Hinder Biography

Hinder (verb): 1. To be or get in the way of. 2. To obstruct or delay the progress of. 3. To interfere with action or progress.

Let nothing �hinder� your appreciation of the subtleties purveyed by this Oklahoma City fivesome, who are collectively dedicated to bringing back the good old decadent days when sex, drugs and rock & roll weren�t dirty words, but a way of life.

Produced by Brian Howes (Closure, DDT) and engineered by Mike Fraser (Aerosmith, AC/DC) in Vancouver, BC�s Armoury Studios, Hinder�s debut Universal Records effort, Extreme Behavior, is filled with flick-your-Bic moments of arena-rock grandeur, all crackling dual lead guitars, ethereal four-part harmonies and soaring beat-your-chest rock vocals, taking a page from timeless groups like Bad Company, Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones, among others.

The album�s first single, �Get Stoned,� is already tallying up pre-release airplay at such bastions of Rock radio as 102.1 The Edge in Dallas/Fort Worth and CFOX Vancouver.

�I loved all that shit,� explains rollicking lead singer Austin Winkler, a gravelly voiced howler who counts such in-your-face front men as Steven Tyler, Vince Neil and Buckcherry�s Josh Todd as his inspirations. �Four people singing and putting on a big rock show. We want to bring that back. It would be wicked if we could.�

�We�re hoping to be the band to get people into rock again,� says drummer Cody Hanson, who writes the bulk of the band�s material with Winkler.

Hinder was formed in Oklahoma City more than four years ago, when guitarist Joe Garvey and Hanson discovered Austin singing for a cover band at a college dorm party.

�I heard him and was blown away,� says Cody. �He has the kind of charisma very few people have and that unique voice. You can�t really compare him to anybody.�

Indeed, it is Winkler who infuses Hinder�s often-bitter sentiments of regret and forgetting the past on songs like the tongue-in-cheek �Bliss� and �Better Than Me� with flesh-and-blood humanity.

�It�s more about getting things off our chests,� he says. �And it�s lyrics you can understand, not this dark shit.�

�We didn�t want to be just another faceless rock band playing depressing, �I hate my dad� music,� adds Hanson. �We wanted to go out there and kick ass like they did in the �80s.�

The band often overturns expectations, especially on �Get Stoned,� which, rather than the party anthem its title implies, is really a song about not being able to leave your pain-in-the-ass girlfriend because �the sex is so much better when you�re mad at me.�

�That line actually started as a joke, but once I sang it, we said, �Fuck it� let�s keep it,�� laughs Winkler. �It�s like you�ve got this girl you can�t stand, but the sex is so good, you can�t bring yourself to break up. So let�s get wasted and go have some make-up sex� Everybody�s been there, right? �

�Bliss� is about getting so obliterated to forget a ruptured relationship that �I can hardly see what�s in front of me/Because the vodka�s running on empty/I can�t stay sober/If it�s over.�

�I love the lyrics to that song, because when you�re hammered, you lock all that stuff out,� says Winkler. �You don�t have to deal with it because you�re not even thinking about it.�

Other songs on the album include the raw uptempo party rocker, �Room 21� (�Basically about a guy getting hammered and banging some random chick,� according to Austin), and guaranteed-soon-to-be-classics �How Long,� �By the Way,� �Nothing Good About Goodbye,� �Homecoming Queen� and �Shoulda Woulda Coulda.�

�When we first got together, we were in a negative state of mind, recovering from personal problems,� says Cody about the band�s name. �We had our issues. They were different issues, but we were all trying to overcome them.�

Cut to almost five years later and the band has built a healthy regional following, released an independent album, Far From Close, which sold out 5,000 copies, was the object of an honest-to-goodness bidding war between three different major labels and is now set to release its major label debut, Extreme Behavior.

�We live the lifestyle,� explains Cody. �That�s what rock is supposed to be about� rebellion and having fun. We�ve been blessed with the opportunity to play music as a career, so we might as well take advantage of it and have a good time.

�Live is where you go out and get a chance to make fans from people who have no idea who you are. You have to go out there, kick ass and win them over.�