Hello/Goodbye on the microphone
By Whitney Weiss

I’ve been trying to get an interview with Hello/Goodbye ever since a friend from California first played them for me. I love the stuffing out of their catchy 80s bleeps and their stylish pop-punk. They are the musical representation of all that is summer, and it is impossible to listen to them without smiling. I finally got ahold of the group’s founder, Forrest Kline. He’s been pretty damn busy because they just got signed to Drive-Thru Records, but made time to do an interview via AIM. Be sure to keep an eye out this coming summer, when their debut on Drive-Thru is released.

Movement: First, congrats on getting signed and having your band featured on the Drive-Thru intro page.
Forrest: Thank you :-) It was exciting.
Movement: How did you end up choosing Drive-Thru?
Forrest: Well, I've known them all since my mid-teens, when I used to work there. And the whole band just loves the stuffing out of them. We feel very comfortable with them and just have a blast. And since I’ve got a long history with them, I trust them and know about their business. Plus we all know Drive-Thru is a big powerful label so that’s nice to have that behind you. Their fanbase is crazy and their roster is great.
Movement: that's really cool. What kind of job did you have there?
Forrest: I did graphic design and the website. I did the old uh really bright blue one... it was a little gaudy.
Movement: that's awesome. Are you in charge of the hellogoodbye site?
Forrest: Yup I am. I have a little complex where I wanna do everything I possibly can myself. You name it, I probably tried to do it.
Movement: haha. That’s quite understandable, I’m like that myself. Did you start the band as a solo thing?
Forrest: well not quite. I guess hellogoodbye rides a dangerous line between the two. It's really quite dangerous. I recorded these totally cheesy songs on my computer, for various purposes... like to give to a girl... or to uh give to a girl... and then my friends liked em so we got some shows on accident and started a band.
Movement: that is very cute. What was the first song you wrote as a band?
Forrest: as a band? I don’t think we’ve ever written a song as a band really... the first hellogoodbye song ever I think was "touchdown turnaround." It was all bad little midi keyboard sounds and not quite on time.
Movement: how does that differ than stuff you've been writing lately? Is the online EP from drive-Thru going to be new or old songs?
Forrest: well the EP has five songs, some of which are pretty dang old but are still new to almost everyone, others that aren’t that dusty yet. I re recorded everything though and it all sounds infinitely better.
Movement: very cool. What happens after the online EP? Is there a full-length planned?
Forrest: oh of course and that will be even more exciting! Hopefully we'll have the full length ready by the onset of summer or so. We’ll throw on the rest of the classics with about an equal amount of new stuff.
Movement: hurray! Do you know if "homewrecker" is going to be on your full-length?
Forrest: oh I’m sure it will
Movement: last summer was the first time I’d heard your music. A friend from California was playing it in his car when we bumped into him in Santa Fe, and it was just the perfect summer music, really happy and upbeat. So that summer release is perfect for you guys. What made you decide to write happier, dancier music?
Forrest: oh I don’t make decisions, I just make music.
Forrest: O:-)
Movement: that is a very quotable quote. Is the new stuff that will be on the full-length being written as we speak, or are you past that and onto recording?
Forrest: no we haven't started recording yet, but I've got all kinds of bits and pieces I’m gonna staple together. I’m really, really exciting to get working on new stuff. REALLY excited.
Forrest: and I almost always write as I record. It's a married process.
Movement: that is quite great. Now that you're signed, are you noticing that there are things you can get done that you might not have been able to do otherwise?
Forrest: oh most definitely, I couldn’t get anything done. We all wanna get a van and tour and release a record, but it requires some capital funding I certainly didn't have. Opportunities come knockin when you sign:-)
Movement: that's great, your music is way too enjoyable to not get heard by more people. If you could tour with anyone, who would it be?
Forrest: hmmmm I just don’t know. Ben folds. ya.
Movement: k. I remember seeing in the photojournal that you screen your own tee-shirts and a lot of other DIY stuff. What else did you do to get people aware of hellogoodbye, and to what extent is your involvement with merch and whatnot going to change now that you're signed?
Forrest: Ya I always printed our own shirts, and still did even for our last show. Not so much to raise awareness, but just cause it is fun to make a shirt! I’ve got the whole screenprinting set up in my back yard its soo great. I have a button maker too :-). Hopefully there will come a time, hopefully soon, when the demand for hgb tee's is more then I can print while still being productive otherwise, and when that time comes we will have to get them done elsewhere. I would like to keep making the shirt designs for the most part, and it would be cool if we just had limited edition ones made by us and stuff like that.
Movement: I hope you do get to that point, and I hope you still do your own limited edition ones.
Movement: have you been doing many interviews lately?
Forrest: Ya every once in a while.

(AIM implodes; the rest of the interview is done by email)

Movement: What HelloGoodbye show has been the most fun and why?
Forrest: We've had some really fun shows at the now-late Hub, just cause it’s always a lot of friends and
loved ones there. Our Chain show when we dressed in soccer outfits was fun cause we had short-shorts on. I always have fun.

Movement: On your site, fans can instant-message and Friendster you. Has anything really good or really bad happened as a result of that?
Some girl was gonna send me a bunch of tickets to Disneyland, but she never came through!

Are you guys on MySpace?
Right now actually... shoot.