Hawthorne Heights
Hawthorne Heights is an American rock band formed in Dayton, Ohio, in 2001. Originally called A Day in the Life, their lineup consists of JT Woodruff, Matt Ridenour and Mark McMillon.
The band had commercial success with their first two albums, The Silence in Black and White, and If Only You Were Lonely, both achieving RIAA gold certification. Their second album peaked at No. 1 on Billboard's Independent Albums chart and No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. They are also well known for their 2006 single, "Saying Sorry", which reached gold status and reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. On November 24, 2007, rhythm guitarist and unclean vocalist Casey Calvert died, leaving the band a four-piece. Their third album and first without Calvert, Fragile Future, was released in August 2008, surprisingly through Victory Records again, after a lengthy legal battle between the two parties.
The band's fourth album, Skeletons, was No. 50 on the Billboard 200. The band's former label, Victory, released their first greatest hits album, entitled Midwesterners: The Hits, in November 2010. Shortly afterward, Hawthorne Heights left Wind-up Records to begin their own record label, Cardboard Empire. Via their label, the band released an EP trilogy, beginning with Hate, released in August 2011, followed by Hope in June 2012. After signing with Red River Entertainment in 2013, the band postponed the release of the third EP in the trilogy and released a full-length concept album titled Zero, in June 2013. Hawthorne Heights played on the 2013 Vans Warped Tour.
In June 2014, original drummer Eron Bucciarelli left the band. In January 2015, it was announced that original lead guitarist Micah Carli had also quit. Later in 2014, the band released Hurt, the third EP of the trilogy. The band's sixth studio album, Bad Frequencies, followed in 2018 and then their seventh album, The Rain Just Follows Me, in September 2021 via Pure Noise Records.
History
Early days (2001–2003)
A Day in the Life were formed by JT Woodruff, Jesse Blair, Andy Saunders, Josh Bethel, and Andy Lazier in Dayton, Ohio in 2001. They took their name from "A Day in the Life", a popular song by the Beatles. Their first record was a demo titled Four Bullets for One Girl, which sold its 500 copy run in two months. That brought them to the attention of Confined Records, with which they released an album, Nine Reasons to Say Goodbye. Finally, they released a 6-song EP titled Paper Chromatography: The Fade from Dark to Light in the winter of 2003.After some mild success the entire band quit except for JT, who decided to continue the band with new members and changed the band name. In 2003, Matt Ridenour, bassist and backing vocalist, passed a hotel called Hawthorn Inn & Suites on his way to work. He decided to add an "e" and Heights to make Hawthorne Heights. The rest of the band agreed.
''The Silence in Black and White'' and ''If Only You Were Lonely'' (2004–2006)
Their first album The Silence in Black and White, was recorded over a four-week period and released in 2004. The album was slow to build sales at first; however, soon the video for the song "Ohio Is for Lovers" began getting airplay on MTV, and the band enjoyed breakout success at radio as well as a growing nationwide fan base. The album became Victory Records' highest selling debut. The Silence in Black and White peaked at No. 56 on Billboard. The singles "Niki FM" and "Silver Bullet" were released in 2005.When their second album If Only You Were Lonely was released on February 28, 2006, it debuted at No. 3 on Billboard, powered by the lead single "Saying Sorry" which received regular airplay on MTV, VH1, and Fuse. The Legion of Doom remixed a song from the album, entitled "Where Can I Stab Myself in the Ears?" and it appeared on the Underworld: Evolution Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. The remix was re-titled "Where Do I Stab Myself in the Ears". The band performed on the 2006 Nintendo Fusion Tour. A live CD/DVD was intended to be recorded from the tour, but was canceled, likely due to complications with Victory.
Death of Casey Calvert (2007)
Casey Calvert, the band's rhythm guitarist, was found dead on the band's tour bus at age 26 on November 24, 2007. The band had begun its American tour just the day before in Detroit. Toxicology and autopsy reports said that Calvert died of combined drug intoxication. A statement released by the members of the band said that Calvert died in his sleep and that his body was discovered before the band was scheduled to carry out a sound check before its show at the 9:30 Club, in Washington, D.C. The band spent a few days mourning, reflecting, and writing a song about their loss.The song, titled "Four Become One" is on their third album Fragile Future. They also dedicated another song to Calvert, "Sugar in the Engine". Near the end of the song, JT Woodruff is heard speaking of Calvert. According to the results of an autopsy performed by the office of the chief medical examiner in Washington D.C. and released in December 2007, Calvert's death was accidental. Dr. John Mendelson, a pharmacologist at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute in San Francisco, told MTV News, "Cases like Calvert's are so rare that they're almost nonexistent. It's so rare that you can't even put a number on it... It's exceedingly rare that 26-year-olds die of anything medical. This kind of death is one in several million." Both citalopram and clonazepam are prescription drugs, the former an antidepressant and the latter used to treat seizure disorders and panic attacks.
Drummer Eron Bucciarelli issued a statement:
From the time of the incident we suspected a possible drug interaction as the cause. Casey wrestled with depression for as long as we knew him. He saw numerous doctors and took an ever-changing array of medicines to get better. He finally had his depression under control. According to the toxicology report, the cause of death was due to a fatal interaction between depression meds, anxiety meds, and an opiate. Opiates being mentioned along with the term "substance abuse", coupled with "rockstar" stereotypes immediately conjure up images of hard drug use and addiction, which simply couldn't be further from the truth in Casey's instance. What the toxicology report doesn't show is that before our leaving for tour, Casey had a root canal and he was prescribed Vicodin for the pain. Once again, Casey was not involved in anything illegal, nor was he a substance abuser.
JT Woodruff said, "We won't add another guitar player or add another screamer... In our albums, it'll always say 'Casey Calvert: guitar/vocals.'" Bucciarelli told an interview, "We don't need another screamer... If the fans want screaming, they can provide it themselves."
''Fragile Future'' and ''Rhapsody Originals'' (2008–2009)
Hawthorne Heights released a demo for their new song "Come Back Home" on their MySpace in 2007. A reprised version of the song became one of the twelve tracks which was selected for the band's third studio album. A second song came out on their Myspace, a cover of the Smashing Pumpkins song "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", which was contributed to MySpace's tribute to The Smashing Pumpkins. The cover song, however, did not become a track on the album.Hawthorne Heights and Victory Records patched up their relationship and the band's third album, Fragile Future, was released with the label on August 5, 2008. Jeff Schneeweis produced the album. The lead single "Rescue Me" was released on July 22, 2008. Hawthorne Heights performed "Rescue Me" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno after the album's full release, on September 18, 2010, promoting Fragile Future.
Rhapsody Originals was released exclusively for Rhapsody as the first EP by Hawthorne Heights on August 26, 2008. It was recorded by Rhapsody, and released as promotion for the studio album Fragile Future. It contains three live acoustic songs from Fragile Future, and one from their second studio album, If Only You Were Lonely. Hawthorne Heights performed on Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution 2008 on the Revolution Stage with former labelmates Atreyu, Armor For Sleep, Street Drum Corps, and 10 Years. Joining Linkin Park on the main stage was Chris Cornell, The Bravery, Busta Rhymes, and Ashes Divide. When the band played songs from either The Silence in Black and White or If Only You Were Lonely, Micah Carli handled Casey Calvert's unclean vocal parts.
''Skeletons'' and ''Midwesterners: The Hits'' (2009–2011)
Hawthorne Heights posted a blog on their MySpace saying that they had officially signed with Wind-up Records in addition to writing and recording a new record. The band revealed that while there was not a new member of the band and no replacement had been made for Calvert, the album would feature a new "screamer". While on tour, Hawthorne Heights announced that Carli would be providing screaming vocals for the band.As the album was being recorded, lead singer JT Woodruff and drummer Eron Bucciarelli referenced two songs from the record on several occasions, leading many to believe that they would be released as singles. Acoustic versions of the two songs were said to have been recorded. The songs are entitled "Here I Am" and "Nervous Breakdown". "Nervous Breakdown" became the first single from the album on March 23, 2010. On October 2, 2009, both Woodruff and Buicarelli posted updates on their Twitter accounts saying that they had just finished gang vocals for the record. Woodruff said, "Just finished up doing gang vocals on a few songs. Return to hardcore!" On October 14, an e-mail was sent to those on the official mailing list telling fans that the album would be titled Skeletons and would be released in early 2010. Here is the e-mail:
Not all of the bands mentioned, however, ended up joining Hawthorne Heights for the 2009 Never Sleep Again tour. As promised, download cards for the song "Unforgivable" were distributed while on tour. In addition, a song entitled "End of the Underground" was performed live.
After the Never Sleep Again 2009 tour, frontman Woodruff began performing several solo acoustic shows with songs he had written outside of Hawthorne Heights. The track listing for the album was announced on February 5, 2010. Skeletons was released on June 1, 2010. According to Woodruff's February SayNow voice message, Micah Carli plays ukulele, mandolin, and various other "weird instruments" in the lute family on many of the bonus tracks on Skeletons. Victory Records announced the release date for their "best of" compilation of Hawthorne Heights songs, entitled Midwesterners: The Hits. The album was released on November 9, 2010, and contains 16 songs taken from the band's first three Victory Records' studio albums.