Ask any band member what question they are posed the most and the answer is usually “what does your name mean?” When your name is the Dave Matthews Band, you won’t be asked that too often. When your name is Hoobastank, well, be prepared for a hell of a lot of interviews starting with “What does your name mean?” or “What’s a Hoobastank?”

When I interviewed drummer Chris Hesse of Hoobastank in March 2002, while they were promoting their self-titled debut album, I asked the question. Yes, I did my research, but I came across at least a dozen different answers that the four band members gave.

“It’s a term that people in Southern California use to describe a shoe fetish,” he said at the time, looking into my eyes with a straight face. Mystery solved, that was the answer.

But then I saw some more interviews where Hesse gave different answers; that same straight face intact. I even read an interview where he said he made up that “fetish” answer while in Europe.

Fast forward to early 2004, just after Hoobastank releases their second album, “The Reason.” I have an interview with Hesse, almost two years later. I’m not going to ask him the dreaded question; I know better.

“So I was going over the last interview I did with you,” I told him, as I explained to him that his answer back then, “something about a shoe.”

“A shoe fetish probably,” he says. That’s the one. At least he remembers some of his lies.

“It became a habit,” he says, laughing nervously, yet no apology.

I understand though. If I had that question shoved down my throat, I’d probably start a Rolodex with fake responses, especially if I had a platinum album like Hoobastank.

Releasing a new album means going through a whole new batch of interviews. That also means more of the evil question.

“We’re not getting asked nearly as much now. A lot of interviews we’re doing for the second time so people know already,” he says, on the line from Fairfax, Virginia, where the band is opening up for Linkin Park.

“Everybody gets that question. It’s inevitable.”

At least Hesse has some colourful answers for that question, because for others, he is the wrong member of Hoobastank to ask.

For instance, the subject of religion is dealt with on several songs on “The Reason.” Why did they decide to go down that path? “I don’t know. I don’t write the lyrics. I have no idea.” Lead singer Douglas Robb writes the lyrics.

How about the first single, “Out of Control,” can he describe what that is about? “No,” he laughs. “Doug question.”


“If we had waited a couple more hours, [guitarist Dan Estrin] would have died.”


The drummer often has the reputation of being the shy one. U2’s drummer, Larry Mullen Jr., rarely utters a word.

“I think they’re the nicer ones too. They don’t get too much attention.” And that’s the way Chris likes it. “I’m not comfortable standing up on stage and talking into the microphone. I’m way more comfortable behind the drums.” I can tell.

But when Hesse does have something to say, you can be sure he’s going to have his voice heard. Actually, not quite. He leaves the songwriting up to Robb and concentrates on playing, and if he disagrees with the lyrics, he plays anyway.

“I wouldn’t give a shit. I’d just play the song. We’re not very political.”

When it comes to religion, he says the band members share different views, but none of them are religious. Robb is atheist, and Hesse is more of a Pagan than anything else.

“We all agree that religion is something people take and run with and a lot of times in the wrong direction and they take it way too literally when it’s supposed to be something to help you personally. What works for you doesn’t work for somebody else.”

And that’s the deepest the lyrics get in discussing religion anyway.

“We don’t have any songs that say there is no God.”

Surprisingly, the album took just 25 days to complete, and the “time flew by.” Howard Benson (Blindside, P.O.D.) produced the record in a small studio in Los Angeles.

“We were the only band in there and this whole crew of people are working 24-7 mixing, editing, and so everything gets done really fast.”

Perhaps things were moving a little too fast. The record was supposed to be released in September, so Hoobastank planned a tour in August. When the album was pushed back to December, they still had touring commitments, but no single on the radio.

That’s when guitarist Dan Estrin had a motorbike accident. He was riding a mini-motorbike in a parking bus and drove into a rope. He was hurled from the bike and hit his head on the ground, fracturing his skull, causing a blood clot that pushed against his head. He recovered in just a few days.

“To be honest I was relieved. It was too early,” Hesse explains. “It was very unfortunate that Dan hurt himself but I don’t think anybody was that sad to miss the tour.”

Hesse, Robb, and bassist Markku Lappalainen, didn’t realize the severity of Estrin’s injury until the next day.

“If we had waited a couple more hours, he would have died. There wasn’t any bleeding externally. It was all internal. We just thought he hit his head. We took him to the hospital. We went to sleep and woke up in the morning and heard that they had to operate and realized just how big a deal it was.”

When the album was finally released in December, Hoobastank fans were able to hear a relatively similar sound to their debut.

“We did the same thing. If we learned anything it was subconscious. We tried to make as good a song as we could. We used more production on the record, put some more strings, and more detail was added to it.

Hesse describes Hoobastank’s sound as “straight forward rock. We’re not real heavy, we’re not real soft; we’re just middle-of-the-road rock.”

That description is a lot different than some of the other classifications critics have attached to Hoobastank. They’ve heard everything from the obscure “three-car garage band” to “heavy metal post-grunge.”

One time, one of the Hoobastank members told a music journalist that they were a cross between Britney Spears and Metallica and they later saw the description in an article. Hesse says, “somebody in the band said that as a joke.”

So I guess that trickery runs throughout Hoobastank.






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