Singled Out: Hoobastank

I remember listening to the music for THIS IS GONNA HURT while sitting in my car with Jesse. He had written the music and I had come up with some melodic ideas and the phrase "this is gonna hurt". Each time the phrase was sung it revealed something different.

"This is gonna hurt. This is gonna hurt ME. This is gonna hurt ME....more than it hurts YOU." That's how it originally was written out. The song kind of stayed in "limbo" lyrically for a while because I couldn't find an emotional anchor to ground the song. Later that year we were in Bali, Indonesia playing an acoustic show. We were exhausted from constant travel and continuous shows. During soundcheck our frustrations came to a boil and we had a pretty epic band fight. It wasn't our first and I'm sure it won't be our last. It's just what happens sometimes. After the fight I remember sitting in my hotel room thinking about how difficult it would be for myself or any band member to walk away from Hoobastank. We are truly a family and for as much as it would hurt whoever was left behind, it would hurt even more for the one who left. I finally had a lyrical emotional starting point for THIS IS GONNA HURT and I finished the song that night in Bali.

Obviously we all talked it out and everything was fine. During the recording of the song the lyrics got switched a little to make the song a little more "scathing" and a little less "sensitive". Also more to reflect a relationship between two people rather than a band. The finished product is, "This is gonna hurt. This is gonna hurt you. This is gonna hurt you more than it hurts me. And I don't want to hurt. That's why I'm going to hurt you. That's why I'm going to hurt you. That's how it's going to be!". Unapologetic and to the point.