Pitchfork: Hot Hot Heat at Work on Next Album

Hot Hot Heat at Work on Next Album
Warner execs still endlessly discovering, forgetting band is on the roster

Steve Bays, singer/keyboardist for Canadian pop/rock animals Hot Hot Heat, has posted an update to the band's official website, regarding the status of their highly anticipated sophomore full-length. After bringing their exhausting 19-month patchwork tour to a close in December with a rousing version of the Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want"-- during which they were accompanied by members of The Unicorns and The French Kicks-- the band has spent most of 2004 re-adjusting to civilian life.

But what is life, anyway, if you're not surrounded 24/7 by screaming 13 year-old Quebecois filles? Certainly, they couldn't be expected to stay away for long. And so, Hot Hot Heat have esconded to a studio in guitarist Dante Decaro's rural home, an hour north of Victoria, BC, to work on material for their next full-length. The band has already written and recorded 14 tracks, with the hope that at least six more will be laid to tape before the self-editing process kicks in.

Regarding the band's songwriting and recording process, Bays revealed that their goal "is to write about 20 [songs], record 16 and then put the best 13 on the record. It's getting hard to decide now, though, because it seems that each song is better than the last." So it seems this songwriting gift has become something of a twisted curse. As my esteemed colleague Cory Byrom notes, "I think it means that they inevitably must release a one-song album. Otherwise, once they cut the oldest song, the next-to-oldest immediately becomes the worst."

Incidentally, a video of the band's aforementioned drunken Stones orgy is available on their website. Included about three quarters of the way through is the obligatory, "Oh FUCK, there goes the camera," followed by scratchy film, a dizzying tumble, and finally a disorienting return to a level view of a stage packed with rabid Torontonian coeds. "It's really cool to see how much love was in the air that night," Bays recalled. He is reportedly in talks with Disney about licensing that quote for an upcoming Lilo & Stitch sequel.