The Huntington Beach natives, Hellogoodbye, recently set out on tour with 90s pop sensation, Hanson for the “Use Your Sole Tour.” "Tom's [Shoes] got involved, and obviously they make shoes," lead singer, Forrest Kline says, "shoe's have soles. Hanson does walks before all their shows where they walk a mile barefoot, so really it would be don't use your sole."
"Actually," guitarist, Andy Richards adds, "Use your soul, but not your sole. Also use your sole if you're going to buy shoes by Tom which have a sole, who also input soul into their shoes because they give them back to children in need. BURN!"
"We named early on before we really were a band. We just thought [hellogoodbye] was beautiful phrase," Forrest says.
"CELLAR DOOR! The two most beautiful words in the English language... Stink bomb."
"That's the worst words."
"I can think of three: Milky white discharge."
A band together for eight years, with countless member changes and only a full-length album and an EP to speak of, Hellogoobye has become a household name amongst a sea of pop bands that don't have the staying power of Forrest and company.
"There are some people that only know who we are because of The Real World." Forrest says, "It's cool, I think we were well represented. It was for South by Southwest. We drove out there and went camping and did the show. We got to hang out and meet the cast before the show."
Because all the members that were in the band at the time of the Real World appearance, are no longer in the band, Joe Marro remarks on the episode as a fan of the show. "I thought Halifax looked cooler. They were party monsters, and I am a party monster. I was like that's the band I want to be in! Those other guys I may want to play them in a game of Trivial Pursuit, and have them on my team, because I don't really play, I play drinking Trivial Pursuit, but ya know..."
"Here (In Your Arms) went platinum two years later..." before I can continue, the guys’ clap and applaud themselves, "YEAH! BOOYAH!" "Thanks for bringing that up!" "It's pretty possible [for a band to go platinum] I mean our next album is triple platinum," Joe says. "Three nights at the Garden sold out. I think Tay Swift is on her fifth time around." "But that's not a band, who's big right now!?" "Kings of Leon!" "Paramore!" Both of which have gone platinum. "You'll see how it's done when Hellogoodbye puts out a new record."
"Speaking of that, when is the new record coming out? It's been three years..."
"Woah, you're really going deep."
"I'm sorry, it's my job."
"I've got some illegal copies in my car. That's how we're going platinum. Soft release. I wouldn't exactly call it legal, or legally distributed but..."
"We don't know exactly," Forrest says answering the question, "It's basically done so we want to get it out as soon as possible, but no official answer on that."
"Not much has happened yet [with Drive-Thru]," Forrest says, "we're still working on it. Not much to say. Let's just say, things are happening. That's all I can say" "It's like the movie, you don't know what's happening. Soon, it's gonna happen in France! I need to get over there. I've got a couple of girls there," Joe Marro adds, who was formally in another Drive-Thru Records band, The Early November.
As children of the nineties, and probably in reference to their tour mates, the guys proceeded with a nineties theme, despite what questions were asked. "In high school I had a band that was ska. I think every band was ska. We had a totally ska song about Dawson's creek." "Is there a recording of that?," their tour manager asks with a shocked look on his face, unaware of his boss' past musical endeavors. "I wish!" Forrest responds. "No pick it ups. It was like... power pop ska, more Jeffries Fan Club."
Forrest spent some of his downtime producing the NeverShoutNever! album. Joe Marro spent his time off, "Hanging. Chillin. Chillin hard, relaxing, all cool, shooting some B-Ball outside of my school, when a couple of guys came up to my hood."
"They were up to no good."
"Woah! What are you talking about? You don't know me! This isn't a song. This isn't a theme song!"
With talks of The Fresh Prince, the boys began a lengthy discussion about "the WILD 90s," posters that say, "Have a Day," Ying-Yang earrings, and shot glass periodic table posters. "I had a shirt that said beer in, arrow up. Beer out, arrow down," Forrest says pointing in accordance to the arrows.
"My watch was always on 4:20, ya know what I mean!?" Joe adds, "We were bad."
"We were bad!" Forrest exclaims. "But now we're cleaned up, now back to the question."
"I don't even remember what the question was," I respond. "Oh downtime, what do you do?"
"That's what we do. We bad." Joe says. "I can do bad all by myself! It's a good movie."
"Have you seen it?"
"No."
"Didn't think so."
"There's too many of those. A new one comes out like, every month! I can't keep up! And he's got a TV show! What does he do in his downtime? I wanna know!"
"Makes more movies!" Andy says.
"That was a trick question, he has no down time!"
A band that went platinum on an indie label, and has been kept together with the talent of lead singer (and only original member) Forrest Kline, Hellogoodbye has a carefree mentality that keeps a sense of positivity throughout the challenges of being in a band. With Q&A sessions, blogs, and brightly designed sites, Hellogoodbye was a scene band that made it big before MySpace was heavily used, while still holding onto their integrity. After eight years, many kids have grown up with this band, in a sense, and are waiting anxiously for the new album. "Final thought: There's more than enough money for what we need, but not enough money for all our greed" Joe concludes.
[CO]