Cody Hanson

Early life

Hanson was born in Plano, Texas but relocated to Jones, Oklahoma with his family when he was 1 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.

The 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 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 members Austin John and Joe "Blower" 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 but he insists that he learned how to get more "fucked up" than anything, but he 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 release of Far From Close Hanson quit school to focus on Hinder full-time.

After the success of the groups 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 the mega hit Lips of an Angel. To date the album is 3xxx platinum. Hanson along with former Hinder vocalist Austin John wrote the majority of the songs on the album.

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 Hinder released the lead single titled "Use Me" from their 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.

While going through the writing process of recording Hinder's third album, Hanson recruited former Faktion guitarist Marshal Dutton to help write material and produce the new album. The two became friends while Faktion was touring with Hinder on the "Girls Gone Wild Tour" back in 2006, and many other tour dates.

Hinder released their third studio album titled All American Nightmare on December 7, 2010. According to Hanson, he and singer Austin John wrote over 70 songs for the album and cut the recording process down to 10. Hanson and Austin wrote the majority of the material for the album with additional help from Marshal Dutton.

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.

2012-present

Hanson and Hinder remained relatively quiet from the end of 2011 through August 2012, the band took some time off from touring due to start writing and recording their fourth studio album. During the downtime Hanson and Marshal Dutton co-founded the production company "Back Lounge Productions". Hanson also provided drums for Dutton's country group Drankmore with Dutton on lead guitar, Jarrod Denton on vocals, Hanson on drums and then Joe "Blower" 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 Austin John and Marshal 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.

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.

After Hinder announced that the group had parted ways with lead singer Austin John Hanson and Hinder remained quiet for months, during the search for a new singer Hanson and Dutton began writing songs for the next Hinder album while producing other artists at Back Lounge Productions and playing in Drankmore. The duo also played sets of songs at Major's Bar in Edmond, Oklahoma with fellow Hinder band-mates and other good friends.

In the search for a new singer for Hinder, Hanson reached out to Nashville-based singer Nolan Neal, Hinder played a few live sets with Nolan Neal as lead singer from July–September 2014. Together, Hanson, Marshal 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 Marshal Dutton, the longtime friend of the band and the band's co-writer and producer over the last few years 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 numer 4 on the iTunes rock charts and spawned the singles "Hit The Ground", "Letting Go" and the hit single "Intoxicated". Hinder spent most of 2015 touring in support of the album.

In January 2016 Hanson and Dutton 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.

Discography

Personal life

Hanson currently resides in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He is married to his wife Danielle Hanson and he is an advid animal lover.

Political Views

Hanson is a supporter of current president Barack Obama. He has announced his support of 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.