Hot Hot Heat

Thu 17th Jun, 2010 in Features

Drummer Paul Hawley has been with Hot Hot Heat since the beginning and FasterLouder caught up with him for a chat while he took a day off work to spend the day with his mother.

Though his mum had flown down from Victoria, Canada to meet him and Hawley sounded pretty relaxed about mixing interviews with family time. “We went to Battery Park, and we, um, where did we go?” His mum chimes in with, “Little Italy.” “We went to Little Italy, We went to an art show, and yeah, we just did some sightseeing, and culture watching, and a whole lot of walking.”

The special thing about the new album Future Breeds is that not only is it being released independently, but Hot Hot Heat have done everything themselves with this album. “The idea of writing and recording and producing this record ourselves in our own studio, was so we could expedite the process. And we don’t have to wait for label people, we don’t have to wait for producers, we don’t have to wait for anybody to give a heads-up, or a go-ahead, or a thumbs-up. We can just do it, can pump the ideas out, and songs, as quickly as we can, and then decide if it’s something, you know?”

Sounding like an excited kid Hawley continues, “The thing that I’m most proud about is that it was a singular vision. From a room in Vancouver, from our band to the world. It’s not diluted, it’s not been polluted or impurified by anyone else. From the lyrics to the music to the cover art, we’ve made every single creative call, and I’m really really proud about that.”

Has there been any particular reason the boys have released roughly one album every two years? Hawley responds, “Well, between writing them, and recording them, and touring them, that’s about how long it takes. But it’s not how we wanna work in the future, you know. Without sounding overly ambitious, we already have a few songs for out next album, and we’re talking about writing already, so…”

Hawley was keen to explain the band’s writing process. “We decide we wanna write music, that’s the first decision… We talk about it, usually [have] some sort of burst of inspiration, or a lyrical idea, or melody… Then there’s a lot of work from that initial burst through to completion. But… it’s usually the ideas that have the most initial enthusiasm though [that end up on the final product].”

According to Hawley the best part of the recording process is “When you complete it and you get to listen to it for the first time. That said, I love every aspect of working on it, and I love hashing it out in the studio, and working on ideas. But my favourite part is definitely when you get to hear the finished product. It gives me shivers every time.”

And his least favourite? “When I’m waiting for a sandwich. I’m just trying to get a sandwich, and get back to work, and I’m like, “Where’s the sandwich?” It’s really a tough thing!”

Sandwich trouble aside, Hawley and vocalist Steve Bays have spent the last 12 years working closely together as bandmates. Have they ever come close to calling it quits because they were sick of each other? “Oh yeah, I mean…” And a backtrack. “Wait, I shouldn’t say “oh yeah” like it’s a definitive “oh yeah”. At the basis of our partnership is uh, like, you know… We’re like each other’s musical soulmate. So, we love each other, we support each other… but it’s like any partnership. A romantic partnership, or a life partner… A musical partnership is like any other working relationship, there’s ups and downs. But there’s a bond and a strength, and… we’ll prevail, though.”

The band have only been to Australia three times, but have made plans to come back sometime next year. In Paul’s words, the future of the band holds “hopefully more music and more shows. Hopefully. Cross my fingers. Try to keep this thing going.”

Hot Hot Heat is very strongly tipped to play at Falls – check out who else could be on the lineup