New Jersey’s Hidden In Plain View are offering a free acoustic track download on their website. To celebrate 10 years of their debut album ‘Life Is Dreaming’, they are offering the opening track from that album, ‘Bleed For You’ as a stripped down rendition.

The track ties in with their UK dates performing the album. The dates were announced by PT last month.

Paul: For the uninitiated, please give us a brief history of Hidden In Plain View the band.
Rob: Well we started out almost 4 years ago in New Jersey. Chris at the time was playing with 2 other guys ..they were trying to get a band off the ground. I was currently playing drums for another local NJ band and had really wanted to get into playing guitar and singing for a band. So I was invited down to a practice and really fell in love with our sound even after the first 2 hours things were really starting to sound great. The next time I came to practice and I brought my friend Joe down who used to sing with me in a highschool band. It sounded even better that day with the 2 vocals. After about a year of playing our drummer wasnt working out and another drummer stepped in. A year after that the other guitar player decided to leave the band to pursue school more seriously. At this point we got mike to play guitar for us. About 2 weeks later we started our friendship with Drive Thru Records and I guess it was about 6-7 months later we signed a contract with them. Shortly after signing our drummer left the band and like 2 days later Spencer fell into our laps…..he drove 14 hours from Atlanta Georgia to try out for the band and we knew after the first 10 minutes that we wanted him to drum for us. Now a year and a half later we are the best band we have ever been!

Paul: How would you describe your sound to someone who is yet to hear you?
Rob: I would say that our band is a diverse blend of rock and roll. We try not to ever write the same kinda song twice. On our newest record we have all types of songs….we tried to capture all different types of moods. We want people to listen to our record and feel like that they are watching a movie that is really moving them…..kinda take them on a journey of heavy to soft, fast to slow, dark to light….I think diversity is our greatest quality. We all listen to different types of music so its
natural that all of our songs come out soo different.

Paul: What influences your songs the most and is there a particular lyrical style that you like to bring across in your songs?
Rob: I just write about my life. I write about the people and events that surround me. I feel if I’m 100 percent honest in my words. If I keep it real then I know at least one person out there will be able to relate to me. I just want people to hear our songs and know that me and joe truly mean what we are singing.

Paul: How did you wind up on Drive Thru Records?
Rob: I knew Richard for sometime. I had met him on a tour with another band that I was in. We kept in touch and I sent him our demos. About 2 years into HIPV chris took it apon himself to email richard and set up a sort of interview. We rented a practice studio and Richard and Stefanie came down and watched us play a few songs. They offered us a deal on the spot……hehehe no not really…….actually our friendship just started to grow more from there and we sent them more demos. Richard actually had our demo in his car and I Stef borrowed his car one day and really liked the CD that she heard in his car. The CD was our demo and a few weeks later they offered us a deal…..It was one of the most memorable days of my life.

Paul: Besides yourselves of course, which bands do you think currently stand out on the DTR/Rushmore roster?
Rob: All the bands are great from what ive heard. Self Against City , Houston Calls…those are 2 bands Im really feeling…..hellogoodbye, halifax…great bands……the roster is amazing.

Paul:How did the recording experience differ between the new record and the EP?
Rob: We had the time to make a record this time….when we did the EP we only had like 4 days to record it betwween tours. But with the full length we got to move out to California for a month and really focus on our craft. It was great to be away from home….lose all distractions and just really be able to give 100 percent.

Paul: What was it like working with Jim Wirt?
Rob: Jim is a genius. He is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. I cant wait to make another record with him. He really helped us find who we are… he pushed us and made us find things in us that we never knew we had.

Paul: You’ve sold 50,000 copies of the EP, which is an amazing achievement. Did that exceed your expectations? If the album doesn’t do as well would that be deemed as a failure by the band?
Rob: We don’t thiink about numbers and that kinda stuff…we are just concentrating on playing music….we love to play live…if the record doesnt do well but people keep coming to our shows…then thats amazing.

Paul: Is there any specific meaning behind the new album title, ‘Life In Dreaming?’
Rob: We just liked the way it rang…it makes you think…it doesnt really make sense….in a literal way….you just have to think about it and making people think is great.

Paul: Having heard the new album, it seems to me that the band has grown up, both as musicians and as songwriters. Do you think this is a fair assessment?
Rob: Thank you!! Yeah we definetly grew up…..we went from being full time musicians who just got a record contract and have to record an ep….to full time musicians…who live an breathe music 24/7…..we got to learn sooo much about our selves in the past year…I think that added a huge part to our more mature sound.

Paul: Why did you decide to include ‘Twenty Below’ and did you consider re-recording any of the other ‘older’ songs for the new album?
Rob: We never got to give 20 below a real recording…the version off the ep was a super rough demo that we recorded in my basement in like 4 hours………we had to give the song justice.

Paul: What are your plans for 2005? I believe you’re back for the Invasion tour in May with all the other ‘H’ bands?
Rob: Yeah we will be back in the UK…we really love touring the UK….other plans for 05 are:
-Bamboozal Fest
-Japan
-Warped Tour
-SXSW
to name a few

Paul: You’ve toured the UK twice before (I think…), is there anything about the UK that you like/dislike?
Rob: The weather really starts to take a toll on my mood. But other than that I love the UK…everybody is always really friendly to us…and our fans in the UK are sooooo loyal…we love them soo much…jamie especially..

Paul: Fearless Records are currently putting together this ‘Punk Goes 80s’ compilation, if you could cover one (and only one) song from the eighties, what would it be and why?
Rob: we are doing “I ran” by Flock of Seagals…….because they have great hair.

Paul: If you could merchandise one item with the HIPV logo on it that you haven’t already, what would it be and why?
Rob: Coffee mugs…cause i love coffee and tea.

Paul: What would you say has been the highlight of your careers so far?
Rob: I think just being able to make our full length record….I waited my whole life to make that record….to this day I listen to it and Im so proud.