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Introducin g ...

From page 11 of Classic Rock Magazine June 2007

Cover of June 2007 issue.

★ HINDER

They’ll shag your girlfriend and drink until they wet themselves – well, when you’ve sold 2 million albums, why not? Meet the band getting cash from chaos.

WORDS: MALCOLM DOME

Hinder like to party. Big time. “In America our current support band are Finger Eleven,” smirks bassist Mike Rodden. “The drummer’s girlfriend tried to force him to quit before the tour, because she knows our reputation.” “Our manager can’t come out on the road with us because of his wife,” adds singer Austin Winkler. “She’s been on our tour bus and knows how dangerous it gets.” This lot are the real deal. Hinder want to put the sleaze back into rock’n’roll. And they’ve only got one rule: “We insist on having ice available at all times,” Winkler laughs. “Because when we start drinking at 10 in the morning, we must have ice.” Does this all sound familiar? It should do, because the band grew up in the right way – listening to the most debauched bands on the planet during the 1980s.

“We love Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith, Ratt,” Rodden says. “Those guys knew how to rock. Who needs some fuckers standing on stage moaning? Fuck that. We’re in a band. What could be cooler?”

Hinder – Winkler, Rodden, guitarists Jerry ‘Blower’ Garvey and Mark King and drummer Cody Hanson – come from Oklahoma City, and have been around for four years. Their debut album, Extreme Behavior , was released in the US in 2005 and has sold

more than two million copies. The band have also toured with Nickelback, Staind and Godsmack in America.

“We’ve learnt a lot about what to do and what not to do,” Winkler says. “We’ve fucked other guys’ girlfriends. Mike here has got so out of it he’s pissed on his own bunk – and then blamed a chick... You could say that the Mötley Crüe autobiography The Dirt is our bible.”

In case anyone thinks Hinder have no perspective, Rodden is quick to underline the band’s work ethic: “We aim to be on the road until December. By which time we’ll have been continuously touring for two-and-a-half years. We do take our job very seriously, but also understand that we’ve got the best job in the world. All of us feel lucky. Hey, I used to make a living by working in a restaurant.” “And embezzling them!” Winkler adds. “Seriously, Mike would get the cash from customers, pocket some for himself and then ring up in the rest on the till. Even back then he was rock’n’roll.” In the 80s, the Bacchanalian lifestyle was the norm. Hinder are aiming to revive those times.

“Sex, drugs, rock’n’roll... what could be better?” concludes Winkler.

• Extreme Behaviour is out now on Universal. HINDER HAVE A DREAM...

ONE THAT ONLY THE TARDIS CAN FULFIL.

“We’d love to tour with Guns N’ Roses [Axl Rose pictured], but back in 1987 when they were amazing,” Winkler enthuses. “And specifically when they first came over to London and played those club shows. Man, we’d give anything to go back 20 years and get on the same stage.”