Hard-rock horn dogs Hinder “let it all hang out” on their second album.
Hinder, the Oklahoma dude-rock quintet, are making their new album in Vancouver, B.C.—but not in any place you’ll find in a guidebook. “We’re somewhere on the border between Cracktown and Herointown,” says singer Austin Winkler. “When we go out for a smoke, there’s hookers on the corner. And not the kind of hookers you want to be messing with.”
On the strength of their pro-adultery power ballad “Lips of an Angel,” the band’s first album sold more than 3 million copies—no thanks to the suits, of course. “The label guy didn’t even want ‘Lips’ on the record,” Winkler says. “We told him to fuck off. Now we’ve got nothing but green lights.” Sonically, they’re aiming for a rawer, more live sound, what Winkler calls “bigger and better.” Thematically, though, they’re sticking to the time-tested motif of girls, girls, girls. “‘Use Me’ is about a guy getting used by a chick, and he likes it,” he says. “‘One Last Kiss Goodbye’ is about a guy who’s leaving his girl because she’s been banging another dude behind his back the whole time. And ‘Take It to the Limit,’ which we’re trying to get Mick Mars to play on, is kind of AC/DC, but a little more melodic—one of those could-be-about-a-girl-or-could-be-about-a-car songs. If NASCAR doesn’t end up using it, they’re stupid.”
The guys are finding plenty of ways to blow off steam in the Great White North—local nightclub the Roxy is a particular favorite—but Winkler isn’t confining his partying to the evening hours. “I actually like to get a little annihilated when I record,” he says. “Get loose, let it all hang out. It’s a pretty good excuse to get slaughtered at 3 P.M. Like, ‘Dudes, I’m working here!’”
All About Our AlbumProducer: Brian Howes
Studio: Van Howes Studio, Vancouver, B.C.
Last Album: Extreme Behavior, 2005
New Album: Take It to the Limit, due summer 2008