TuneLab: 'Extreme
Behavior' has been certified double platinum
in the United States alone. How have you guys
reacted to the immense success of your debut
album and did you ever see Hinder reaching
such lofty heights?
Austin Winkler: Um, I mean we're still
the same people, we drink a lot more. I just
think we haven't really had time to take it
all in I guess cuz we're always, constantly
touring. We've been on the road for 20 months
Mike Rodden: We always wanted it to be
as big as it is, if not bigger, but I don't
think you ever know that it's gonna happen
for sure-now that it has we're pretty stoked.
TL: The majority of your crowds consist of,
well, females. Of all the cities Hinder has
played, which places sport the hottest, sexiest
Hinder fans?
AW: Texas!
MR: Texas as a whole has the hottest chicks
in the country.
AW: Yeah for sure. It's fucking ridiculous
MR: I mean, there's a lot of 'em. It's
true-there's a lot of chicks everywhere.
AW: But we find 'em all. I don't know
dude, the other day-Florida, Daytona…oh boy.
MR: Jesus-they were nice. There were these
models and we were doing an acoustic set for
like a NASCAR Daytona 500 thing and I guess
they hired like 5 or 6 models to come in.
AW: One for each of us.
MR: By the end of the night, every one
of them was on our bus and I had one in my
bunk…
AW: We were supposed to be mingling with
the NASCAR guys and we ended up sitting at
the bar with the models the whole night.
MR: We ducked out early and went to the
bus with them-it was definitely worth it.
TL: Hinder worked with famed producer Brian
Howes on 'Extreme Behavior'. How did
Howes help Hinder achieve the sound which
you guys aspired for?.
AW: Howes is one of the coolest guys in
the business and we work really well together.
He throws an idea out there we like and we'll
use it, and if we don't like it it's just,
you know "f--k off". He's definitely, he's
got a huge deal to do with 'Extreme Behavior'.
MR: The guy really knows his sh*t. We
went in there with ideas and he knew how to
make everything better and more polished and
sh*t.
AW: He's a f--king control freak too man-total,
anal motherf--ker.
MR: He washes his dishes with bottled
water [laughs].
AW: We're in pre-production, right and
I'm singing-this is in Whistler. And I'm looking
and I'm like 'what the f--k are you doing
dude?' And he's f--king washing his dishes
with Dasani, my bottled water because I occasionally
need some water to sing with. He's anal, but
he's awesome.
TL: Your second single, "Lips of an Angel",
has been topping the pop charts for quite
some time. How does the band feel about scoring
a top 40 pop smash and do you think it takes
some of the edge away from the group?
AW: I definitely don't think it takes
any edge away from the group. You know just
come to our show, we know we're a rock band,
but the more people we expose to our music
the better. That's how it's gotta be if you
wanna be the biggest band in the world.
MR: Uhh, yeah [laughs].
TL: Blower is known to do some insane stuff,
including having a guitar smashed over his
head and having his balls set on fire. What
is the most off-the-wall thing Blower has
ever done and has anyone else in the band
done anything to top him?
AW: Um, I think I stapled Blower's nutsack
to Mike's ass once.
MR: Yeah, we did that one time. It was
a little unusual.
AW: I don't know how we did it without
being incredibly gay but…
MR: We do so much stupid sh*t to him,
but his nutsack I mean…
AW: It stretches out like a flying squirrel.
MR: It's like begging to be tortured.
AW: And he's an aspiring Jackass, so.
He's an amateur but he's working on it.
TL: Hinder has been on the road consistently
since August 2005 and the band decided to
tour for 'Extreme Behavior' well into
2007. What prompted you guys to delay working
on your sophomore record in favor of being
on the road?
AW: We still have more singles on our
album so we're gonna keep touring this album
and get as much success out of it as possible.
MR: I think a lot of bands-they know they
maybe have 2 or 3 singles on their album and
the rest of it you know isn't gonna do anything
so they hit the studio right away. But we
feel strongly about every song on the album,
so as long as we can put more songs out and
radio keeps playing them, we're gonna keep
putting songs out. And the overseas thing
is starting to hit over there, so we gotta
head over there and go play some shows across
the pond and wherever else.
TL: What's your first stop overseas?
AW: Uh, London.
MR: Europe. We're doing all of Europe
basically in about two weeks.
AW: We've got a show in Amsterdam and
we've got the day off in Amsterdam so…
MR: We're f--ked!
AW: Yeah, we're screwed but we're excited.
AW: I mean that, and we just love the
road. You know a lot of bands don't like the
road.
MR: We basically live to be on the road
AW: Exactly right. We go home and we already
wanna pull our hair out.
TL: During the Girls Gone Wild Tour, the band
passed out "Hinder brand" condoms. Where did
this unique idea originate and have any of
you guys "tested" your product?
AW: For the record, don't use those condoms.
MR: [laughs] Yeah, they break.
TL: That information would have been a little
more useful to me awhile ago.
AW: [laughs] Yeah, we probably shoulda
put something out there about it.
MR: But I
don't know whose idea it was but it fits us.
And I think deep down they were trying to
put the idea in our head to start using them-we
tend to slip up from time to time. I think
it was like a subtle hint that we need to
start wrapping it up.
TL: Cody once said "We want to make rock fun
again-we're tired of everybody whining." How
has Hinder helped bring this statement to
fruition?
AW: Um, I don't know. I mean when we play
a show and see the smiles on people's faces-
I mean we've actually seen people f--king
in the front row.
MR: Yeah, that was cool.
AW: I mean he had the girl totally bent
over just during the show-it was kind of distracting.
But yeah, you see their smiles and rock and
roll is supposed to be fun. You're not supposed
to get off work and go be mad at a concert
-I mean that's f--king gay.
MR: You know you put on our album and
it doesn't bring you down-it's a good time.
There's nothing on there that makes you depressed
or think about dad not giving you enough lunch
money.
AW: Dude, you're in a f--king band-you're
touring. f--kin-ay, what are you crying about?
MR: Exactly.
TL: Austin, you recently collaborated with
Empty Crush on their song "Situations Change".
Have you all done work with any other groups?
AW: [laughs] Uh, yeah no that actually
wasn't recently. Anyways, yeah it was a long
time ago and, no. Next question [laughs].
TL: Rich from Revelation Theory said their
band refused to drink the complementary bottle
of tequila Hinder gave them because they thought
it might have been a prank. What are some
of the craziest stunts Hinder has pulled on
other bands?
Both: Default
AW: Default-we pissed in their tequila
bottle and gave it to them.
MR: I wiped my ass with their drummer's
sticks before they went on.
AW: And uh, Blower and Mike I think took
a dump right in front of their bus steps so
they would step on it. Their tour manager
tracked it in and he wasn't too happy.
TL: The drummer from Lynam said you guys like
covered his sticks in baby powder or something.
Both: Vasoline
MR: Yeah, vasoline. You could see them
like slipping the whole set. He's like you
know trying to wipe his f--king hands off
cuz his sticks are flying off. We like to
have a good time and pull some sh*t on people.
TL: What approach does the band plan on taking
when you all begin tracking your next album
and will Hinder be testing new material at
shows in the near future?
AW: Um, we're always coming up with new
ideas and when you're on the road it's tough
to lay stuff down. But we're trying new songs
now and we're actually trying one tonight
and the reaction's so far been pretty amazing,
so I think we've got a really good start on
the next album.
TL: How did you guys settle upon 'Hinder'
as the group's name and how does 'Hinder'
represent the band and your music?
AW: I'd say the only reason we-this is
the only lame part about us, I promise-whenever
we first started we had like twenty songs
and we were starting to get gigs in our hometown,
but we didn't have a name. So we started to
get frustrated and we looked up 'frustrated'
in a thesaurus and found 'hinder'. I mean,
it's kinda unique but it's kinda boring.
MR: I mean we could make up some long,
elaborate name but, f--k it.
AW: f--k it. Yeah a lot of bands are like
that.
MR: A lot of bands are full of sh*t with
names like that.
TL: Although Hinder indulges and enjoys
the extreme pleasures of women, have any of
you guys been in love?
AW: Have you listened to the album?
All: [laughs]
AW: Well, I mean yeah sure all of the
guys have been at one point in our lives.
Now we're just in love with a lot of different
chicks in a lot of different cities.
TL: That's about it guys. Anything else y'all
wanna throw out there?
AW: Naw man, right on. Cheers!
All: [raise drinks and toast]
