A Day in the Life, the band before Hawthorne Heights — A Day in the Life

Every band that breaks big has a first draft. For Hawthorne Heights, that draft had a different name, a different lineup and a Beatles reference for a title. It was called A Day in the Life.

Dayton, 2001

A Day in the Life formed in Dayton, Ohio, in 2001. The lineup was JT Woodruff, Jesse Blair, Andy Saunders, Josh Bethel and Andy Lazier. They took their name from "A Day in the Life," the song by the Beatles.

Their first record was a demo called Four Bullets for One Girl. It was pressed in a run of 500 copies, and those copies sold out in two months. For a local band with no label behind it, that was a real signal, and it brought A Day in the Life to the attention of Confined Records.

Nine Reasons to Say Goodbye

With Confined, the band released their album, Nine Reasons to Say Goodbye, in 2001.

The songs on this page

The five songs on this page are official audio uploads of A Day in the Life tracks from that period: "Audrey in Sacramento," "Until Her Heart Stops," "Control Alt Delete," "I'm Not Crying, My Eyeballs Are Sweating" and "Photograph."

Paper Chromatography

A Day in the Life released one more record, a six-song EP called Paper Chromatography: The Fade from Dark to Light, in the winter of 2003. Part of it was later re-released on the compilation From Ohio With Love.

From A Day in the Life to Hawthorne Heights

After some mild success, the whole band quit except Woodruff. He decided to carry on with new members under a new name.

The new name came from a commute. In 2003, bassist and backing vocalist Matt Ridenour drove past a hotel called the Hawthorn Inn & Suites on his way to work. He added an "e" and "Heights," and the rest of the band agreed. Hawthorne Heights were born in Dayton, the same city as the band they replaced.

Woodruff is still the band's lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, alongside Ridenour on bass and Mark McMillon on lead guitar. Nine Reasons to Say Goodbye came out in 2001 under the A Day in the Life name, so the band's story starts a little earlier than their first Victory Records album.

Why it matters

A Day in the Life is where JT Woodruff's story starts, two years before Hawthorne Heights took off. If you know Hawthorne Heights, start with "Audrey in Sacramento" on this page.