Hawthorne Heights at the Launchpad in Albuquerque

The Launchpad in Albuquerque is one of those cool places that manages to pull in a lot of great acts for cheap ticket prices (plus they have decent sound and a good crowd to hang out with).  Check out their calendar and you will see what I mean.  Also if you feel like verifying their pedigree visit the Launchpads myspace where they list all the awards they have won over the years.  Pretty impressive stuff.

The biggest band on the Launchpad calendar this month has got to be the boys from Dayton, Ohio indie emo-rock band Hawthorne Heights with support band PMToday for $8 on Monday July 19th.  Now granted, even though Hawthorne Heights is a lightning rod for music label law suits, they still are a gold and platinum selling band on a major label (Just not the one they were sued by.). Hawthorne Heights 2006 CD If Only You Were Lonely went Gold after reaching #1 on the Billboards Independent Albums chart and #3 on the Billboard 200 charts.  So to put that in a current perspective Hawthorne Heights being an indie rock band would have had the sales slot that the soundtrack to the retch inducing Glampire movie The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is currently at right now without the backing of a major motion picture pushing the soundtrack sales.  (Do not get me started on a horror movie geek out; we will all be here for days.).  And I would personally like you (and everyone else on the planet) to spend your 8 bucks to go see Hawthorne Heights rather than the cheekbone theater that is Twilight.

Honestly. I would rather you tie 8 bucks to a flaming hydrogen balloon before supporting Twilight.

Anyway, I digress, the Hawthorne Heights single on the If Only You Were Lonely CD “Saying Sorry” went Gold and hit #7 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart but for some reason I remember their hit “Ohio is For Lovers” being the radio mule the Colorado DJs kept whipping every hour.  The new album, their fourth, entitled Skeletons was released on June 1st.

With 4 other bands on the bill that night besides Hawthorne Heights the ticket price is a steal.  Now, I in no way want to diminish the other support bands on the bill: The Story Changes, Acidic and BeforeThisCity are all amazing players.  You dont open for Hawthorne Heights because you fell face first out of the mediocre tree, but the chatter on the music PR grapevine is that PMToday is about to get the “big” push.  That could mean diddly, or that could mean seeing these guys for a couple of bucks before they get plugged into the stadium tour machine (Like Hawthorne Heights will be again now that the legal trouble is over.).  Who knows?  Either way this is going to be an amazing night of indie rock music.