J. Loren of Hurt
Just a few days after
the release of Vol. II, I got to hangout with Hurt vocalist J
Loren. Before he went on stage, we each enjoyed a beer behind the venue.
Before the whiskey, during that chill conversation, we talked about
Vol. II, playing for the love of the music, and the topic of fun.
Asif: Well dude, I just
want to start out by saying congrats on the release of album number two…
J: Thank you very much.
Asif: You gotta be pretty stoked about that.
J: We're really excited. And we're really happy to be back here [in
Minnesota]
tonight. It's still fresh [the release of the new album] in everybody's
mind, so I want to see how the new songs go over with this crowd here. I
know they are a great crowd. We've played here a couple times and I know
it's just gonna be a great crowd. So, [we're] really excited to play the
new songs here.
Asif: I want to go back to the origins of Hurt for a minute. You guys are
from all across the country. How did you all come together in
L.A.?
J: It was
actually a process of natural selection. One person leads to having to get
another. And luckily this last crew that we have together has stayed
together for about three years now, with the exception of Paul [guitarist
Paul Spatola] who was just added in on top of everybody because Hurt used
to be a three-piece. That is pretty much the short version of it.
Asif: Cool. So, you guys had Vol. I…and you guys actually wanted to make Vol. 1 two albums.
J: We did!
Asif: And then…
J: And then when we couldn't make it two albums, we wanted to make an interim album in between that, but the demand seemed pretty frickin' great to get a Vol. II out there immediately, so we did. We went back and listened to what we had for Vol. II and we kinda looked at ourselves and asked, "Could we make this any better? Can we improve on this?" We had to be honest and say, "Yes!" So, at great expense, we made it remarkably better than it was.
Asif: You guys had a lot of songs that you had written months or years ago, during the stages of Vol. I, but then you had written new material since then that you wanted to use as well…
J: Yeah! And correct me if I'm wrong, but off the top of my head, we added two new songs, which were "Aftermath" and "Ten Ton Brick", and we lead the album with that. It's kinda cool because that ["Ten Ton Brick"] was also written by Paul had a lot of help from Josh [bassist Josh Ansley]. It was cool that we were doing the group effort thing. And I promised that too when we came around the first time. He was like, "Do you write everything?" and I was like, "Yeah, but that's going to change." And, it's changing!
Asif: Was it always the intent to title the second album Vol. II, even after knowing that Vol. I wouldn't be released a double-album?
J: It was literally
because of the playing length of two albums that we were going to make a
Vol. I & II. I said, "Why not make a double- album because
we have an enormous catalog of songs?" My manager, when we first hooked up
said, "I don't even know what to use because you have so many songs and so
many of them are really good. Let's just make two volumes of the music and
put them together in the stories that they are and kinda have them
interweave." That was the idea behind it. Of course, they got split up.
And then of course we
augmented it. But that's kind of part of life – as it goes along your life
changes and so does the story of your life.
Asif: We were just talking about this a few minutes ago. You guys are broke!
J: (laughs) Really broke!
Asif: Hopping couches in L.A. I'll be down there soon, so we'll see what happens!
J: (laughs) Swing on by! I'll buy you a drink on a credit card that's maxed!
Asif: (laughs) Obviously, it's all about the music.
J: It definitely is.
Asif: What is it specifically about the music though? Is it your avenue to get our your emotions? Hopefully hit some kid really hard out there?
J: It is that a little bit. Not only is it a real benevolent thing, in the obvious sense. People tell me it's just the most remarkable thing and most important thing in their lives. I don't have a high opinion of myself in anyway really, so I don't think anything I do has value. So, to know that the one thing that I care most about matters so much to somebody else that it could change their perspective or change their life, that's really important to me.
Asif: Amen, man!
J: Besides that, I do get personal satisfaction out of just working as hard as I can at doing what I know I'm made to do. I've always known that, no matter what, I was not going to stop. I was a musician. I'm not the world's greatest whatever, fill in the blank. I'm just a musician and that's all I've cared to do. And I've done everything I could to do it.
Asif: That was well said man. That's inspirational right there!
J:
I assure you it was accidental! (laughs)
Asif: (laughs) Around the corner, you guys are playing with some great bands. Three Days Grace. Fuel. Another Capitol artist in the Sick Puppies.
J: We haven't got to play with any of those guys yet, but we did play with Three Days Grace. They are good guys.
Asif: You guys are still relatively young, but who would you most like to share the stage with? A dream act to play with maybe…
J: I can't say we have a dream band, but I think the fans overwhelming outcry for Hurt and Metallica.
Asif: That would shred!
J: That would be a tough show for Hurt man, because you better be on you’re A-game if you are opening up for Metallica. But we've done Alice in Chains before. We've done Staind before. When we did Staind we were absolutely nobody, nobody cared about us. We held our own.
Asif: Staind is so boring live.
J: Staind is good people.
Asif: Being good people is cool, but I'm just saying live that…
J: You can say that!
Asif: I'm just saying that I'm sure you guys stole the show every night from Staind.
J: (silence…followed by laughter)
Asif: No comment! Okay, that's cool!
J: (laughs)
Asif: What do you like to do for fun man?
J: I don't really have fun.
Asif: Oh, come on man!
Life isn't that bad!
J: No, no! It's not bad at all! I just don't have fun. I don't have time for fun.
Asif: It's all about the music 24/7 with ya, isn't it?
J: No, I'm kinda making a comeback in the personal life and I'm kinda a person again.
Asif: That's a good start.
J: That's enough for me right now and I know I will have fun. Not to say that I don't…(laughs)
Asif: It's not like you won't have fun tonight!
J: Yeah, right! There is a little bit of joy in everything. It's not like [starts talking like a robot] "I do my job. I go to my bunk. Then I go to sleep." It's not like that. I wouldn't say that I'm the life of the party. I'm the guy who drinks way more than everybody else so that kinda gets the party going.
Asif: Everybody knows somebody like that!
J: (laughs) It's the guy that has a drink with every single person at the party and gets really drunk.
Asif: What kind of drink?
J: It doesn't really
matter. But I'm a whiskey man.
Asif: Ah – good man. Let's go have some!
J: Alright, let's go!
BY: The Asif
EDITED: J.P.
PHOTOS: The Asif & courtesy of Hurt
SPECIAL THANKS: James Scott @ EMI
