Hawthorne Heights Brings Emo Festival to Denver With Alkaline Trio, PUP and More

Ohio isn’t the only place for lovers nowadays, thanks to Dayton-based band Hawthorne Heights. The longtime emo outfit’s 2004 hit “Ohio Is for Lovers,” boosted by a popular music video on MTV, is responsible for the Buckeye State’s unofficial motto (officially, it's Virginia's). After the song's corresponding album, The Silence in Black and White, went gold and Hawthorne Heights rose to stardom, the band became synonymous with the state, and the music now known as "Midwest emo" found its timeless anthem.

Lead singer JT Woodruff still can’t believe that a song based on “a very boring state, where nothing really happens good or bad,” has made such an impact on what was originally a regional alternative subgenre, full of groups content to play around the tri-state area or a nearby big city such as Cincinnati. After more than two decades making music, Woodruff says that seeing people around the world “singing about where we’re from” is “one of the most unlikely things that can ever happen.

“I grew up in a tiny town of West Virginia, so I didn’t think that I’d be doing anything, to be honest with you,” he adds. “But we’re here for it. We absolutely love it.”

That’s one reason that Hawthorne Heights started organizing its Is for Lovers Festival, bringing bands of the same ilk together for a day of laid-back revelry and nostalgia to cities around the U.S., including Denver.

The circuit has expanded to eight stops this summer and will be back in the Rocky Mountains on Saturday, July 22, at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre. Along with Hawthorne Heights, Alkaline Trio, The Story So Far, PUP, Four Year Strong, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, AJJ and One Flew West are on the bill, so don’t forget to update your MySpace Top 8 and break out the digital cameras.

The inaugural “Is for Lovers” fest started in, you guessed it, Ohio a year ago, with the idea of showcasing local bands, Woodruff explains. “There’s a lot of notable people in this little, tiny area,” he says of groups that include The Devil Wears Prada, Miss May I and The Breeders. “It just felt like we should be doing a show to help showcase the new bands, and people liked that.

“It just has steadily grown since then, based on, really, just our platform that we want the bands and the fans to all have fun at the same time. We want the backstage experience to be very easygoing in a high school reunion of sorts,” he continues.

That means there are no “closed backstage doors,” but a “big common area with a backyard barbecue-style setting,” Woodruff explains. Fans can find seats in the lawn area or move to the standing/pit area in front of the stage “if they want to come out of mosh retirement,” he adds.

“We just want them to have a nice, easy day with no hoops to jump through,” Woodruff says, explaining that the goal is to create “a chill vibe.”

“We think if the bands are coming across as chill, the fans will notice that, and they will also breathe easy," he notes. "There are no preconceived notions. There are no stiff or rigorous circumstances that you have to deal with. It’s a nice summer day.”

Each stop also includes local vendors and volunteers. In Denver, that means Ratio Beerworks is bringing back the popular Colorado Is for Lovers IPA. Huckleberry Roasters and Pandemic Donuts, two of Woodruff’s favorite local spots, are part of the festivities, too.

As far as the music goes, it’s a trip down memory lane for most. Woodruff knows it, and jokes that Hawthorne Heights has “a chance to be like the Jimmy Buffett of this generation” in that sense.

“We want to play whatever the fans want to hear. This is not our show. This is the fans’ show. They’re the reason that we’re here,” he adds. “We just want to entertain them and make them feel good and allow them to take some time away from harder things.”

So you can expect to hear such classics as “Niki FM,” “Saying Sorry” and, of course, “Ohio Is for Lovers.” Such songs have proved to a generation of elder emos that they can make it on their own, according to Woodruff.

“When they first heard this music, they were kids, and this music was to help people get through a tough time. You flash forward, and they’ve gone through those tough times and lived to tell the tale. Now this music has become more powerful to them because it did help them get through that, because it explained how they were feeling,” he says. “Now they can look at it with reverence and look back at how strong they were. This music still reminds them of everything that they went through and how they’ve made it to the other side. It always provides a light at the end of the tunnel, but it doesn’t provide the tunnel.”

While Hawthorne Heights has been busy making new music, including releasing single “Lucerne Valley” in March, Woodruff admits that one thing hasn’t changed too much since the band’s humble Ohio beginnings: "The angst is always there."

Colorado Is for Lovers Festival, 1 p.m. Saturday, July 22, Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre, 6350 Greenwood Plaza Boulevard, Greenwood Village. Tickets are $49-$228.