By: David de Young
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Hot Hot Heat performs at the Quest - photo by David de Young (click for full size)
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Reviewed by David de Young
When I arrived at The Quest Club about halfway through French Kicks set, the first two things I noticed were related: One, the club was filled with a preponderance of young fans; and two, I didn't recognize very many people. You can usually tell an under 21'er at a Quest show as they tend to sit on the floor leaning against a wall, or in circles on the dance floor, possibly a habit left over from high school. I don't know. It's been a long time since I was in high school. But I understand; what else are you supposed to do if you can't drink?
As Hot Hot Heat took to the stage many of these sitting people literally ran to the front of the club.
HHH opened with their typical opener "Talk to Me, Dance With Me," keyboard player, vocalist and bandleader Steve Bays dancing around the keyboard in a frenzy, sometimes playing with his right hand while holding the microphone in his left. This front man has been compared to Bruce Springsteen for the sexy and cool energy to his performance. Stage left, bassist Dustin Hawthorne was shaking his ass at the audience to help jump start the show. The riffs on "Talk to Me, Dance With Me" sound like they could have been lifted straight out of The Gang of Four's "I Love a Man in a Uniform," but so what. Not much chance you're going to see the Gang of Four live anytime soon.
Weird almost space-jazz-like sounds filled the short breaks between songs. Bays looked down at the stage floor and feigned momentary confusion, saying, "Oh, that's somebody else's set list." Next up for HHH was "No, Not Now," one of many songs throughout the night that would sound borrowed from XTC, another band you won't be seeing live. On their debut major label album, "Make Up the Breakdown" (Sub Pop, 2003) this song finds Hot Hot Heat sounding more British than many British bands.Hailing from British Columbia (Victoria to be precise) HHH formed a few thousand miles west of England, but Bays vocals at times still sound like a cross between Britis Andy Partridge of XTC and a young Robert Smith of the Cure.
More weird sounds segued into "Get in or get Out." Bays said he can tell intuitively right away whether he likes an audience or not and claimed to like this one. (Watch for him to say that at future shows to see if it's believable or not.)
Next came a song from HHH's "Knock Knock Knock" EP, "Le Le Low." Bays said it was a dance song. Dustin Hawley shook a tambourine as the song started, a frenzied, less melodic song than many of their other fare. Dancers bounced up and down up front as this song melded straight into the drums of the next song, "Oh Goddamnit." This next song almost seemed to have low recognition (surprisingly) and was one of the lower energy songs of the set. But by the "Shot down" part I felt I was back in England in 1980 and feeling okay. (And I mean that literally because I actually was in England in 1980.)
Next came a new song, "You're Making Such a Mess" which has a punky, slow XTC feel to it.
"Five times out of 100," another prime track from the "Knock Knock Knock EP was another bouncy number. Then came "Naked in the City Again," the album's opener, more XTC-like at times than even XTC.
On "Aveda," Bays pointed out the drummer Paul Hawley has been having knee trouble, not that it was at all noticeable in his steady performance this evening. "Aveda" also featured a crazy keyboard solo by Bays, who at the end of the song thanked everyone for coming saying he didn't know that many people would be there.
After one song I didn't recognize at all came "Bandages," undoubtedly the band's biggest hit, which owes a lot to XTC's Helicopter. Bays played up sounding drunk or drugged on the "don't worry now 'cause it's all under control" part.
There were either two encores or one encore in two parts. Traditionally the band encores with "This Town" or "Touch You Touch You," but if it was one of these I couldn't quite make it out, perhaps distracted by the fact that one young fan was being ejected from the show at this point for some transgression. (If you're going to be ejected, during the encore's the right time to do it. The guy only missed about 3 and a half minutes of the show.)
Anyone who knows what this encore was, let me know. Or the song before "Bandages" for that matter.
Hot Hot Heat put on a good, though not truly great live show, totally worth seeing, if you are a fan, recommended with minor reservations otherwise.
Hot Hot Heat is:
Steve Bays -vocals/keyboard
Dustin Hawthorne - Bass
Paul Hawley - Drums
Dante DeCaro - Guitar
Official website: http://www.hothotheat.com/index.php
Related links:
Guardian Article
BBC Article
Location Info:
The Quest Club
Artist Info: Hot Hot Heat
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