Smokey haze, flair jeans, and a hint of smoke traveling through the air are the first clues that Hinder is at the House of Blues. Best known for the 2005 hit “Lips of an Angel”, the post-grunge band recently released its fourth album Welcome To The Freakshow and has been touring America with its new sound. The Bite got to interview guitarist Cody Hanson on the Hinder tour bus and chat about his dogs and life on the road.
Over time, do you feel like your sound has changed? What’s different about your new album?
I do feel that it has changed. I think it’s like anything else, you just progress over time and things change: technology changes, different techniques in the study change. You kind of just have to grow and keep up with the times. On our new album, I feel like there’s a lot of different elements from different genres. We spent a lot of time just playing around with different techniques and sounds. We used a lot of hip-hop sounds, instruments that you would usually hear on a country album. You name it, we tried it. There are a lot of different elements.
What’s one of your most memorable moments as a member of the band?
Probably our first headlining arena tour, called The Bad Boys of Rock Tour. That entire tour was just complete madness. I mean in one way it’s kind of our most memorable tour, but on the other side I don’t remember much of it.
Which album is your personal favorite?
That’s hard to say. Probably the new one right now just because for me getting to be a co-producer on the album, I spent more personal time with it than the rest of the records so I guess I feel a little more attached.
What do you guys listen to while you’re traveling from place to place?
That gets interesting. We all have different musical tastes so, you know, some guys on the bus really like country. Some guys like red-dirt country; some guys like ‘80s metal. Then we’ve got one guy who’s just really into Katy Perry, which never goes over well when you’re trying to sleep at 3 in the morning.
What should fans expect to see at a show?
A good time. On this tour we’ve kind of changed some things up…We’ve got a shortened set, but we just made sure it was full of hit songs and made sure we were having a good time. We kind of got away from that for a while and had to figure out that the most important thing is to make sure that you’re having fun. We treat it like a party, and we want all of the fans to come out, let loose, and have a good time.
What was your first concert?
My first concert was, and you probably have no clue who this is, but a band called the Nixons. They kind of claimed Dallas for a while, but I think they were originally from Oklahoma. They had a pretty big song, I think in the late ‘90s.
If you could go to any concert, who would you go to?
Probably Guns and Roses in 1987. Not this new thing. Been there done that—I want to see the original Guns and Roses.
What is life on the road life compared to normal life?
Well, it’s kind of hard to explain really. You have to fall into a routine and really stick to that routine. Because if something else comes into play, it just messes your whole thing up. It is definitely not as glamorous as people think. Like right now we have a toilet that we can’t use. You never know what to expect; you never know if something is going to happen and you’re not going to be able to take a shower. It’s very interesting, but it can also be a lot of fun. If everybody on the bus gets along it’s great. You get to ride down the road at 3 in the morning, listening to music with all of your buddies. It can definitely can drag you down if you let it. You’ve just got to keep a nice balance.
What makes you most homesick?
I know this answer should be my wife, but I get to talk to her on the phone all the time. I have three dogs at home, and I am huge animal lover. My dogs make my world go ‘round, and I can’t talk to them on the phone. They don’t know why I am gone. That kills me.
