Friday, October 24, 2008

Oklahoma's Hinder begins its world tour at Saltair in Magna tonight, and as far as the band's reputation goes, that night all the women of Magna should be locked up.

Hinder is a proud embodiment of the decadent, sex-fueled rock 'n' roll lifestyle that its musical icon Guns N' Roses kept alive in the late 1980s. The hard-rock band scorches land everywhere its tour bus stops.

Ironically, the band's best-known hit is a ballad, "Lips of an Angel." But, befitting the band's reputation, it's not a typical ballad. It's about a man contemplating cheating on his current girlfriend (or at least the woman in his bed at the moment) with an ex who has the "lips of an angel."

Lead singer Austin Winkler and drummer Cody Hanson spoke in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune and other media outlets about their music, which includes the Election Day release of the band's new album, "Take It to the Limit."

Here are Winkler and Hanson:

On how the band will celebrate the release date of "Take It to the Limit."
Hanson: We will actually ... this is awesome ... we will be in Las Vegas. We're doing a record release party at The Palms there and having a big blowout and probably not waking up for a few days after that.
Winkler: It's going to be pretty awesome. We rented out the Hugh Hefner suite and we've got a bunch of girls from Playboy coming, and it's going to be pretty insane.

On "Lips of an Angel," its effect on the band and Jack Ingram's country cover of the song.
Hanson: I don't think it has had any effect. Like, we know we're a rock band, and if we put out a ballad that crosses to top-40, that's just getting more listeners out there for our music, and it's good for us. . . . The country audience is a whole new audience and a very powerful genre in the music industry right now, and it's great to be able to cross over into country.

On opening for Aerosmith.
Winkler: That was the first real-like dream-come-true kind of thing I experienced with a band, and I'm sure all the other guys did as well. And it's kind of like going back to school and . . . we got a lot of work to do.

On pressure to write another hit like "Lips of an Angel."
Winkler: [The] label didn't want "Lips of an Angel" on the first record, so we didn't really feel any pressure at all because we know we would deliver. We would do our thing and deliver the best album we could and we did, and actually, the album artwork is being . . . I don't know. People don't like it as much. They don't want to print it because it's too rock 'n' roll, I guess. Yes, so we're having a little tough time with that just because we did, like, three versions, like a PG version, an R-rated and then an X-rated, and they're having a little tough time printing the X-rated one because it's got a couple naked girls in there.

On the girls in "Lips of an Angel."
Winkler: They're both gone now, sweetie. . . . Absolutely [they were real].

On future collaborations.
Hanson: I want to collaborate with Carrie Underwood. Not for songwriting, but. . . .

Hinder
When: Tonight at 7:30
Where: Saltair, 12408 W. Saltair Drive, Magna
Tickets: $23 at SmithsTix
Opening act: Rev Theory