They're On Fire

10/19/2007 7:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dave DiMartino

Despite its bad rap for spawning Celine Dion and Bryan Adams, Canada is home to many cool groups, like the Arcade Fire, Sloan, the Stills, the Dears, and of course, Hot Hot Heat. Their 2002 breakthrough, Make Up The Breakdown, put these lushly coiffed, smartly dressed British Columbians on the map, and with their recent followup, Elevator, they're shooting straight to the top.

Hot Hot Heat recently stopped by Yahoo! Music's headquarters to rock out in our studio, after which corkscrew-curled frontman Steve Bays and drummer Paul Hawley sat down with Y! Music executive editor Dave DiMartino to discuss their move from Sub Pop to Warner Bros., the grind of constant touring, vomit, tighty-whiteys, lithium, and Keanu Reeves, among other topics. Read on for details...

YAHOO! MUSIC: You've rolled into the business in a different manner than other major-label bands might...

PAUL: Or "the biz," as we like to call it.

YAHOO! MUSIC: How did the leap from an indie to Warner Bros. affect the making of this record?

PAUL: Well, there's like a bigger vise with more pressure, squeezing us. So, first of all, Warner can afford a bigger vise. The Sub Pop vise is obviously not quite so big. But we always put a lot of pressure on ourselves. We did from the beginning. We always put more pressure on ourselves the next time around to make what we are doing better than the last thing.

YAHOO! MUSIC: What's the story with the guitarist from the record and the one you play with now?

STEVE: Well, we knew kind of early on in the touring cycle on the last record, that [former HHH guitarist] Dante [DeCaro] wasn't really a fan of touring. And you have to be into it 110 percent to really stick with it, because it consumes your whole life. And so basically just for this record, Paul and I did the majority of the writing; even though Paul is the drummer, we've always kind of collaborated on guitars and pianos and whatnot. And so Dante stayed for the writing process, and he recorded I guess about half the guitar parts. Paul played a lot of guitar on the record, so it was kind of like a gradual crossfade. But yeah, it was just the touring thing kind of killed him--which is understandable, you know?

PAUL: It's a pretty rigorous schedule we're on, but we were fortunate enough to meet Luke Paquin, sort of through mutual friends, and it just turned out he was a great singer, and a great guitar player---and a great person, which is the most important thing, because we have to spend a lot of time together not playing music. It's sort of really important how we vibe communication-wise, and friend-wise, and we got along with him on that level. It just kind of felt right. We had a really good feeling immediately.

STEVE: We basically just went to a ton of shows, met with a ton of people, flew a bunch of people out in some instances...but Luke was just an awesome guitar player and had a really cool voice that--we both kind of sing nasally. [LAUGHS] So it just worked.

PAUL: Plus, he loves to drink, which really helps.

STEVE: Yeah, we were looking for, you know, an alcoholic. At least someone with addictive tendencies, just to keep the press rolling, you know?

YAHOO! MUSIC: Tell me a bit about what your producer, Dave Sardy, brought to the mix while making the record in what you've called his "crummy old town" of Los Angeles.

PAUL: [SINGING] Crummy old town!

STEVE: Well, the writing on the record we did in a barn, in a forest, in the middle of nowhere, really. So that was kind of its own experience, and we made a point of just separating ourselves from the world that we've been living for the last couple years. Then when we recorded it in L.A.--but it didn't really feel like L.A. that much, because we were in the studio 14 hours a day. It felt more like a submarine. But Dave added a lot to the record. We hired him for a couple reasons. Mainly we just loved his drum sounds--they just sounded huge. It sounded like the snare drum was like this big on his records. And also 'cause he was on the same page as us. You know, he wasn't trying to put a square through a circle or anything. He knew what we were trying to do.

YAHOO! MUSIC: Your album is called Elevator. Why that name?

PAUL: Well, we figured we could make a great website based on the name of our record, and that's just the way it's gonna go!

STEVE: That's the way all bands should do it, I think.

PAUL: You know, you think, "What's going to look good in HTML and flash?" And you go, "Fire...maybe a dog barking...an elevator." It was the third thing we thought of, so...

STEVE: It was just a really strange process for us making the record. There were a lot of ups and downs, especially with the transition of a new guitar player; it's kind of like a divorce, and then getting remarried, and at the same time documenting it. So really the album title was just a reference to that--and also it ties into the up-and-down of Make Up The Breakdown.

YAHOO! MUSIC: When you guys get older, you can make Escalator and it'll be great.

STEVE: Yeah, we were thinking about that!

YAHOO! MUSIC: Going back, was there any kind of turning point during your career that you remember?

PAUL: I was pretty out of it the past few years...

STEVE: Paul's been on a really heavy dose of lithium just up until today, so... [LAUGHS]

PAUL: It's been a real head-shaker. Getting played on the radio is a strange thing, and I can't say that you're ever really ready for it. You never think, "OK, what's this going to sound like on the radio?" You just make a record. You make a song that you like. And then if it gets played, that's fantastic, but then everybody's perception changes. We changed less, I think, than the people around us. And our fans--I mean, you just get new fans, and you get more fans, and you get more press and...

STEVE: I think what Paul's trying to say is...

PAUL: I'm just tip-toeing around it.

STEVE: Don't tip-toe around it. Just be blunt. No, I don't really know the answer to that, because it was kind of just in gradual steps.

PAUL: So what's the question again? [LAUGHS]

STEVE: I think maybe because we're from a small town or something, I don't know, it's always exciting. We wrote the record assuming we'd sell maybe a thousand or two, and then we'd write the next record, you know, six months later--the way that we always had done it. When it started, it just gave us reasons to continue touring, which was really exciting in and of itself. On this one, we knew we were going to be touring it for a while, but still, when I first heard "Goodnight, Goodnight" on the radio, I got that kind of excitement like in that movie That Thing You Do!, when they run around. I wasn't running around in the street, nor was any of my friends, but I was in the shower, and I was going, "Oh, that's cool!"

PAUL: I heard it on the radio for the first time with my mom, and right before it came on, my mom was like, "My cousin died." And it was this terrible moment. It was heavy, 'cause she had just picked me up from the ferry or wherever.

STEVE: From school, from kindergarten... [LAUGHS]

PAUL: And she was like, "Your second cousin died and there's a funeral." And then "Goodnight, Goodnight" came on the radio and I was like, "Turn it up." It was such a strange moment. I was stunned for, like, a couple hours. I was kind of out-of-it, just thinking about how this came to a head in a way that I don't think anyone should ever have to go through. It was a really weird moment. And that's so far off from your question, but it's just a weird story so I thought I'd share with the Yahoo! audience.

YAHOO! MUSIC: Well, maybe next time you'll hear some good news.

STEVE: Or maybe you'll hear, "They just added the single," and then you'll hear a guy on the radio, like, dying on-air or something.

PAUL: Oh, man!

YAHOO! MUSIC: If someone had only heard the very first thing you guys did, and then heard the new record, what's going to leap out as the difference between "Band A" and "Band B"?

STEVE: Well, I think the thing with the new record is the average person understands it and can appreciate it. But I think musicians--which we're secretly catering to in subtle ways, because that's who we are--they know that our background is in that "Record A" area. And I think that's what ties a lot of indie-rock bands together right now: They may have different sounds, but they all kind of come from that subversive background.

PAUL: To answer your question directly, I don't know if anyone could tell that "Band A" and "Band B" are two different bands. If they listen to every record sequentially, they might be able to hear the subtle changes happening. But yes, to go from first song we ever wrote to the last song we wrote for the record, it might be like, "What the hell? It sounds like two different bands!" Which it is, you know?

YAHOO! MUSIC: You mentioned the "indie-rock" thing. Are there any groups from that scene that influenced you when you were younger?

PAUL: When we were doing the band at the beginning, we were influenced by sort of other more esoteric underground punk bands on really small labels. You can almost equate it to jazz labels in the '50s and '60s. Just all sorts of independent action happening.

STEVE: Yeah, it was more about what was tangible to us at the time--who was, like, playing in our friend's basement that weekend. It's almost not even worth mentioning because they're just, you know, random.

PAUL: I mean, we could name names, but I don't know if anyone would ever have heard of these bands outside the circle of maybe 10 or 20,000 people that bought those records. I'll give you a few names--like, we were listening to the V.S.S. a lot. I was into the Swing Kids.

STEVE: I'm just trying to think of one that people might know. Like, when I first started going to college, Modest Mouse had just come out and I thought they were really cool. And I'm happy to see them succeed.

PAUL: This is like eight years ago, that sort of thing.

STEVE: Yeah, but I mean initially, it was probably just all the classic records that you would expect. And then I think I sold them all in disgust, and then I rebought them.

YAHOO! MUSIC: What's your take overall on what has been written about you in the music press?

STEVE: People always get things wrong. I think one thing that's weird is they take what they hear in your music and then they say that's what you're influenced by. I know on this record we felt like it was a bit less '80s or new wave, and we kind of focused more on the songs--and that might have been subconsciously as a result of reading it in the press so much, that we were "'80s" or "new wave." It was like, "What? Really?" I don't hear that, except maybe in a couple songs. But for the most part the press has been pretty kind to us. We haven't had too many awful articles, so...

PAUL: Journalists have a hard job, because they have to take something that's so natural and spontaneous for us, which is our music and our musicianship or whatever, and they have to intellectualize that for people to read. It's almost impossible to take what a band is about and what their songs are about and wrap it up in a neat package, and put it on a page with a picture. So yeah, I mean, there's all sorts of dumb crap written all the time, but it's mostly positive, which is nice. It's nice when the crap is positive. But it's nice when they get their facts straight, too, you know. Still, I'm not offended by any of it. I can understand it.

YAHOO! MUSIC: In Vancouver itself, do they embrace you as hometown boys?

STEVE: Well, speaking of the press, it took us being noticed by the U.K. and U.S. press before the press in Canada really embraced us. But as far as kids and fans and people coming out to the shows, they've always been really awesome in Canada, including Vancouver. We played Vancouver a million times, and I don't think we've had any bad shows, really.

PAUL: It's natural that people that you used to know might get weird or something. I mean, I get weird when people have success, you know what I mean? When someone you know or some group that you were a fan of all of a sudden is everywhere, you know, it's weird. It makes you think. And I don't like to think. [LAUGHS] This isn't just specific to Vancouver, you know. But I don't know if we're "embraced." I feel like we are...is that more important? To be felt like you are?

STEVE: I'm sure there's people saying mean things behind our back! [LAUGHS]

PAUL: On the Internet.

STEVE: On message boards.

PAUL: I mean, this is going out on the Internet, which is a bit freaky.

YAHOO! MUSIC: Can you envision doing this forever, as tiring as it sometimes may be?

PAUL: It's funny that you mention that, because on the drive down here, I was talking to someone from our label about how it does get tiring being on the road so much. I was just telling him about how I can always try and summon up the energy that I need, even if I'm laying in a bed. I can almost think myself out of being tired. And that's sort of the luxury, I guess, of being a bit younger, but also understanding the cool situation that we're in, and that if you didn't get up off your bed and off your ass, where you might be instead.

STEVE: Yeah, sometimes you need, like, the structure and schedule to kind of squeeze all the good things out of you, so that's kind of cool. But yeah, there's been shows where I've been vomiting right up until we went on, my face totally green. But then as soon as that little bit of adrenaline hits you, it's always a great show. There's no point in whining because people don't really want to hear about it. Plus, we love it, for the most part.

YAHOO! MUSIC: What's the most frighteningly un-hip thing about your band?

STEVE: I could answer that, as probably the least hip member...

PAUL: I don't know. We all are into pretty standard, mainstream stuff. We watch the Grammys like everybody else, and we go see bad movies like everybody else. But I think it's important to balance your intake of modern or--for lack of a better word--"mainstream" stuff with good art and good music.

STEVE: No, [the interviewer] wants juicy specifics, like if you wear like tighty-whiteys, things like that.

PAUL: Well, I'm not gonna give it to you. I'm not gonna give you that. What do you want? Like, I'm going to go see Constantine, the Keanu Reeves movie, later? Because I'm not! I'm going to rent 8 1/2, the classic Fellini flick.

STEVE: He wants to know, like, if you've got a picture of Mary-Kate and Ashley.

PAUL: Shhh! [LAUGHS]

YAHOO! MUSIC: What about you, Steve?

STEVE: Me? I'm pretty much cool from top to bottom. Actually, I tend to shy away from something that's considered "cool," until it's proven itself. I'll like something if it's good, even if it's not "cool." I mean, I don't know if I want to provide specifics either, but quality speaks for itself, you know.

YAHOO! MUSIC: Your band name--is that taken from a song lyric, or is it just a cool band name?

PAUL: It's just a cool band name.

STEVE: Although we were kind of unpleasantly surprised when we signed to Sub Pop and we noticed they had a band called Red Red Meat.

PAUL: And there's a Cure song called "Hot Hot Hot."

YAHOO! MUSIC: Where do you want to be in 2006?

PAUL: Realistically, I expect to still be on tour. I'll probably be in another hotel room, in another city. I mean, I don't like to do that predictive stuff.

STEVE: [LAUGHS] Sorry, but when I hear your question, I know what you're looking for. Something Liam Gallagher-esque, like, "We're going to be top of the charts!" But that's not the kind of guys we are. When we wrote Elevator, we felt like it was a good record, and I hope it allows us to make another record...

PAUL: That's a good point. Just to keep the momentum going would be nice. I do not ever want to have a two-and-a-half-year span between records again. Definitely not. I don't think it's fair to people who buy our records and support us at shows to make them wait that long. That's a bit ridiculous, and I apologize, right now.

STEVE: Part of why we had to wait so long between records--well, the main reason, actually--was just because we weren't really a priority for Sub Pop, and then we started to do really well. And so they made us this big priority. And then Warner Bros. said, "Well, why don't we re-release it?" And so every time we had to tour the world again, so we kept doing it every time a single came out or it was promoted more. It was kind of a really weird way to be introduced to the whole world of touring and stuff. On this record, we've kind of planned our touring cycle a bit more strategically...

PAUL: We didn't plan it. Our manager planned it. We just go where they tell us, when they tell us.

YAHOO! MUSIC: The good thing about the three-time re-release is the fact that everyone has heard it, so now you're hitting them all at once.

STEVE: That was kind of an important thing--we did want it to feel like the growth of the band was organic, from touring. It wasn't like all of a sudden you've heard of us because we're on Letterman and on the front page of some magazine. Because we grew up in a D.I.Y. scene, so it was important to be introduced, before all the other kind of fancy stuff happens.

YAHOO! MUSIC: You guys are obviously a self-made band.

PAUL: That's very cool, very kind of you.