UN: For those new to THP can you go through a history of the band? Were any of you guys in any bands previous to The Hurt Process? Did you guys have a style in mind before the band came together?

Dan: We formed in august 2001 from 3 different bands, 2 of which had split. i was friends with darren( our drummer) and introduced him to duncan ( bassist) tom (guitarist) and brendan (original 2nd guitarist, brendan was replaced by alun in September 2002 as brendan wanted to do his own thing). we just jammed and the hurt process was born (with 2 singers, myself and mark,a mutual friend of darrens ).none of us really had a style in mind when we formed as we are all influenced by different styles of music anyway.

UN: When did Golf Records come into the picture? I'll be honest that I'm not very familiar with the label, actually I've never even heard of them before this cd. Any offers from a US label to license the disc yet?

Dan: golf offered us a deal around about august last year. we'd been back from America (where we recorded drive by monologue) about 3 months and they were really enthusiastic about our music. in the uk they have looked after bands like less than Jake and the mighty mighty bosstones for years and always done a really good job with them, so we were thrilled when they came up trumps. regarding the u.s.a, we are currently finalising a deal with victory records, which i personally am really excited about. bands like earth crisis were who got me into hardcore, so to be signed to the label that made them is an honor.

UN: How has the response to Drive By Monologue been so far? I have to say that it was definitely a nice surprise to hear a band from the UK playing this style of music. While on the subject of the new album, what exactly does the name of the album mean?

Dan: the response has been ace. the kids and press over here seem to really like it. we have kids singing the lyrics back at us when we play live which is the most bizarre thing ever!!! we were part of the new "extremo" feature on radio 1 with bands like thrice and thursday and coheed and cambria which was utterly amazing. the name 'drive by monologue' really came about after duncan got run over on sunset boulevard the night before we came home from the states. he got hit at 40mph by a 4x4 and survived with only a severely busted shoulder which was so lucky. he just had his metal plate out a couple of weeks back and is looking forward to playing again soon.

UN: How did it come about that you guys used Derek Hess for the album cover? I've been a huge fan of his art for a long time and knew who painted the cover even before I looked into seeing who it was. Are you guys pleased with how the cover art turned out?

Dan: we played a show in London with every time i die, Nora, the hope conspiracy and sick of it all which was amazing. carl from nora took our album back to America as he liked us and played it to derek who thought it was cool. about a week later he contacted us and said he'd be really interested in doing the artwork for the album. he asked us for any artistic input but we pretty much let him use his own ideas to come up with the end product. we are all stoked by the outcome. magazines in the uk ( like kerrang and metal hammer ) are saying it is the most emo artwork ever which i think is hilarious!!

UN: Just out of curiosity, why did you guys decide to re-record some of the songs from your second EP for the full-length?

Dan: the main reason was that we knew we could make them sound better. we tweaked each song slightly adding or taking away bits so we were 100% happy with them. alun had only been in the band about 3 months before we recorded the last goodbye e.p so we were still growing as a band, and we still are!!

UN: While on the subject of your previous EP's, do you feel like The Hurt Process has come a long way since Another Day?

Dan: YES!!! another day contained the first songs we had written together. we had an opportunity to release it and thought...why not!!?? So we did. we were still getting to know each other personally let alone on a musical level, so we have come a very long way I think.

UN: Do you think that the hardcore scene was becoming a bit stagnant before the more melodic side started popping up? I love hardcore and always will, but I was getting a bit tired of the tough guy moshcore stuff. Then again this new style could be considered the new trend in hardcore I guess.

Dan: hardcore has been my life for years so i wouldn't say it was becoming stagnant and i certainly wouldn't say that this is a 'new style' or 'the new trend'. bands have been playing melodic hardcore for years and years but the tough guy stuff was just more popular. day by day the genre 'hardcore' has more things added to it like 'emo-core' and 'noise-core' and 'metalicemonoiseapplemymumhadashowerandfelloverandhurtherself-core' its just silly. bands like far were classed as nu-metal when i was growing up, now they are classed as 'the pioneers of emo' what's going on?????? They are a great band and thats that. Bands like bleeding through and as i lay dying are reinventing the 'metallic' side of 'hardcore' so i think the scene is just moving on like a steam train....it's amazing

UN: Is there much of a scene in the UK for music like this? You definitely hear much more about the bands from the US, then you do from anywhere else. Any UK bands you'd recommend people to check out if they're into THP's style?

Dan: its the first time the uk has had a music scene that is as strong as the American scene, it's awesome to be a part of it. other bands like funeral for a friend, hondo maclean, dopamine, days of December, beyond all reason, aconite thrill, million dead, are all pioneering a big uk movement of music. all the above bands are worth checking out especially dopamine...they are incredible.

UN: Is touring and playing shows a big part of THP? Do you think the chance will ever arise to come to North America to play any shows? I'm sure that would be something you guys would be interested in!

Dan: playing shows is very important for us. i know its a cliche but its the one chance you get to put your message across with the physical passion you want to show it with. kids can't see how much emotion or how much effort is put into making a song. live you can show them how much it means to you. regarding coming to north America, it could happen. we are playing some shows on the warped tour in July. I don't know if that takes in north America if it does. see you there!!!

UN: These days there are just too many bands for everyone to keep up with. What would you say makes The Hurt Process stand out from the pack? What would make someone pick up Drive-By Monologue over another record on the shelf?

Dan: we have 6 members, so we have 6 different personalities, and 6 lots of different ( and varied ) influences which make up our music. so somewhere within those influences and within our music WILL be something for everybody. We were once described as jeff buckley meets boysetsfire....enough said really. and if i was to go to a store and see drive by monologue on the shelf, i would initially buy it because of the ace artwork. Derek Hess just simply rules!