Fused - Archive - Hot Hot Heat

It’s Getting Hot in Here

So yet again we are facing a startlingly cold winter in England. To warm us up we often resort to desperate measures like hot water bottles, extra blankets, and dozens of extra thick layers. What we need is a brief spurt of intense heat to liven us up; can Hot Hot Heat give us that?

They certainly got us hot under the collar with their fireball intense debut ‘Make Up The Breakdown’ in 2002, making us yelp with joy when the chords of ‘Bandages’ blare out of the speakers at local indie nights. Will HHH set the world on fire with their new offering ‘Happiness Ltd’ in comparison to the sparks released from ‘Elevator’ or even their aforementioned debut?

To assess the situation of course you should listen to the album, however to assess the concept of ‘Happiness Ltd’ it is a deeper understanding that is required and who better to obtain this from that the band’s leading man, Steve Bays.

“We wanted this record to be written on the road,” says the band’s co-founder and front man, “partly so the influences would be more varied, but so we could test out the songs live before we recorded them. We wrote music everywhere — Spain, Japan, Australia, the U.K. — so each song has a different mood,” explains afro enthusiast Steve.

It seems that writing was in hyper drive for the band, they were left with 25 songs to choose from for the album for the final cut, “It was great as we could spend our time piecing the album together. We really didn’t want to over think things on this album which makes this record a lot more cohesive.”

On first listen it is easy to pick out HHH’s light-hearted melodies that often whirl round in your head for days on end whilst giving you false impression they are extremely familiar even though you have never even heard them before. Fortunately this album retains the essence of Hot Hot Heat live which definitely a conscious decision for Bays. “I would record an awful lot of stuff that was technically good however people in the studio thankfully gave us tips throughout the whole recording process. I eventually ended up re-recording a lot of vocals to give the record that essential live feel.”

“The recording for Elevator was dry, however we scrapped this in favour of making this record as big and explosive as possible,” continues Steve. This album is definitely a step away from the last with an underlying complexity submerged whilst gaining a new found intricacy that will become apparent during repeated listens, each listen uncovering delightful new details.

When reviewing second, third or even fourth albums of artists it often becomes evident that there is a distinct fear of experimentation with bands often preferring to stick with a previously used winning formula. Hot Hot Heat however seem content in their ability to test the boundaries on this record as Bays firmly reinforces, “I don’t see myself making the same music for 15 years, I don’t even expect what I create today to be even remotely like that of yesterday.”

“If you put out an album you love you simply can’t do it again, I mean I already have lots of ideas for the next one. That excitement is incredibly important for a musician.”

Lyrically, the album is about struggling to hold on to optimism and innocence in the wake of having your heart crushed. “It covers the journey from bliss to misery and the attempt to get back to bliss, while acknowledging how exciting the ride can be in between,” Bays says.

In a world where the War in Iraq is consistently front page news, and global warming is as common place as discussing Coronation Street, whilst ten year olds with eating disorders or a child or two in hand are the norm; it seems happiness may actually be limited. We wondered what Steve’s views were on this radical concept of happiness being unduly limited for many of us, “Well creative people often suffer from depression and bouts of moodiness, however life needs to be fun and an adventure,” Steve assures us optimistically.

When chatting with Steve it became as clear as the shiniest crystal ball that we had both recently experienced the trials and tribulations of a break-up which led us to discuss whether it really is possible to be friends afterwards, “I don’t think this is possible at all, trust me I’ve tried.”

As this album is what Steve describes as “a bitter break-up record” I pause during our phone conversation and realise that currently there is no better person I could be discussing the toxic elements of relationships with. “There is a fatal romantic element to this album; I always pictured myself as a romantic then I got my heart broken,” Steve explains wistfully. “Sometimes things happen in your life which makes you access your life and look at it through different eyes.”

With such a complex issue rearing its head on this particular record HHH fans can expect a “deeper album” than its predecessors with Steve highly conscious of the feelings he wanted to evoke in its listeners. “If a song hits you in a big way then it is more than just a song. We are all complex people in this band and we wanted this to come out on this record.”

To cheer fans up the boys have decided to provide more entertainment by incorporating a 45-minute DVD. Hoping for tales of debauchery caught live I was a little disappointed by the fact that it was “studio based”. Although Bays reassures me that the footage is lined with displays of “a whole range of emotions” I craved tales from the dark side. I wondered slyly whether Steve could come up with the goods…

“We went out to Ibiza Rocks and stayed in that fancy Manumission Villa and we were hideously jetlagged driving around in this rental car when we hit a brick wall stupidly,” Steve teases me, “it was so bad that our tour manager broke a rib and the police were called to the scene and it ended with him then having to pay them €400 to look the other way!”

During the throes of this interview Steve Bays debated openly the issue of heartbreak, gave me advice, freely dished out tips on where to suss out limited edition Converse, and also divulged tales of bribery, what a great guy!

‘Happiness Ltd’ is out now on Sire Records.
www.hothotheat.com

Kimberley Owen