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Entertainment
SUM The Battalion
Page 5 • Tuesday, April 6, 2004
One ‘priceless’ internship
Hoobastank discusses Mastercard intern program, Campus Invasion Tour
By Nishat Fatima
_ THE BATTALION
tying..
or spon In a bizarre mixing and fusion of linguistics, a
lazineiJyiung man sporadically stood up at a ball game,
;M a[i looked around in a swaggering, flustered manner
and asked in a loud and mumbled voice, “Man!
ig upi'J'ho butt stank?”
ncam I ^' s anecc f° te ' s one °f many that the alterna
tive-rock band Hoobastank has employed to con
fuse the press as to how the band came up with its
well-conceived, yet more-baffling-than-Boy-
George band name.
JUStgOill ..f he first
year we were out (on the music
a " ai scene), we probably gave out a hundred different
t0 " ir answers to that question to have fun with it,” said
nexl 1 : Doug Rob, lead singer and lyricist for the band.
■■ Ijd“We try not to take ourselves too seriously. But
azedtli really, the name doesn’t mean anything to us other
ingtohlan it being the title of the band.”
1 Aside from creating a mystery around the ori-
g ns of its band name, dishing out multi-platinum
sngles and supporting its latest record, “The
■eason,” Hoobastank will be spending the next
rc pw months with the intellectual demographic:
LhL oflege students.
ESI While the band is the headliner for the 2004
I MTV Campus Invasion Tour and an active recruit
tY'Rock the Vote,” Hoobastank is also in collab
oration with MasterCard Inc. to create the non-
i ptofit “Priceless Internship.” The national summer
f i temship, which will be awarded to 16 students,
uillbeafour-week sojourn in Los Angeles, Calif.,
pest Fart sxjnsored by MasterCard, to help the band create
morefc is upcoming music video.
idstrl When the program was brought to the band’s
iLonglslttention. Rob said the band members were imme-
ind ratiiately attracted to the idea,
it. Fte’l “While we were on the road, we got
a staislpproached by MasterCard,” Rob said. “Not
il taler: everything we get approached for is as interesting
leaching Indcool as the internship offer. It will allow us to
i Wrigtl Beep the fans involved creatively as well. We saw
Wrigr: las a win-win situation.”
istinMl Rob said that to become a candidate for the
hascawjlntemship, students must write a 250-word essay
^^■kussihg what their ideal career in the music
j late Ja
or “C®
to the
industry would be. He said the internship will be
tailored to help students make their first step into
the music business.
“The only trait we are looking for is someone
who is creative; someone who wants to do this
career-wise and not just to take pictures with the
band,” Rob said.
Chris Hesse, drummer of the band, said the
interns will have to face the less glamorous ups
and downs of a video production set.
“The students will have to deal with what
everyone likes and doesn’t like,” Hesse said. “It
will be a real life experience of how music videos
are made. But they will have as much input as any
member of a production crew.”
Rob said fans seeking to use the internship
opportunity to simply engage in debauchery with
the band should look elsewhere.
“Seeing as how I barely hang out with my
family and close friends, I would honestly say
there won’t be much hanging out with the
interns,” Rob said.
Hoobastank bassist Markku Lappalainen
said this fact is not discriminatory toward the
interns because the band has consistently kept
its relationships with members of production
crews professional.
“We normally don't hang out with the directors
or crew after a shoot is over,” Lappalainen said.
“It’s more business than anything else.”
Muniba Riaz, a freshman biomedical sci
ences major, said the internship can lead to
many possibilities for those aspiring for success
in the music industry.
“I think the opportunity will definitely be a step
ping stone in the long way up there if the interns are
smart and make the most of it,” Riaz said.
The video creation process is an important
one because it allows a song to a come full cir
cle, Riaz said.
“It’s great that the internship is allowing fan
input on a video because music videos are a criti
cal point in selling a song,” Riaz said. “Videos are
like the last piece of the puzzle.”
Rob said videos also help artists connect with
their audiences.
Photo Courtesy of • HOOBASTANK
Hoobastank (from left to right) Dan Estrin, Markku Lappalainen, Doug Rob and Chris Hesse, are currently on the
2004 MTV Campus Invasion Tour and are working with MasterCard Inc. to give 16 college students from across the
country a summer internship in Los Angeles, Calif.
“Videos are important because they help the
audience understand the vision the artist had in
mind,” Rob said. “Personally, one of my favorite
videos of all time is ‘Buddy Holly’ by Weezer. Its
sheer humor quality is amazing.”
As for Hoobastank’s involvement in the 2004
MTV Campus Invasion tour, Rob said visiting col
lege campuses across the country has been a
refreshing experience.
“The tour has been going really well,” Rob
said. “It’s nice to play for an hour and a half rather
than the 45 minutes of stage time we got when we
were on tour with Linkin Park.”
The band’s involvement in the tour includes the
opportunity for its members to be active spokes
men for the “Rock the Vote” campaign, which is
geared toward getting college-age citizens to vote
in political elections. Hesse said that although the
premises of the band’s material is rarely political,
they still viewed the “Rock the Vote” opportunity
as one beneficial to their fans.
“This band usually isn’t the one to stand on the
soapbox and preach about issues, but voting is
what our country is based on,” Hesse said.
“Everyone should realize how vital voting is.”
The band’s Texas stop for the 2004 Campus
Invasion Tour, which also features supporting acts
the Lost Prophets and Ima Robot, will be in San
Angelo at Angelo State University on April 15,
which is also the deadline for the Priceless
Internship. For more infomiation on how to apply,
go to mastercard.com. ^ |
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The Top 1 0
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