New Hot Hot Heat Record Is "Black Sabbath Meets Flaming Lips"

04/06/06 6:30pm

by Aaron Brophy (CHARTattack)

West coast dance punks Hot Hot Heat are apparently going to take us on an entirely different kind of trip with their upcoming record.

"It's a bit weirder," lead singer Steve Bays told ChartAttack from the Juno Awards red carpet this past weekend.

The Victoria, BC band have been in Vancouver rehearsing new material and letting their freak flag fly.

"It's not Frank Zappa weird," Bays cautions, "but every song kinda has a mix of genres."

It's weird, like, one song will be like Black Sabbath meets Flaming Lips and another thing will be like T.Rex meets Frank Sinatra."

The last HHH record, Elevator, was comprised of slick and shiny hipster pop. Its predecessor, Make Up The Breakdown, was a furious ball of dance-punk. This time the band are hoping to aim straight for the gut.

"I think we just wanted it to be a bit less brainy and a bit more visceral," said Bays, "which only really comes with trying to have fun and being a gang — not really worry about being a band so much as being buddies.

"And then if you do that, an occasional good moment will come out of it. And if you have a year-and-a-half to do that, it starts to add up.

"I think it just reflects the direction we're going in live. It's written more like a live band as opposed to the last one, where because we were losing a member it was written more in our bedrooms. This is written more like knowing we were going to play it that weekend or whatever."

There's another factor that may also contribute to the Hot Hots loosening their cravats — the company they've been keeping. Their current rehearsal space is sandwiched by the psychedelic outlaws of Black Mountain and the retro revivalists in The Organ and the character of their company is no doubt seeping into their work.

"It's totally weird," said Bays. "It's definitely more Vancouver-influenced, this album, just because we've been living there and hanging out there."

It's hard to explain. It just comes out, but I'm excited about it."

The band will begin recording the new album on May 1. A release date is still to be determined.