Hellogoodbye

“He was a great graphic designer,” Stefanie Reines told Pollstar. “He designed some of the first Drive-Thru (Web) sites.”

In those days, the siblings, who also manage the four-piece, had to deal with all that goes along with managing a teenager.

“Richard would call and speak to [Forrest’s] parents and convince them to let him continue interning,” she said. “We went through that cycle three times.”

Kline says he had to quit numerous times because his folks wanted him to focus on school. But that didn’t mean Richard and Stefanie weren’t good bosses.

“They always helped me out,” Kline told Pollstar. “They would sit down and talk to my parents trying to calm them down, and cut me paychecks early if I was in a bind. I had a really good relationship with them.”

After leaving his intern post, Kline started recording dance-pop songs on his laptop, then put together a band. At first, the project was just for fun. Kline was convinced the songs wouldn’t faze anybody, let alone a record label.

“I didn’t think [Drive-Thru] would be interested,” he said. “We didn’t send our press packets to them, or anybody.”

The frontman was wrong. Upon listening to the Hellogoodbye demo, Reines freaked out.

“We were like, ‘Oh my God, this is awesome

we have to sign them,'” she said. “When he had first done the demos and started playing it for people, there was interest from a lot of indie labels. Thank God he chose us.”

The band signed to Drive-Thru and released 2004’s Hellogoodbye EP, the outfit’s only album to date. An as-yet-untitled full-length is scheduled to drop this August.

Hellogoodbye gained national exposure during 2005’s South by Southwest when the cast of MTV’s “The Real World: Austin” decided to produce a short documentary on the group. After appearing on several episodes, which included interviews and live footage, the foursome went on to win MTV2’s Dew Circuit Breakout award and appeared on TRL.

“I’m not going to deny that MTV has played an absolute huge role in what’s going on with the band right now,” Reines said.

The next logical step was touring.

Ellis Industries’ Matt Galle caught a Hellogoodbye performance at New Jersey’s Bamboozle festival in April 2005. The agent told Pollstar he knew “something big” was going to come out of the outfit, so he signed on and put them on the road.

Kline says choosing Galle was a no-brainer.

“Everybody I’ve talked to who has worked with Matt thinks he’s the best guy in the whole world – bands, promoters, other agents,” he said. “Every time we’re at a show and we’re talking to the promoter, they’re like, ‘Who books you guys?’ And we’re like, ‘Matt Galle.’ And they’re like, ‘Aw, that guy’s badass!'”

After Hellogoodbye wraps up its current club tour with The Academy Is… and Panic! At The Disco, the band will head out on the mtvU Campus Invasion tour. Then it’s off to play the main stage at Warped Tour. But don’t expect to see the four-piece doing any keg stands backstage.

“We’re not like a lot of bands; we don’t like to do a lot of the things bands like to do, generally,” Kline said. “None of us really drink or party. I kinda like to just chill back and cook up a little dinner with my girlfriend or something.”

Something concertgoers can expect to see on stage, however, are cardboard cut-outs of female pop stars, wacky costumes, confetti and silly string.

“They’ll spend more at party stores than they do on anything else on the whole tour,” Galle said. “They have a lot of fun and people grasp that. They’re not taking themselves too seriously, but their music isn’t bubblegum or cheesy pop.”

Galle says Hellogoodbye will get a month- to six-week break following Warped Tour before headlining the Drive-Thru Records tour in October or November.

“We’re going to put a lot of marketing into it and they’re looking for sponsors and stuff right now,” the agent said.