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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, August 4, 2006

New sound for Hoobastank

 •  The Fray believe in what they deliver in song

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

California post-grungers Hoobastank lead the Band Camp pack at the Waikiki Shell tomorrow.

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STAR 101.9 FM'S BAND CAMP IV

with Hoobastank, Hot Hot Heat, The Fray, Rock Kills Kid

4 p.m. tomorrow

Waikiki Shell

$37-$45

(877) 750-4400, www.ticketmaster.com

Note: Gates open at 2:30 p.m.

Schedule (subject to change):

4 p.m. Rock Kills Kid

5 p.m. The Fray

6:10 p.m. Hot Hot Heat

7:30 p.m. Hoobastank

On Maui: Hoobastank and Hot Hot Heat play Kahului's A & B Amphitheater at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: $38 advance, $45 day of show, www.mauiarts.org

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Hoobastank, from left, singer Douglas Robb, guitarist Dan Estrin and drummer Chris Hesse, will be live at the Shell.

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Los Angeles alterna-rockers Rock Kills Kid are "Paralyzed."

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Canadian new-wave punk fiends Hot Hot Heat.

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Time to hide that flute again! Star 101.9 FM's annual Band Camp returns to the Waikiki Shell tomorrow with the most offshore-band-rich lineup in the music festival's four-year history.

Million-plus selling headliners Hoobastank will be joined by Canadian new-wave punk fiends Hot Hot Heat, newly hot power-pop rockers The Fray and Los Angeles' "Paralyzed" alterna-rockers Rock Kills Kid.

Also new for the Band Camp counselors this year is a move from the late Kapono's at Aloha Tower Marketplace to the roomier (though just as campfire-unfriendly) Waikiki Shell.

We chatted with Doug Robb of Hoobastank earlier this week from Los Angeles. Our corporate buddies at USA Today spoke with The Fray's Isaac Slade.

All you have to do is promise to bring the ingredients for s'mores.

• • •

Perhaps you still remember a sweetly melodic rock ballad called "The Reason" being rotated to death on adult-contemporary, modern-rock, mainstream-rock and Top-40 radio in summer 2004.

You might even remember the name of the California-based, post-grunge group that recorded the song. The band's name, after all, was unusual, even as rock bands go: Hoobastank.

"The Reason" hit No. 1 on four Billboard singles charts and scored the band four Grammy nominations. The similarly titled CD sold more than 2.3 million copies in the United States.

How do you follow up on an album and song that crazy successful and crazy ubiquitous? If you're the band in question — who, by the way, have admitted that their name means absolutely nothing — you don't.

"When it came time to do a new record, we definitely stayed away from trying to write 'The Reason, Part 2,' " said vocalist Doug Robb, discussing Hoobastank's third CD, "Every Man For Himself," released in May. "Not because we were ashamed of our success with that song or anything. We've just always been really against bands that do things for ... monetary success or fame.

"We could've done something like that. But it would've been really unsatisfying to us as people, you know?"

Hoobastank — which headlines Star 101.9 FM's fourth annual Band Camp festival tomorrow — had crossed a similar bridge once before. After scoring a couple of top-three modern- rock hits ("Crawling In The Dark" and "Running Away") from its self-titled 2001 debut CD, the band saw its Web site message board fill with fans screaming "record-company sellouts" when "The Reason" hit big on (gasp!) adult-contemporary radio.

The truth of the matter was, and still is, less dramatic.

"We do everything the way we like to and just kind of see what sticks," said Robb.

What stuck on "Every Man For Himself" were keyboards, strings, woodwinds and acoustic guitars. On the un-"Reason"-able second single "Inside of You," there's even some funky horn work. All of this, along with Hoobastank's time-tested rock guitar, bass, drum and vocal drama.

So far nothing from the new CD has hit as big as "The Reason" — the first single, "If I Were You," peaked at No. 18 and No. 23 on Billboard's adult Top-40 and modern-rock charts, respectively.

But with "Every Man For Himself" already two singles deep, Robb is hopeful the disc will have legs. "I'd much rather have longevity over a quick burnout," said Robb. "I don't mind having a bunch of moderate hits and just touring and touring and eventually getting a platinum (million-selling) record that way."

That is, after all, the way Hoobastank conducted its career before stumbling into Grammy nods and a prom theme for the ages.

"I think at the end of the day, it cements your fans more than if you have just a big hit," said Robb.

"The fans that are with you when you don't have a big hit are the ones that are going to be there longer."

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.