Hoobastank, the multi-platinum, 3X GRAMMY-nominated group have announced the release of their sixth studio album titled PUSH PULL on Friday, May 25. For the new album, the band partnered with producer Matt Wallace (Faith No More, Deftones, Maroon 5, Andy Grammer) in Los Angeles marking their first release on noted rock independent label Napalm Records. Pre-orders for PUSH PULL will be available starting April 4 and will include a download of âMore Beautiful,â the first track released off the album.
The bandâs first new music since 2012âs Fight or Flight, the new album finds Hoobastank–DOUG ROBB (Lead vocals/rhythm guitar), DAN ESTRIN Lead guitar/keyboards), CHRIS HESSE (Drums/percussion/backing vocals), JESSE CHARLAND (bassist/keyboardist/backing vocals)–exploring both rock and pop songwriting with a renewed vigor.
âWe never stopped exchanging musical ideas,â says vocalist/guitarist DOUG, who co-founded the band with high school classmates, DAN and CHRIS, almost 20 years ago in Agoura Hills, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles. âWe waited until we had enough material to start recording an album.â DAN adds, âThere were always plenty of demos floating back and forth; some of them I played for Matt (Wallace) even before the rest of the band heard them.â
As a result, PUSH PULL nails a bullâs-eye to the groupâs underappreciated sweet spot–the large-scale, muscular â80s-â90s alternative rock of U2, Duran Duran, INXS and even Tears for Fears, whose âHeads Over Heelsâ gets a brawny, Bowiesque take on the new collection. Hoobastank approached PUSH PULL with the swagger and confidence of a band whose first three albums all went either gold, platinum or multi-platinum. âThe Reasonâ garnered GRAMMY nominations for âSong of the Year,â âBest Rock Albumâ and âBest Pop Performanceâ for a Duo or Group. Of course, about that name, which means, exactly what?…
âSometimes you make dumb decisions when youâre young, and that might have been one of them,â laughs ROBB about being the punchline to SNL jokes and snooty critic snipes. As for the formidable bar-setting success of âThe Reason,â DOUG is similarly sanguine.
âWe stopped attempting to recreate any formula,â he says. âWe did what made us happy and played to our strengths. Take it or leave it.â
Album highlights include the go-for-broke âJust Let Go (Who Cares if We Fall),â which sums up Hoobastankâs attitude. âAt least we get to fly,â sings ROBB. In the title track âPush Pull,â and âMore Beautiful,â DOUG unleashes his falsetto, while the funky R&B feel is a tribute to DANâs early, late–â90s penchant for Chic and âgroove-basedâ dance music. âWhen we first met, he didnât even own a distortion pedal,â laughs DOUG about his guitaristâs love of soul and R&B.
PUSH PULL songs like âTrue Believerâ and âBuzzkill (Before You Say Goodbye)â show Hoobastank maturing from adolescent to adult relationships, often examining the difficulty of keeping alive the sexuality that fuels them. âWe Donât Need the Worldâ and âThere Will Never Be Anotherâ explore the protective bubble and the memories which bind two people together. DOUGâs lyrics to the headphones-worthy âFallen Starâ were inspired by a memory of him watching television one night and seeing a military family of a soldier who had died in combat. It made him think of the brave men and women who serve and even more so now the parents of those who serve. Being a parent now it clicked, the unbelievable sacrifice made by both soldier and their families. âI wanted to say thank youâ says DOUG.
With PUSH PULL, Hoobastank find themselves looking back to the future, combining the best of what brought them here and establishing their presence in the current pop-rock spectrum.
The tracklisting for PUSH PULL is as follows:
1. Donât Look Away
2. Push Pull
3. More Beautiful
4. Head Over Heels
5. True Believer
6. Just Let Go (Who Cares If We Fall)
7. Better Left Unsaid
8. We Donât Need The World
9. Buzzkill (Before You Say Goodbye)
10. Fallen Star
11. There Will Never Be Another
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