Born out of adversity at the turn of the century, Hollywood Undead have never been shy to tell it how it is.
Their music career has run parallels with their upbringing, set against the backdrop of a world in turmoil and armed with only your wits and music to combat the inherent evil surrounding and suffocating slowly.
By combining influences ranging from gritty 90s hip hop to industrial metal, Hollywood Undead have immersed themselves in their past to find their future, along the way recruiting a loyal fan base that connects as much with the band members as individuals as they do with their music.
Front man Johnny 3 Tears sat down with HEAVY to talk about Hollywood Undead’s new album Hotel Kalifornia which is released on August 12.
“We've been waiting to put this out for a while,” he smiled. “I think people are gonna be pleasantly surprised, man. It's one of our best... I guess every band thinks that it's their best record, or one of their best records, but I'll let people be the judge of that. I love it. It definitely ranks in the top few records we've put out."
Johnny stresses that although Hollywood Undead are known and loved for a set musical style, every writing and recording process is vastly different.
"We never really...,” he measured. “Honestly, when we write music we never go in with a particular direction in mind I don't think. We just go with the flow what everybody's going through and stuff like that, so I don't think there was a certain driving force or North star we were shooting for but it was an interesting time period. We started recording it right during peak COVID and stuff like that, so we'd all been stuck at home and doing what we could for a while. One thing’s for certain, there was a lot of enthusiasm going into it because at that point no-one really knew what the hell was gonna happen or if we were even gonna be recording at any point. The whole thing started out and it was gonna be a few weeks and a month, and a year and a half later... so we put a lot into it, because I think we learned a little bit of gratitude about being able to do it at all. When it's taken from you is when you realise that, so I don't think there was a divine point to the whole thing, but I think energetically speaking we had a lot of life in us, and we're really excited to get it going."
In the full interview Johnny talks more about the musical style of Hotel Kalifornia, the themes running through the album, connecting through music, the early days of the band and where they fit in, the bond the members share and how difficult it is to sustain in the cut-throat world of music, their current tour with Papa Roach and Bad Wolves, coming to Australia and more.