HOT FLASH HEAT WAVE
Q: Can you please tell me about each band member and how they each contribute to the band?
A: Each member brings their own unique vision to song writing and to what an ideal song/ composition consists of. Nick (drummer) very talented at pop arrangement and locking into to catchy and driving rhythms. Ted (bass/ vocals) is also very rhythmically oriented and also a passionate lyricist. Adam (guitar/ vocals) loves riffs and writing hooks. We all have many overlapping skill sets that helps us brings songs to their full potential.
Q: How do you guys think you developed from the time you first played a show together to now?
A: We used to do music for fun and it was less serious, so I think the biggest difference is that our passion has grown to match the fun and now it consumes our lives.
Q: Your most popularly streamed song is Gutter Girl. Can you give me the backstory to your “Gutter Girl?”
A: We wrote gutter girl during the time we had all moved into a house together in San Francisco and we’re excited to take our music to a new level. The song is very inspired by a lot of our friends in the Bay and Santa Cruz where we would play a lot of house shows. We had a group of friends that were this pinky bad ass girls that we felt like we’re all part of one big gutter family.
Q: I see a flamingo in a few of your pictures of the band when you guys first started as Hot Flash Heat Wave, both on T-shirts and in the backgrounds of pictures. What exactly does this flamingo represent? Who designed the shirts?
A: The flamingo was a sign of fun, energy and wildness. They are strange and beautiful birds that we felt went along with on the music we were making at the time. Ted designed that shirt and does the majority of our graphic design.
Q: Tell me about your first tour? How did it feel? Where did you travel? What was your favorite destination and any funny stories?
A: Our first tour was a self booked tour up and down the west coast. It was cool and very exciting to tour for the first time and meet many cool new people.
Q: What was your most memorable moment as a musician? (studio, small gig, home town, concert, music festival)
A: Can’t really pick just one, but one that comes to mind is playing Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn at the end of our tour with No Vacation last year, which happened to be on my birthday. Everyone surprised me with a cake on stage and we covered Linger by The Cranberries all together for No Vacations encore. It was overwhelming and very sweet.
Q: You guys have got this really cool style going on. Where do you guys shop? Which designer brands or brands in general are you into?
A: We frequent a lot of consignment shops in the bay and when we tour through LA and NYC. We don’t necessarily look for specific brands; it’s more seeking a certain vibe or interesting pieces. I really like recycled fashion, it saves resources and you end up with more unique stuff.
Q: What are three things the public may not know about you guys (or each individual) that you’d feel comfortable sharing?
A: The four of us in the touring group were all born within two weeks of each other, we’re all Aries. We all played shows together back in high school in Davis. Jared made an appearance on a televised national onion eating contest in Nicaragua.
Q: What does Vaporwave Shrine mean to you?
A: The shrine was a collection of oddities we gathered in the backyard of our old house in San Francisco. We’d find these weird objects around the city like mannequins and mirrors and animal horns and such and bring them home to use at shows or as props in music videos, that kind of thing. Eventually we had the whole yard filled with stuff. It looked truly bizarre.
Q: How did you guys come to be friends with the band Inner Wave?
A: We actually got set up on a tour together, that’s how we were introduced. It was a wild run and we really bonded. Now they’re one of my favorite contemporary bands.
Q: If you guys were to collaborate with any contemporary bands/musicians, who would it be and why?
A: We have a collab with BOYO coming out relatively soon that I’m really excited about. In a perfect world I’d love to make a song with Toro Y Moi.
Q: What would you do if you found a penguin in your freezer?
A: I’d definitely install a doggie door like Ace Ventura so my penguin buddy can chill out whenever he pleases.
