Hinder 'Extreme Behavior' album

Hinder (verb): 1. To be or get in the way of. 2. To obstruct or delay the progress of. 3. To interfere with action or progress.

Let nothing “hinder” your appreciation of the subtleties purveyed by this Oklahoma City fivesome, who are collectively dedicated to bringing back the decadent days of the ‘80s when sex, drugs and rock & roll weren’t dirty words, but a way of life.

Produced by Brian Howes (Closure, DDT) and engineered by Kevin Fraser (Aerosmith, AC/DC) in Vancouver, BC’s Mountainview studios, Hinder’s debut Universal Records effort, Extreme Behavior, is filled with flick-your-Bic-waving moments of arena-rock grandeur, all crackling dual lead guitars, ethereal four-part harmonies and soaring beat-your-chest rock vocals.

The album’s first single, “Get Stoned,” is already tallying up pre-release airplay at such bastions of Rock radio as 102.1 The Edge in Dallas/Fort Worth and CFOX Vancouver.

“I loved all that shit,” explains rollicking lead singer Austin Winkler, a gravelly voiced howler who counts such in-your-face frontmen as Steven Tyler, Vince Neil and Buckcherry’s Josh Todd as his inspirations. “Four people singing and putting on a big rock show. We want to bring that back. It would be wicked if we could.”

“We’re hoping to be the band to bring that whole thing back,” says drummer Cody Hanson, who writes the bulk of the band’s material with Winkler. “We want to get people back into rock.”

Hinder was formed in Oklahoma City more than four years ago, when guitarist Joe Garvey and Hanson discovered Austin singing for a cover band at a college dorm party.

“I heard him and was blown away,” says Cody. “He has the kind of charisma very few people have and that unique voice. You can’t really compare him to anybody.”

Indeed, it is Winkler who infuses Hinder’s often-bitter sentiments of regret and forgetting the past on songs like the tongue-in-cheek “Bliss” and “Better Than Me” with flesh-and-blood humanity.

“It’s more about getting things off our chests,” he says. “And it’s lyrics you can understand, not this dark shit.”

“We didn’t want to be just another faceless rock band playing depressing, ‘I hate my dad’ music,” adds Hanson. “We wanted to go out there and kick ass like they did in the ‘80s.”

The band often overturns expectations, especially on “Get Stoned,” which, rather than the party anthem its title implies, is really a song about not being able to leave your pain-in-the-ass girlfriend because “the sex is so much better when you’re mad at me.”

“That line actually started as a joke, but once I sang it, we said, ‘Fuck it… let’s keep it,’” laughs Winkler. “It’s like you’ve got this girl you can’t stand, but the sex is so good, you can’t bring yourself to break up. So let’s get wasted and go have some make-up sex… Everybody’s been there, right? ”

“Bliss” is about getting so obliterated to forget a ruptured relationship that “I can hardly see what’s in front of me/Because the vodka’s running on empty/I can’t stay sober/If it’s over.”

“I love the lyrics to that song, because when you’re hammered, you lock all that stuff out,” says Winkler. “You don’t have to deal with it because you’re not even thinking about it.”

Other songs on the album include the raw uptempo party rocker, “Room 21” (“Basically about a guy getting hammered and banging some random chick,” according to Austin), and guaranteed-soon-to-be-classics “How Long,” “By the Way,” “Nothing Good About Goodbye,” “Homecoming Queen” and “Shoulda Woulda Coulda.”

“When we first got together, we were in a negative state of mind, recovering from personal problems,” says Cody about the band’s name. “We had our issues. They were different issues, but we were all trying to overcome them.”

Cut to almost five years later and the band has built a healthy regional following, released an independent album, Far From Close, which sold out 5,000 copies, was the object of an honest-to-goodness bidding war between three different major labels and is now set to release its major label debut, Extreme Behavior.

“We live the rock & roll lifestyle,” explains Cody. “That’s what we’re about. The rock stars of the ‘80s lived like that, people enjoyed it and had a good time. That’s what rock is supposed to be about, rebellion and having fun. We’ve been blessed with the opportunity to play music as a career, so we might as well take advantage of it and have a good time.

“Live is where you go out and get a chance to make fans from people who have no idea who you are. You have to go out there, kick ass and win them over.”

“I just can’t wait to go out there and play all the towns,” enthuses Austin. “Ya know, tear their heads off and fuck all their girls… Know what I mean?”

Yeah, guys, we think we do…

Austin Winkler: vocals
Joe Garvey: guitar
Mark King: guitar
Mark Rodden: bass
Cody Hanson: drums

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2 comments so far (Post your own)

1. At 15:48 on 15 Oct 2005, luv2rock rates it: and wrote:

I love this CD and I've seen Hinder in concert. Not a better band, live or recorded, out there!

2. At 01:13 on 16 Oct 2005, hinderfanheather rates it: and wrote:

i really love the cd.i listen to it all the time and im hoping to go to more shows.awsome live,they do kick ass on stage.i gonna be a fan forever.

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Hinder - Extreme Behavior

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