If you were alive and listening to music in 2006, you know
Hellogoodbye. Their song “Here (In Your Arms)” was a smash hit, going platinum
in the US, and you’ve probably heard snippets of the tune playing on the radio,
between bands at a show, or being hummed by your sister. But they didn’t stop
there: 2010’s folk-rock Would It Kill You and 2013’s dancey Everything
Is Debatable were quick to climb the indie rock charts.
During Hellogoodbye’s headlining tour with Vacationer, I sat
down with front man Forrest Kline to discuss burritos, ukuleles, and the band’s
electro-pop origins.
Could you give me a
brief history of the band?
Well, I started in high school. It started as a recording
project—I had just learned how to record things on a computer, so I started
making songs and recruiting friends to play shows. And then I kept on doing
that until we got signed, and went on tour for the first time, and then, ten
years of that and here I am!
How long have you
known that you wanted to be a musician?
It was a slow transition, I guess. I didn’t really know it
at the time. I started playing music when I was in sixth grade, and when I
started playing music, I started writing songs, so I was always the songwriter
in the bands. I didn’t per say know that I wanted to be a musician, but it is
something I’d do with my time, and only later in hindsight did I look back and
think, “Yeah, this is what I like to do”.
Growing up in
Huntington Beach, California, were you influenced by any of the bands that came
out of that area?
Well, out of the LA area in general, for sure! I really
loved a band called Ozma, from Pasadena. They were a big influence.
Whereas Would It Kill You
was more organic, energetic folk, and Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! had
more electronic elements, Everything is Debatable seems like a cool mix
of the two. Compared to your other albums, how was the writing/recording
process different on Everything is Debatable?
Yeah, it was like that. It was a mix of everything that I
had learned up to that point. On the first record, I was just stumbling my way
through it on a laptop, and on the second record I kind of threw it all out and
got new tools and learned a new way of recording, so that’s part of the reason
that it came out more… straightforward. And then this time around, I was able
to see all of it and bring in elements of both.
So what caused you to
veer away from the more electronic vibe of “Zombies! Aliens! Vampires!
Dinosaurs!”?
Well, mostly I just got sick of programming, cause when you
make music like that, you just sit there and you click a lot of buttons and
it’s not musical at all—it’s visual. And I got pretty deep into that, where
everything was totally visual. You built songs, you didn’t play them. So I just
got kind of exhausted with doing that. I wanted to play things.
What inspired you to
go in a different direction from Would It Kill You on this album?
I think most people, and I definitely, go through phases
with music and the stuff you’re diggin’ on. I’m always going through different
phases. Influences are coming and going. I’m always just keeping it fresh.
So what is your usual
songwriting process like? You said you usually use your computer to record
demos?
Yeah, I’ll have a loose period of kind of taking notes, or
recording a little snippet or writing a melody. Then I let those things float
around for a little while, and then I put it through a machine and start
building, fleshing it out and seeing where it goes. But that’s a process of a
couple months, usually.
So how does it usually
start? With a lyric, or a melody…?
It’s always different. Sometimes, it’s just a beat or a
rhythm. Sometimes it’s a lyric with no melody, sometimes it’s a melody with no
lyric, sometimes it’s a chord, sometimes it’s a sound… pretty much every time,
it’s a different thing.
What would you say is
your favorite song off of your most recent album?
Um… that’s tough. I like them all, seeing as I put my stamp
of approval on them [laughs]. “(Everything is) Debatable” is one that I think
is really great and sums the whole thing up. The recording stuff was especially
cool on “Summer of the Lily Pond”—the horns and the drums on that song were
really fun to do. The strings on “A Near Death Experience” were really fun too,
it’s always fun to get orchestra people in there.
What’s your favorite
song to play live?
It’s always different—whatever you’re adding in most
recently is always kind of the favorite. “(Everything is) Debatable” is really
fun to play. Also “Oh, It is Love” is fun cause it’s the loosest… you get some
freedom to take it here, take it there.
Is there a certain
artist or band that you listen to a lot while you’re on tour? Or does that
constantly change?
The Beach Boys always pop in, and I can go through basically
the whole Beach Boys catalog on every tour.
Would you say that
you enjoy playing big, loud, energetic shows, or smaller intimate acoustic
shows better?
I like both. I like small intimate big loud shows the best.
Acoustic shows are cool, they’re like a special thing on their own, but it
always feels a little out of my wheelhouse… it’s not necessarily what I do.
So, you put out an EP
called Ukulele Recordings. How long have you been playing the ukulele?
I bought it right around the time when we put that out,
which was… 2008, I’d like to say? And that was when I bought my first ukulele.
But it’s just like a guitar, just smaller. It just took me a couple hours to
learn some of the chords, I just looked them up on the internet. It’s totally
the same thing.
Do you ever play
ukulele onstage?
Mhmm! When we play “The Thoughts That Give Me the Creeps” or
something like that, we’ll play it.
I always think it’s
really cool when people play electric ukuleles onstage because it’s such a
different vibe for such a tiny little instrument.
[laughs] Yeah! You hear that big at the festivals.
Definitely. So,
honestly, your song “Here (In Your Arms)” was my jam in the late 2000’s. Did
you ever expect it to go platinum or to reach that level of success?
No, when we were writing it we didn’t know what it was gonna
be. We were barely a band, and we had only toured a couple of times, so who
could have had expectations of any kind?
Was that a turning
point for the band, after that song took off?
Yeah, for sure! I think before that song took off, the record
was doing pretty well, and we had a few opportunities, but yeah, that whole
period was a turning point.
In 2009, you produced
and recorded Never Shout Never’s “The Summer EP”. Was that your first time
producing and recording someone else’s music?
It was the first time I’d done it for a stranger, sort of.
Not that he was a stranger, but I’d recorded things for local buddies of mine.
But yeah, it was the first kind of professional gig.
So how was that
experience?
Oh, it was great! I love making records and I love making
records at my house, which is where we did it.
Do you plan on doing
anything like that again?
Mhmm, yeah. Honestly, I think that [Never Shout Never’s]
music is real cool. If an opportunity came my way with something that I dug
personally, then I’d love to do it.
So what are your
overall goals as a musician?
Overall goals? I just want to express myself, clearly and
properly.
Okay, if you could
only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Uhh, maybe burritos? Cause you can put a lot of things in
burritos, you can make all different kinds of burritos.
But if you had to
choose one kind of burrito?
One kind of burrito? See, that would be disgusting.
I’m talking, one food
for the rest of your life.
That would be disgusting, okay, then straight-up… a salad.
For the rest of my life.
Okay… but you’d get so tired of it.
Nooo, I think you’d get tired of everything else.
But just lettuce?
What would you say then?
Definitely grilled
cheese.
See, you would get sooo tired of grilled cheese! [laughs]
I know, but lettuce
is just like water!
[laughs] Well I’m thinking more like spinach and kale, with
some garbanzo beans and cucumbers, like everything. I’m talking the works salad. All the vegetables in a
bowl. That’s what I’d eat every day.
Okay, I guess so.
With all grilled cheese I’d get really fat, anyway, so…
Yeah. It wouldn’t be good. You’d be on TLC.
True! [laughs]
So a few days ago, it
was Record Store Day. Do you still buy records on vinyl?
Mhmm, yeah.
Do you do that more
than buying physical CDs or digital music?
I do [online radio] for most of the music that I listen to,
and then I just buy the record when it’s something that I think is gonna be let
into my echelon of favorite records of all time. I don’t just check things out
on record. I just buy the faves.
Okay, this is just
kind of a tidbit, but did you know that this wizard rock band covered “Here (In
Your Arms)”?
As Harry Potter? Yeah! I was really psyched about it, it was
cool. What were they called…? Maybe they were “Harry and the Potters”.
Yeah, I think that’s
the most popular wizard rock band.
Yeah, yeah. Have you ever heard the alternate telling of
Harry Potter, by Brad Neely? He renarrates it. You watch the movie and you mute
it and you listen to his narration. It’s really funny.
That’s so cool, I’ll
definitely check it out. So any final words?
Just thank you for taking the time to talk to me!
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