The Hot Lies: keeping it cool

Thu 20th Mar, 2008 in Features

After a long twenty hour drive, Adelaide boys The Hot Lies arrive in Port Macquarie, set to kick off one of their biggest headline tours to date.

Band drummer Jared Brown is described as the “personal” one, and seems happy take on the media jaunt. “I can’t see anything better than talking about myself for a couple of hours,” he jokes.

In preparation for the night’s show, The Hot Lies enjoy the simple things to conserve their energy. “I went for a swim down at the beach and just finished sitting near a few palm trees having some pancakes. Now just going for a wander around…”

On the other end on the phone, unfortunately my situation isn’t so pleasant. I have a yellow bucket on hand in case the bug that kept me up all night decides to re-surface. But what better way to change one’s mood than to be chatting with a band whose shows I have seen many and believe are exceptional performers.

While vocalist Pete Wood often shares interview times, prior to shows he ops to save his voice…and rightly so. But Jared is one who proves wrong a saying that you should never quote the drummer.

His band have embraced their love for the surf and ventured to smaller towns for the Sink or Sin tour and their crazy adventures will be captured and shared exclusively on FasterLouder. As Pete used to be a writer for an Adelaide newspaper, he will be the designated secret spiller. “Pete’s the wordsmith. So I’ll let him do the tour diary writing. I don’t know what he is going to let out.”

Luckily enough for the band, they are bound to be entertained on their journey by their own diverse personalities. “They would probably describe me as clumsy. But I don’t think I’m that clumsy. Every time I’m around them, when we are at band rehearsals and such, I’ll trip over or knock over everything,” Jared laughs. “I would describe Leaton as an obsessive compulsive. He loves cleaning and making everything perfect.

“Pete is neurotic! He’s all over the place – a hard man to pick. Ben …how would I describe him? I want to say he’s like hyperactive in a quiet way. That doesn’t make any sense at all! He can be hypo yet in his only little world. And Luke is just the ultimate chiller. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard him say, – œWhatever man, whatever’. I guess he’s Mr Relaxed.”

And the musicians they have toured with throughout the last four years are also great characters. Americans Good Charlotte lived up to their name. “They were just awesome, some of the nicest people – the best Americans we have dealt with really.”

The bonding was there from the get go, and lasted through the early hours of the morning. “As soon as we rocked up to the show, they said hey and introduced themselves,” he explains. “And they were like, – œIf there is anything you want, don’t hesitate to ask us and we will make it happen for you’.”

The Americans clearly were fans of the talented Australian support bands and enjoyed spending time with the guys. “They would always come hang around. There was catering at the shows and we would be having dinner and they’d come rolling in and say, – œCan we come sit with you guys?’.”

“And we often like to do a sing-a-long on tour, get the acoustic guitar out and sing a few different songs – get Crowded House going. And they heard us from their dressing room and busted in with a few beers and we stayed till like 3 o’clock in the morning at the venues. So we had some pretty good times with those guys.”

Kisschasy were also on this tour and The Hot Lies enjoyed spending a whole month with some of their best mates on the next one. The highlight was simply, “Just hanging around with those amazing men. And they are such a phenomenally big band these days and we played to really big crowds each night and that was a real benefit and privilege.”

But the social interaction doesn’t stop within the backstage circle. Members of the band can often be found in the merchandise booth greeting their fans. “We don’t see ourselves as any different to anyone else at the shows,” Jared states. “If we are not playing, we are the people at the shows.”

He continues: “I remember when I was younger, 14 or whatever, going to shows and when I got to just say hi and chat to the people in the bands it meant so much to me. So even though we are not like amazing stars or anything, if kids want to say hello we should be there to say hello. It means a fair bit.”

And their fans often have a special gift to pass on. From dolls to “really intricate posters that is seems like they have worked on for hours and hours. Sometimes people have baked us cakes. They feel sorry for [us] being away from home.”

But on the other end of the scale, some fans haven’t embraced the vibe of the album, which varies slightly to their previous EPs. “To me, it doesn’t feel like it’s that much of a change, but to a lot of people it does. I guess because there is not as much screaming on it.”

A clear explanation: “I don’t think it was a calculated thing. It was like two years since the EP and and things change. So we wrote a few songs that had some screaming parts in it. They actually felt a bit forced, though felt like we had to put them in their because of the past. And to me, the whole reason you scream is because you have something to scream about.”

And on a lighter note – who receives a few screams of a different sort? Jared nominates the hottest member and the biggest liar. “Leaton is the hottest because he’s got like the ultimate rig. He eats whatever he wants and he doesn’t necessarily take any care of himself and he has like a six pack and amazing pecs and stuff. Girls seem to think he is this perfect adorable tall man.

“And Pete is the biggest liar because he is always late for band practice and he’s always got some sort of mystical excuse why he’s late. Like he was on the train and someone stole his shoes, so he had to go home.”

Stay tuned to FasterLouder for the Hot Ties tour diary posts. The Sink or Sin tour is doing the national rounds right now. Check out when it’s coming to your town:

Thursday March 20 – Live On Light Square, Adelaide
Thursday March 27 – The Pub, Bendigo
Friday March 28 – Karova Lounge, Ballarat
Saturday March 29 – Peninsula Lounge, Moorooduc
Sunday March 30 – Barwon heads Hotel, Barwon Heads
Thursday April 10 – Prince Of, Bunbury
Saturday April 12 – Rosemount Hotel, Perth
Thursday April 17 – Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast
Friday April 18 – Rosie’s Tavern, Brisbane
Saturday April 19 – Princess Theatre, Brisbane
Thursday April 24 – Bombay Rock, Townsville
Friday April 25 – Andergrove Tavern, Mackay
Saturday April 26 – O’Dowd’s Pub, Rockhampton
Sunday April 27 – Young Aussie Hotel, Gladstone
Friday May 2 – Brisbane Hotel, Hobart
Saturday May 3 – Batman Fawkner, Launceston