Ohio rock band Hawthorne Heights played common grounds on Sunday (Nov. 22).  INsite was there to talk to lead singer JT Woodruff and to enjoy the band's music.  Read on.

By Jon Silman; Photos by Sarah Hsu

JT Woodruff, lead singer of Hawthorne Heights, is standing at the merch table when I walk into Common Grounds at around 8 o' clock on Sunday night. He looks like he's in disguise with a black cap, polo shirt (red rim around sleeves) and black rimmed glasses--and a mini Groucho Marx mustache.

"Are you doing 'no-shave November?'"

"Yeah," he said. "But just the mustache part."

"How do you feel about the turnout tonight?" (Medium-sized crowd).

"We've never played in Gainesville before, so we don't really have a base crowd here."

The logistics of this are complicated to me. I asked him for a picture and walked away to get Sarah (our photographer). He left the merch booth and came to me. I thought that was a very polite thing for him to do, and definitely wasn't expecting that. Just like in the interview I had with him a few days ago, he is polite and engaging. We took three pictures because I didn't like the way my hair looked. I apologized for being so vain-- he didn't even bat an eye.

Just Surrender played before HH. The band is from Dover Plains, NY. They play frenetic "emo" rock. Emo is kind of a post-punk rock movement, and it's characterized by high-pitched singing, chunky guitar parts and upbeat drum lines with pauses and breaks. HH are sort of the champions of this particular sub-genre of rock, slamming onto the scene in 2004 with their hit "Ohio is for Lovers." Then Fall Out Boy somehow became the world's biggest band for a minute, and the marketplace was flooded with whiny/screamy bands all talking about the pain of something or the other (FYI - "powerpop" is a euphemism for emo).

Rock music is like a snake that sheds its skin every three years or so.  Recently, this emo movement has mutated into a darker, edgier tone as evidenced by bands like Brand New and Thrice and even Taking Back Sunday.

Gainesville is probably one of the trendiest places on earth and bands that aren't indie or Daughtry have trouble filling venues.

You can immediately get a sense of how good a band is by how "full" they sound. If sound is density, HH makes concrete. There's also the relationship between loud and soft tones, which is hard to quantify, but if during a soft part you can close your eyes and visualize flying white birds, then you're listening to a good band. JT uses his whisper/whine technique to create an interesting dynamic.

Three songs in and it's apparent why this band is so good. They're tight and precise. Guitar player Micah Carli does a good job of setting atmosphere with his impressive stinging vibrato notes and shining guitar lines. He also has inherited the duty of screaming--a post once held by deceased member Casey Calvert. JT and Micah play harmonic notes together and create bright spots of sound. The crowd is receptive, and JT and company are most impressive when they play their hits "Nikki FM" and "Ohio is for Lovers."

Drummer Eron Bucciarelli hits his drums with such intensity that the floor close to the stage continuously vibrates, and after the band finishes its set my feet continue to pulse, and my ears sting with sharp bells. Before the last song, JT tells a joke.

"I put Tim Tebow on the guest list, but he didn't show," he said. "I guess I won't vote for him for the Heisman."

"He's with Jesus!" An audience member yells.

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