Hit the Lights
by Daniel Robert Epstein for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

Hit the Lights is a hot new rock band that’s made a big impression this past summer as part of the Warped Tour. Their album is called This Is a Stick Up... Don't Make It a Murder and I got a chance to talk to guitarist Omar Zehery.

Buy This Is a Stick Up... Don't Make It a Murder

Daniel Robert Epstein: You psyched about the Warped Tour?

Omar Zehery: Yeah dude, definitely. We’re doing two weeks in West Coast which is rad because we really haven’t been out west that much so it should be a good opportunity for us.

DRE: Have you guys been on the Warped Tour before?

Omar:: We’ve played random dates, in Ohio where we are from, and then we were on some dates on the East Coast last year, but that’s really it. The first time we got on was a through a contest thing. This is going to be our first time having a long run on it.

DRE: Did things pick up after the last time even though you only played a few dates?

Omar:: Yeah, definitely, since then we got signed to Abaca Records and have been touring full time since then.

DRE: Are there other bands that you guys want to go see?

Omar:: I’m not sure about what bands are playing the leg that we’re on, but I know we’ve got some of our friends’ bands that are going to be out, which is rare. We’re looking forward to that; we’re down for the hang

DRE: What do you guys enjoy about being on the Warped Tour the most?

Omar:: I seem to think it’s the hang. We’re definitely party dudes and stuff and a lot of our friends are going to being hanging out on it too. So everybody’s just really looking forward to going down with all of our dudes.

DRE: What was the inspiration for This is a Stickup?

Omar:: I don’t know how to say it without sounding like a shady person but it’s from Bum Fight. Nick [Thompson], our guitar player, was watching Bum Fights and that is a quote from it.

DRE: Are you guys big Bum Fight fans or did you just happen to see one tape?

Omar:: Yeah. We’re not avid collectors of the DVDs or anything like that, it was just one of those things like in passing. Somebody that puts out those DVDs contacted us about using our music for the DVD, we are pretty stoked about that.

DRE: Have any of the bums said “That’s my line”?

Omar:: No. I’m waiting for that stuff to come back and bite us in the ass, like some dude had it copyrighted or something.

DRE: Some homeless guy.

Omar:: Yes, some homeless guy is going to come looking for us. We’ll probably hang out with him.

DRE: He’ll be on the Warped Tour I’m sure.

Omar:: Yeah, totally. He’ll be selling shirts of Hit The Lights on the Warped Tour.

DRE: What was the inspiration for the album itself?

Omar:: Some songs were from our EP and others we’ve been writing over the last year. Us getting signed came about really fast so it’s just songs that we’ve had and songs that we wrote for the record after getting signed.

DRE: What’s the writing process for you guys?

Omar:: It’s really random. The other guitar player Nick and I come in with a part and everybody really develops it. It is a long process but everybody has their fingers up inside of it.

DRE: Is it a very democratic band like that?

Omar:: Yeah, definitely.

DRE: How’d you guys come to that conclusion that it should be like that?

Omar:: It’s really natural. Sometimes it takes longer and people get pissed and people’s feelings get hurt but at the end of the day everybody’s really stoked whenever we finish a song.

DRE: How’d you hook up with [producer] Matt Squire?

Omar:: We’re big fans of records that he’s done like with Northstar. We decided to go with him after we heard Receiving End of Sirens record, which is this fucking insane awesome record with so much stuff going on.

DRE: How was it dealing with a producer for the first time?

Omar:: It was great because for our EP we didn’t have real producers. They were half-assed and Matt is the next level of who we wanted to work with. He’s the type of guy that really motivates his band and creates this awesome atmosphere that makes you want to make a good record. So that was like a really fun time for us. I can’t wait to go back to the studio.

DRE: On the internet someone was commenting on your band and a few others. They were saying that emo bands, always have at least three words in their name and one of the words is either an appliance, an instrument of alarm or geologic phenomenon, and that one of the words in the name is an action verb.

Omar:: That’s perfect. We fit that description man. I think Hit the Lights is a pretty fucking rad name. It’s pretty actiony and it’s a Metallica song on top of that so I think that’s where we’re different.

DRE: What’s up with the obsession with King Ralph? That movie sucked.

Omar:: Listen, it’s just a good fucking movie dude. John Goodman, solid actor, plot, really good. It’s just an all around good movie.

DRE: Do you think you’re all going to become kings of England?

Omar:: Yeah, it’s definitely a great fantasy but I don’t know how easy it’d be for me to do that.

DRE: What do you know about Suicide Girls?

Omar:: I know that I’m too poor to afford a membership but I’d like to have one. If there’s like any strings you can pull or something.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Hit+the+Lights/