Interview with Hot Chip
Having a quick Google check on your recent activities this morning, I found a few scandalous things that I thought you could talk to me about! Firstly, you're tipped to play Glastonbury...
Oh yeah?!
Haha, very cagey. Alexis dropped a small hint on Radio 1…
Ha, I'm not sure; maybe he put his foot in it, I don't know! It's quite likely that we'll play if we get offered to play there, because we've played there three or four times before and I usually go to the festival anyway, 'cause I really, really like it.
Well it's either that, or you're playing a Somerset Folk Festival or something!
Yeah, exactly!! A cider tent or something.
Also in the news this morning - and this seems ridiculous - apparently you were inspired by Susan Boyle to write a song?!
Yeah, I've been reading that everywhere too! I'm quite surprised by that myself… I think it was one of those things where sometimes if you give a journalist a scrap of something, they want to turn it into a four-course banquet. It's like watching a monstrous birth, a Frankenstein that just appears, and then you wonder why people are so guarded in interviews. I think maybe the best way to deal with it is to take that approach where you tell a lie that's even bigger than the one the others are making up, so maybe we should say something like, erm, we've been working in the studio with Susan Boyle and she’s done a cracking version of ‘Over and Over’ that I just can’t wait for people to hear! It’s a real tearjerker…
It’ll be on Wikipedia before you know it! Well don’t worry, we’re not in to scandal, so I’m not gonna ask you about your girlfriends, or what you had for breakfast…
You can if you like – I’m happy to talk about anything… well, not anything!
No, we have boundaries; we’re British after all. So, 2009 did seem like a quiet year for you, but what was happening in actuality? There was lots of studio time, but Alexis and his wife had a baby, so that was obviously quite a big event for them! There’s been a lot of stuff… we released the Bugged Out album, which took a lot of work. We started the year off in Australia and New Zealand, which sort of rolled in to February. I mean, it wasn’t just like sitting on a beach in Barbados, chilling out, it just wasn’t really touring.
I’ve only had the link to the album stream for a couple of hours now, as it’s not even released yet, but already you’re one of the top blogged about artists at the moment, fifth in the world, which is amazing, isn’t it…?
Well, I would be really pleased if it didn’t mean that our album leaked a week ago, so everyone’s heard it and downloaded it and now they’re giving their opinions of it. It’s just pretty dispiriting because you get really focused on the campaign of releasing an album and then three weeks before it comes out, it’s just totally available to anyone that wants it.
I guess when they say good things about it, it must be like a premature ejaculation – it feels good, but there’s a sense of disappointed that it came too soon…!Yeah! Like, I compared it to opening your Christmas presents half way through December, then people wonder why they feel a bit disappointed and grubby at what they’ve done.
I’ve read a lot of reports that say there’s a more cohesive approach to this album, but you’ve always been characterised by a dichotomy of sound. With this one, do you think it’s more important to listen to this album as a whole, in full?
Erm, I think we definitely thought about the sequencing of it and the tracks that we chose, because we were choosing from quite a lot of different things. From that point of view, I think it is important to hear everything in context. I hope it stands up as an album that’s been thought about a lot.
Instantly I love ‘We Have Love’ and the intro sounds like it’s dedicated to anyone who had a relationship with 90s dance music, but who do you see as your audience for this album?
I don’t know… we don’t really think about it that much, but if anyone listens to it that had an appreciation for older house music, whether it be Chicago, or Detroit thing, or what was happening in the UK in the early 90s, then they will probably hear those influences on some of those tracks and other people that wouldn’t have heard it the first time round, but like the sound, will maybe go back to discover it, and if they do, then that’s a good thing.
Obviously the title, ‘One Life Stand’, is indicative of the sentiment of the album, but also the chapter of your lives you’re at, but can it also be seen as a testament to your longevity as a band?
I think so, yeah. Well, I think it is for Alexis. He’s been married for the last few years and he’s obviously started a family, and so wanted to write a song about being committed and having the same relationship, which is something that isn’t necessarily that sexy to celebrate, but it’s something that a lot of people really value.
I think commitment is very sexy.
I hope so – that’s what we’re banking on.
So for ‘One Life Stand’, you enlisted the skills of Fimber Bravo and Charles Heyward – Heyward being quite the cult hero – but I guess they won’t be joining you in the live set-up?
Well, I think we definitely hope they will, but we’ve also got a really talented drummer called Rob Malcolm, who played with Hot Chip years ago, and we’re rehearsing with him at the moment, and then Al, as ever, is making himself learn more instruments, and he’s become pretty good on the ol’ steel drums.
We had an absolutely awesome time when you played in Norwich a couple of years ago now, and you also even did a DJ set at Mojo’s Nightclub after the show, but I wondered if you had any memories of Norwich?
Yeah, of course; I mean, it’s always really fun coming to Norwich, ‘cause we all really like towns where we can go to a lot of charity shops and mess about in quite an English way, and I think Norwich is one of those places to do that, so yeah, we’ve got lots of good memories.
Emma Roberts
Hot Chip will be delighting you with their vitalising live show at the UEA on Weds 24th February. For tickets, go to www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk or call 01603 508050.
