# Cody Hanson

Cody Hanson (born May 24, 1982) is an American musician and record producer. He is the drummer and one of the founding members in the Oklahoma based rock band Hinder and co-owns the production company Back Lounge Productions with bandmate Marshal Dutton. Hanson has also provided drum work in the country group Drankmore.

## Early life

Hanson was born in Plano, Texas but relocated to Jones, Oklahoma with his family when he was one year old. At the age of 12, Hanson received his first drum kit as a Christmas gift. He immediately fell in love with the drums and began teaching himself how to play, he started a band in middle school but lost interest in the drums by high school and began playing guitar.

## Career
### Early years

While studying business and marketing at the University of Central Oklahoma in 2001, Hanson with the help of Joe "Blower" Garvey, met Austin John Winkler at a college party while Austin was singing in a cover band. Hanson bragged of Austin saying he was "blown away" and "he has the kind of charisma very few people have and that unique voice. You can't really compare him to anybody." Shortly after, the three got together and formed Hinder. Before forming the band, Hanson said that he had not picked up a set of drumsticks for over two years before the day Hinder began.
Hanson alongside Winkler and Garvey recorded their first band practice with a karaoke machine and for the next week let everyone they knew listen to their tape. For the next few years Hanson continued to go to school for business and marketing and took everything he knew and incorporated it into the music business.
In late 2003 Hanson released his first EP with Hinder titled Far from Close. The EP was released via Brickden Records and sold 5,000 copies.
After the success of the group's debut EP Far from Close and extensive touring, including building a local fan base at the local Oklahoma City club The Blue Note, Hanson and the other members in Hinder were offered recording contracts with Atlantic Records, Roadrunner Records and Universal Records, eventually signing with Universal in January 2005.
Hanson released his debut album with Hinder titled Extreme Behavior on September 27, 2005. The album spawned the hit singles, "Get Stoned", "Better Than Me", and "Lips of an Angel". To date the album is 3× platinum. Hanson along with Winkler wrote the majority of the songs on the album.

### Mainstream success: 2007-2011

After touring nonstop in support of Extreme Behavior from 2006 to late 2007, Hanson and his other bandmates began writing and recording for their next album. In July 2008 Hanson released the lead single titled "Use Me" from his band's sophomore album Take It to the Limit.
Hanson released Take It to the Limit with Hinder November 4, 2008, the album debuted at number 4 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. As of March 25, 2013 the album has sold over 500,000 copies in the US reaching Gold status. Hinder toured in support of Take It to the Limit, the tours included multiple headlining and supporting tours, the most notable were Nickelback's Dark Horse Tour alongside Papa Roach and Saving Abel and Saints Of Los Angeles Tour with Theory of a Deadman and The Last Vegas.
In January 2010 Hanson and the other members in Hinder had the idea to set up a recording studio in the back of their tour bus to start recording their next album early and save time when they're off tour.
Hanson released his third studio album with Hinder, All American Nightmare on December 7, 2010. According to Hanson, he and Winkler wrote over 70 songs for the album and cut the recording process down to 10. Hanson and Winkler wrote the majority of the material for the album with additional help from former Faktion guitarist Dutton, The Warren Brothers, and country music artist Jeffrey Steele. Dutton became close friends with the group while his former band Faktion was touring in support of Hinder during their "Girls Gone Wild Tour" back in 2006. and Hanson co-produced the album alongside producer Kevin Churko. The album spawned 5 singles, "All American Nightmare", "What Ya Gonna Do", "The Life", "Hey Ho" and "Red Tail Lights". The group toured all throughout 2011 in support of the album.

### New era of Hinder & side projects: 2012-2018

Hanson went into 2012 preparing to start writing and recording his Hinder's fourth studio album. During the downtime Hanson along with frequent collaborator and friend, Dutton co-founded the production company "Back Lounge Productions" together and created a new band named Seabass & tha Fellas. The comedy duo between Hanson and Dutton acted as a side-project in between Hinder's recording sessions and tour dates, with humorous lyrics and instrumentals in the style of the comedy trio, The Lonely Island, and the Glam metal parody band, Steel Panther. Seabass & tha Fellas released their debut single "Pocket" on February 14, 2012. Upon the single's release during a phone live phone interview with Rock 108 KEYJ radio, the duo challenged then President Barack Obama and his opponent in the 2012 election, Mitt Romney to a tag team Celebrity Deathmatch.
During Hinder's downtime Hanson also provided drums for Dutton's country group, Drankmore with Dutton on lead guitar, Jarrod Denton on vocals, Hanson on drums and then Garvey, Mark King and Mike Rodden from Hinder providing extra guitar during live shows. The group released two singles and released one audio clip of a potentially hit song called "I Do" on Back Lounge Production's website. Hanson alongside Winkler and Dutton wrote the material for Hinder's fourth studio album entirely, with Hanson and Dutton producing the entire album themselves. The lead single "Save Me" was released August 29, 2012. Hanson's fourth studio album with Hinder titled "Welcome to the Freakshow" was released December 4, 2012. The album spawned the hit single "Should've Known Better". The band toured in support of the album throughout the spring and summer 2013.
On July 23, 2013, Hanson along with the rest of his bandmates were involved in a tour bus accident resulting in injuries for members of the band and crew. Hanson announced via the band's social media accounts that while traveling to their show at the Boise Music Festival their bus was unexpectedly cut off by another vehicle and resulted in a crash that left members of the band and crew suffering multiple injuries and were required to spend the night at the ER. Hanson also stated that upon doctor's orders, the band will be taking some time off to heal.
When Winkler left abruptly in the middle of the groups 2013 Welcome To The Freakshow tour to check himself into rehab Hanson and the remainder of his bandmates in Hinder continued the tour with Jared Weeks from the band Saving Abel, and Hinder co-writer and producer Dutton stepped in as rotating lead-singers for the remainder of the summer tour dates. Upon Winkler's official departure from the band in November 2013 Hanson and the three other members of Hinder quickly began searching for a new vocalist to replace him. The group also played sets of songs at Major's Bar in Edmond, Oklahoma with fellow Hinder band-mates and other good friends. While Hinder wasn't touring in the summer of 2013, Hanson toured with his and Dutton's country band Drankmore in support of their singles. In the search for a new singer for Hinder Hanson reached out to Nashville-based singer Nolan Neal, which led to the band performing a few live sets with Neal as lead singer from July–September 2014 as a try-out run. Together, Hanson, Dutton and Nolan Neal wrote the Hinder song "Hit The Ground" together while Hanson and Dutton produced the song. Hinder originally released "Hit The Ground" with Nolan Neal on lead vocals on November 24, 2014. After negative reviews Hanson and the other band-mates in Hinder decided Nolan Neal's voice was "too country" for the band.
On January 22, 2015, Hanson announced via Hinder's social media sites that Dutton would be the new lead vocalist. Hinder released a new version of "Hit The Ground" with Dutton on vocals. Cody and Marshal wrote and produced Hinder's 2015 album When the Smoke Clears entirely. The album included two covers, "Dead To Me" which was a song done by Marshal's originally band Faktion and the song "Nothing Left To Lose" originally recorded by 9 Left Dead, whose debut album was produced by Hanson and Dutton at Back Lounge Productions. When The Smoke Clears debuted at number 4 on the iTunes rock charts and spawned the singles "Hit The Ground", "Letting Go" and the hit single "Intoxicated".
In January 2016 Hanson announced in an interview that they are already writing songs for the next full length Hinder album and that they will be releasing an acoustic EP titled Stripped on May 13, 2016.
After embarking on an acoustic tour during the spring and summer of 2016 in support of the new Stripped EP, Hanson along with the rest of his bandmates began heavily writing and recording material for Hinder's sixth studio album. A October 9, 2016 post Hanson posted on the band's official Facebook and Instagram accounts stated that the he and the group began working with pianist and songwriter Sarah Thiele for some new tracks on the upcoming album. On December 11, 2016, Hanson posted another new update on the album's recording process via Hinder's official social media accounts with a photo of him and bassist Mike Rodden with a caption reading "Just taking a nice break from working on the album in Nicaragua!".
During an April 19, 2017 interview with Loudwire Hanson debuted the upcoming new Hinder single Remember Me will be released with an accompanying music video on April 28, 2017. In the following months while on tour with Nonpoint, Hanson revealed in another interview with Loudwire that his new album with Hinder titled The Reign will be released on August 11, 2017 and that the group had signed a new record deal with The End Records to release the new album.
On August 30, 2017, it was revealed by the attorney Blake Johnson via The Oklahoman that Hanson and the remaining band-members in Hinder filed a lawsuit against Winkler for allegedly unlawfully using the band's trademark to promote his solo career after exiting the group in 2013. The lawsuit filed in Oklahoma City federal court accuses Winkler of violating the agreement made with his former bandmates upon his departure from Hinder that allows him to promote himself as "Austin John Winkler, formerly of Hinder" and that the agreement also explains if Winkler utilizes the Hinder name in promotional materials, the band's name or logo can't be larger or more prominent than his individual name within the advertisement.
In support of the new album The Reign, Hanson participated in Hinder's fall 2017 co-headlining tour with Buckcherry's lead singer Josh Todd,Adelitas Way, and Wayland.

### Hinder tours & Dangerous Hippies: 2018-2023

In early 2018 Hanson announced via an Instagram story he and Dutton have begun working on new music and shared multiple short clips of unreleased demos. On November 7, 2018, Hanson announced Hinder's 2019 Lucky 7 Tour via the band's social media profiles with Soil as the tour's opening act.
Hanson announced on a Facebook post in early January 2019 that Hinder would release anew song titled "Halo" on January 25, 2019. At the time it was mentioned to be the lead single for their untitled seventh studio album which was slated to be released later that year. Hanson released a cover of the hit song "Life in the Fast Lane" by the Eagles with Hinder on July 25, 2019.
In November 2019 Hanson announced a new side band along with Dutton titled Dangerous Hippies. Hanson revealed the duo's origins in an exclusive interview with Loudwire stating "The decision to form the group came about organically, with the pair initially approached to write music for a commercial in 2011 that was in the vein of The Black Keys. After the song was finished, they got feedback from friends that inspired them to further continue what they had started." The duo released their debut single titled "Whoa" on November 21, 2019, an acoustic version was released on December 27, 2019. On January 16, 2020, Hanson released another single with Dangerous Hippies titled "Like a Ghost" along with an official music video, a remix titled "Like a Ghost (Americana Version)" was released on February 21, 2020.
During an interview with Loudwire on February 24, 2020, Hanson announced that Hinder had finished writing some new songs for their upcoming seventh studio-album that would be released sometime later in the year, and also announced that the band will launch a massive spring and summer 2020 tour to celebrate the 15th-anniversary of the their debut album Extreme Behavior. The thirty-two city Extreme Behavior 15 Anniversary Tour was to feature the groups Wayland and Blacktop Mojo as support, and was set to kick-off in Wisconsin and end in Oklahoma City, however a month later in March 2020 the entire tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was eventually canceled altogether later in 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns Hanson worked with Dutton on new Dangerous Hippies material, releasing the song titled "1982" on May 1, 2020. During a FaceTime interview with Loudwire upon the single's release, Hanson says, "'1982' is a fun, upbeat track about a girl that was born in 1982. When I think about pop culture from the '80s, which I love, I remember everything being really fun and vibrant. The song alludes to the fact that no matter how many great things happened that year, she is what made really made the year 1982 special." 'We're having an absolute blast already with Dangerous Hippies. That fact that there are no rules and we can blend all of our different inspirations from different genres is super fun and rewarding." Hanson released two more singles with Dangerous Hippies in 2020, releasing the single "Contagious Dangerous" on August 21, 2020, and the single "Hot off the Press" on December 4, 2020.
Even though the band's Extreme Behavior 15th Anniversary Tour was canceled due to COVID-19, Hanson and his Hinder band-members performed a socially-distanced concert with Buckcherry on September 19, 2020, at Rivers Edge Live in Wisconsin. In November 2020 the band announced a string of livestreamed concerts branded as "Live From The Living Room".
Hanson toured with Hinder during their 2021 summer tour with Small Town Titans.
Hanson and the rest of the Hinder members toured extensively throughout the winter, spring and summer of 2022, beginning with a small string of shows with Tantric in January 2022, a twenty-two city spring tour with Buckcherry and No Resolve, and a twenty-six city summer tour with the likes of Hoobastank, Buckcherry, Framing Hanley, and Kingdom Collapse. The band also performed at the Blue Ridge Rock Fest in September 2022.
On May 12, 2023 Hanson and his Hinder bandmates teamed up with the band No Resolve to release a cover of the song "Unstoppable" originally by Sia with an official music video to accompany the single's release. Their cover of collaborative cover was widely praised by music critics and the music video went viral, gaining over 10 million views.
Hanson toured with Hinder during their 2023 summer tour with the band Goodbye June.

### New Hinder music: 2024-present

In early 2024 it was announced Hanson would be touring with Hinder providing opening support on Creed's Summer of 99 tour with 3 Doors Down, and Daughtry. Hanson released a new single with Hinder titled "Live Without It" on September 13, 2024, the groups first new original song in five and a half years, since 2019's "Halo". Live Without It reached number 23 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. During an interview with Loudwire Nights on October 15, 2024, Hanson announced fans would not have to wait much longer for the band's upcoming seventh album, stating that the album could be released as early as February, but definitely would be released sometime in 2025.
Hanson released another new single with Hinder titled "Everything Is a Cult" on November 16, 2024, a politically charged track that showcases Hinder's "in your face" style songwriting and addresses themes of societal division. A few days after the release of "Everything Is a Cult" Hanson announced via Hinder's social media pages that they band would embark on their "Back To Life Tour 2025 with special guests Saliva, Kingdom Collapse, and Kelsey Hickman as support to promote their latest singles and upcoming new album.

## Personal life

Hanson currently resides in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He is married to his wife Danielle and is an avid animal lover. Hanson was a supporter of former president Barack Obama. He had announced his support of 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

## Discography
### With Hinder

* Extreme Behavior (2005)
* Take It to the Limit (2008)
* All American Nightmare (2010)
* Welcome to the Freakshow (2012)
* When the Smoke Clears (2015)
* The Reign (2017)