The Silence in Black and White

Writing for the album commenced shortly after the band changed their name from A Day In the Life to Hawthorne Heights. The band had sent around 35 separate press kits to several potential record labels, receiving interest from a few of them, including Victory Records.[1] Victory had sent the band two generic response letters a month apart; drummer Eron Bucciarelli subsequently emailed the label and told them what the band had been doing since the letters' arrival.[2] Founder Tony Brummel contacted them the following day, asking when he could see them in person.[3] Six days after this, they played a showcase for the label, who gave them an offer shortly afterwards.[4] A month after this, all of the members quit their day jobs to focus on the band full-time. They recorded their debut album at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin and at Big Gold Studios in Chicago, Illinois. The sessions were done over 15-hour days across a five-week period. The recordings were mixed at Gravity Studios before the album was mastered by Dominick Maita at Airshow Mastering with Pro Tools engineer Dan Duszynski.[5]

Musically, the sound of The Silence in Black and White has been described as emo[6] and emo pop[7] drawing comparison to the work of labelmates Silverstein.[8] Woodruff said the name of "Life on Standby" referred to being in a touring band, having to "put your entire life on standby to try your hardest". He added that it acted as a valuable introduction to the band as a whole as it has "parts that are both dark and light". Woodruff wrote "Dissolve and Decay" for a friend of his that was having relationship issues, specifically being unfaithful to another friend of his. "Niki FM" was written after Woodruff read various album reviews in preparation for the response to the band's album. He noticed a theme where "every band I liked was getting torn apart" critically. It included a reference to Say Anything... (1989), which was Woodruff's all-time favorite film. "The Transition" was the first song they wrote after changing their name; the title alludes to this change. Part of its lyrics were influenced by Woodruff's girlfriend who had been studying in Europe for three months. The lyrics to "Blue Burns Orange" were re-written in the studio; Woodruff remarked that during the making of the album, none of the band members were sleeping or eating properly "so my dreams were really crazy. I just remember dreaming in black and white a bunch and really noticing it".[5]

"Silver Bullet" is titled after the 1986 movie of the same name, which was Woodruff's favorite horror film. He had written the lyrics while doing two jobs and attending college concurrently, and "felt like [the band] was going nowhere but a lot of things convinced me to stay with it".[5] The Boston Phoenix writer Mikael Wood thought the song was akin to hair metal with its "dueling guitar mini-solos, nonsense about getting shot through the heart, and plenty of cowbell".[9] Discussing "Screenwriting an Apology", Woodruff explained that movies can sometimes convey messages better than words. Some of its lyrics deal with Woodruff being irrational, while others are about his girlfriend being irrational. "Ohio Is for Lovers" talks about the band members' girlfriends, all of which lived in Ohio, who Woodruff wanted to pay homage to. "Wake Up Call" talks about Woodruff being insecure as a musician, knowing that his lyricism was going to be scrutinized. Discussing "Sandpaper and Silk", Woodruff said a person once "described our music as a great blend of sandpaper and silk. I thought that was kind of neat". It dealt with the music scene in Dayton, Ohio, and people that started hating the band as soon as they signed to Victory Records. "Speeding Up the Octaves" is about an on-and-off friendship that Woodruff had where his friend would become addicted to a substance, get clean and be addicted again.[5]

In May and June 2004, the band went on tour with Alexisonfire, Silverstein, and Emery.[10] It was released on June 8, 2004 through Victory Records. The album was the label's highest selling debut at the time of its release.[11] Two music videos were produced, one for "Ohio is For Lovers" in 2004, and one for "Niki FM" in 2005. They went on an East Coast US tour with Bayside, Burning Bright and the Break in September 2004.[12] In November and December 2004, the band supported A Static Lullaby on their headlining US tour.[13]

Hawthorne Heights embarked on their first headlining US tour in January 2005 with Number One Fan and labelmates Spitalfield and the Black Maria.[14] In February and March 2005, the group supported Sugarcult on the US Take Action Tour.[15] In May 2005, they shot a music video for "Niki FM" with director Major Lightner. A two-disc CD and DVD special edition was released on June 14, 2005, containing demo and acoustic versions of the tracks, live performances, and a documentary with footage of the band.[16] "Niki FM" was released to radio on September 27, 2005.[17]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
The Boston Phoenix	[9]
Punknews.org	[8]

The Silence in Black and White received negative reviews from critics, several who thought the band's sound was formulaic. Wood thought that "even if Silence offers fewer surprises than an entire season of Joey, Hawthorne Heights use their well-worn tools to build the occasional hard-hitting rock machine".[9] Rob O'Connor of Yahoo! Music wrote that the band were not "afraid of adding a little riffage to their attack arsenal", going on to praise Calvert and Ridenour's roles in the band.[18] AllMusic reviewer Stewart Mason wrote that the closest the band come to "originality is that they rip off bands in two different genres, trying to blend the pop-emo of Thursday, Jimmy Eat World, [...] with the glossy, commercial pop of bands like Good Charlotte". He add that Hawthorne Heights offered "absolutely nothing new" that those acts did not already do, but "what they do, they do pretty well. Most of the songs have reasonably catchy choruses, there are no particularly egregious mistakes or failed experiments".[7] Punknews.org staff member Brian Shultz wrote that the band "suffers in how much they water down the tempo", and praying that they "do SOMETHING to differentiate themselves" from their peers as they provide "nothing new musically or otherwise".[8]

The album peaked at No. 56 on the Billboard top 200 chart, No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart, and No. 4 on the top independent album chart.[19] The album has been certified gold status by the Recording Industry Association of America. Before the release of their second album If Only You Were Lonely in February 2006, The Silence in Black and White had sold over 720,000 copies.[20]

The band released a special acoustic 10th Anniversary release of the album, with all tracks being redone acoustically. Journalists Leslie Simon and Trevor Kelley included the album in their list of the most essential emo releases in their book Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture (2007).[21] Alternative Press ranked "Ohio Is for Lovers" at number 88 on their list of the best 100 singles from the 2000s.[22]

Personnel per booklet.[5]

Citations

Sources