www.lexingtonmusic.net recently hosted an interview with guitarist j-love. take a look!!!!!

How did Heartthrob come about and how long have you been together? Heartthrob started after a shitty Pop/Street Punk band called Reagan Love disbanded. We were just a bunch of high schoolers trying to play the snottiest, most obnoxious punk rock we could, also B.Love was the only one who was worth a shit on his instrument. I'm a drummer and at the time had just picked up guitar, so needless to say, I sucked quite a bit of ass. We heard a record by a band called The Bronx and immediately knew what we wanted to do. We went through quite a few member changes and then the band took a hiatus for about 5 months after the lead singer moved to Nashville. Our lead guitarist joined the Apparations, and our bassist got married and settled down. We found new members and are currently in the studio finishing up our record.   Do you guys share any of the same musical influences? We all grew up listening to punk rock. We all love a lot of west coast Fat Wreck Chords type bands (Bad Religion, NOFX, Rise Against, Propaghandi, Strung Out, No Use For A Name). We also all are into a shit-ton of metal, B.Love being the most metal of all is hard into black metal, death metal, and everything else metal (minus nu-metal). Matt and I are big fans of bluegrass, blues, and country. Johns a big fan pop punk, and currently Dragonforce. Please tell us a little about the songwriting process in Heartthrob. For the songs that we're recording, B.Love and I wrote them all when we had the original lineup. With the new lineup, one of us brings an idea or riff to practice and we all just expand upon it. We're all really hard up about song structure. A lot of bands these days just write riff after riff after riff, no structure and not even any repeating parts. We are completely against doing it that way. Your currently working on a new record. Where are you recording it and how's it coming along? Any release date set? We're recording at Nitrosonic studios in Lexington Ky with Brian Pullito of the Yellowbelts and the legendary 9 Pound Hammer. The whole thing is going great, Brian is the easiest and best person I've ever recorded a record with. The sound quality is better than anything I've heard locally in a long time. We recorded the must live because we're a rock n' roll band and our live sound is the best sound we can put out. We wanted a record that didn't sound like it was made on a computer. We wanted a raw, tough sounding record. We're looking at either October for a release date, or around Thanksgiving. What's your opinion of the Lexington music scene? Do you think they are any bands in Lexington worth the national spotlight? We have pretty fucking sad excuse for a scene in general. Some of the sub-scenes are doing pretty well however. The metalcore/hardcore scene is doing pretty well, with up to 500 kids coming out to DIY shows. When it comes to the bar scene, you basically have the bands that play at The Dame, and the bands that play at Avio. Most bands that play the Dame wont be caught dead at Avio, and most bands that play Avio wont get booked at The Dame. There's a few bands that are drawing very large crowds and could be doing some major shit on a national level. Bands like Parlour Boys, Sunday Valley, The Yellowbelts, In Endeavors Italya. And these are bands that are selling out the Dame, not just drawing a hundred people. For a regional rock band touring through the Midwest, what would you say is "the" place to play in Lexington? Absolutely The Dame. What's some of your favorite venues and bands you've jammed with outside your hometown? I love The Muse and Rockettown in Nashville, Cave 9 in Birmingham, The Backstage in Sommerset, Rhino's in Bloomington. We've all played with amazing bands at one time or another, Boys Night Out, Bear Vs. Shark, The Showdown, Never Is A Promise, And Bullets Fall, Upon A Time. Very often, bands reach a certain level of local success but aren't able to make it to the next level. What mistakes do you think bands most commonly make? No promotion, being lazy, not sending their shit out to people. Just being content playing in Lexington. You HAVE to tour, and tour your ass off. Nobody outside of Lexington has heard of 3/4's of the bands in this town because nobody plays out. What goals do you guys have for the near future? Touring, touring, touring. Getting with a manager, getting to Europe, touring more. Any last words for your fans? HEARTTHROB LOVES YOU. We don't consider people that like us or support us to be fans. We consider anybody that gives a shit about us our Friends. We don't have fans, only friends.