8-15 Hoobastank乐队：给我一个理由

Hoobastank: Give Me a Reason

Their band doesn't have a normal name, but the four guys of Hoobastank are normal guys. They have normal lives, they do normal things, and they have the same sense of humor as their fans. That's why Hoobastank -- guitarist Dan Estrin, bassist Markku Lappalainen, drummer Chris Hesse and singer Doug Robb -- connect with them. Their songs have that intangible1 ability to speak for things that normal kids think and feel.

Well, they're not completely normal, everyday guys. Their first album went platinum 1 thanks to the hit singles Crawling in the Dark and Running Away. But with their second album, The Reason, it shows that they're songwriters of uncommon 2 talent, with a broader palette2 of songs, moods, and emotions than their self-titled debut 3.

Formed in the mid-1990s in the Los Angeles suburb, while the quartet3 was still in high school, Hoobastank has since grown into a songwriting machine. There's plenty of hard rock on The Reason, from Just One to Same Direction. As for the softer side, there's the sweeping 44 grandeur 55 of the title track. They also recorded a version of Rod Stewart's Do Ya Think I'm Sexy, which didn't make the record. “It's not something we want to be known for, but we're holding it for something good. Maybe for the sequel6.”

It hasn't been all fun, however. In August 2003, the guys were riding miniature7 motorcycles in Myrtle Beach. Estrin, who bought the bike that day, was going about 10 miles an hour when he ran into a chest-high rope and hit his head on the pavement. It didn't look that bad at first. He got up, got back on the tour bus, but it was obvious that it was getting worse, so they went to the hospital. Estrin had a tiny skull 6 fracture8, with a blood clot 7 forming underneath 8 it. If it hadn't been removed that night he could have died.

The guitarist calmly explains, “It wasn't a real motorcycle accident. It was such a joke, but it freaked me out9 that something that simple could cause something so serious.” It didn't slow him down too much though. “I've realized that I'm one of those people that can't wait for things to be handed to me. When I was injured, I should have been resting and getting better, but I was working just as hard as I would have if I had been fine. Aside from canceling a few dates, I kept working.” So in less than a month, it was back to normal, because the music is the reason they do everything else.

注释：

1. intangible [in5tAndVEbl] a.  无形的，触摸不到的

2. palette [5pAlEt] n.  调色板上的一组颜色

3. quartet [kwC:5tet] n.  四重唱乐队

4. sweeping [5swi:piN] a.  势不可挡的

5. grandeur [5^rAndVE(r)] n.  高贵，辉煌

6. sequel [5si:kwEl] n.  续集

7. miniature [5min/EtFE(r)] a.  小型的，微小的；～ motorcycle 微型摩托

8. fracture [5frAktFE] n.  [医] 骨折

9. freak out  [俚] (使)极度兴奋，扰乱，使躁动不安

Hoobastank乐队：给我一个理由

Hoobastank乐队拥有一个不寻常的名字，但乐队的4个小伙子确是寻常人。他们寻常地生活，做着寻常的事情，而且和他们的歌迷有着同样的幽默感，这就是乐队(吉他手丹·埃斯特林、贝斯手马尔库·拉帕莱宁，鼓手克里斯·赫西和主唱道格·罗布)与歌迷沟通交流的原因。他们的歌曲有一种无形的魅力，可以唱出寻常年轻人的所思所感。

当然，他们并非完全是寻常普通的小伙子。他们的第一张专辑凭借走红单曲《在黑暗中爬行》和《逃跑》而获得白金销量。但是他们的第二张专辑《原因》显示了他们是才华出众的歌曲作家。这张专辑比他们第一张以乐队名字命名的专辑在歌词、情调和感情上都更绚丽多彩。

这个4人乐队于20世纪90年代中期在洛杉矶郊区成立，当时他们还都是高中学生。从那时起，Hoobastank逐渐成长为一个歌曲高产户。在专辑《原因》中，他们加入了不少硬摇滚的成分，比如《就一个》和《同一方向》。在软摇滚方面，有和专辑同名的优雅袭人的歌曲。他们还录制了一首罗德·斯图尔特的歌曲《你是否认为我性感》，但是最后没有收入专辑。“这不是我们想赖以闻名的作品，但是我们想把这首歌收录在好作品中，也许是我们的续集。”

然而，并不是所有的事情都有乐趣。2003年8月的一天，埃斯特林买了一辆迷你摩托车，小伙子们在默特尔海滩骑车兜风。埃斯特林以每小时10英里的速度行驶时被一条齐胸高的绳子绊倒，头摔在人行道上。当时并没有觉得很糟糕，他爬起来回到了旅游车上，但是显然情况越来越糟，所以大家去了医院。原来埃斯特林头骨轻微骨折，并在下面形成了一个血块。如果那天晚上没有将血块去除，他可能会丧命。

这位吉他手平静地解释说：“这不是一起真正的摩托车事故，这是开玩笑。但我真地吓坏了，这么简单的事情有可能带来这么严重的后果。”这起事故并没有使他放慢脚步。“我发觉我是那种不能等待事情找上头来的人。我受伤后，本应该休息恢复，但我仍然像健康时一样拼命工作。除了取消了几个约会外，我一直在工作。”因此在不到一个月的时间内，乐队又恢复了正常，因为音乐是他们做其他事情的本因。