The Gauntlet: You’re on the Jägermeister tour right now, how is it going so far?

Cody Hanson: It’s going great, man. Anytime we get to come out and get free Jägermeister it’s never a bad thing right (laughs)?

The Gauntlet: How much do you actually get, as much as you want?

Cody: Yea, basically. Right before this tour started we had stopped at a liquor store and bought like 120 bottles and put them under the bus. Then we only ended up having a few more shows on that run so we had this big stockpile under the bus. We’re whittling away at it. Plus, on our rider we get three bottles a day so we’re not hurting for it, that’s for sure (laughs).

The Gauntlet: Are the other bands on the tour keeping up with your partying?

Cody: No, man, nobody ever does. You know, everybody else is too worried about being healthy or whatever. Not us. Everybody else, they do their share of other things, you know, they smoke weed or whatever but we drink our faces off and do all the rest as well.

The Gauntlet: You guys have sort of a reputation for playing pranks on the road – any good ones on this tour so far?

Cody: Well, we don’t really do too much prank things. We just kinda do whatever we do. We just get fucked up and shit happens. The night before last I ended up stealing a forklift from the venue and got it out into the middle of the street, and couldn’t figure out how to get it back when security caught me (laughs). Just random shit, you never know what’s gonna happen.

The Gauntlet: The SoundScan numbers come out on Wednesday, are you guys crossing your fingers for “Take It To the Limit” to hit #1?

Cody: To be honest, man, it really doesn’t matter. As long as we’re happy at the end of the cycle, who cares? Billboard doesn’t mean shit to me, it really doesn’t.

The Gauntlet: Do you know what you’re up against?

Cody: Everything I’ve seen so far has been more soundtracks than anything else. Maybe John Legend or somebody like that is out there. I’m sure we’ll get beat out by the “High School Musical” soundtrack or “Twilight” or some of that other shit. We’ll see.

The Gauntlet: What’s your personal favorite track on the new album?

Cody: My personal favorite is called “The Best Is Yet To Come.” It’s so different as far as the writing style goes from anything we’ve done in the past. I like the storyline a lot. It’s about all those dumb things that you do when you’re a kid, and as you’re growing up and maturing. All those mistakes that you make. Just don’t dwell on ‘em. Learn from ‘em and move forward. Know that life will get better as long as you let it.

The Gauntlet: Are you going to be filming a video for that one, or releasing it as a single or anything?

Cody: I sure hope so. We’ve kicked around video concepts for it already. As long as it gets released as a single, we’ll definitely do a video for it.

The Gauntlet: What happens when you can’t agree on who gets which girl after a show?

Cody: Yea (laughs). It has happened. A lot of the times you just work it out and you just share. You know, brothers like to share on the road. The only person that gets really pissed about that is Mike (Rodden), our bass player. If he can’t get the chick, man, he fuckin’ freaks out and pouts, and will go and just slam the door to the back lounge and sit back there with his arms crossed watching TV. Nobody can talk to him, it’s fuckin’ awesome.

The Gauntlet: What’s the weirdest item on your rider right now?

Cody: You know what, we don’t really have anything too weird. We ended up taking everything off. We took off all the food, everything, so we could get more booze. We were running out of vodka, so we just cancelled all the food, all the weird funny shit. We just took it off and said, “Fuck it, lets just make sure we get our vodka.” As long as that vodka shows up when it’s supposed to show up, we don’t care. It’s pretty sad, but it is what it is (laughs).

The Gauntlet: You’re a fun band, but do you listen to anything in your daily life that’s a little angrier, or that someone wouldn’t expect you to listen to?

Cody: Not really. I like all kinds of music, man. I like anything from Pantera to Buddy Holly to Brad Paisley to whatever. I’m a big country fan, so I listen to a lot of country music.

The Gauntlet: What are Hinder’s plans for after this tour?

Cody: I think we’re doing the Jägermeister tour until right up around Christmas. We’ll take a week and a half off and then we’re gonna go back out and do some dates on our own. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to tell anybody this actually, I’m not sure if it’s released or not, but we’re gonna go out and do some dates with Motley Crüe.

The Gauntlet: Dream come true, right?

Cody: Yea, for sure. They’re one of our biggest influences. We already got a chance to work with Mick Mars (guitarist) and he’s awesome. We had a chance to meet Vince Neil (singer) in Vegas on October 30th and he was super cool. It’s gonna be awesome, dude, I’m really excited.

The Gauntlet: It seems like the Crüe are really interested in helping these younger bands out.

Cody: Yea, definitely. That’s always cool whenever you have a band like that that’s just interested and helping out the cause for rock n’ roll.

The Gauntlet: So is it going to be another Crüe Fest?

Cody: No, I think we’re not calling it that. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say about it (laughs).

The Gauntlet: Do you have a favorite album of 2008?

Cody: Hmmm… Yea this one called “Taken To the Limit” by this band… No, I’m kidding. There hasn’t been a whole lot that’s been out that I’ve really been into. Of course, to be honest, that Katy Perry album (“One of the Boys”) is pretty fuckin’ sick. Just because she’s fuckin’ hot as shit. How hot are the songs? It’s ridiculous.

The Gauntlet: We’re a metal site, do you have a favorite metal album of all-time?

Cody: That’s when it gets confusing. Like what metal sites actually will consider metal, know what I mean? The rock album that definitely influenced me the most is the “Black Album” by Metallica.

The Gauntlet: What’s your opinion on Obama being elected?

Cody: You know what man, I’m definitely not all up into politics, but I do know that there needed to be a change. I’m just really glad that there’s going to be one.

The Gauntlet: Thanks for the interview Cody!

Cody: I appreciate it. Talk to you soon.