Interviewed by Brian Rademacher
Date: September 2007
Brian Rademacher: Hey Josh, what’s up?
Josh Hogan: Not much I’m at work, I work in a prop house trying to hide to do this interview with you guys.
Brian Rademacher: Tell me a little bit about your childhood?
Josh Hogan: Growing up, I pretty much played soccer most of the time up until high school at which time I switched over to playing ice hockey. That actually didn’t last too long. Music kind of took over my whole life. I grew up in church in Edmond, Oklahoma. I was in a very Christian family, sang in the choir. That’s pretty much how I got my start in music. I would do little plays and Christmas programs in church. I was in eighth grade and one of my best friends named Ty Koon had a guitar, I would go over to his house a watch him play songs by WEEZER and GREEN DAY. I was amazed by it… Ty was also a drummer. I asked my parents to get me a guitar and when they got it, I started going over to Ty’s house and started a band called THE GRISWOLDS after the ‘Christmas Vacation’ movie. We were a total pop rock band and we would play SCREECHING WEASEL, LITTLE MR. KEITH EXPERIENCE we were together for a couple years, we probably sucked but it was so fun like a rush playing shows and the high school battle of the bands.
Brian Rademacher: What were some of the things that you had on your walls at home as a child?
Josh Hogan: It started with posters of the US World Cup team to the album cover of GREEN DAY’s “Dookie.” But in my younger years I had a Michael Jordon poster, I loved the Chicago Bulls.
Brian Rademacher: What was the first album you owned?
Josh Hogan: “The Blue” album by WEEZER.
Brian Rademacher: How about the first concert experience you had?
Josh Hogan: I went to a lot of concerts in church; the first big arena concert was Amie Grant and Michael W. Smith. I kind of feel I was almost sheltered musically when I was growing up. But it’s ok; I’m not pissed about it or anything. There was one band I was so into called WHITE CROSS and they were total hair metal in the Christian genre, like a Christian GUNS ‘N’ ROSES.
Brian Rademacher: Are you still with PAN AMERICA?.
Josh Hogan: I was going to keep that band alive when I wasn’t working with ONLY THE YOUNG. I asked so many people what I should do in this type of situation because I didn’t think I could put 100% into both bands and I didn’t want to give 50 % to each band, so we kind of dissolved. I didn’t feel that with Pan America the music was as really for me as in ONLY THE YOUNG. It seemed like PAN AMERICA went by a format of pop songs and didn’t stray away from that, there’s nothing wrong with that but I like the music I’m doing now that I can feel and believe in.
Cole who is in ONLY THE YOUNG was also in PAN AMERICA for a while but another member didn’t feel it was right, Cole is a good friend of mine and I had to fire him from PAN AMERICA. That was really hard but it worked out.
Brian Rademacher: Did you play with any other bands?
Josh Hogan: Well I played in some bands in Oklahoma, which were serious, but the first band was THE GRISWOLDS. THE GRISWOLDS morphed itself in to a JIMMY EAT WORLD and changed our name to BRISTOL PARK. There’s still a MySpace page for BRISTOL PARK.
Brian Rademacher: What is the Hollywood Summer Sessions?
Josh Hogan: It’s actually just a word we coined from the sessions we went in and did with Robert Temper. It’s a guy Johnny knew from the ROYAL FEVER.
On our MySpace page, we have the song “The Weekend” which was the first song we wrote as a band, plus the other two we recorded which were “All Related” and “A Move From Innocence.” There’s one more that is complete demo quality. We have plans to record more music and we are focusing on writing a lot. It so exciting to get together with four guys and come up with great music and everyone clicks with no ego trips.
Brian Rademacher: You’re working with Lee Miles (THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS)?
Josh Hogan: Actually, he came in after we did the tracking, did more of the producing roll, did all the backing vocals, and beefed up the songs a bit.
Brian Rademacher: Do you have a label picked out?
Josh Hogan: We’re in the process of shopping it.
Brian Rademacher: Yeah I told Johnny when I heard your vocals you reminded me of one of my favorite vocalists name Dicken from BROKEN HOME.
What’s the next step for you and the band?
Josh Hogan: Well we are going to keep writing music; we plan to put out a record either a full-length or an EP. We plan on touring the first quarter and building our fan base.
Brian Rademacher: Do you feel MySpace has helped the band?
Josh Hogan: Johnny has been working the MySpace site and it’s not just MySpace he is working all the internet projects.
Brian Rademacher: Tell me your personal views on each member of the band?
Josh Hogan: Cole our drummer, I gave him the nickname Pistol Pete who is the mascot for Oklahoma State University who is a stubby little cowboy who is a firecracker. He will get some Jack in him and run up to Johnny and kick him in the nuts and that pisses Johnny off (Laughing).
Johnny he’s like the wise man with a lot of knowledge in his head and a fun guy to be around.
Alex is the baby of the band; he’s only been in LA for a short period and he's still kind of a rookie and trying to get the whole LA Hollywood scene out of his system. Alex is a pretty quiet guy and a good kid.
Brian Rademacher: What do you listen to now?
Josh Hogan: I have been listening to the new PARAMORE CD “Riot.” One of my favorite CD’s right now is THE FORMAT “Dog Problems.” Their CD is so refreshing and they write great songs.
Brian Rademacher: What are your hopes for the future?
Josh Hogan: I can see this band going far, past the point where Pan America got to. Another big goal in my life is to get into songwriting and publishing movie scoring or other bands. I really want to own a vineyard in my life and live right off the ocean, that’s a dream. Maybe have a jet (laughing).
Brian Rademacher: Hey, man it’s been fun talking with you… would you like to say anything in conclusion?
Josh Hogan: (Laughing) You're putting me on the spot, be prepared for more music and I’m really excited about this project. Thanks for talking bye-bye.
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