Hot Hot Heat Making Music Sound Larger Than Life

Hot Hot Heat guitarist Luke Paquin doesn’t own a TV. He doesn’t need to. “I am usually sitting on YouTube for a couple of hours a day,” he said when I interviewed him Thursday. “It’s basically the same thing. I am always looking up old episodes of Arrested Development, or old Alice Cooper interviews. You can type in ‘curb stomping’ and get 100 clips of people getting their head bashed in - not that I’m particularly into curb stomping…” Perhaps more readily available than curb stomping clips on YouTube is footage of Hot Hot Heat, like ones from the band’s set at last months Reading/Leeds Festival. While most of the UK crowd sang along to the bands punchy dance-punk radio hits “Bandages” and “Talk to Me, Dance With Me,” both off their debut 2002 album Makeup The Breakdown, songs from the Vancouver based group’s latest, Happiness LTD, have a more grandoise, opus sound to them.“I don’t think we ever sat down and analyzed what we wanted the album to sound like,” Paquin explained of making Happiness LTD. “It was naturally what happened. It started sounding bigger and started sounding more alive, really. I think that’s what we want to continue to do – make the music sound larger than life.”Paquin is the most recent addition to the Hot Hot Heat line-up, which also includes frontman/keyboardist Steve Bays, bassist Dustin Hawthorne, and drummer Paul Hawley. In 2004, during the mixing process of the band’s sophomore album,Elevator former guitarist Dante DeCaro began a Canadian indie rock love affair by quitting the band and touring with Wolf Parade. Paquin hopped into the picture replacing DeCaro midway through Elevator’s sessions, something he referred to as a “strange time.” Hot Hot Heat worked on Happiness LTD in the same Vancouver studio that they recorded their breakthrough debut. They took three producers in for the long haul: Butch Walker (Marvelous 3 frontman), Tim Palmer (U2, David Bowie, the Cure) and Rob Cavallo (Green Day and My Chemical Romance). “We worked with a couple different people, whoever we thought was right for whatever particular track. Certain producers specialize in certain sounds. We tried to mix it up a little bit and get the guy we thought was the best guy for the best songs. I think it ended up coming out awesome. We got some big rockers, we got a couple slower acoustic numbers and then we got some straight up dance tracks. I think this album has got a little of everything we have done in the past and then some newer more rockin’ stuff.”“I came in the middle of a band going through a tough period,” Paquin added. “I wouldn’t say a break-up – because obviously the bad would have gone on whether or not I had joined. It seems like I’ve been in the band forever now.”Hot Hot Heat’s Happiness LTD hits stores on September 11th. The band embarks on a full scale North American tour in support of the album on September 18th, with Bedouin Soundclash and De Novo Dahl, in Vancouver, BC. Prior to the tour Hot Hot Heat will play KROQ’s LA Invasion alongside the Smashing Pumpkins and the Foo Fighters on September 15th. Hot Hot Heat, “Bandages” at 2007 Reading FestivalHot Hot Heat tour dates:9/15: Los Angeles, CA, KROQ LA Invasion at The Home Depot Center9/18: Vancouver, BC, Commodore Ballroom9/20: Victoria, BC, Sugar9/22: Seattle, WA, Endfest at Qwest Field9/23: Bend, OR, Domino Room9/24: Portland, OR, Wonder Ballroom9/26: San Diego, CA, Soma9/28: Ventura, CA, Majestic Ventura Theatre9/29: Queen Creek, AZ, Edgefest at Schnepf Farms10/1: Denver, CO, Gothic Theatre10/3: Minneapolis, MN, Fine Line Music Cafe10/4: Chicago, IL, The Vic10/5: Detroit, MI, St. Andrews Hall10/7: Montreal, QC, Club Soda10/8: Toronto, ON, Kool Haus10/10: Burlington, VT, Higher Ground10/11: Boston, MA, Paradise Rock Club10/13: New York, NY, Webster Hall10/14: Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore at The Theatre of Living Arts10/15: Baltimore, MD, Rams Head Live!10/17: Atlanta, GA, Center Stage Theatre10/18: Orlando, FL, The Social10/19: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Culture Room10/20: Saint Petersburg, FL, State Theatre10/22: Houston, TX, Meridian Red Room10/23: Austin, TX, Emo's10/24: Dallas, TX, Granada Theater10/27: Tucson, AZ, Rialto Theatre10/30: San Francisco, CA, The Fillmore