Interview with Hellogoodbye

After a brief stint on MTV's The Real World Austin, Hellogoodbye achieved national recognition with their quirky pop tunes. The group's distinct take on making music paid off and their 2004 self-titled EP sold an impressive 90,000 copies. Not bad given the fact that the crazy fun California foursome  solely relied on word to mouth to sell their album. 

Their full-length debut "Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!" was released this summer. The  happy-go-lucky, poptastic single "Here (In Your Arms)" (with a production that may remind you of Cher's "I Believe") is currently gaining chart momentum and gay television network Logo added the video for the song to their play list. Arjanwrites.com caught up with Hellogoodbye's singer and lead songwriter Forrest Kline during their U.S. tour. He talks about the group's gay fans, touring and the band's music.

What is the best thing about touring?
Taking pictures! [laughs] Just going out and about and seeing the sites in different cities.

How do you prepare for a tour?
On this tour we have a bunch of new gear and toys to create effects that we use on the CD. There are some songs on the album that we didn't play as a band before because we used a lot of electronics and stuff. So we practiced for a while and learned how to play 'em together.

How did you come up with the title of the CD?
Just being stupid really. It doesn't really mean anything. It is exciting, action-packed.

How would you describe your music to people not familiar with Hellogoodbye?
Our music goes all over the place. We use a lot of different sounds and each sound stands on its own. If I have to summarize it I would say it is fun and happy music.

(Read more after the jump.)

What are some of your musical influences reflected on this album
I was really into music from Daft Punk, Phoenix and Sondre Lechre when I was writing songs. I am not sure if that really comes through in our music, but I was sort of thinking about them I guess. Since we released our first EP in 2004, I've grown up a little and my perspective changed, but it is still about having a good time.

Did you always wanted to become a musician?
Not really. I was really into skateboarding growing up. Them, I started playing guitar and I got really into that. I had a couple of bands but it wasn't anything serious. Just like Hellygoodbye at first. I also did some graphic design, but I ended up with this band. Luckily.

Some say, including yourself, that Hellogoodbye's music is very gay.
If some people say it, then it is true. [laughs] I'm not gay, but I'm not your straightest type either. I'm not hugely masculine. A lot of music on the radio these days is very racy just for the sake of being racy. Our music is different. I'm not a very racy guy. But it is funny how it works. We have done gigs for MTV and we meet these jock dudes and they are like "you guys are fuckin' tight" so I guess that's good. I lead a very boring, PG kind of life. That's why our music sounds that way.

Do you know if have a lot of gay fans?
We got an email just the other day from a fan who said he was gay. So there's at least one.

How do you feel about gay marriage
I think that is totally fine. I can't understand the reasoning behind being against it. I can understand you are passionately for it, but I cannot understand why you would be passionately against it.

What is the spark that draws crowds to Hellogoodbye?
I think people really like that we don't take things so seriously. Even if stuff goes wrong on stage, the crowd understands it. They are okay with it. We just give them a good time.