Steve Bays (vocals/keyboards)
Paul Hawley (drums)
Dustin Hawthorne (bass)
Luke Paquin (guitar)

“Happiness is limited, but misery has no end. Give us somewhere we can go, instead of one more dead end.” —from the title track of Happiness LTD.

We don’t know about you, but we sure missed Hot Hot Heat in the years since their 2002 breakthrough album Make Up The Breakdown, which was fueled by the Brazil-inspired video for “Bandages” and the delightfully spastic “No, Not Now”, and 2005’s dance-party masterpiece Elevator, which was marked by the success of songs like “Goodnight, Goodnight” and “Middle Of Nowhere.” Lucky for us, the wait for Hot Hot Heat’s triumphant return is over—finally!

So what took the band so long to deliver their highly anticipated major-label follow up? “When we started recording our [third] album, we thought we wanted it to be recorded in two weeks—sort of a live, dirty rock record with urgency,” explains HHH vocalist, keyboardist and afro enthusiast Steve Bays. “But in the end we decided we didn't want a humble, live record; we wanted a heavy, big, decadent, lush record that told a story and had an arc more like a film than a rock record.”

While the members of Hot Hot Heat co-produced 90 percent of Happiness LTD., they did bring in a bevy of producers—like Butch Walker (the Academy Is…, the Von Bondies), Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance), Eric Valentine (Queens of the Stone Age) and Tim Palmer (U2, David Bowie, the Cure)—to assist in making the album larger than life. “Usually we'd work on a song right up until we knew it was definitely ripe and then we'd force our way in to a studio within a few days,” remembers Bays of the collaborative experience. “[Happiness LTD.] was done in bits and pieces in different studios in different cities at different times—everywhere from Mushroom Studios in our hometown [of Vancouver, British Columbia] to Frank Sinatra's studio in L.A. to Abbey Road in London. We're penniless as a result, but the result is a beautiful piece of art.”

From the thumping bass line of the Happiness LTD.’s opening title track to the synth-tastic trickery of “Harmonicas & Tambourines,” the album is a journey through the eyes of someone who’s brokenhearted, on the verge of breaking down, but not completely sure they’re ready to give up. “[The title track] is about being blissfully blind with love, but then having it inexplicably taken away in an instant,” says Bays, whose own heartache inspired much of the album’s lovelorn sentiments. “The music matches the lyrics by starting in one blissfully melancholy place which climbs in enthusiasm and energy, then suddenly twists and ends up in a completely different unexpected place.” 

It’s that unexpected place that offers little resolution but much insight, as heard in the album’s first single, “Let Me In,” a bare-knuckled plea to return to the arms of your beloved—no matter how toxic and suffocating they might be. “Although the lyrics get dark at times, it's ultimately an optimist's album,” insists Bays. “[It] starts from the point of view of someone who is intoxicated with self-loathing and sees themselves as a victim of fate. But, ultimately, it's about pulling yourself out of that—even if it means making a bunch of mistakes along the way.” The album’s narrator seems to reach some sort of catharsis by the time we get to “My Best Fiend,” which, according to Bays, “is about taking off your blinders and finally realizing that love and logic do not always go hand in hand. Unfortunately, sometimes we fall in love with someone who we could just as easily hate. Best friend or best fiend?”

Hot Hot Heat has come a long way since forming nearly 10 years ago, but the more things change, the more they stay the same. “When we were young, we were really involved with the DIY music scene,” reminisces Bays of the band’s early days. “If you are an outsider in high school, it helps to have a getaway where there are all sorts of alternative ideas and beliefs floating around—and music was the key to unlock a lot of doors to new people and lifestyles. For the first 10 years or so it was just as much about the culture as it was about the music because before the Internet, finding someone who liked the same music as you was like finding a long lost relative.”

Luckily for Bays, Hawley, Hawthorne and Paquin, they found each other and haven’t looked back since. Known for their frenetic and high-energy show, the band is gearing up to hit the road with a new arsenal of songs, and what Hot Hot Heat is looking forward to most is reconnecting with their overwhelmingly loyal fans—and introducing themselves to some fresh-faced new ones. “The musical climate will always change and evolve,” admits Bays. “All you can do is make music that you love and do it for yourself. If you do it for anyone else, you'll always be one step behind. The only way to make good music is to be comfortably selfish and chase the dragon that is the brief high you get from making music you might actually be proud of for a moment or two...”

RECORD COMPANY:
Sire/Warner Brothers Records
3300 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, CA
91505
(818) 953-3283
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PUBLISHING INFORMATION:
Hot Hot Heat Songs, Inc.
Administered by Wixen Music Publishing
24025 Park Sorrento
Suite 130
Calabasas, CA 91302-4003
ph: (818) 591-7355
fx: (818) 591-7178
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BOOKING:
US: Jbeau Lewis/CAA
ph: (424) 288-2000
email: jlewis@caa.com
CANADA: Colin Lewis/The Agency Group
ph: (416) 368-5599
email: colinlewis@theagencygroup.com
INTERNATIONAL (EXCEPT NORTH AMERICA): Mike Greek/CAA
ph: +44 (0)20 8846 3000
email: mgreek@caa.com
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OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
www.hothotheat.com
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