Hawthorne Heights

Hawthorne Heights came out of Dayton, Ohio, in 2001, first under the name A Day in the Life, and by the middle of the decade they were one of the loudest weeping voices in emo. The formula was simple and devastating: JT Woodruff's clean, pleading vocals up front, a screamed counterpoint underneath, and 3 guitars chewing through the melodies.

The Silence in Black and White, their 2004 debut on Victory Records, was a genuine commercial hit with "Ohio Is for Lovers" and "Niki FM", and If Only You Were Lonely in 2006 made the top 3 of the Billboard 200 with "Saying Sorry" and "Pens and Needles" leading the charge. Both albums went gold, and so did "Saying Sorry".

Then came the hard years. Rhythm guitarist and screamer Casey Calvert died in November 2007, leaving them a four-piece, and after a long legal fight with Victory they still ended up releasing Fragile Future through the label in 2008. Skeletons followed in 2010, then they launched their own label, Cardboard Empire, for an EP trilogy of Hate, Hope and Hurt, with the concept album Zero in the middle of it. Original drummer Eron Bucciarelli left in 2014 and guitarist Micah Carli in 2015, and the current band of Woodruff, bassist Matt Ridenour and guitarist Mark McMillon has kept going with Bad Frequencies in 2018 and The Rain Just Follows Me in 2021.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.