] Sounds like fun.
BLOWER: So, it’s going to be a rough day. [laughs]
AARON KEKER: [laughs] I do not recall ever hearing an announcement on TV or online that Hinder was going to play on a late night talk show. Why do you think that’s the case?
MARK KING: What was it, that we haven’t?
AARON KEKER: Yeah. I don’t think you guys ever?
MARK KING: We played a few.
AARON KEKER: Have you?
MARK KING: We played Conan. We got to play Jay Leno and the other one on CBS. Not David Letterman; the guy after him.
BLOWER: Ferguson.
MARK KING: Ferguson. Yeah!
[wind blowing profusely and audio is not available for parts of the next several questions and answers, just the text; Mark and Blower discussed being on Jackass from the guitar incident]
AARON KEKER: I have to ask one that is not on my list. Do you guys recall, like a year or so ago, you guys were at a radio station and Blower you decided to try and smash a guitar over your head.
MARK KING: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: Do you remember that?
BLOWER: Yeah! Boy that was a couple of years ago. I think, we were in Flint ––
MARK KING: Flint, Michigan.
BLOWER: Michigan. And was it Mike’s bass ––
MARK KING: Yeah.
BLOWER: acoustic bass … someone had a camera and I decided to crack it over my head. I think the funniest reaction was Cody’s because he thought like I was knocked out or something, so he was there to catch me.
AARON KEKER: Why did you decide to do that?
BLOWER: I don’t know. We do a lot of dumb shit and we just get really bored out on the road. So … I like to entertain on and off stage.
AARON KEKER: It was very entertaining. The funniest thing was when Austin started to run for no reason. [laughs]
BLOWER: [laughs] Yeah!
AARON KEKER: [laugh] I was like awe man!
BLOWER: Some of the things we do…
MARK KING: Jackass.
BLOWER: Definitely an inspiring Jackass. Maybe Jackass 3?
[wind blowing profusely and audio is not available for Aaron Keker’s first two statements]
AARON KEKER: All right. Two more questions. The moment that Hinder is about to enter the stage and you hear the crowd screaming Austin or Hinder’s name, what is your guys reaction?
BLOWER: Indescribable! I don’t know, it’s crazy!
MARK KING: It gets you pumped up every time. It will never get old, that’s for sure.
BLOWER: Yep. Basically like all the other bullshit and everything that goes off just kind of completely disappears, whenever that starts. Just playing the music in front of that many people and watching their faces having a good time. It’s unreal.
[wind blowing profusely and audio is difficult to hear for part the next question and answer]
AARON KEKER: What do you guys think about people singing your lyrics back, you guys like wow?
BLOWER: Yeah!
MARK KING: Yeah, it’s great!
AARON KEKER: All right guys. Final question. Do you consider Hinder to be the new arena bad boys?
BLOWER: Shit yeah!
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
MARK KING: Shit yeah!
BLOWER: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
MARK KING: But not just yeah, shit yeah!
BLOWER: Shit yeah! That’s it!
AARON KEKER: [laughs]
MARK KING: [laughs]
BLOWER: [laughs]
AARON KEKER: All right guys. I will see you later this evening. And so thanks a lot.
BLOWER: Cool man!
AARON KEKER: All right man!
BLOWER: Yeah! We’ll hang out and you guys enjoy the show!
