Hydrogen Sunrise: the Explosive Rock Band from West Virginia

Everyone has a close friend or knows somebody in a band. Especially all of you teenagers or 20-agers. I have a good friend Joey that is in a band called Hydrogen Sunrise. Only in this nuclear explosive band, he is known as Mad Hatter. The drummer is known as Flash, and along with TJ (bass guitarist) and Nathan (vocals and rhythm guitarist) they make music that is only known as genre defying.

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Hydrogen Sunrise and found out some really interesting points of view towards music and more about the band itself.

How long have you been together?
Well as Hydrogen Sunrise, we've been together for almost 2 years in April, but Nathan, Joey, and TJ were in Popular Nobody before I joined them. ---Flash

How did you come up with your name?
We wanted something that described what happens when you put our music in the CD player...it's like waking up, opening the door, and seeing nothing but the remains of a nuclear explosion. ---Mad Hatter

How did you meet?
I've known Nathan since I was born because my dad, was his Sunday school teacher, and of course being the only Belcher's in the band Joey and I are cousins. I met TJ at one of the Popular Nobody practices. ---Flash
Me and Nathan go back to high school days in guitar class...then TJ just sort of showed up at the right moment, and Flash is my cousin, so it all just came together. ---Mad Hatter

Who influenced you musically?
Well everyone under the sun because we all are eclectic in the band but my biggest influence would definitely be Rush, Pantera, Lamb of God, and every thing that is rock. ---Flash
Pantera, AC/DC, Fear Factory, Tool, Mudvayne, and Lamb of God. ---Mad Hatter

Who are your biggest fans?
I believe we have a fan base at my school but our "fans" would be the ones closest to the band and are at practice with us. ---Flash
The River...if you are willing to drive from Elkview to Huntington just to see us play, I'd say you're in the #1 club. ---Mad Hatter

What band/s would you like to go on tour with?
I would love to go on tour with Rush, of course, and Lamb of God, Machinehead, you know that kind of scene. ---Flash
Wow...hmmm...Fear Factory, Tool definitely, Mudvayne would be pretty cool. ---Mad Hatter

What makes your band unique?
Well if anything, it's our amazing capability to mesh so well with each other. Our styles and influences are different and that's what makes us so unique. Our stuff doesn't sound the same after every song. It's always something different. ---Flash
We bring together a very diverse musical background...each member has a say in everything, so the true democracy style of it I think shows in the music. ---Mad Hatter

Do you have any music videos? If so, what are they like? If not, what would would they be like?
No we don't, unless you count our live performances. They are just what Hydrogen Sunrise is, they are there to get the crowd going and really think, "Wow! These guys are amazing!" ---Flash
They would probably focus more on the playing side of the band...a plot to a music video is always alright, but I think if the band can steal the camera's eye and send that energy via video, they truly have what it takes to be a band. ---Mad Hatter

Have you been on tour/performed outside W.V.?
One time at a battle of the bands in Marietta, OH...we will hopefully be playing Cincy a good bit this summer.

What type of bars/clubs do you perform in?
Well one mainly, we've been there every month since December. That would be the Monkeybar. ---Flash
Any club willing to accept our drummer's age, and any club with a rock/metal audience. ---Mad Hatter

How often do you guys practice? Where?
We usually practice once a week at Nathan's house.

What's your band's mode of transportation?
Our own vehicles, cause were to poor to buy our own trailer. lol.

What's your band's motto?
Before every show, Joey and I always put our fists together for "shake and bake". lol --Flash
I think our motto as a band is to take what's been done, and blow it totally out of the water...to be everything we can and then some. ---Mad Hatter

What's your band's lucky charm?
It would be Joey's stuffed Beeker that goes on the front of my drum set. ---Flash
Mine personally is a white fedora. ---Mad Hatter

What's the best song your band has performed/written?
One of my favorites is "Life Alone" and my favorite cover we've done is "Spirit of the Radio" by Rush. ---Flash
I'd say "Too Late"... it's not as intricate as other songs, but it just gets the blood flowing. ---Mad Hatter

What inspires your lyrics?
I guess just our own feelings and the things we feel should be written. ---Flash

What are your songs about?
A lot of things...girls, epiphanies, self-analysis, drugs, shitty parents... ---Mad Hatter

What does the band like to do in its free time?
Well, nothing really. I guess just hang out, play games, jam, and do really stupid things. ---Flash
I personally like to play guitar (duh), paint, anything that produces creative thought I suppose. ---Mad Hatter

What's been the band's biggest struggle/difficulty?
Promoting ourselves and getting our name out to the masses. I guess just managing everyone's schedules because we have 3 full time students and 1 with full time job. ---Flash
The age of our drummer. ---Mad Hatter

What's one thing the band would tell potential fans about to listen to your music?
"You'll be very surprised with what all you'll listen to but I guarantee you'll like what you hear". ---Flash
To just listen period. I stand behind my work enough to say that if you'll listen and take it in, you'll love it. ---Mad Hatter

TJ also told me this:
It takes alot of people behind the band to make it run smooth. We all are in different parts of the state most of the time, myself, I live in Fayetteville, WV and go to school at Concord University (right around 2 hours from our practice location). Joey (Mad Hatter) of course goes to school at Glenville, and does the same drive every weekend to make practices run smooth. Our drummer, who is only 15, is still in school himself so that makes it harder to play in a lot of the 'bars' that only allow 18 and over. I must give a lot of credit to his dad, our manager, for helping us along the way. He is with us every show, every practice, and anytime we need him outside of band things.

This can be said about all the parents across the board, without them, I can honestly say this band would be nowhere near what it is today. Whether it's helping us with recording, letting us live with them for an unknown period of time (which I did with Nathan for god knows how long), or just being there when nothing seems to go right. Needless to say, the girlfriends and friends have been more than understanding and are always by our sides no matter what. So the band that everyone sees is in no way the band as a whole, we are a family consisting of a number of people, the 4 you see on stage are just the musical part. I consider the band and everyone close to it a second family, as dysfunctional as it may be, These guys are like brothers and because of that it makes what we do worth any obstacles that come our way.

Hydrogen Sunrise is rocking West Virginia at their next show: in Huntington on April 13th at The MonkeyBar at 9:00 pm, and they'll be in Ohio this summer. Check out their music at www.myspace.com/hydrogensunrise. You'll be glad you did.