Though it's been more than a year since a media outlet named his group the Most Faceless Band of 2002, Hoobastank [ tickets ] guitarist Dan Estrin still isn't a fan of the music press.

Although his bandmates have said in interviews that they didn't mind the designation, Estrin begs to differ.

"If you are part of the press, I hate you guys," Estrin said.

"We got nominated as the No. 1 Most Faceless Band, and it said some stupid stuff in there which basically stated, 'It's not about the music, it's what you look like.' How lame is that? Whether it's true or not, it shouldn't be about that. It should be about the music."

Estrin continued, "Our record that they were basing everything off of sold over a million records in the U.S. alone. Sorry we're not The Strokes; sorry we're not The White Stripes.

"Everything is just so hype driven. Bands like The Strokes, The Hives, The White Stripes, all the "the" bands--it's just all hype. They are cool bands. I think that they all have cool music, but give me a break. It's not like that music wasn't done in the '80s, in the '70s."

Still, Estrin is doing interviews to push his band's latest album "The Reason," the follow-up to its self-titled million-selling debut. He talked to liveDaily before embarking on his band's current tour with Linkin Park, P.O.D. and Story of the Year.

liveDaily: Are you looking forward to your tour with Linkin Park, P.O.D. and Story of the Year?

I look forward to playing in front of a new audience and a bigger audience.

Are you a big fan of the bands?

I can't say I am. I don't own [any of their records]. That doesn't mean I dislike them in any way. I'm not really into to many new bands.

Who are you into?

I'm into bands that I grew up listening to. Stuff I listen to is a mixture of stuff like Guns 'N Roses, old Red Hot Chili Peppers stuff, Air Supply, Toto. I listen to everything. Old s---, new s---. There's that band Something Corporate. I like those guys. I like CKY, a band on our record label. They have some really cool songs.

Did you record "The Reason" any differently than you did "Hoobastank"?

Yeah. I wrote all the music for every single song on the record, which was different from the last one. I wrote half of the last one. Doug wrote all the lyrics and the melodies. I wrote all the guitar stuff and I'd also figure out some drum parts that I wanted over it. I started recording it at home before the guys ever even heard it. I would take it to the studio and show them CDs of the songs that I came up with. It wouldn't be entire songs. It would be drums, bass and guitar, all from me. Then the other guys would figure out their parts from there. Going into the studio was a little bit different. We worked with a different producer [Howard Benson]. It went a lot faster. It was totally different. He didn't do so much with me doing guitars. He really focused on working with Doug [Robb], our singer. He kind of gave me the freedom to do what I wanted, which was cool.

What did you learn from Howard Benson?

Um, you know, I didn't learn too much. I just learned a couple new things about song structure and some stuff about writing and s--- like that. At the beginning of recording the record, I had a really tough time working. Howard and I butted heads throughout the entire process. [But] something happened toward the end of it, and we started getting along really well. Now I'm tight with him. He's a great producer and a great guy. It's kind of weird that we were butting heads so much, but I think it's because we're both so similar.

Tell me about the songwriting process with Hoobastank.

I pretty much wrote everything by myself on this one. There was a song or two that Doug and I did work on together. I'd write this verse and a chorus, and I would need a bridge so me and him would work on it, or we'd work on it as a band.

How do you feel that your music fits in? You sound rather unhappy about the state of music today.

I'm just waiting for the industry to all sort of go, "This stuff is just crap. I'm not gonna play this anymore. I'm not gonna support this anymore." The industry isn't the one … ruining music. It's all the magazines that are ruining it. How many more bands are going to get record deals that are these retro, new-wave bands that wear really, really dirty, old, torn, $300 pairs of Levi's jeans with their really, really, really dirty and trashed Converse? Unshaven, grubby, like, dirty guys, and this guy over here, he's wearing a general's outfit, and this guy over here is wearing a pilot's cap. Give me a f----n' break. How long ago did they turn out like that? Were they like that five years ago? I doubt it.