Hawthorne Heights preview

Hawthorne Heights
Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI
Saturday, August 16, 2008

Tragedy, strife, legal woes, and bitter divorces – all can lead to stellar artistic output. Just ask Bob Dylan. The brilliant Blood On The Tracks stemmed from Dylan’s wife Sara handing him divorce papers after little more than a decade of marriage. Sure, it’s in slightly poor taste to relish someone else’s misfortune, but when the emotional strain results in work destined for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, well, then just call us insensitive.

Dayton, Ohio’s Hawthorne Heights spent the last couple of years mired in misery as the band waged a legal battle with Chicago-based Victory Records and lost guitarist/singer Casey Calvert to an accidental overdose of prescription medications. Fragile Future is the now-quartet’s first album since Calvert’s death, and the release also marks a bandaged-up relationship with Victory.

Calvert’s guttural screams are noticeably absent, but frontman J.T. Woodruff, drummer Eron Bucciarelli, guitarist Micah Carli, and bassist Matt Ridenour tackle his absence on the bittersweet “Four Become One.” Lyrics, “And you will live on/our hearts will be strong/as we remain one/we will last just a little while longer/and as we pull ourselves together/we can’t help but be torn apart,” tug at the heartstrings just a bit more than average emo fare.

However, “average” aptly describes Fragile Future. All the pieces are in place – the bouncy guitar riffs (“Let Go Of Everything You Know”), hyperbolic lyrics (“The Business Of Paper Stars”), and moody, high-pitched vocals (“321”) — to sandwich Hawthorne Heights right in there with the likes of The Spill Canvas and just about every other emo band out there. Step away from the pack fellas.

Hawthorne play the second stage on the Projekt: Revolution tour, headlined by Linkin Park, Chris Cornell, and The Bravery.

— Janine Schaults

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly