Interviewed by Brian Rademacher
Date: September 20th, 2006

Hey RockEyez, it’s Mark from Hinder!

What’s going on, man?
We’re just hanging out, doing a sound check, getting ready to go on in a couple hours. This is our second day on the Staind tour. We just got off tour with Nickelback for about two and a half months. We’re out for about three more weeks, then we go home for a week, and then we’re back out on our headline tour for the rest of the year.

Congratulations on the “Extreme Behavior” going Platinum!
This is great for our debut album.

Have you played any acoustic sets?
We have a couple times for radio stations; we’ll go in there and play maybe three or four songs.

How long is this tour going?
Our last day is October 8th in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Are you coming to New York/ New Jersey?
I don’t believe so, not on this run.

What kind of kid were you growing up?
Okay, let’s see... I was the youngest, with two older brothers. I learned how to eat really fast because if I didn’t they would eat it for me. I ran fast because they used to like to beat me up. I was a jock when I was a younger… I was the running back for our school and the point guard on the basketball team.

So you had all the girls?
I tried, you know. I had a problem with authority, with coaches running their mouth a bit. So I started a band and played guitar.

What was the name of that band?
The first band I was in was called Aggression. It was the late nineties and we played music like Bush.

Did you go to church at all?
Oh, yeah! My dad is a Baptist preacher. (Laughing).

Are you originally from Oklahoma?
Yeah. I am from Guymon, Oklahoma in the Oklahoma panhandle.

What was the first CD you ever bought?
Well, the first tape I bought was MC Hammer “Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em”. (Laughing). The first CD I ever bought was Aerosmith “Big Ones”.

That’s some diversity…
Yeah, I was in third grade when MC Hammer was big.

What was the first concert you ever attended?
It was in Amarillo, Texas: Cheap Trick and Stone Temple Pilots.  It was awesome.
I was like fifteen. I was going nuts. I wish STP would get back together.

Was your family supportive of you career choice?
Oh yeah, my parents stuck by me in whatever I wanted to do. They’re very cool.  Even though my dad is a Baptist preacher, he will go into Best Buy or a chain store and make sure they have the Hinder album. If you don’t have it you better get it.

What is your personal favorite track on the CD?
It changes all the time… right now it’s “Better Than Me”. I like the lyrics and it’s a good “singable” tune. I dig it. I felt that way many times with girls, like they’re better than me… so that song hits home.

What band or musician do you admire?
I actually started playing guitar because I saw the video for Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” when I was in junior high and I always loved that band. They’re fun and they write good music. I love old-school Guns ‘N Roses; Slash is just the man on guitar.

If someone came up to you and asked advice on breaking into the music business, what would you tell them?
I would tell them not to play a show in your hometown every night.  I would play out in my town maybe twice a month and gather up a reputation there, move up to the next big spot in your hometown and keep moving up, making a buzz for yourself.

Is there any other band from Oklahoma that you recommend?
Dude, I have not been back to Oklahoma in I don’t know how long. I don’t even know who’s around anymore. (Laughing) The last time was last April when we recorded the album, about a year and a half ago.

Are you working on a new CD yet?
We have a lot of downtime during the day and we are always working on new material on the bus. We’ve got a couple acoustic guitars on the bus, and we just start writing.

When is the projection for the next release?
Well, hopefully late next year. Depends on how the next singles do. The next single is “How Long” and then we’ll come back with “Better Than Me”.

You might as well make all the song singles!
(Laughing) I would if I could.  I love it.

What does Hinder have on their rider for the tour?
That’s funny; we dropped all the food off the rider so we can get more liquor. We have Captain Morgan, any kind of Vodka and mixers, 4 cases of beer, and if they are generous to us, we get a bottle of Jagermeister.

Tell me what it was like shooting the video for “Get Stoned”?
That was a blast dude! Hot chicks, hot chicks and hot chicks. I loved it. The video for “Get Stoned” was done in one day and the video for “Lips of an Angel” was done in two days because Austin had to do all the work. We did the live shots up in a loft in one day and the next day he had to go out and do his acting. I didn’t feel sorry for him, because after watching the video, that chick was hot with him.

Will you be going out with anybody else on tour?
Right now its Three Days Grace, Staind and Black Stoned Cherry. After this tour we go out with a new band called Lynam from Alabama with a great shredder on guitar, and we also have Eighteen Visions on the bill. They’re a lot heavier then us, but they’re really cool guys.

So you’re on tour right now and just finished your sound check. When you hang up with me, what is the rest of the day like?
I will go straight to a bottle of Captain Morgan; I will fill the cup halfway and fill the rest with Diet Coke. Drink it, grab my guitar and start playing until it’s time to go on stage.

Who is one of your favorite guitarists?
Slash is pretty much my idol when it comes to guitar.  No one touches him when playing guitar. Rivers Cuomo from Weezer is another...  He’s really not a shredder but his solos are very tasteful. Growing up I loved Kirk Hammett of Metallica; I love the solo for the song “One.”  Dude, that’s the best Metallica ever.

That would be cool going out with Metallica.
That would be awesome.

Will you be going overseas with this album for a tour?
There is talk of it early next year, but I would love to because I’ve never been overseas.

Below are some words.  Can you give us your feelings towards each word?
Sure.

Family
I love my family; you gotta have that support for sure.

Record company
Ours is a good one so I like it.  I have no problems with Universal; what they have been doing for us is awesome.   On MySpace we’re number one.

Friends
I miss them.  I got my boys on the bus and I love them too but I miss my boys from back home. I run out of minutes on my cell every month talking to those guys at home.

Religion
I believe there is a God, but I don’t like organized religion very much.

USA
Fuck yeah, it rocks!

War
I don’t like war. I wish there was another way to get around things; it kinda sucks. My friends are going down over there.

President Bush
You know, I feel sorry for that guy. (Laughing)  He gets into office and 9-11 happens just as he’s settling in and trying to figure out how to handle that stuff.

Honesty
We’re good ol’ Oklahoma boys; we have no problem with honesty.  We just will tell you what’s on our minds.

Women
Women, I love ‘em. I can’t get enough of ‘em.

Ego
There’s no need for egos.

Free time
What’s that? I remember back in the day I had that. Not anymore.

Who came up with the CD cover?
It’s pretty funny. It was a busy day in the studio and they said, “Everybody go home; get some rest.” About an hour after that they called and said, “We’re going to find a cover girl for the CD tonight.”  We hit every strip club in town; we had auditions for that.

I thought maybe you knew that girl.
No, the joke is that she’s Cody’s mom. (Laughing)

Is that a true story about how Blower got his name, being serviced in front of the band?
Very true. (Laughing)

What are your expectations of the rest of the year with the album being platinum already?
I hope it keeps on going; the sky’s the limit. We are going to keep working our asses off. Things are really good and I hope it keeps going in the right direction.

My daughter Sara is a big Hinder fan and has friends at JFK High School that love the band. She has chills that I am talking to you today.
Tell her and all those fans at JFK High School that I said hello. “You all rock!  Keep those grades up. You’re the future.”

Do you want to say anything in conclusion?
I think we covered everything. I appreciate the interview; thanks a lot, dude.

(Special thanks to Total Assault Inc. Michelle Fleishman)