UN: The Hostage Heart may be a new band, but it won’t be long until the name spreads like wildfire. How did the band come together? Were you guys friends prior to the formation of the band? Do you guys feel like you’ve accomplished a lot in the time you’ve been together?

Nate:The Hostage Heart came together when Geoff (drums) and Mike, our original guitarist, joined the band. I had known Geoff from college out in Boston and Mike was my roommate at the time. We had all been friends for years but had other bands going on. Chris was in Autumn's End, I was in The Threshold Effect with Geoff, and before THH some of us were in a band called Sky Cutting Stars. I'm very happy with what we've accomplished in the last year or so, it's great to see kids catching on, the live shows have been amazing! So much of what's happened has been a suprise to me, we're the kind of people who are grateful for everything. We don't think we're that good of a band, we know we can push ourselves to do better. Having a label put out our CD, being able to tour for weeks at a time, all of this is a bonus. We're just having as much fun as we can and meeting awesome people.

UN: I think that you guys really manage to break the mold of the metalcore genre. Is it conscious in your minds when writing to try and distance yourselves from the current style? Heavy music is indeed the flavor of the month right now, but it’s easy to tell the bands that are sincere.

Nate:We're definitely trying to distance ourselves musically from a lot of the stuff that's coming out right now. There are some great metalcore bands out there but we try to stay away from the constant breakdowns and cliche lyrics. We try to play music that we would like even if we weren't in the band, try to make things as heavy and thrashy as possible. A huge part of our message and the point of us playing is we don't believe heavy music is about violence and ego's, it's cool if kids dance, but there's way too much targeting that goes on. Hardcore is about being accepted, not getting your ass kicked.

UN: Does it seem to you like bands are now playing things safe and are worried about fitting into the current musical climate? It seems like even heavy breakdown filled music is becoming a trend. Years ago it was almost looked down upon within the hardcore scene, with a small niche fanbase, now it’s huge.

Nate: I'd have to agree that there are a lot of bands who are sticking to the crossover singing/screaming deal, along with a lot of "mosh" bands with really predictable breakdowns and structures. It's not that I have anything against either genre but I'd rather see some work and thought put into the music. Getting some sort of emotional reaction from listening to a band is few and far between these days. It can be a bit tough for us because we play a lot of shows with mosh bands who are pretty straight forward, the kids eat it up. Our music is harder to grasp, especially hearing it for the first time. But hey, it's getting there. The more bands that come out who bring heaviness and technicality to a new level, the more the crowds will be able to realize how much more it has to offer.

UN: Ken from Unearth produced the EP, so it’s safe to assume that he knew what you guys were going for. Was he easy to work with? I think this is one of the best sounding pieces of music he’s worked on yet.

Nate: Working with Ken is amazing, straight out. This was the second time we've recorded with him, so going in there he knew what we were all about. Musically he let us go with the structures and parts we had. The production work that Ken did on the EP was focused on serious fine tuning with sounds and making sure nothing was sloppy, along with letting us know that our one singing part kind of sucked. Our sound was a bit different than the bands that Ken had worked with so we all experimented a lot with guitar and bass tones. He hears things with tone that the rest of us would never give any thought. We ended up using Triple Rectifiers on the recording and an SVT4 with a Sansamp Bass Driver. We're still waiting for his mom to cook us spaghetti.

UN: How did the band become involved with Five Point? Will you guys be releasing anything else for the label? How have things worked out so far with them?

Nate: Working with Five Point Records has been the best thing that has happened to us. We had just recorded our EP with Ken and hadn't talked to any labels, we were planning on self releasing it and shopping around. Ian at Five Point found us after hearing some things online. This is actually a brand new label, we are their first release. We were psyched that someone was going to take care of duplication costs. From there things have exceeded every expectation. Ian believes in our music as much as we do and is one of the hardest working guys I've ever met. As of now we will be releasing a full length with Five Point.

UN: Do you think it’s hard to have a sense of hope right now? There is so much fucked up stuff happening right now, that it’s sometimes hard to see the silver lining. Do you think that music can serve as a spark to keep people from getting bogged down from the problems of the world?

Nate: I'll be honest, I make an effort not to watch the news and get sucked into all that is going on in the world. There are some serious problems out there, it's scary. I'd rather hang out with the people who I care about and listen to the new Head Automatica record in a van. Music is the best way to deal with any problems you have going on. All of us have been through things and this band has helped us through it. No matter what the state of music is, it's great to see so many kids who are starting bands and getting involved. Playing in a band, and having the friends I do kept me away from a lot of things I wanted nothing to do with through the years. No matter what's going on in the world there's no reason anyone as an individual can't be having the time of their lives.

UN: Do you guys have any idea when we can expect a full-length follow up to the EP?

Nate: The full length should be out sometime in the summer of 2005. It all depends on how long it takes us to write it and how much touring we do for the EP.

UN: Just out of curiosity, I was wondering if there is a story behind the band name. It could be one of those names that just came spur of the moment, or there could be a concept behind it.

Nate: We were looking everywhere for a band name, because seriously, thinking of a band name sucks. We came across an excerpt of "The Hostage Heart" (the book) in a Readers Digest Anthology. We were skeptical on being another "the" band but we went with it in the end.

UN: You guys are still early in. Do you think that it’ll be a while until you guys are able to make a living playing music? It seems like it’s more likely these days, but you have to tour pretty much non stop for it to happen. Do you guys want to be out on the road all of the time?

Nate: All we want to do is tour, that's all it comes down to. We have so much fun on the road. Going to places we've never been and meeting so many amazing people makes it all worth it. Without a booking agent I've done all the booking for the tours we've had. It's hard to make a living playing music but all we want to do is break even, pay our bills. We love the music so much that coming out on top doesn't matter. Getting solid dates is tough sometimes because it's been touch and go on who is a good promoter, but things are getting better every time we go out. We've put ourselves in a position where everyone can leave their job to tour anytime so we'll make it happen.

UN: Would you say that it is important to keep the intensity level up? It seems like the EP barely ever lets up for the entire duration. The slower sections are just as intense are the fast sections.

Nate: We try to keep the music intense without over doing parts. Although when we wrote the EP we didn't go into it with the goal of never slowing down, it's just how it happened. We know we aren't the best musicians, so why do a half assed melodic part when someone like Misery Signals or Between The Buried And Me would make us look like idiots. It's all about finding a niche, attempting to do something a bit different.

UN: Lyrically you guys seem to touch on personal issues but still manage to keep things somewhat cryptic. Do you think it’s important to not be overly obvious about what the songs are about?

Nate: Chris is the most sarcastic and cynical person you will ever meet. Even knowing him I misinterpreted some of his lyrics before he explained them to me. I love how the lyrics aren't obvious but at the same time still have a message. I've heard enough of the "my heart bleeds for you" garbage. By keeping the lyrics less obvious different people will get different things out of them, we want people to relate in different ways.