12/08/2006

What's in a name? Fame, just the same

Hoobastank stops at Streeters during club tour for new album

BY GARRET ELLISON

gellison@record-eagle.com

Hoobastank performs with Agent Sparks and Halifax at Streeters.

TRAVERSE CITY — Modern rock radio veterans Hoobastank are back and hoping to connect with fans in a more intimate setting by playing a tour of smaller clubs.

Streeters Ground Zero in Traverse City is on that list. Tonight's show will be a mixture of old and new, as the band heads back on the road on the heels of a new album "Every Man For Himself,” released in May. California-based bands Agent Sparks and Halifax will open the Streeters show.

The smaller venue tour spotlights a new direction for a band getting introspective. It allows them the opportunity to showcase that new material after spending summer on the road with Nickelback.

"We've done a lot of clean-cut radio-friendly stuff,” said drummer Chris Hesse. "This time we're just trying to make something meaningful.”

Hesse, vocalist Doug Robb and songwriter/guitarist Dan Estrin formed Hoobastank in 1994 out of the same Agoura Hills, Calif. scene that spawned Linkin Park. They refined a sound and fan base touring with ska-rockers Incubus.

"Every Man For Himself” isn't the first time Hoobastank has altered their sound. With the release of their self-titled major label debut, they left behind the raw ska sounds of their first two independently released albums and entered the alternative rock arena with the hit "Crawling in the Dark,” which reached number three on the U.S. modern rock charts in 2001.

The album features songs fitted for longer play, with a couple tracks breaking the five-minute mark. The first single, a ballad "If I Were You,” was an MTV Hits favorite this year. However, it fell shy of the the success of the 2004 ballad, "The Reason,” the title track of the same album, which hit No. 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks.

At seven minutes, 13 seconds, the last track, "More Than a Memory,” epitomizes the whole record for Hesse.

"There's lots of instrumentation,” he said. "It's very mellow. Some people will be like, 'This is Hoobastank?' It's deeper than anything we've put out before.”

He said that depth comes from a freedom for the veterans to go into the studio with an open book, just looking for a good time.

"We went into the studio with no set ideas — just skeletons,” he said. "We don't really concentrate on going or changing any direction, it just kind of occurs.”

The same could be said for the band's name, which is often subject to questions about its origin. In hindsight, Hesse said, naming a rock band can be a bit like choosing a tattoo — you'd better want it for life.

"It's just nonsense — a stupid little word some kid coined in high school,” Hesse said. "We'd all go back and change it if we could.”

Despite an abundance of new material, Hesse said there are still a few favorites the band never forgets.

"'Pieces' on the first album,” Hesse said. "We still play it every show. It's really aggressive, up-tempo with good lyrical content — always a crowd favorite.”

Tickets to tonight's Streeters show are $20, with a $3 handling fee. The doors open at 7 p.m. More information at www.streetersonline.com, or 231-932-1300.