Hawthorne Heights — Hawthorne Heights

Hawthorne Heights started in Dayton, Ohio, in 2001, and for a few years in the middle of that decade they were one of the biggest emo bands in America. Their first two albums both went gold. Their second debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. They lost a bandmate in 2007, fought their label, started their own, and kept going. Twenty-five years on, they still tour, and in April 2026 that road brought them back to Adelaide.

From A Day in the Life to Hawthorne Heights

The band began as A Day in the Life, named after the Beatles song. Singer JT Woodruff formed it in Dayton with Jesse Blair, Andy Saunders, Josh Bethel and Andy Lazier. Their first demo, Four Bullets for One Girl, sold its run of 500 copies in two months. That got them onto Confined Records, which put out an album called Nine Reasons to Say Goodbye, and in the winter of 2003 they released a six-song EP, Paper Chromatography: The Fade from Dark to Light.

Then everyone but Woodruff left. He kept going with new players and a new name. Bassist Matt Ridenour passed a Hawthorn Inn & Suites on his way to work in 2003, added an "e" and the word "Heights," and the others agreed. The lineup that made the early records was Woodruff, Ridenour, guitarists Micah Carli and Casey Calvert, and drummer Eron Bucciarelli.

The Silence in Black and White

Victory Records released The Silence in Black and White in 2004. The band recorded it in about four weeks. Sales were slow at first, but then MTV started playing the video for "Ohio Is for Lovers," which Shane Drake directed. Radio followed, and so did a national fan base. It became Victory's best-selling debut. The album peaked at No. 56 on the Billboard 200, and "Niki FM" and "Silver Bullet" followed as singles in 2005. In the run-up to the next record, Alternative Press reported that the debut had sold more than 720,000 copies.

The sound was simple to describe and hard to copy. Woodruff sang the soft, wounded melodies. Calvert screamed behind him. Three guitars stacked on top of each other. Drummer Bucciarelli later said the band had "always been pigeon holed as emo or screamo," and that they would rather be called a rock band.

If Only You Were Lonely

The second album came out on February 28, 2006. David Bendeth produced it at Water Music in Hoboken, New Jersey, in late 2005. It's a concept album about a long-distance relationship, and it leans harder on the triple-guitar attack. The opener, "This Is Who We Are," borrows from punk. If Only You Were Lonely debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Independent Albums chart, and spent 17 weeks on the big chart. It's still their highest-charting album. The RIAA certified it gold in 2016.

The lead single, "Saying Sorry," went gold and reached No. 7 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart. Its video premiered through AOL Music in January 2006. The video for "This Is Who We Are" was filmed at the Minneapolis stop of Fall Out Boy's Black Clouds and Underdogs tour on April 14, 2006, and posted on May 25. That year they toured with Emery and Anberlin, played arenas with Fall Out Boy, and headlined the Nintendo Fusion Tour.

Reviews were mixed. AllMusic's John D. Luerssen praised "the riotous punk of 'This Is Who We Are'" and the "three-axe attack." Others found the songs flat.

The fight with Victory

In August 2006 the band announced it had left Victory Records, citing a lack of royalty payments. What followed was a long legal battle. In the end the two sides patched things up, and the third album still came out on Victory.

Losing Casey Calvert

On November 24, 2007, Casey Calvert was found dead on the band's tour bus in Washington, D.C., a day after their tour began. He was 26. The medical examiner ruled the death accidental, an interaction between prescribed medicines. Bucciarelli wrote that Calvert "wrestled with depression for as long as we knew him" and had finally got it under control, and that he "was not involved in anything illegal, nor was he a substance abuser."

Woodruff said they wouldn't replace him. "We won't add another guitar player or add another screamer," he said. "In our albums, it'll always say 'Casey Calvert: guitar/vocals.'"

Fragile Future, Skeletons and going it alone

Fragile Future came out on August 5, 2008, produced by Jeff Schneeweis. It includes "Four Become One," written about the loss, and "Sugar in the Engine," which ends with Woodruff speaking about Calvert. That summer they played Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour.

They then signed to Wind-up Records, and Skeletons arrived on June 1, 2010, reaching No. 50 on the Billboard 200. Carli took over the screaming. Victory released a best-of, Midwesterners: The Hits, that November.

In July 2011 the band left Wind-up and started their own label, Cardboard Empire. They planned a trilogy of EPs. Hate came out in August 2011 and Hope in June 2012. After signing with Red River Entertainment they paused the trilogy for a full-length concept album, Zero, released in June 2013, and played every date of that year's Warped Tour. Guitarist Mark McMillon joined as an official member. Hurt finally finished the trilogy in 2015.

The lineup kept changing. Bucciarelli left in 2014, and Carli left in January 2015. Woodruff and Ridenour stayed. Bad Frequencies came out through Pure Noise Records in 2018, and The Rain Just Follows Me, produced by Cameron Webb, followed in September 2021. They re-recorded their second album as If Only You Were Lonely XV in 2021, and released the Lost Lights EP in 2023.

Hawthorne Heights in Australia

The band have made the long trip south many times, and Adelaide has been on the route more often than not. They played Black Market in Adelaide on December 7, 2012, and came back to Black Market on April 15, 2016, on the Three Headed MonsTOUR. On January 23, 2024, they played The Gov, the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, on a bill with The Word Alive. The setlist that night was short and to the point: "This Is Who We Are," "Hard to Breathe," "Pens and Needles" and "Ohio Is for Lovers."

The Gov, April 2026

The big one came in April 2026. Destroy All Lines brought the band back for the If Only You Were Lonely Australian Anniversary Tour, marking twenty years of the album. New Jersey band Armor For Sleep came with them. Tickets went on sale in November 2025.

The five-date run opened at Magnet House in Perth on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. On Friday, April 24, it reached The Gov at 59 Port Road, Hindmarsh. It was an 18+ show, presented by Destroy All Lines, with doors at 7pm and special guests Armor For Sleep and Tapestry. The tour then went on to the Croxton Bandroom in Melbourne on April 25, Manning Bar in Sydney on April 26, and finished at the Brightside Outdoors in Brisbane on Tuesday, April 28.

Where they fit

Hawthorne Heights were never a Christian band, and they never claimed to be. But they toured with bands from the Christian rock scene, including Emery and Anberlin in 2006, and with Anberlin again in Canada that summer.

Their story is also one of staying power. They had a label dispute, a death in the band, members leaving and an industry that moved on from emo. They started their own label and kept making records. When they played The Gov in 2024, "Ohio Is for Lovers" closed the set, and they're still out on the road playing it.