Re-View and Inter-View: Hot Hot Heat

"Happiness is limited, but misery has no end."

That's the first line from the new Hot Hot Heat album, and it explans a whole lot. For starters, if you were wondering what the album title "Happiness LTD" means, there's your answer right off the bat. No messing around with deep lyrical searches for truth and meaning, because everything is laid out for you like the outfit you'll be wearing tomorrow. Interestingly enough, that's probably the easiest thing you'll encounter on the entire album. From that point onward, it's big business for the band, in a pretty good way.

Hot Hot Heat have been an incredibly interesting band to watch over the course of their musical career, mainly because none of their albums sound quite like any of the others. They're consistently experimenting and breaking the conventions of what you might expect from them. I still hold the band's debut record "Make Up the Breakdown" as their finest work to date, though their last effort "Elevator" wasn't bad at all...just different. No surprise then that "Happiness LTD" is another wild turn for the band.

My absolute favorite thing about the new album is the energy the band has in this collection of songs. It's easy to have fun and dance most of the way through this thing, in a similar fashion to their debut. That, along with a more mature pop sensibility really benefit Hot Hot Heat this time around. The nice thing is that the band seems to know that these are strengths and have taken the necessary development steps. Choruses are bigger and bolder. The instrumental work is more complicated and there are lots of added symphonic and technical arrangements that bring a something new and fresh to their sound.

With all those things going for it, the worst thing about "Happiness LTD" is the same problem that was present on their last album: overproduction. Everything sounds waaaaaayyy too smooth and ironed out, and that takes away a good portion of the human feel the album should have. I don't know if it's a major label thing or what, but the studio polish is so bright I'm nearly sonically blinded by it. Give me more warts and raw energy from the band, like what comes out in their live performances, and you'll have an album practically equal to their stellar debut. For all the emotion and passion that singer Steve Bays injects into these lyrics, the songs still have something of an alien quality to them for which the production is mostly to blame. Still, I think that for Hot Hot Heat this album is pretty decent. Now if they'll let me make a suggestion for their next record: scale back the production and charge forward with a deeper, more mature pop sound. That could be the key to a top Hot Hot Heat record instead of one whose abilities are..somewhat LTD.

ALSO!

The good folks at Filter were kind enough to hook up an email interview with Hot Hot Heat bassist Dustin Hawthorne and drummer Paul Hawley, so I had the chance to grill them on a few things surrounding the new album (mind you, before I'd heard the whole thing). Enjoy their somewhat snarky and tragically short answers to the following questions:

What kind of work goes into trying to keep the band's sound as fresh and original as possible?

To try and keep things fresh we treat each song like we're a new band.

How did having multiple producers on the album affect its overall sound? Was there any pushing and pulling in terms sound and direction as a result?

Every producer has their own style and choice of gear, at the end of the day though, it was a smooth process.

This is the first album with guitarist Luke Paquin. What sort of influence has he brought to the band?

A sarcastic sense of humor.

How many songs did you wind up recording for the album?

20

Are there any current plans to use some of the non-album tracks you recorded as b-sides or possibly on the next album?

The b-sides are being release in various countries and quantities. There is also talk of a b-sides album for 2008.

What is your favorite song on "Happiness LTD" and why?

My Best Fiend. It always gets the mosh pit going, brah.

Tell me a little bit about the song "Outta Heart." The song seems very out of character for the band. How did the basic framework for that track come about? At what point did elements like the orchestra and the girls choir come into play?

We hadn't written too many ballads before. Steve brought in a demo that was very complete and then we tried to recreate the demo in a more finished form for the album. We ended up adding more and more layers until it got progressively more insane. Plus, we were bored that day.

I realize there was a good amount of joking around and having fun during the recording process (as documented in the "making of" video), but were there days and songs where it was particularly difficult and challenging to work and come up with a solid vision for what something should sound like? How do you go about resolving in-band conflicts like that?

Everyday is a struggle when your in the studio. Humor is the best way to relieve stress, but yelling gets it done.

What pushed the decision to document the making of the album for a bonus DVD?
We had too much time, too many resources, and little by little, we went insane. And then it came out on a DVD.

*~Big thanks go out to both Filter as well as Dustin and Paul from Hot Hot Heat for putting in the time and effort towards making this happen!~*

Hot Hot Heat- Outta Heart
Hot Hot Heat- Conversation

Buy "Happiness LTD" from Amazon

Video: Let Me In


Click here for more Hot Hot Heat videos, including a few "Making of Happiness LTD" clips

Labels: hot hot heat, interview