I drove down to Atlanta with my friend Nolan and we got to sit down and chat with Hit the Lights for a little while. These dudes are super nice, fun to hang out with, have an amazing album, and an even more amazing live set. Listen to them and show them love.
Trevor: Can I get you guys to state your names and what you do in the band?
Colin: Alright, I’m Colin and I sing.
Nick: I’m Nick. I play guitar and I sing a little bit.
Nate: I’m Nate and I play drums.
Dave Stand-In: I’m Dave and I play bass.
Long story. Send me a PM if you wanna know about it.
(Laughter)
Omar: I’m Omar and I play guitar.
Trevor: You guys formed in 2003. How did you all get together?
Colin: Well..
Nick: Basically, Colin and Omar were in a band called The Goodbye Session. They played around the area, and I had a band called The Summer Departure. We used to play a lot together and we hung out with The Goodbye Session kids nonstop. Eventually, both bands broke up and Colin, Omar, and Dave formed Hit the Lights with our old drummer. They wanted to be a five piece, so they asked me in, and I said fuck no.
(Laughter)
Omar: And then we said, “Please, please, please!” and bought him very many fruit baskets. Then he said yes.
(Laughter)
Nick: I wasn’t doing anything, so I thought, “Why not?” Then later on, we basically lost our drummer and we’re really good friends with Hawthorne Heights. Nate was drum techin’ for them at the time. So they were like, “Hey, we got a dude.” We said, “No.”
(Laughter)
Nate: I sent fruit baskets.
(Laughter)
Nick: Yeah, he sent us lots of fruit baskets.
(Laughter)
Nick: And eventually, we said yes. So that’s it. That’s Hit the Lights in a nutshell.
(Laughter)
Nate: (With peanut in mouth) Oh, a nutshell.
(Laughter)
Trevor: How did you guys decide on your sound? What are some of your influences?
Dave Stand-In: MXPX.
Omar: Yeah, there we go. Thanks Dave.
Colin: Pretty much what you hear, what we sound like, it’s pretty much obvious. I mean, we love Saves the Day, New Found Glory, Blink 182. Any pop-punk bands, we’re a sucker for.
Trevor: Dude, I’m exactly the same way. I did a rough draft of the review for the album last night, and I can definitely tell the New Found Glory influences.
Colin: Yeah, we’re not going to lie about it or beat around the bush.
Omar: We’re not going to be like, “Yeah, this album was heavily influenced by Bjork.”
(Laughter)
Omar: Which, it’s obvious, you know.
Nate: (Sarcastically) We like The Smiths a lot.
Omar: Yeah, we like The Smiths a lot. Charles Mingus affected me in ways that…haha no, no. It’s really there. We’re influenced by the attitude and the feelings of albums like “You Can’t Slow Down,” “Through Being Cool,” and the Blink records and stuff like that. There’s a really exciting vibe, and that’s the stuff we grew up listening to.
Trevor: It’s just stuff that’s fun to listen to.
Omar: It’s stuff that’s fun for us to play, too! It just comes naturally to us. It’s all fun!
Trevor: I’m glad you guys have no shame in admitting that.
Nick: Oh no, not at all.
Colin: Definitely not.
Omar: We do what we like and we like what we do!
(Laughter)
Trevor: How’s the scene in Ohio?
Omar: I don’t know. How is the scene in Ohio?
Nick: It’s not bad.
Omar: It’s getting better in our hometown. A lot of cool bands are coming from around there that are starting to get signed to cool labels and stuff like that. I don’t know. For me, there’s a couple of local bands that never really went anywhere, that I saw. They made me want to play music. For the most part, there isn’t very many bands like us coming out of Ohio.
Trevor: How did you hook up with Triple Crown?
Nick: When we put out that EP, we got a lot of attention from a lot of labels. We talked to a lot of people, and it was really hard to decide on who to go to. They’re all good people. It just seemed like, the way we wanted to go about it, with Triple Crown, they were a reputable label. We respected all the bands on it. I think we didn’t really want to ride the coattails of anyone. We wanted to do it our own way.
Omar: Yeah, we wanted them to give us our own shot. Triple Crown was definitely the label that we could see making sure that that could happen.
Nick: It was really hard, though. You know, you’re in a band your whole life and you want to get signed. Then, when things start happening, you’re like, “This sucks!”
Colin: Yeah, you can’t go to sleep.
Omar: Or you’re like, “I want to go back to school!”
Nick: The thing with Triple Crown for us was: there were no other bands like us, we loved all the bands on that label, and we had a chance to make a name for ourselves.
Omar: Also, the people there are really passionate about what they do, and we grew up listening to a lot of the records that came out on there.
Nate: And they sent us lots of fruit baskets.
(Laughter)
Omar: LOTS of fruit baskets. (Laughing) There’s an on-going theme of fruit baskets.
Trevor: What’s the songwriting process like?
Omar: That’s a whacky one.
Colin: It’s pretty much Nick and Omar coming in with a main idea, sort of. Then we all do our part. It’s really weird. Like, we haven’t really gotten a chance to write with Nate a lot, because he’s kind of a new member. Before him, even with Ryan, I would help out with drum parts, so it’s really mixed around.
Omar: But it works.
Colin: I don’t know how, but it works.
Nick: It’s really equal. I definitely think everyone has an equal say in every song.
Colin: I think we all know what we want, you know what I’m saying? I think we all kind of have the same sound in mind; We know what we like, so it’s really easy that way, too.
Trevor: Do you think there’s an overall theme to the album?
Nick: The new album, I think, may sound a little cocky, but I think we wanted it in a fun way. We wanted to tell people that this is what we do, and you’re allowed to like it. There are so many trash talkers out there now that are into the “artsy stuff.” We just want to let people know that it’s cool to like pop-punk still. I think a lot of our songs are just fun songs and we have fun themes, that way kids aren’t afraid to sing along.
Omar: That, and we don’t take ourselves seriously. We’re not good at this. A song like “Bodybag”…I don’t want people to think we’re macho meathead dudes or that we listen to hardcore and stuff like that. Those themes and things. Who hasn’t been pissed off at somebody enough that they didn’t want to bash their fucking teeth in, you know?
Nick: When you’re saying something in a fun way, it just makes it that much funnier.
Trevor: Have you guys decided on a single yet?
Omar: No, not really. (Laughing) Do you have any suggestions?
Trevor: Do you want me to be honest with you?
Omar: No. (Laughing)
Trevor: Every single song on that album could be a single.
Omar: Sick.
Trevor: I’ve been spinning the album so much since I got my review copy. It’s so catchy.
Omar: Awesome, awesome. (Looking over at Nolan) Do you have anything to say?
Nolan: Well, I sort of want to answer questions.
(Laughter)
Nolan: I’m ready.
Trevor: (Throwing peanuts at Nolan) How are the peanuts?
Omar: The peanuts are delicious!
Nolan: Any type of nuts work for me.
(Laughter)
Trevor: So I guess you guys aren’t doing a video yet. How did you become involved in the Purevolume tour?
Omar: Our booking agent is involved with all the bands on this tour, and he administered his magic and genius on the Purevolume people to sponsor this tour. We’ve been involved with Purevolume, though, since there were like three bands. They’ve really been an important part to kids who know who we are.
Colin: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, “Purevolume slash Hit the Lights.” It’s ridiculous.
Trevor: Are there any crazy stories from this tour, so far? You can go ahead and tell the peanut one again, if you want to.
Omar: No, no, no, no!
(Laughter)
Omar: It’s too early man, too early! Baaaad people! I don’t know man. We could talk about the tupperware incident.
Colin: Yeah.
Omar: We’re dirty boys.
Colin: Okay, don’t judge me, first of all.
(Laughter)
Omar: This is not for the squeamish.
Colin: So we were in California, 45 minutes outside of LA. I don’t know where we were exactly. We went to Denny’s after the show and were just eating. I get this meal I never got before. I don’t know what it was called. It was all kinds of stuff. We get back on the road, going back to LA, and it just hits me. Like, the worst..my stomach was just rumbling.
(Laughter)
Colin: Either I’m gonna go in my pants, or I’m gonna go in this tupperware bowl.
(Laughter)
Colin: So I completely take off my pants, ’cause I didn’t want to get anything on my jeans. So I get in like the well part by the van, because that’s where we throw all the trash. So I get in there and I squat. All of the sudden, you can tell on my face, we video taped it, too!
(Laughter)
Colin: So you can tell on my face. It like changes. It’s like my face brightens up. And it smells HORRIBLE. It looks like butterscotch pudding, no lie.
Omar: He fills this tupperware, and the worst part is, there’s still like, cookies and shit, and..poopy.
(Laughter)
Colin: Nick is driving and he’s crying.
Omar: He was gagging and I was riding shotgun.
Nick: I was driving with the window down, and I was dry heaving. The van was like, swerving on the road and stuff.
(Laughter)
Omar: I think the most disgusting part isn’t the fact that he did it, but when you watch the video, is how much amusment there is. Everybody’s laughing.
Colin: It was big and disgusting. So I set it down, and I have to go again. I had to wipe with like, napkins and stuff. It was just so dirty.
Nick: HTLscat.com
(Laughter)
Omar: PooponHittheLights.com
Colin: I don’t think I even showered that night. It was really bad.
Omar: Yeah, that was one thing.
Nick: We got fireworks from a fireworks store. We’ve kind of got this thing like, when you have long drives, you just get bored. When something funny happens, it gets you by for the next two hours. So we’ve been taking random bottles and lighting bottle rockets and putting them in.
Omar: Then trying to see how fast you can close it.
Nick: Yeah.
Colin: Nick’s usually the one who’s doing it and it’s hilarious, because one time, he was in the second bench and I was in the third. I was just kind of watching him, and he sets it in there, and he drops the lid. He picks it up and he drops it again, so he just throws it. Everyone ducks and screams like little girls.
Nate: It blows up and there’s smoke all in the van.
Omar: We were all giggling and ten minutes go by, then we’re like, “Well, let’s do it again!”
(Laughter)
Omar: It’s mainly us just keeping ourselves entertained. We’re not smart kids. We don’t read! We don’t have hobbies.
Trevor: If you guys could set up a dream tour, who all would be on the bill?
Omar: Oh, that’s easy. Can I take this? I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings and forget anybody..
Dave Stand-In: You can put them all on there, buddy! It’s the dream tour!
Omar: Dream fest! It’s more like a fest. I’d say it’d be all of our friends bands. Madison, Race the Sun, Just Surrender, Time and Distance, Scenes From a Movie, Every Bridge Burned, The Weakend. Saves the Day.
Colin: Usher would definitely be headlining.
Omar: The best times that we’ve had have been with friends’ bands that we’ve went out with. They may not have been the greatest tours, but they’re crazy fucking times that we’re never going to forget.
Trevor: What’s your opinion on downloading?
Omar: We love it.
Nate: Awesome.
Omar: Yeah, definitely.
Nate: If the album is good enough, kids are going to buy it anyway.
Omar: If kids want to support you, they’ll buy the record.
Colin: We support buying records, too.
Omar: Yeah, I mean, if you wanna buy the record, buy the record. I guess for me, because I’ve been broke for so long, I haven’t been able to buy CDs for a while, so it helps out a kid like me get into new music that I couldn’t get into before. Also, for a band like us, we really don’t see any money from our CD sales, so a kid downloading our record makes them want to see us live. It gives us a reason to be away from home for so long. Is that good?
Trevor: Yep.
(Laughter)
Trevor: That’s about all I’ve got. Do you guys want to add anything else? Like random crap?
Nick: Go Bucks.
Colin: Yeah, go Buckeyes.
Omar: Shout out to my dude Shifty in Cell Block C. Holdin’ it down!
(Laughter)
Colin: I feel really bad for JJ Reddick.
Nick: Oh that’s terrible.
Omar: That’s sad. He cried.
Dave Stand-In: Fruit baskets are great!
Nick: Peanuts are greater.
Omar: Definitely, peanuts are greater.
Nate: If you pre-order our record, you get a fruitbasket.
Trevor: Oh yeah, how many kittens have you guys killed so far?
Omar: Oh dude!
Colin: Next question. Next question.
Omar: We’ve just been wasting them. I’ve got no soul. I’ll chuck the shit out of a kitten.
Hit the Lights do not advocate the killing of kittens. No kittens have been harmed in the pre-order campaign of the album.
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