Song Of The Week: 1/1/12

Song: "Gravestones" (acoustic version)

Artist: Hawthorne Heights

Album: "Skeletons" (Summer Tour Bonus Track)

Year: 2010



At the beginning of "Gravestones", the song appears to be introspective. The vocalist is looking at himself and the world around him and is not necessarily happy with what he sees. As the song moves forward to the second verse, you get a sense he's talking about the memory of bandmate Casey Calvert who passed away in 2007. You can feel his loss and see that it seems still hard to believe that he's gone, even a year later, but he also says that with each song that Hawthorne Heights writes after his untimely passing, Calvert's spirit is fully alive in their music. Hawthorne Heights formed as a band back in 2001, hailing from Dayton, OH. Before forming Hawthorne Heights, lead singer J.T. Woodruff was in a band called A Day In The Life. Many people say that A Day In The Life basically changed their name to Hawthorne Heights but Woodruff was the only band member from A Day In The Life to be in Hawthorne Heights. Either way, under the HH moniker, the band would eventually sign to Victory Records and release their debut album, 2004's "The Silence In Black And White". Thanks to the singles "Ohio Is For Lovers" and "Niki FM", the band began gathering a steady following. The band's next release, 2006's "If Only You Were Lonely" would debut at #3 on the Billboard Charts and the single "Saying Sorry" would be the band's most successful. 2007 would be the band's hardest year for obvious reasons. Long time guitarist and backup vocalist Casey Calvert died on the band's tour bus due to a bad chemical reaction to prescription drugs. This impacted the band heavily and on their follow up albums, 2008's "Fragile Future" and 2010's "Skeletons" there are several songs that deal with the passing of Calvert, both directly and indirectly. "Fragile Future" would be the last album Hawthorne Heights would do for Victory Records while "Skeletons" was a one shot deal with Wind Up Records. In 2011, the band formed their own label called Cardboard Empire Records. Currently, Hawthorne Heights plan on releasing a trilogy of EP's on their newly formed label starting with "Hate", which was released in August of 2011. The band has also said that they will perform small North American tours after the release of each EP.