Hellogoodbye Opens for 3OH!3

By Jeannette Madden
Staff Writer

Hellogoodbye has had a rocky couple of years, but emerged last year better than ever and with a new album “Would It Kill You” released on their own label, Wasted Summer Records. With their music more relevant than ever and their first single, “When We First Met” receiving over 100,000 Youtube views, the band is well on their way to bringing fans their signature mix of humor and hooks.

The High Plains Reader caught up with founding member, Forrest Kline, and this is what he had to say.

High Plains Reader: Tell me about your band, Hellogoodbye.

Hellogoodbye: Well, it started awhile ago, when I was in high school. I started recording music on my computer in my bedroom and started a band and started touring and signed with Drive-Thru [Records] and released a couple albums. Now, we got off Drive-Thru and put out a record on our own label [Wasted Summer Records].

HPR: Why have you had so many line-up changes?

HG: I don’t know. I mean it’s always just kind of been that way. Even before we got signed we had a couple of different drummers and a couple different bass players. But, for the line-up that stuck on for awhile, we went on tour for just forever and I think everyone just got burnt out on touring.

HPR: It sounds like you’re really positive about who you have now.

HG: Yeah, for sure. It’s great, all friends that I’ve known before and I like it a lot.

HPR: Cool. How is it releasing on your own label and how did that come about? I understand the recent issues with the other label [Drive-Thru Records] but tell me how you decided to go and do your own thing.

HG: Once we got out of that situation we started doing our own merchandise and opened up a store out of my house, a little web store, and we just kind of got a taste of it and we liked it a lot because it was way cooler…you actually talk to kids about what was going on and they have a shirt and they have a problem with it and you email them…it’s just cool. So, we wanted to do the record on our own, too, because you can have control of everything like what you want to do and what you don’t want to do. You’re apprised of things and if there’s weird things going on you can say “stop that”.

HPR: But you still had a producer, correct?

HG: Yeah, me and Matt Mahaffey, who produced the last record, put this record together.

HPR: One of the things I read about you is that you’ve said that the last few years you could work without pressure. What kind of pressure were you talking about?

HG: Well, there was none. But, just the kind of pressure you might expect from a label who wants you to do a certain kind of thing. You know, someone who is like “Hey you have to write, whatever you think this last song was, you have to write one just like it.”

HPR: Sure, sure. How did the tour with 3OH!3 come about?

HG: They are on a record label that’s run by our booking agent, so, there’s some intersection there.

HPR: Cool! So, how about your influences and your writing process?

HG: I listen to a lot of the Beach Boys and I did when I was a kid and when I was in like fifth grade, I listened to a lot of oldies so, there was a lot of that. And then I got older and listened to Weezer and Blink 182…then I stopped listening to Weezer.

HPR: [Laughing] Okay. And, how do you write?

HG: I guess usually, I mean, I built a studio in my garage, so I’ll go in there and jam around and record stuff and kind of layer things. It used to be more so that I would like cut up a beat and then I would just loop it and go over and over and over. It was more electronic pieces so I would loop things and just kind of jam out and now it’s more so that I actually pick up the guitar and write a song and then have a whole song and figure out how to record it.

HPR: Okay, then when do you put lyrics in?

HG: Usually the first thing will be the guitar and then the vocal melodies and then maybe there will be one verse of lyrics kind of sparking it? And then, it’s just kind of fleshing it out so I usually get the whole structure of the song down and then flesh out the lyrics from the one idea that I had.

HPR: How are the songs on this album different from “Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!”?

HG: Like that, in the way that they’re written. They come out differently and the recording process used to be so linked to the writing process, they were the same thing, the writing and recording. But now, it’s a little more separate. So, that kind of comes through as a big difference.

HPR: Tell me about your live shows.

HG: They’re kind of loose and we just kind of hangout and be comfortable with that so it’s always kind of different, kind of keep it fresh.

HPR: It seems like from what you said, even being on your own label, that part of that was having more fan connection, personally and everything. Does that come through at your shows?

HG: Yeah, I think so. We take a lot of time out and start talking a lot, probably more than we should.

HPR: [Laughing]

HG: Having direct, one on one conversations with one person in the audience and including everyone else.

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If You Go

[Editor’s Note: EVENT IS SOLD OUT]

What: Hellogoodbye, opening for 3OH!3
Where: The Venue at The Hub
When: Sat, Nov 6
Info: 701.232.6767