Truth Be Told

Here is the Question of the Day: Where did the unusual name of platinum-selling Island recording artists Hoobastank come from?
A) A kind of gravy in Denmark
B) Bassist Markku Lappalainen’s middle name
C) A butterfly from South Africa that emits an odor for defense
D) Singer Doug Robb’s incorrect pronunciation of a street name in Germany?

Markku Lappalaien, bass player of Hoobastank, said answering that same question over and over again in interviews got old pretty fast. So of course, the obvious solution for the band was to stop telling the truth. After extensive research on the etymology of the band’s name, peeling through bios and interviews, it turns out that the guys in Hoobastank are a bunch of damn compulsive liars. The answer to that multiple-choice question is “all of the above.” I hope they’re looking for a good support group.
Together for nine years and hailing from Agoura Hills, CA, the quartet formed in high school and spent a long time developing their collective talent for songwriting before getting signed. “It was definitely good that we were together that long,” said Markku. “We got a lot of bullshit out of the way, you know? It took a lot of work, but we busted our asses practicing three or four times a week when we were starting up and we would do shows here and there in the Los Angeles area at the Whiskey and the Roxy. It basically took us devoting our entire lives to it. It was tough, but it paid off.”
That payoff came in the way of a very successful, self-titled major label debut that took them on tour around the world. “We had the opportunity to go to Southeast Asia, Europe, Australia and Japan,” Markku said on the subject. “That experience was amazing — even though we were working and it wasn’t really like a vacation.
“There’s not too much craziness on the road for us,” he added. “We’re a pretty mellow band when it comes to touring. Actually, we’re probably the world’s most boring rock band. The guys all have girlfriends and our shows are really just about us trying to rock out and have a good time and joke around — though not to the extent of Blink-182 or CKY. We don’t pee on the crowd or anything like that, but we’ve got a fairly active show; we don’t just sit around. We definitely feed off the crowd, but mostly we just try to enjoy ourselves and have a good time.”
Markku paused for a second before continuing. “Sometimes, our drum tech and I will try and find trouble at the local liquor stand and stuff like that [laughs]. But really, we’re pretty mellow. None of us do drugs or anything — hence the title ‘World’s Most Boring Rock Band.’”
Currently, the World’s Most Boring Rock Band has a new album out in stores entitled The Reason. With such a successful debut album, you would think that there would be a lot of pressure to perform placed on the band, but Markku didn’t see it that way.
“Most of the pressure came from us,” he said. “Island didn’t really give us too much pressure. Well, we didn’t feel the pressure; I’m sure they were yelling at our manager [laughs]. They definitely want to see a single and they want to make money. We can’t just sit around and write jam music. But, everything just kind of worked out; it all went pretty smoothly.”
Markku clarified that statement to exclude making the music video, which was apparently long and tiring. “We had those moving stages and Dan [Estrin, guitar] actually hurt himself on them. I guess he strained his back. He was strapped down when the stages were moving, but Doug and I were just kind of walking around. We fell off a few times and had bruised knees for months after that. It was definitely fun, but painful fun.”
Looking back, is there anything the band would change? “Not really,” Markku offered. “I think we had a pretty good run. We’re definitely thankful for what we got to do off of our first album. It’s been a dream come true.”

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