Q&A with Hinder's Mike Rodden

Oklahoman rock band Hinder are currently out on tour promoting their latest album All American Nightmare.

The tour made a stop in Detroit at Saint Andrews Hall on Friday and before the show I got to talk to bassist Mike Rodden who was spending time on the band's tour bus.

The interview was supposed to include vocalist Austin Winkler but he was not feeling well and had stayed behind at the hotel and then ended up missing his cab.

However, by the time the band took to the stage that evening Winkler had recovered and Hinder managed to pull out one of the year's hardest rocking shows.

A good time was had by all just as Rodden promised during his interview:

Q: How has this leg of the tour been going so far?

A: It's good. We're about three and a half weeks in. Yeah, it has been good. The crowds have been great. The bands we are out with are cool so it's a good time for everybody. The people have been receiving all of the bands well.

Q: Did you get to choose the bands that are out with you?

A: Yeah and we always have somewhat of a hand in who comes out because we don't want to be with a band of a**holes who you don't get along with because that's not fun, you know. Like these guys [gesturing to the tour bus across the street] 9 Left Dead. They are actually from Oklahoma and Cody (Hanson, drummer) and our merch guy Focker manage them and they just got a deal so we were like yeah come out with us.

Q: I know you've toured with My Darkest Days before.

A: Yeah, they are good friends of ours. They are tied in with our manager so that is how we know them. One Less Reason is another band on here which is also a mutual friend's band that he's managing so we all have ties.

Q: For this tour are you playing a lot of songs off of your latest album All American Nightmare?

A: Let's see, I think we do about, oh sh*t, I have a setlist on this drum set. [reaches for it to confirm] We do about four songs off of the first album, four off of the second and about six off of the new one.

Q: The album has been out for awhile now and the reaction seems positive. The singles have all performed well.

A: Yeah "What Ya Gonna Do" is our single right now and it's up there to like 15 or 16 on the charts so it is doing pretty well.

Q: Will you be releasing more singles?

A: Well we hope so. Once this one does what we want it to do if there is still life in the album and touring is still available then we'll put out another one of course. You know we want to put out another rocking track for rock radio and get people interested I guess.

Q: Any idea on what that would be?

A: Well the one we have out now is a rocker but it's a little bit on the softer side of the record so we'll probably come with something heavier that has no chance of getting played on any other format but rock. That would probably be " 2 Sides of Me" or maybe "Waking Up The Devil". I would say "2 Sides of Me" if I had to guess. Hopefully we can get that one on the radio because I think that one will do good.

Q: What do you feel makes this album stand out from your first two?

A: It's definitely different because we worked with a new producer, Kevin Churko (Ozzy, In This Moment, Shania Twain). Brian Howes (Daughtry, Skillet) did the first two. I don't know what really makes the difference but Churko just has a different way of recording and approaching the whole process so that aspect as well as the writing aspect were different. For this one we wrote with multiple people instead of just a producer. I guess there's a bunch of feels throughout the album because it's written about different stuff with different people and their different takes.

Q: What would you say to someone who has not heard your music?

A: I would describe it as straight up rock and roll. None of the garbage that has been coming out lately. I don't even know how to describe it but I don't like most of the stuff that's coming out right now. Our music is just straight up rock and roll. Good beat, good rhythm, good time music. It's not depressing. It's not whiny or complaining about sh*t. It's just a good time and you can relate to it.

Q: You recorded most of the material for the album while you were out on tour. Are you recording future material out on tour now?

A: They're actually recording in the back lounge now. We're always brainstorming ideas and we've got Pro Tools set up back there so anytime we have anything we get it down and get it tracked up.

Q: Is there a song on the album that stands out for you?

A: There's a whole bunch on there that I think are a lot different and a lot more mature writing wise. Probably "2 Sides of Me" I relate to the most because I get pretty sh*tfaced from time to time and another side of me comes out and it's not pretty all the time so I relate to that one the most. It kind of stands out and it's fun to play live.

Q: Is there a current song in your live set that you enjoy the most?

A: "All American Nightmare" still is a fun one for me. We play it right after another song that is...well we play a slow ballad then a rock song throughout the set so before "All American Nightmare" is a slower song. That means it kind of goes down and then goes back up and everybody always really gets into that song when we start it and by the end of it everyone is just going apesh*t. That and "2 Sides of Me" are probably my two favorites to play.

Q: Many of the new songs speak about the the different sides of your personalities as well as how you've grown up since you first came out. You toured for so long on the backs of the first two albums and then took a long break. Do you feel a difference out on this tour?

A: Yeah it's definitely different on this tour. I don't know how to describe it but I mean like you said we have grown up a bit. We're not as stupid as we used to be and doing all that stupid stuff. Once you do what we did for the first two albums for so long it gets kind of old. We're still partying but not as bad or as much as we used to. [laughing]

Q: You've gotten to tour with many of your influences. Is there still someone out there you haven't gotten to go out with?

A: The Rolling Stones would be cool. You know they don't really tour much. They'll play a show here and then a week later one here but that would be cool. We got to go out with Aerosmith which we really wanted to do. I guess if Guns N' Roses was still Guns N' Roses like old school then that would be one that I would want to tour with. Not the current version. That's just kind of a joke. That's if they even show up for a show.

Q: And you got to go out with Motley Crue. That had to be fun.

A: Yeah that tour was awesome. That was very good. That's one of my favorite bands of all time and getting to play with them for as long as we did was really cool. To hang out with those guys was cool. We kind of freaked out on Nikki Sixx one night. We had shown Tommy a few days before how we light Blower's (Joe Garvey, guitarist) nuts on fire and so he went in and told Nikki about it. He was all you gotta see this sh*t man! So Nikki came in there and he was kind of forward and was just like what's the matter with you guys and you are ridiculous! There were a few other people in there and they were crouching in the corner. It was pretty funny but it's cool to do that kind of crazy sh*t with a band that you heard about growing up.

Q: Have you found that you've had a good time with most of the bands you've gone out with?

A: Yeah I mean if we're out with a band and we're not having fun then we get off of the the tour because it's not worth it to be out there and not have fun.

Q: You see that a lot where a tour drags on and noone is getting along. Kind of depressing.

A: Yeah and there will be fights and you either get kicked off or you want to get off and we'd rather get off the tour before something like that happens to avoid that mess.

Q: You guys spend a lot of time together in your free time off tour as well which is rare.

A: Well like anybody once in awhile we get on each other's nerves and yell at each other for a minute but we've never really been in any fights or anything like that. I think it's because we are happy drunks so whenever we're all drunk and hanging out we just all get along. When we go home for breaks maybe for four or five days I won't hear from anybody and then we start getting bored and the phone rings and it's all what are you doing today? We'll hang out at the pool or go to the bar or something. Just like we hang out when we're out here on tour because that's kind of what we know and what makes us happy. The break is good but after awhile it gets a little boring.

Q: Have you played Saint Andrews Hall before?

A: We played here in '05. December of '05 I believe with Default. Yeah, it was rad; a good show.

Q: You enjoy playing the Detroit area?

A: Yeah, yeah. I mean we've played Joe Louis down the street a couple of times and we played here. We've been in Detroit many times and we've played outside of the Detroit area as well. It's always good. How far is Flint from here?

Q: It's about a hour.

A: Okay, we played there a bunch of times too.

Q: You just played a show in Grand Rapids with Seether.

A: Yeah, Fifth Third. That was a good show.

Q: What should people coming out tonight expect from the show?

A: Um, you can't really expect anything from our shows because sh*t happens! We go out there and we play and we don't have anything planned because anything can happen. Just expect to have a good time!

Q: Do you change up your setlist?

A: Yeah we kind of feel around in the beginning of the tour and throw songs into different spots. Once we get one that flows really well which usually takes a week or so, then we kind of leave it alone unless someone has a problem with it. You know if we're feeling squirrelly we'll mix it up and change it around or add a cover song or whatever.

Q: Do you have anything lined up for after this tour?

A: This tour goes to mid-October and then we're doing a ship cruise. There's a bunch of bands like Buckcherry, Queensryche. A Carribean cruise for a few nights. It's a pretty good deal: play a couple of nights, hang with our friends.

Q: Have you done something like that before?

A: We haven't. We've been wanting to for like four years. Our buddies in Lynam have been doing it every single year and kept telling us that we had to do it but we've always been out on the road or something and it just didn't work out but this year it worked.

Q: Where are you going?

A: We're going to...[looks to tour manager "Battle" Ahmadi for help] Costa Maya and Cozumel.

Q: A great experience for the fans as well.

A: Yeah we're all just hanging out on the boat and get to meet everybody. There's no security keeping people from this or that area or whatever and you can just hang out and have a good time.

Q: Do you go out after your shows to meet the fans?

A: Yeah we either sign inside at the merch tables or once we dry off after the show we'll go outside and hang or if the bar is still open go inside and have some drinks with the fans.

Q: Anything else coming up?

A: Well we're doing a NASCAR thing tomorrow actually in Indy but other than the cruise and this tour we're just continuing to tour out until the cycle for the album is over. Hopefully we'll get overseas and do some shows on some of the military bases. We love doing that stuff.

Q: Do you have a venue size preference? Small clubs like this versus the large stadiums?

A: I like both. I mean there's good points to both. If you're playing arenas you get to play your music for 15,000 to 18,000 people which is always good and it feels pretty good to have that many people out there. But you know playing the small clubs you get to meet everybody and it's more of a intimate setting and that's really cool too because you get to connect with the fans. On the arena shows you can't really go out and hang with everybody because there is just so many people.

Q: Are you listening to anything in particular right now?

A: We actually just bought the new Theory of A Deadman album. We're listening to that a bunch. I don't know about too much other new stuff.

Q: I ask because I know Austin has spoken about the song "Striptease" and about how the band feels about the state of music right now. I was just wondering if there is still music coming out that you can enjoy.

A: Yeah, yeah. I mean of course all the bands that we tour with. 9 Left Dead just finished their album and we jam to that but for the most part when we're pre-gaming for a show we put the old stuff like Motley Crue and Guns N' Roses and stuff like that on. The state of music is kind of in a weird spot right now.

Q: What was your biggest personal influence?

A: Guns N' Roses for sure. When I saw the "Paradise City" video when I was a kid I went to my dad and told him I wanted a guitar so he got me one for Christmas. That's when I started playing because in the video it was like a backstage/stadium video and it just looked like a really good time and that's what I wanted to do.

Q: Do you have a touring moment that stands out for you?

A: I say this one a lot but it's a pretty crazy story. We were playing like a ski resort town thing. It was like a big show for a ski competition and it was in this tent. It was snowing outside but they had the heat on in this tent and it was steaming hot. Everyone was soaking wet and we were the last band on the bill and in the middle of our set this leg comes flying up onto the stage and it's this guy's prosthetic leg. He had taken it off in the middle of the show and thrown it up for us. I'm not sure what for but I'm sure he wanted it back but Austin picked it up and was basically going to kick Blower in the nuts with it but Blower decided it would be better if he took it and the part where the limb goes in he poured his vodka in there and swished it around. This guy had been standing in the sun for hours watching the show and Blower just chugged it out this guy's leg. After the show we met up with him and gave it back to him and took some pictures and hung out with him. That was a pretty crazy one.