Jason Hook's Freedom Of Creativity Soars With Flat Black

gene simmons, paul stanley, sideways, I'm music magazine, jason hook, flat black, five finger death punch, KISS, dark side of the brain, corey taylor, wes horton, wrex horton, rob pierce, nicholas diltz, falling in reverse,jay ruston, nothing to some, godsmack, sully erna, a bit of lightning, halo,

Taking a leap of faith is not always an easy thing to do. Imagine being in a famous band, touring the world and playing for hundreds of thousands of people. Yet, you’re not happy and your creativity is being limited. That’s a shortened version, but why Jason Hook left Five Finger Death Punch to start something new. That was 2020 and Covid had just shut the world down. That gave him plenty of the time needed to find the right pieces to his new puzzle. Enter Wes Horton on vocals, Rob Pierce on drums, Nicholas Diltz on bass and the formation of Flat Black. The band started releasing videos last year and had released a total of five before their debut album Dark Side of the Brain was released on 7/19 with a sixth dropping on that day. We sat down with guitarist Jason Hook the week before its release to get the band’s history and much more.

Dude, I have to start out by asking you about your bad-ass head tattoo. At what point of the making of the album did you get it?

Jason Hook/Flat Black: I don’t know if too many people know this yet and I’m actually surprised it hasn’t come up. The album title is on my head (laughs). I got that last year right before we went out on tour. We were struggling with all sorts of ideas for the album title and what the imagery should look like and all that sort of stuff. When we all decided that Dark Side of the Brain was going to be the name of the album, I went ahead and had it tattooed on my head. And what can I say? It hurt like shit!

Of all of the songs on the album, why did you decide on that one?

It had less to do with the song itself. It was just on the list of potentially cool album titles. I had a lot of album title ideas but we were having a hard time agreeing on what to call it. The band had an idea, the manager had an idea, the record label had an idea and we just couldn’t all arrive on something unanimous. I’m a big fan of plan on words. I had that one and another one Appetite for Perfection (laughs) which may get used at some point. We finally decided on Dark Side of the Brain because doesn’t everyone have a little dark side in their brain circuitry somewhere?

Oh yeah, some more than others.

Exactly, the ones that have too much are in prison.

That tattoo jumped out at me in one of the first pictures that I saw. I remember thinking that had to hurt like hell and man, that’s dedication.

You know it brother.

How did you choose your bandmates?

It was a very fun period for me because coming off of my prior situation I had a little bit of clout as far as getting people interested in the potential of a new project. Having said that, I just started reaching out to people. I was very specific though because I wanted to find unknown Gretskys for what it’s worth. I wanted to find guys who were excellent players and preferably good background vocals and the whole package. It was during the pandemic and everything was shut down so that afforded me the time to be patient and look for the right people. I did and I got very lucky because each guy was exactly what I was looking for. It’s an incredible cast of talent and it’s worked out so well. I couldn’t be happier.

Was Wes still in Falling in Reverse when you contacted him?

Yes.

Wasn’t he playing bass?

Yes.

So, what was it about this bass player that made you think this is the guy to front my band?

I spent a couple of years looking for a singer. To me, it’s make or break. It’s the one role that you can’t get wrong. If you have great music but the singer isn’t great then it can mess the whole thing up. So, I had to be very patient with that. A mutual friend of ours called me and asked if I was still looking for a singer because they knew someone who would be perfect for my new group. Quite honestly, I had heard that so much up to that point that I really didn’t have a lot of high expectations but you can’t afford to say anything but let’s check it out because you never know when the right guy will appear. This was a female friend who had worked for my prior band and she was out working with Falling in Reverse. She was friends with Wrex who was the bass player in Falling in Reverse. She said that this kid was on bass but he sings like a mother fucker! I flew them both out to my place in Vegas on one of their days off. I was showing him the songs, having him sing some stuff and I could tell that there was something there extra special. I asked him if he’d be interested in joining forces to create a new band and ironically I finally found somebody that I wanted but he was hesitant because he really enjoyed being in Falling in Reverse and it was a very, very high level prestigious gig for him. How do you walk away from something like that for an unsigned, unproven, non-working band? It’s something very hard to commit to. Several months down the road it turns out that he was no longer in Falling in Reverse and that’s where I got wind of that and I called him right away. I told him that I knew he was now available and if he was interested and that’s where it all started.

You left in 2020, so do you remember when you actually decided to start on getting this going?

Pretty much right away; I took a little time to stretch my legs and catch my breath. I’ve been playing in bands my whole life so this wasn’t really that daunting. I just didn’t really want to rush it. Just because I’m not with the other group means I put my guitar away forever. That would be illogical. I was actually excited because this is an opportunity for me to do what I want and have freedom doing it. That’s kind of what I was looking for anyway and here we are.

Being a huge KISS, they have always been a very visual band even in the non-makeup years. How image conscious are you? Every pic that I see of you guys is pretty bad-ass and you definitely always look like you’re a band.

I’d like to emphasize that first and foremost it’s about getting musicians and playing music obviously. But having said that is what having interacted with these individuals, I related more to the guys who were on their “A game” over all. Winners, healthy minded people you usually find musicians who come with the whole package by default I picked guys who are like minded and we all have this kind of image or look which is great because I want this thing to be a formula one race car. Slick, mean, aggressive and I want to be in first place.

Concerning the “Nothing to Some” song, it’s like which came first the chicken or the egg. Did you want to do something with Corey (Taylor) and then wrote this song or did you write it and then though he would be perfect on it?

I had the track, just the music done. I had dinner with Jay Ruston who did Corey’s CMFT albums. He said if I ever want to kick around some music come to his studio in Los Angeles. I was there for the week working on some tunes with Jay and Corey Taylor pops up in my text message. I don’t really know Corey that well and certainly hadn’t talked to him over the phone. I guess Jay passed along my number and he hit me up and we sort of hit it off right away. He was asking me what my plans were and I told him that right now I was on my own, writing music. The long term plans were to assemble a band but right now I don’t have anyone that I am working with. He told me that when I was done there to send him whatever it was that I was working on because he wanted to hear it. So I sent him the music that we had done in Los Angeles and he said it was great. He said if I was interested that he’d write with me. If I didn’t have anyone to help finish these ideas that he’d help me. I’m sitting there blown the fuck away because Corey Taylor is a very busy guy and a very successful guy. He doesn’t need me at all but he offered to help me. I’ll never forget that offer to help me because it really made an impact. He didn’t need to do that and it really lifted my spirits at the time. I was by myself and lost; there’s a lot of uncertainty when you leave a really big situation and now you’re sitting by yourself. We ended up doing five songs together and when it came time to pick songs for the record, I always liked that one. I think it ended up being one of the heavier songs that we worked on together. I was really hoping that he’d agree to be on the record and I told him that I was really hoping to use “Nothing to Some” and he said ok.

He is such a great guy! Speaking of cool guys, you guys went out on the road with Sully and Godsmack. I don’t think a lot of people realize just how nice of a guy Sully is and how giving he is. What were those shows like for you guys?

I’ve said this many times before but Sully Erna is a force. He is obviously a goliath talent and a very successful fellow. On those kids of tours, those big legacy headline tours, everybody and their brother are trying to get on those tours. They pick those opening acts very carefully. Here’s a guy who took a chance on us. When we started with Godsmack we had zero monthly listeners, zero. He took a chance and said he’d help us and we got to play in front of Godsmack’s audience for a couple of months which really helped grow the band quickly. It’s much better to play in front of 10,000 people who don’t know you than to play in front of 200 people who do know you. He really kick-started the whole awareness around the band and I’ll be forever grateful. Plus, I became a newborn Godsmack fan. Their live show is second to none and Sully is a master frontman. I learned a lot and became really good friends with all of them. We got invited back so it must have been good for all of us.

You guys are heading back out with them in October so you must have done something right.

Yeah, I feel really lucky.

You’re doing some headline dates as well. I’m sure you guys are looking to add to those?

Now that the record is coming out, the only thing left to do is tour our balls off and I’m looking forward to it. Right now, our biggest hurdle is awareness. There are some people out there who don’t even know that I’m not in the prior band. Now, we just need to do the heavy road work and get out there, meet people and play in front of them. It’s about touching the minds and hearts of all of the music lovers out there.

“Back in the day,” when you waited for a band’s new album to drop you got one song to tease you as you waited. You guys have dropped five tracks and videos for each. The one that I wanted to ask you about was my favorite one “Halo” on top of The Plaza. How difficult was that to secure to use?

I want to say that our manager has a relation with the casino or hotel and paid a favor. We went right to the top of the building and not where the public is allowed to go to because there’s no pool up there. That’s where the satellites and the air conditioners are. We had to haul all of our Marshall stacks and our cabinets and the drumkit and all of our shit up there. It was up staircases, through a small hole, over a few beams and over the lights. It was a pretty gnarly setup and I loved it. It was like we were going to shoot something that had never been done before and play in a part of the hotel that’s virtually off limits. We had a drone operator up there that ended up being the drone operator for the Las Vegas police department. He was flying the drone through our legs and stuff; it was crazy! We also hauled up a bunch of stuff to blow up which I liked. It was one of the more fun and creative videos that we got to do. It wasn’t cheap either (laughs)! EDITOR’S NOTE: There’s also a drone version of the music video. Check it out HERE

Dude, it definitely doesn’t look cheap! As much as I hate to end this talk, I see that we’re about out of time. We like to end our interviews with something called Three for the Road which are the really hard questions now that we loosened you up with all of these easy ones. First off, do you remember who your first celebrity crush was?

We’d have to go back many years (laughs). Honestly, I don’t. I remember the Farrah Fawcett poster was pretty popular back then. I know a lot of guys who had a crush on Princess Leah, Carrie Fisher. I like Megan Batoon.

If you could have any celebrity, cartoon character, literally anyone be your inner voice, who would it be?

Interesting, I’ll go with Gene Simmons. He’s such an interesting character. I admire the KISS guys because, like me, they’re extremely hard working guys. Their career went up and down and obviously it wasn’t always great but they never gave up. They just kept their heads down and work, work, work, work. I relate to that in a really big way. I also think Gene has a really great sense of humor. When I watch both those guys, Gene and Paul, I’m so inspired by who they are as people and what they’ve managed to accomplish through thick and thin.

Last one, what’s your most treasured piece of KISS merchandise?

Good question; I have two KISS pinball machines. One is from 1978 and has been fully restored. I would say that’s probably my most precious piece. I also have the 2017 Stern machine. I can’t remember exactly what year they put those out. That’s such an incredible game with all the bells and whistles. It plays music and it has them talking and they say next ball and try again. It’s pretty cool.

I’m jealous, very jealous.

I got the red powder coated super rare limited edition red Stern machine.

You’re killing me dude!

If I’m going to spend that kind of dough I might as well go to the top.

Well, it’s my time to go, but I have to say that this album is so fucking good. It has heavy stuff, it has melodic stuff. I can’t wait to sit back and watch the feedback on the album. Just wait until they hear the stuff that hasn’t been released yet.

That really means a lot to me. This album was finished in January of 2023 and now it’s July of 2024. You can imagine how long I’ve had to listen to this record and no one has heard. Now you have and the other people who have heard it are having similar reactions. I’m part excited, part terrified.

Interview by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price