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 labe
l
Napalm Records
.
Pre-orders for
PUSH PULL
will be available starting
April 4
and will include a download of
“More Beautiful,”
the first track released off the album.
The band’s first new music since 2012’s
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.
“We never stopped exchanging musical ideas,” 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
. “We waited until we had enough material to start recording an album.”
DAN
adds, “There 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.”
As a result,
PUSH PULL
nails a bull’s-eye to the group’s underappreciated sweet spot--t
he large-scale, muscular ‘80s-‘90s alternative rock
of U2, Duran Duran, INXS and even Tears for Fears, whose
“Heads Over Heels”
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
.
“
The Reason
”
garnered
GRAMMY nominations
for
“Song of the Year,” “Best Rock Album”
and
“Best Pop Performance”
for a Duo or Group. Of course, about that name, which means, exactly what?...
“Sometimes you make dumb decisions when you’re young, and that might have been one of them,” laughs
ROBB
about being the punchline to
SNL
jokes and snooty critic snipes. As for the formidable bar-setting success of
“The Reason,” DOUG
is similarly sanguine.
“We stopped attempting to recreate any formula,” he says. “We did what made us happy and played to our strengths. Take it or leave it.”
Album highlights include the go-for-broke
“Just Let Go (Who Cares if We Fall),”
which sums up
Hoobastank’s
attitude. “At least we get to fly,” sings
ROBB
. In the title track
“Push Pull,”
and
“More Beautiful,” DOUG
unleashes his falsetto, while the
funky R&B
feel is a tribute to
DAN’s early, late--‘90s penchant for Chic and “groove-based” dance music
. “When we first met, he didn’t even own a distortion pedal,” laughs
DOUG
about his guitarist’s love of soul and R&B.
PUSH PULL
songs like
“True Believer”
and
“Buzzkill (Before You Say Goodbye)”
show
Hoobastank
maturing from adolescent to adult relationships, often examining the difficulty of keeping alive the sexuality that fuels them.
“We Don’t Need the World”
and
“There Will Never Be Another”
explore the protective bubble and the memories which bind two people together.
DOUG’s
lyrics to the headphones-worthy
“Fallen Star
”
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. “I wanted to say thank you” 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. Don’t 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 Don’t Need The World
9. Buzzkill (Before You Say Goodbye)
10. Fallen Star
11. There Will Never Be Another