Image courtesy of www.hoobastank.com


We sat down with Hoobastank in their tiny dressing room somewhere backstage at the U.S. Cellular Center to conduct this interview. With half of us seated on the squishy couch and the other half in a couple small chairs, it was a rather interesting adventure. We talked about everything from backyard wrestling to porn directing, and there were even a few intense moments with Othello. These guys are hilarious.

You’re playing here at the U.S. Cellular Center tonight to a sold out crowd in Cedar Rapids, IA. How would you compare your smaller shows in the Midwest to your shows in bigger cities? How do you compare, like, what do you think the difference is between the shows?

Dan: Well, one show has lots of people, and the other show doesn’t have as many people.

Doug: No, no, no. Not the smaller shows like size-wise, but shows in the Midwest as compared to shows in the bigger cities.

Markku: Oh, I think the smaller, like, Midwest towns are much, uh, better. Like L.A.’s kind of like, ugh…even though we’re from L.A. The crowds just kind of sit there and go, “Yay, thank you for playing.”

Doug: See, you said would you consider them to be more down to earth, actually I think the Midwest shows are more chaotic, crazier, by far. But, um, I think the people are more down to earth.

Do you have any pre-show rituals to get pumped up before the show?

No, sorry. We don’t, like, you know, jump around or anything.

You don’t, like, play hacky-sack, or something for sure? [Laughing]

Doug: Yeah, usually when we play hacky-sack we get really pumped. [Laughing] No, I’m just kidding. No, we don’t, but um…

Alrighty. All of you have great stage presence...

Doug: Have you seen us play before?

Nah, not yet. Just on MTV and stuff like that. So what goes through your minds while you are up there on stage?

Dan: Don’t trip, don’t trip, don’t trip, don’t trip.

Markku: Usually it’s, uh, how much dark meat is in a ‘Hungry Man’s Swanson?’ [Laughing]

Doug: I don’t think about anything. I just think about the song. You know, it’s all good.

Markku: I just think about Chris. ‘Jesus, Chris. Don’t mess up, Chris. Don’t fuck us up.’

Doug: That too. That’s like a song or something. [Reading Questions] Uh, describe our first concert…In three words or less.

Dan: Is that what it says?

Doug: No. [Laughing] But, we’re going to do it in three words.

Dan: Um…

Doug: Cheap, great, and cheap. [Laughing] Yeah, it was just lots of fun. It was perfect. It was the perfect first show.

Dan: It was actually too good. It was a great show.

Doug: It was a perfect first show. You couldn’t have asked for a better first show.

Dan: It was too good for a first show, because, like, after that, I mean, we couldn’t do better than that.

Doug: It went like this: We started like this [holds hand way up] and then we went down for a little bit, and then it took a while to get shows that felt that good again.

Just awesome. Great. Assuming all goes well with Incubus on the Civic Tour, what are your plans and expectations as a band in the future?

Dan: Well, even if everything doesn’t go well with Incubus on the Civic Tour, we still have the same plans.

Doug: Tour, tour, tour, tour, tour.

Markku: That’s it.

Dan: Yeah, we’re going to be touring for a while. We’re uh, going to Europe in June, and then we’re going to Australia and New Zealand, and Japan in August.

Doug: And when we come back we’ll do our headlining tour through the U.S. We’ll be back.

Alright. We’ll have to come see you again.

Doug: [Reading questions] What would be our fantasy?

What?!

Doug: Tour. [Laughing]

[Laughing] Yes, fantasy tour. With what bands and why?

Dan: My fantasy tour?

Doug: Uh huh. Kind of like ‘Fantasy Island.’

Dan: My fantasy tour would probably be the Chili Peppers just because they were like, you know, like, rocking is excellence. Like, the guitar, you know. I would say Guns and Roses, but I didn’t, like, play guitar back then, so, you know, it kind of has an effect on my musical career, or whatever. I was just thinking, it would be fucking awesome to tour with the Chili Peppers.

Awesome.

Doug: I would have to say old Van Halen. Because they were my favorite as a kid. Just David Lee Roth and Van Halen.

Dan: I saw David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar on TV last night promoting their tour. David Lee Roth looks like shit. His hair is all long again, like really long, like how it was you know. And it’s all, like, bald at the top. He kind of looks like Chris. [Laughing]

Seriously now.

Doug: Okay. Whew…

We hear so many horror stories about touring life, how’s it been for you?

Doug: It’s been really good.

Markku: Excellent.

Doug: Not a lot of horror stories.

Nothing bad yet?

Doug: No, you know what? The only thing that sucks is being away from home all the time.

Markku: One or two minor bus mishaps.

Dan: It’s not just that being away from home sucks, like, a lot.

Doug: Yeah, sometimes it’s bad enough, you know, to make up for any other lack of problems.

You guys are definitely more fan-oriented than a lot of bands out there today.

Doug: How do you figure that?

Well, just, you are! You’re there. You're out there signing autographs and stuff.

Doug: That’s true.

Have you given any thought to creating a fan club someday?

Dan: We were actually just talking about that.

Doug: Yeah, I know, that’s weird.

Markku: That’s a good idea.

Do you think that would help with your popularity?

Doug: I don’t know. Yeah. You know what? It’s not…Do we have to make a fan club ourselves or do other people set that up for us?

Well, I don’t know.

Dan: I don’t think we do that.

Doug: I don’t think we do that ourselves. I think people will come to us and say, “Can we make a fan club?”

Markku: Linkin Park has that one where you get like a shirt, a tee shirt, and some sh-wagging info. for like $25 bucks.

Doug: Yeah, we could do that. Sure, we’ll do it! Yeah, we’re doing it.

Yes! That will be great.

Doug: We’re going to do it. Uh, yeah, I think it would help with our popularity. Not that that’s our goal.

How do you feel about being on MTV?

Doug: GOOD.

Dan: I think MTV’s really important, you know. If we weren’t on MTV not as many people would know about us. And that’s not like one of our goals or anything…

Obviously MTV is great for band exposure, but does it bother us to see our song being played next to pop acts such as Britney Spears or ‘NSYNC?

Dan: No, because I have nothing against pop acts like Britney Spears.

Well, some bands do.

Doug: Whatever. [Laughing]

Markku: I’d rather be played on MTV than not be played on MTV.

How do you feel when you hear someone say ‘You’ve made it?’ Like number one.

Doug: I always say we haven’t.

Well, but maybe you have.

Doug: Well, in some peoples’ minds, but not in our minds. No. We’re on our way to making something. I don’t think…

Markku: I made a cake once.

Well, that’s special.

Doug: When you’ve made it, I think there’s nowhere else to go but down. Like we’re right up here on the top. And we are no where near the top, so…

Well, being together everyday, you’ve probably had some arguments with each other. What’s the worst fight you’ve had so far? Or no fighting from the Hoobastank guys?

Doug: No.

So, would Hoobastank fight more WWF style or more Kung Fu style?

Doug: I don’t know. If we did fight…

Markku: I think it would be, uh, WWF.

Doug: More WWF style.

Oh yeah.

Markku: Backyard wrestling.

Doug: Yeah, it would be backyard wrestling.

Markku: We’d have like the barbed wire rolled out and we’d be smashing tables and stuff.

Doug: In all your years as a band, Markku, do you have an embarrassing moment that sticks out in your mind? One moment? Embarrassing on the stage?

Markku: Hmm…I thought my zipper was down once.

Doug: Was it though?

Markku: I think so. I looked down and I felt a little breeze. [Laughing]

Doug: That happened to me only a few months ago. My zipper was down and I was like, “What’s up guys?”

Markku: Little Frank comes out and says hello? Not on stage really.

Dan: My most embarrassing moment was when Doug’s dick fell out. And everybody saw his peener. That was kind of embarrassing.

Doug: I don’t think anybody saw it though. It’s not that big. [Laughing]

Dan: No, I don’t really have a most embarrassing moment. I’ve tripped a bunch of times.

Doug: Yeah, I’ve fallen.

Dan: Yeah, I fell on my butt in the middle of the tour in Europe. But, it wasn’t really embarrassing.

Doug: In Utah, a few months ago I was back-stepping and I tripped over a monitor, and fell down, but that’s really it. I don’t know.

[Laughing] How would you really describe your musical style?

Doug: Rock. Melodic rock.

You used to have a saxophone, right? What ever happened to that?

Doug: Yeah, but, uh, no. [Laughing] We kind of moved on to a higher thing, you know?

Yeah.

Would you say your style changed before or after you were signed and became all big and famous?

Doug: Are we famous now?

You are.[Laughing]

Doug: Maybe, we are. You never know now a days.

Markku: I know we’re not famous.

Doug: No, our style has been changing since day one. It really has nothing to do with signing or anything with the changing.

Do you think that losing the horn section has anything to do with what?

Doug: With getting signed and stuff like that?

Yeah.

Doug: Probably. You know, it wasn’t like, you know, we have to stop having horns in our songs so we can get signed, we were just, like, all saying we’ve got to stop having horns in our songs because we don’t like the way it sounds in our songs.

Markku: It made us...It wasn’t our music.

Doug: Whoa! These are all horn questions. Do we still keep in touch with him? I haven’t talked to him or seen him since the day we let him go. So it’s been almost three years.

Markku: And I don’t care to see him.

I bet he feels bad now. So anyway, if you weren’t musicians, what would you want to be?

Doug: Musicians. [Laughing]

Dan: If I wasn’t one, I want to be, something.

Doug: That or a professional something. Maybe professional athlete.

That would be great.

Doug: What would you want to be? [Pointing to Markku]

Markku: Professional tree climber. Professional landscaper. [Laughing] Be like Chris’ old job. Chris was actually a professional landscaper.

Ooh. That’s exciting.

Markku: Um, actually, I wouldn’t mind being, like, a rally racer or something. Have nice cars. You know, be a racecar driver.

Dan: I used to think about that when I was a little kid. I wanted to be, like, in the trucks.

Markku: I liked the little Subaru’s and, whatever, sport cars. You wouldn’t get a speeding ticket.

Doug: Well, that’s it. Thanks for letting me do the interview.

Yeah, thanks for having us.

Markku: You don’t, like, have any surprise questions to ask us?

Doug: Anything you ladies want to know right now?

Well, Markku, how about your business before you were in the band? The little porno deal.

Markku: Oh, yeah, I just did a little art direction. I wasn’t in them at all.

Doug: You were in them, but he wasn’t performing in them, you know.

Markku: I wasn’t in them. I was, like, the guy at the bar drinking.

Doug: He was, like, an extra in a lot of porno.

Okay. [Laughing]

Markku: I was young, nieve. I needed the money. McDonalds wasn’t hiring, so I landed this gig, uh, since I do like construction slash art. I was just, like, building sets and shit. It was all right. I just kind of got stuck doing it. For guys it’s like, “Oooh, aaah!”

Well, it’s money.

Doug: It was pretty cool though. The one time I get to pick you up, dude, before we had to go to the show…

Markku: It’s not all that though, you know. It’s just like a regular job. It’s like a regular TV set with the people yelling at you to go find stuff for them and stuff.

Dan: It’s just that everyone that’s yelling at you is naked.

There are just naked people everywhere.

Dan: Markku’s secret past.

Doug: Or not so secret past.

Markku: Yeah. So, if you ever indulge in late-night cable, you just might see me on there in the background.

That would be great, but no.

Markku: I’ll be the one trimming the hedges.

Doug: What kind of hedges? [Laughing]

[Laughing] Oh. Are you nervous at all about tonight?

Doug: I’m playing, um, Othello.

Oh.

Doug: That’s how nervous I am.

Markku: Playing what? Othello?

He doesn’t seem too nervous.

Markku: I’m playing with my fellow?

Doug: I’m actually up, but I don’t think I’m going to win this game. I’m up 35 to 26, now I’m up…I lost! I lost 46 to 18!

Dan: Ugh….

Markku: Oh, uh, eh, ah!

Doug: In the last five seconds!

Doug: Even if the show is really, really bad, can you still give us a great review?

I really can’t imagine it being that bad, at all, though.

Doug: Even if we don’t even play, can you still say we were the best thing ever?

Yeah, sure. You guys are awesome. [Laughing]

Markku: How do you rate us? Do you have like a five star kind of thing?

Doug: Yeah, how do you rate us?

We just kind of tell the story, it’s not really a rating like, “They were really good, or they sucked ass.” It’s just kind of, “Yeah, we went to the concert. We met the band. It was great. The guys were awesome.”

Doug: Wow. Lots of luck to you!

Yeah. You too.

Dan: Neato!

Doug: Awesome, awesome. Well, thanks you guys.

Yeah, it was nice talking to you.

Interview By: Gabby and Nicole