| |  | | "It's not a great representation of where we are right now," Robb says, "butthere were definitely times in the past when we were questioning how muchlonger we should do this, and if we had made the right choice to put offschool and to put our lives on hold.
"We didn't do any vacations," he continues. "Everything was 'band first.''We can't go out of town, because we've got shows to do.' 'We haverehearsal.' We put our lives on hold for a good five years just to begetting turned down by a lot of labels and, yeah, there was a lot ofuncertainty at that point. But we stuck with it."
Like their breakout single, Hoobastank's self-titled major-label debut (thefollow-up to their self-released They Sure Don't Make Basketball ShortsLike They Used To) is a study of life more than a statement about it.
"Give It Back," for instance, shares the inner pains of the giver in arelationship who never gets a chance to take. Some rock tunes might simplycondemn the enemy, but this doesn't focus on angst, instead spilling earnestlines such as, "I let you in and showed you all of me/ But you took it allthen trashed the place/ And I'm so sick of cleaning it up."
"This doesn't have to mean a boyfriend and girlfriend relationship. This isjust like friendships," Robb reflects. "There's always somebody that'sputting forth more than the other, and ["Give It Back"] was talking aboutthat. All of us have had some friends that you thought were a lot closer toyou, and you find out later on that they can care less about you. Youhaven't seen them in a year or two years or whatever, and you stumble acrossthem again and they act like they don't — you know, 'We weren't thatclose.' It kinda sucks."
While Robb is trying talk in a broad sense, he can't help put himself in thesong. Eventually, he reveals that some of "Give It Back," and even more of"Up and Gone," were inspired by a friend named Willie.
"Whenever I talk with Willie, we always have these really in-depthconversations and I come out either rethinking a lot of stuff on my own orover-examining the conversations themselves," Robb says. " 'Up and Gone' wasinspired by him, but it actually tapped into something that I really believein.
"It's about just having to grow up too fast," he continued, "and I know hedefinitely had to grow up too fast in a different lifestyle than I had to:rougher neighborhoods, without a dad and so on and so forth, gangs andstuff. It kind of reminded me about how much, nowadays, I see so many kidsin their teenage years trying to grow up so fast. You see them in the clubsand the bars and they just want to be older. And I really think there's acertain adolescence — and almost dorkiness — you have to gothrough in being a teenager to be content when you get to be an adult.There's a great period of time in there, awkward and uncomfortable, that Ithink is important for all kids to go through so when they get to their 20sor 30s, they're much more content with who they are and stuff like that.That's kind of what the song is about."
It's become pretty apparent why Hoobastank don't want to waste theirinterviews talking about Incubus (or Linkin Park, whose Mike Shinoda andBrad Delson went to junior high with Robb and Estrin). They have so muchmore to offer than stories of parking Incubus' cars. Estrin wants to talkabout how much the road makes you miss home. Hesse explains how Hoobastankwanted their first video to be a simple introduction to the band.Lappalainen jumps in with a story about "busting his knee" at the shoot.There is a collective interest in all things directly pertaining to theiralbum, which is only a few months old.
But, as a band that is "looking for answers," they are kind enough to giveone.
"It's my middle name," Lappalainen says of the band's moniker.
Estrin concurs. After a beat, he winks and whispers: "Only the four of usknow what it really means." 
For more Hoobastank check out Hoobastank A to Z.
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