As revered pop/Southern rockers Sister Hazel gear up for their performance at this weekend's Greek Week finale, drummer Mark Trojanowski takes time out to chat with Editor in Chief Darcy Newell. Read on to find out what the name Sister Hazel actually means, how he feels about online music sharing and what exactly is a "Hazelnut."


Versus Magazine: I read that the band is named after Sister Hazel Williams, a nun who ran a homeless shelter in Gainesville in the '70s and '80s. Can you talk a little bit about why you chose this name and why she was significant to you?
Mark Trojanowski: Our lead singer, Ken, grew up in Gainesville and still lives there, and back in the '70s he used to see commercials for her mission that she used to run; she thought everyone needed a good place to stay and a meal, so she would give them that. A lot of the positive messages she was portraying had a lot of similarities with the early songs Ken was writing, so when he was putting the band together he kind of thought that her message stood for the things he was trying to convey, so he named the band after her.

VM: Charity seems to be at the core of what Sister Hazel is about. Can you talk a little bit about your commitment to helping others and how you go about it?
MT: Once we got to the situation where we were able to do these charitable things, Ken formed Lyrics for Life, which is a charity based on cancer. His little brother died when he was 18, and so we started Lyrics for Life, which generates money through artists writing lyrics on different items, whether it's a surf board or an airline propeller - you know, some people surf, some people fly airplanes - so we do that and have silent auctions to raise money that way. We also have concerts throughout the year where singer/songwriters perform their songs in a storyteller environment and use the proceeds to stop children's cancer through research, as well as providing for the families. It's something we all felt strongly about because we've all, in some way, been affected by cancer.

VM: You've been recording and performing for almost 15 years. Did you have a big break moment when everything changed?
MT: You know, I think it's kind of been the same situation for us since the beginning. We go out there and tour and record records and we've had success via radio and media in the late '90s and 2000s, but we haven't really changed the way we make our records. We left the major label back in the early 2000s because we wanted to put out more music; whenever we wanted and whatever songs we wanted. So that was a pretty big change for us, because since then we've been putting out records pretty much every year, which we wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. We can control our career a little bit more now.

VM: Which album of yours are you most proud of or is the most meaningful to you?
MT: I think that in each album there is always something endearing to each person, and I think all of them are kind of like your children, there's a part of every album you're drawn to. I really like our "Fortress" album; it took the longest time to make, but I really like the songs on that record. You know, there are a bunch of them - "Chasing Daylight" is a really good record of ours - so it's hard to say. There is something on every record that's special, but "Fortress" is the record I like the most in terms of playing the songs live.

VM: Live music and touring are still a big part of who Sister Hazel is. What is the most rewarding part of performing live? What's the most difficult thing about being on the road?
MT: The coolest thing about performing live, at least over the years, is that all the people that have been with us for many years are still coming out to see shows, but we continue to play college shows every year, and there are always people 18-22 years old singing the words to "All For You" and "Come Around" and "Change Your Mind." These kids were a lot younger when these songs came out, so it's really cool that our music has bridged the gap to another generation that really wasn't around when our music was out and nationally exposed. The hardest part about it is being away from families and friends, being 3,000 miles away from our wives and kids. I have a new 5-month-old baby, first child for me, so it's very difficult to not be home.

VM: Your big fans call themselves Hazelnuts. Do you have any funny stories about how fans have shown their love for you and your music?
MT: There was one summer when about 20 fans got together and traveled to 15 shows in the middle of the summer; they took their families; it was their vacation. Another time they made this little block for our lead singer who's name was Ken Block, sent the block all around the country to all the Hazelnuts and they all signed it and then sent it to Ken. They have a fan base Web site where they communicate with each other outside even of our Sister Hazel Web site. It's something that we didn't start; they started it themselves; they call themselves that. So it's a pretty cool thing.

VM: What challenges do you face as a musician today? How do you stay current?
MT: We don't try to listen to what's on the radio and write songs like that and put that out. The way we try to stay current is trying to play as many college shows and major market shows to keep our fan base growing so that there is people listening to us, from 13 to 50 years old; there is something in our music for everyone. We are up on all the digital download sites and have embraced that since it became legal ... using those as a tool, that's how bands are getting themselves out there. It's not an MTV-driven world anymore. It's all about blogs and the Internet.

VM: Do you feel the need to reinvent your sound as popular music changes, or do you try to stay true to the sound and the music that your fans know and love?
MT: I think at this point we just try to write really good songs that people can relate their lives to. We try to tell our stories and put out really good, positive messages that people can listen to and enjoy.

VM: We've seen a big decline in record sales and a surge of online music sharing and music communities. Do you think these trends are ultimately beneficial to musicians and to the music industry?
MT: Well, I think as long as it's through a legitimate Web site like iTunes and now Napster, as long as peer-to-peer sharing goes away and those people are penalized, and more sites come up that are paying the artists, it's great and protects us as artists and musicians. When Napster first came out, we were one of the bands that definitely suffered with our "Fortress" album because so many people got our record for free. ... The only problem I have with the digital situation is that I'm kind of an audio file snob, so when you pay 99 cents or $9.99 for a record, you really aren't getting CD quality, you're getting MP3 quality, which people say is good, but it's really not the same. We're in a society where people want it and want it now and they don't care, so that's the only thing that's kind of sad for me.

VM: Tell me about "Before the Amplifiers." Was this your first live acoustic album?
MT: Yeah it was. People really wanted an acoustic record for us, and we have tried a couple times before to do it live. We got a recording studio where we were able to put in a live audience, and we had one night, and it was really the best of both worlds. We had really good sound because it was in a recording studio, but at the same time we had a live audience, so we're pretty excited about the record and pretty proud of it.

VM: What's next for Sister Hazel?
MT: Well after we come up there for the show in Nashville we are coming back to Nashville in October to start our next studio record, so we'll finish that this year and put it out next year. We also have about 20 of our songs charted out for a symphony orchestra; we have been playing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for several years and hopefully we're going to find a way to make a record kind of like Metallica did with the San Francisco Symphony where we'll get a record with the symphony and Sister Hazel, and that will come out in either '09 or 2010.