On the title track and opening song of its fourth album, Hawk Nelson urges its listeners to "Live Life Loud." That sentiment, founding member Daniel Biro notes, is "as Hawk Nelson as Hawk Nelson gets."
It's not just a matter of volume, mind you; it's a philosophy. The Hawk Nelson we hear on Live Life Loud knows how to do just that -- How to live life at the extreme that the title suggests is embracing all of life, accepting and even celebrating a little pain and darkness and finding a way to let it enrich life.
From the high-octane anthems "Never Enough," "Eggshells" and "Alive" to the melancholy "The Final Toast," "Lest We Forget" the string-laden "The Meaning of Life" and the adapted hymn "‘Tis So Sweet" the Hawk Nelson we hear is a bit more serious but also richer and more complete, a group that's comfortably "growing up," but without losing the brash spirit of punk rock that's fueled its music during the past seven years.
"It's funny," Biro acknowledges, "because contrary to the title of Live Life Loud, there are more acoustic songs on this album and more deep issues. I don't know if it's part of maturity or being four albums in, but we're definitely at a point where we can have fun -- a lot of fun -- but still go places that are a bit more serious."
And by doing that, Biro and his mates – singer-frontman Jason Dunn, guitarist Jonathan Steingard and drummer Justin Brenner -- have also crafted their most accomplished album yet, an 11-song set that sweeps from the manic to the mellow and all points in between. Dunn may sing "Can we get back to the basics?" in "Long Ago," but Live Life Loud's breadth speaks to a more advanced level of ambition.
"Stylistically, we're not one genre. You can't pinpoint us," Biro agrees. "Sometimes you struggle with a bands identity -- Who are we? What are we? Hawk Nelson has always been known for fun, lively, catchy, poppy hook songs. That's not a bad thing. That's something we've accepted. It's a big part of who we are. We're just trying to find out how to be the best Hawk Nelson we can be. That's what we've always really tried to do."
That exploration started in 2003 in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada where Biro and Dunn first played as SWISH before changing the group name after signing with Tooth & Nail Records via the patronage of Thousand Foot Krutch frontman Trevor McNevan, who's remained a friend and collaborator. Doors quickly flew open for the group, which was named Favorite New Artist by CCM magazine. Hawk Nelson has been nominated for a Grammy, Juno and GMA Dove awards, and its 2006 sophomore album Smile, It's The End Of The World, was named Modern Rock/Alternative Album of the Year at the GMA Canada Covenant Awards. The video for its song "The One Thing I Have Left" hit No. 1 on the VH1 Top 20 countdown, and the songs "Bring 'Em Out" (recorded for the film "Yours, Mine and Ours") and "The Show" have been used in commercials for NBC's "Sunday Night Football." Hawk Nelson also portrayed The Who in an episode of the NBC drama "American Dreams."
With all of their successes Hawk Nelson has also continued to give back to the community and those less fortunate. They recently partnered with TOMS shoes to provide shoes to children in Haiti as part of TOMS "One for One" initiative. For the band's effort, every pair of shoes purchased via Hawk Nelson's website equals a pair of shoes that TOMS donates to a child in Haiti towards the band's ongoing involvement with the Hands & Feet Orphanage. Hawk Nelson has also partnered with TOMS to release a shoe designed by the band in the fall of 2009.
Live Life Loud follows 2008's Hawk Nelson Is My Friend and its Grammy-nominated album package. The band decided to go back to where it all began and closed ranks in its current home base of Nashville. As Biro explains, "We were like, 'OK, what do we want to do. Forget what everyone else is saying. Let's go back to square one when we were in the garage and the church basement and find out what we love about doing this.' Let's just do what we've done, but do it better. "I think it was a normal re-evaluation point a lot of bands go through around this point in their careers."
This time out Hawk Nelson decided to go with producer Steve Wilson, with whom the group had worked on the Christmas EP Gloria with and hunkered down in his garage studio in Music City. "We really liked him," Biro says, "and working with someone who's young and hungry for it helped make us believe in music again."
Live Life Loud also marks the first time Hawk Nelson wrote songs by "getting together as a band and jamming together," though it also collaborated with friends such as McNevan and TobyMac. The album was recorded in two different sessions, bisected by a hectic touring schedule; a process that Biro says let the group gain some perspective as they were working. "We were able to sit back and say, 'OK, it doesn't quite feel like a record. What do we need?' So when the second session came around, it was more like filling in the blanks."
That was when some of the "more heartfelt" material started to surface for Live Life Loud. Dunn first wrote "The Final Toast" to sing at the funeral of his grandfather. "The Meaning of Life" grew out of a conversation with co-writer Matthew Gerrard. After hearing an inspiring hymn in church, the band felt it was time to do that type of a song, which brought "'Tis So Sweet" to the table; and they're still amazed that Wilson was able to find a bagpipe player in Nashville to give the song more sonic weight.
Hawk Nelson will continue to Live Life Loud as the album rolls out, maintaining its typically heavy touring schedule and giving the new album's songs a life alongside the others in its catalog. "There's nothing better than starting a song, new or old, and having people sing or shout it back to you," Biro says. "When they know it and they feel it, that's when it feels like a success."
