In a new interview with the Caught On The Mike podcast, HINDER drummer Cody Hanson and singer Marshal Dutton spoke about the band’s seventh studio album, “Back To Life”, which came out on May 23 via Evil Teen Records. Regarding how the HINDER creative processes has evolved over the last 10 years, Hanson said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I don’t know that the process is any different. We don’t really have a set process that we feel we use. It’s always different, depending on the situation. I think the one thing that felt a little different about this one is that we were a little less concerned with what everybody else thinks that we are as a band. We had written a bunch of material over a pretty long period of time that we were able to go and kind of comb through and pull out and kind of rework, and I think that that definitely was beneficial for us on this record. There’s a lot of material that had been written for a long time, and that was was pretty cool. But like I said, we didn’t really go into it trying to be something, where I think certainly on the last record, with [2017’s] ‘The Reign’, we were trying to make it a little more heavy, a little more dark and we were, I think, kind of worried about just being that rock band. Where now, on this album, I think we were just worried about the songs, writing and recording the best songs that we could do. And I think it paid off, man. I’m really happy with it. I’m very, very proud of it. And it seems like the reaction has been amazing.”
When podcast host Michael Clark noted that the audience can see when a band is being authentic with its music, Hanson concurred. “Yeah, I think so,” he said. “This record, to me, feels like where we are as a band right now. I’ve told this a million times in interviews lately, but we had actually written and recorded an entire record before this one. It was 2021, 2020… We had this idea that we were going to do a record that was really similar to the first album, that kind of had that vibe. And once we got it done, yeah, I guess it had that vibe, but it didn’t feel like us; it didn’t feel like who we are now. And so it didn’t feel authentic to me.”
Dutton chimed in: “It felt dated. It just made us sound like we had not progressed as a band. At least with the sound starting from when I kind of joined the band, it seemed like a regression instead of amoving forward. So we just shelved it.”
HINDER‘s third album with Marshal on vocals, “Back To Life” was produced by Hanson and Dutton at BarCode Studios in Oklahoma City.
HINDER recently announced the “Back To Life Tour Part II” with support from Austin Meade and Kelsey Hickman. The trek will kick off July 11 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Earlier this spring, HINDER embarked on the first installment of the “Back To Life” tour, hitting Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dallas, Louisville and more.
HINDER, which formed in Oklahoma City in 2001, has survived the loss of two lead vocalists, Austin John Winkler, who left the band in 2013, and Nolan Neal, who fronted the group in 2015.
The Oklahoma City-based quartet’s story began nearly a quarter century ago when Hanson, Joe “Blower” Garvey (lead guitar) and Mike Rodden (bass) met and activated their musical chemistry. The 2005 hit “Lips Of An Angel” from the band’s debut album “Extreme Behavior”, since certified three times platinum, topped the charts and remains a radio mainstay. Powerful lead vocalist Dutton joined them in 2015. Throughout their discography, HINDER has embodied an ethos of defiance and tenacity through gutsy lyrics, rousing melodies, and soaring choruses. Each album in their musical journey has reflected a progression, from the grittier early days of “Take It To The Limit” to the more introspective and exploratory energy of 2017’s “The Reign”.
Photo by Doug Schwarz
