By: Chris | Published September 2nd, 2009

Rock-Access: It has been a long road for Framing Hanley since the Embers Fade days. What have been some of the high and low points along the way?

Nixon: Um…. I think definitely for both of those questions the answer is the same. The low point was when Tim decided to pursue other options… you know he quit because of his health, but I also think that definitely the high point when Ryan joined the band. The stuff that we have been working on the past year and half since he’s been in the band is just… I feel we’re a different band from when we recorded ‘The Moment’. All five of us can’t wait to get back in the studio and track some new stuff! But on top of that, there have been plenty of awesome crowds and shows over the years. I remember when the very first tour out as support and there were some nights when we were lucky to see 100 people. When we first started doing our headlining stuff we didn’t know what to expect! I always say we’re just five punk ass kids from Nashville and we thought maybe 50 people a night! It’s been crazy… we’ve played anywhere to 50 people a night to thousands! It’s been an awesome journey!

RA: ‘The Moment’ is still gaining popularity, but has been out for a couple of years now. Has the band started working on ideas for the sophomore album?

Nixon: We actually finally had the talk we’ve been wanting to have with our label for the past year at the end of last week! We were going to stay out on the road for the rest of this year, but I think instead we’re going to take some time off and head into the studio in November and start work on it. We have a lot of stuff that we’ve been writing and some stuff that isn’t fully finished. We were tracking songs for the next record when “Lollipop” happened so that kind of put a hold on everything, but November is the plan and we’re going to try and get everything done and do a release in March.

RA: Will you be working with Brett Hestla again or have you chosen a different producer?

Nixon: Yeah, we’ve done a few demos’ with him already. I think in November we’re just going to get a house in Florida and just write for a few weeks. Since his studio is down there anyway if we have a song every couple weeks we can just go and track it. We’ve been writing our asses off on the bus and working on a lot of stuff. Like I said, with the addition of Ryan in the band, I’m really excited about the writing direction the band is taking!

RA: What does the next couple months hold for you touring wise?

Nixon: We’re going back out and do a run with our good friends The Veer Union. We’re going out west with them and Transmit Now – their out with us now – and a band called Janus. Their coming out as well. We’ve extensively toured the eastern part of the U.S. more than anywhere else. I think we’ve been out west once this year, so we’re going to go out there and just head back this way after that.

Nixon: Out west it’s not necessarily the same radio support that we have in other parts of the county, but at the same time places like Santa Rosa, CA. When we play there it’s always crazy! It seems for us the eastern states have always been really kind to us. Michigan has always been a great state and of course Tennessee because we’re from here and Florida. Those are three of our really good states, but like I said, we’re fortunate enough to call this a job. If we’re playing in front of five people a night it’s worth it. Especially when its thousands and thousands of miles across the country on another coast.

RA: Speaking of Michigan, it seems like no tour is complete without a stop at the Machine Shop in Flint. What do you think attracts so many bands there?

Nixon: I think really the best way to describe it is, I even told Kevin the owner this. They are the closest thing to like a CGBG’s bands have anymore. It’s that type of vibe. That was the very first place we played outside of Tennessee was Flint at the Machine Shop. Like you said, with a venue that is so prestigious, that was an awesome way to kick touring as a band. That city has been kind every time we’ve gone back it’s always sold out crowds. We’re actually going back there next week! Its a couple days before my birthday so I’m sure things will get out of hand that night! Stay tuned to YouTube ’cause we’re going to get Transmit Now with a pretty good prank out that show! They got us with stink bombs on our bus a few weeks ago so we’ve got a nice one lined up for them!

RA: How have the previous tours with Fuel, Evans Blue, Trapt, etc. influenced the band?

Nixon: I think really… the guys in Evans Blue really took us under their wing and show us what it was like to be a band on tour. We hadn’t even toured outside the state of Tennessee two and half/three years ago when we started touring! For that to be our very first tour ever with a band like Evans Blue, it was just unbelievable! We became good friends with all those guys. I think any band is selling themselves short when they go out on tour if they don’t expect to learn something from every band on that package. As far as an influence perspective we’ve taken things from every band we’ve toured with. I think it’s really turned us into the band we are today. Maybe sometimes it’s what not to do, but still you learn stuff from every band you tour with!

RA: Framing Hanely’s version of “Lollipop” has gained the band a lot of positive attention, but also a lot of grief from some people. Any regrets in releasing it?

Nixon: Naw man! I’ll be the first to say and I’ll never deny this. We were at a critical stage in our career as a band. There were some things going on and we didn’t know what was going to happen. We finally got the green light to work on some new songs and while we were there they were like “Hey why don’t you record the version of “Lollipop” that we heard on YouTube!” It put us back out there and really made things relevant again as far Framing Hanely was concerned. We weren’t just a band that came out fell by the wayside with a single with “Hear Me Now” that did pretty well then nothing followed up. I guess the best way to describe it is our record sales for ‘The Moment’ went up like seventy percent in the couple weeks after that was released as a single. That was before “Lollipop” was ever released to download. Our record sales without that song went up just an astronomical figure. With the radio support people heard it and found out who Framing Hanley was. Dude I remember when we had 3,000 friends on MySpace. If you had of told me two years later we’d be the number three band on MySpace I think it was for like a week, it was just crazy. It’s got to where it’s hard for us to keep up with it now. I used to be on there all the time, but now we have literally 2,000 comments waiting to be approved, and our internet has been out on the bus so…

RA: Speaking of MySpace, do you think the social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook and just the Internet in general have caused fans to kind of become disconnected with the fact that being a musician is basically your job? So when they chose to download your music instead of purchasing it eventually it opens up the possibility of no touring, no funds for new music etc.

Nixon: That’s a great great question! I think a lot of people do, and don’t get me wrong I don’t want to come across sounding like you know, but I think people feel like it’s kind of a sense of entitlement. If three hundred people send a message saying what’s up, unfortunately we can’t reply to every one of them because you’ll get at least two hundred back. We’ve always been a band that tries to stay in touch online, but we’re not as good as we used to be. But when you come to a show we’re going to hang out and talk with you at merch. It’s not as easy to do online anymore, but a large part of our success is due to the Internet so we’ve always tried to grind about.

I’m probably one of the few musicians around that will actually say it doesn’t really matter to me if you download or buy the record. Of course I’d love it if you do go and buy the record, but the majority of people don’t pay for music anymore. A lot of fans don’t realize that is how a band makes a living and part of the reason there isn’t really a lot of longevity in a career of a band anymore is because they’re not selling records. We’re always going to be a band that busts our ass on tour and if that’s what it takes to keep us alive as a band, we’re going to keep doing it. As long as you have our music, we’re cool with it.

RA: “Hear Me Now” was rereleased to radio as the follow-up single to “Lollipop”. Why did you decide to give that one another push instead of “23 Days”, “It’s Not What They Said” or one of the other tracks?

Nixon: It’s really funny that you mention “23 Days”! I was a huge supporter of releasing that song! “Hear Me Now” though we just felt that that was the song that started it all. It was the first song we did with Brett and really the birth of Framing Hanley so to speak. We all felt including the label that it a stronger song than it maybe got recognized as. Since we had gained more attention with the success of “Lollipop” we wanted to see if the doors were still open for an opportunity like, “Hey we write our own songs too!” It could go either way because some people say that song is maybe too extreme as far as an active song after one like “Lollipop”. I was a big supporter of “23 Days” because it’s more of an alternative song especially based at radio roots. “Hear Me Now” has done awesome. We were able to do a new video that I was very happy with. Mason [Dixon] and I sat down and discussed – you know doing a video based on what the song is actually written about. It’s at the point now that I’m just glad we have a song out that is keeping us out tour, but I’m ready in the studio!

RA: You mentioned the new video for “Hear Me Now”. How would you say the new one tells the story of the song versus the original version of the video?

Nixon: The original video we didn’t want to be flat out and say this is what the song is about. We kind of wanted to leave it open. With the new one it is still open and I love that because people can draw their own interpretation of the song. For me I wrote the song at a point when I realized that I had taken a lot of things growing up – answers for this, answers for that. It’s just the way life was. It was really about stepping out and trying to find those answers on your own and at the same time who are you to point out someone else’s mistakes. Like in the video, it shows we all have our own secrets and no one is perfect.

RA: “Alone in This Bed” was written in dedication to the band’s namesake. Is it hard to perform that one live given the emotion that inspired it?

Nixon: For me really, every time we play song I just get a different vibe in a good way. It’s always one I love doing live. It is my favorite song that we’ve done as a band it’s because of what it means to us. I remember the first time we played it live at our record release show in Nashville… just you know all of our close friends who knew Ashley and just singing along. I remember I choked up on stage and I’ve never had a song do that to me before and probably never will. I think that song is always going to be one we’ll look at and really say it you know that’s true to the definition of this band.

RA: That’s all I have… anything you’d like to mention?

Nixon: Hopefully man in March we’ll have a new record! Like I said, I can’t stress enough how enough pumped up we are to go into the studio! I think this will be something that really reenergizes our band.

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Framing Hanley’s debut album ‘The Moment‘ is available for purchase in stores and at digital retailers now. Visit their MySpace to stream music and for their upcoming tour schedule.