There hasn't been much of a break for Hinder in the past couple years. From writing and recording their newest album - All American Nightmare - to the constant touring that followed, the band has been working constantly.
Drummer Cody Hansen says the summer has been one of variety, as the band has been playing dates in a large variety of cities and venues. He notes that everything's going well, the shows turning out great and the experiences in the different places keep members excited about playing.
"It's fun, it mixes it up every day, keeps it from getting boring. It's cool to headline, and then go to a festival and get to see bands we've played with in the past catch up with them," Hansen said in a recent telephone interview with The News Review.
Hinder's touring with the new album All American Nightmare, which was released in December of 2010. Hansen notes that they took a different approach to song writing this time around.
"We usually write about ten or twelve songs for an album. This time we went out and wrote with everyone we could think of, just to mix it up and see what happened. We wrote about seventy songs, demoed about fifty, and narrowed it down to what's on All American Nightmare," Hansen notes.
"We knew we needed to take the album in a different direction, make it a little heavier and a little darker. We cut our first single, All American Nightmare, and based the rest of the album around that. When you look at the album as a whole, it had to go together and make sense."
The heavier sound is something that rock radio in the US is moving towards, Hansen says, and more importantly it's a sound the band wanted to revisit, since it harkened back to their beginnings as a group.
"It's kind of going back to our roots. We started as a heavier band, when we first got together we were almost metal, really dark and really heavy. So it was fun to get to go back to those early days of Hinder a little bit," he notes.
The latest single, What Ya Gonna Do, deals with the band questioning what the next step will be if they can't continue to play music and tour the world. Featuring a video that gives a glimpse into the band's personal lives, the song is about the anxieties the band has about their lives.
"The truth is, we don't have an answer, we don't know what we're going to do, we'll see what happens I guess... Hopefully the fans keep digging the stuff and we don't have to find an answer to that question."
The band has always been very personal in their songs, and while their second album was a step away from that, Hansen says that kind of intimate song writing is something the band wants to keep doing.
Hansen is proud that the band has been able to last as long as it has, and that their music still connects with people. While he admits that there has been some pressure, especially after their breakthrough single Lips of an Angel, he says that the band just focused on doing their best.
"All you can do is write the best songs that you can write, go out and play the best show you can play every night, and hope people love it. It's all up to the fans anyway, they know what they choose to listen to, what songs they choose to buy, and what shows they choose to go to. So we just do our best, and hopefully it works," he says.
"We've worked really hard and built a really awesome, loyal fan base, so that's what it's all about. Without the fans supporting us and coming to the show and buying the records, we'd be at home, so we're lucky."
The fans are the driving force behind the music, and Hansen says that touring is the most important part of what they do.
"Talking to people, meeting fans and hanging out is another way to come up with inspiration for songs. It gives us direction."
Right now, Hansen says the focus of the band is on the tour and getting a few more singles off of the current album. He says it's been a great summer for the group, and they want to continue on the path they're on.
Hinder will be at the Gallagher Centre on August 22, with Versus the Nothing opening. Tickets are available at Booster Juice or www.ticketscene.ca.
