Hoobastank’s Dan Estrin on Obsession, Growing Up in Agoura Hills and Writing “The Reason” | Inside the Noise (S3, E8)

Before Hoobastank became an international rock band, guitarist Dan Estrin and singer Doug Robb were teenagers ditching class to grab Slurpees at 7-Eleven and recording what Estrin calls “stupid songs” on a Tascam four-track.

In this eighth episode of season three of Inside the Noise, Estrin joins Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto to revisit the Agoura Hills/Calabasas music scene that ultimately produced Hoobastank, Incubus and Linkin Park, and explain how relentless playing helped transform a teenage obsession into a career.

Early Years in the Suburbs

“Agoura Hills was like Little House on the Prairie,” remembers Estrin. “It was always beautiful. It just wasn’t as developed. For example, in high school, while most people [in other cities] were going to parties on Friday night, we’d be skateboarding, riding BMX bikes, going to the movies or hanging out at Denny’s.”

Agoura Hills/Calabasas music scene also provided a foundation for the future. Estrin met Robb, hung out with future Linkin Park members Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson, and watched Incubus evolve.

“Back then, Incubus was the most experienced and advanced band,” says Estrin. “They had their stuff dialed in really early on.”

Slurpees, Alice in Chains and a Tascam Four-Track

“Doug and I were just friends,” says Estrin about Hoobastank’s beginnings. “We weren’t playing music together yet. But we were driving to 7-Eleven to get some Slurpees, listening to an Alice in Chains song in the car. Doug was singing along, switching between Layne’s lead vocal and Jerry’s harmony vocal and I thought, ‘This guy seems to know more than anyone else I know.’ I also learned he was the driving force in the bands he was in. We kind of gravitated towards each other, and we started recording stupid songs on my Tascam four-track. That snowballed into what became Hoobastank.”

No Smartphones. No Social Media.

Without smartphones or social media competing for their attention, Estrin says music became the obsession.

“Our ‘drug’ was getting in a room and playing music,” says Estrin of growing up without social media. “We’d plug in, play guitar, try things, fall on our faces, get back up and start setting up concerts and performing. That’s all we wanted to do. I feel if you stick with it, I believe you can get better. If you’re really obsessed with something, that’s one of the key things to success. I was like, ‘This is what I’m doing. This is the most important thing to me.’ I had something driving me and I was extremely passionate about it.”

Writing “The Reason”

“I plugged into my Pro Tools system, dialed in a guitar sound on my Line 6 POD and started noodling around,” explains Estrin about demoing the band’s most commercially successful song. “I came up with the initial guitar part—my hand just kind of landed on it. I thought it was interesting, but I needed a chord progression, so I started finding the line’s root notes to possible chords. It came together kind of quick. I programmed my Alesis drum machine to it and started playing everything else. When I got to the chorus, I didn’t have a vision for the vocals or lyrics, but I knew that was Doug’s job and he’d hear something. I had an overdubbed guitar part in the chorus and Doug said, ‘That octave line melody you're playing—I'm going to use that as my vocal melody.’ It was just something I overdubbed, but it became the chorus.”

Obsession Can Change Everything

“When I listen to an album or a song like ‘The Reason,’ and then rewind five years before that, I’m like, ‘such a tremendous growth,’” says Estrin. “You don’t know what can happen in five years if you lock in and become obsessed with it. You just never know.”

Get the Whole Story on Hoobastank’s Rise from the Suburbs to International Stardom

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