The Hot Lies - Hot Lies and Cold Truths

In an era where more and more Australian bands are going overseas to record their debut albums, The Hot Lies chose to stay at home. Guided by one of Australia’s most noted rock producers, Phil McKellar (Silverchair, Kisschasy, Grinspoon, Frenzal Rhomb, The Mark of Cain), the boys from Adelaide have really found their feet with Ringing in the Sane.

First single, ‘Emergency! Emergency!’ is catchy pop driven rock that will create a legion of new fans without alienating those who loved Streets Become Hallways. So what were the benefits of recording in Australia?

Brown noted that the boys put themselves “on the backburner” a little because they didn’t start writing songs quickly enough after the last EP, Heart Attacks and Callous Acts. Time constraints aside, The Hot Lies approached their debut album with the view to getting the right songs in the mix, rather than simply recording the first 10 or 12 songs they wrote.

With this aim in mind the boys rehearsed six days a week for four months with all other commitments put well to the side. As Jared reveals “it was a pretty long process but rewarding in the end because we’re all happy with what we’ve done”.

After the months of rehearsals the boys finally got into the studio with McKellar and the real work started. McKellar “definitely didn’t say yes to everything… [he] wouldn’t put anything down that wasn’t right and he wasn’t afraid to say… you need to go home and work on that tonight” says Brown. Wood likened him to the 6th member of the band for the duration of the recording process, so each track has a fresh, multi-layered sound.
Brown explains that the “idea of a producer [like McKellar] is when he gets the songs, he grabs them and he has to create a vision for them, cause he’s the one who’s layering it and is going to mix it, so it’s more than just come-in-and-do-it, he had to have forethought to create the songs and the vibe” for the album.

Wood is his own worst critic as far as recordings go. He says that he is famous for “coming back the next week and not liking them and wanting to rewrite them… so it was good to have Phil there to push the absolute most out of you and now I still love all the songs”.

The result? Brown says “it’s almost like starting from a fresh board every song. It wasn’t like we got a guitar tone and we ran with that every song, or we got a drum note and we ran with that every song, it was like every song had its own - pull the board down start again, re cue, re do everything - so every song on the album has it’s own life and sounds different”. He even goes as far as to say that each song “has it’s own sort of personality”. Is he a proud parent? You betcha!

And The Hot Parents love the new album as well, the general consensus is that “it’s different, but a good different”.

When it came to choosing a title for the album the boys were inspired by Jawbreaker’s 1994 “When it Pains it Roars” Tour. After a search for a title that meant something to the guys more than one way they came across Singing in the Rain and Ringing in the Sane. This was particularly relevant as The Hot Lies were searching for a new guitarist at the time – so the idea of being so happy that you don’t care and struggling to learn from past events really rang true with the band. And now they’ve got the new guitarist on board.

Ringing in the Sane was mastered in New York last month by Ted Jensen who mastered Fall Out Boy’s breakout Infinity on High, the sublime Moo, You Bloody Choir by Augie March, and My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade among other many and varied artists.

The Hot Lies have seen solid levels of success since their birth in 2004 with their two previous releases Streets Become Hallways and Heart Attacks and Callous Acts. If you can remember way back to 2004 you’ll remember the demo version of Bullets and Blacklines getting substantial radio airplay. I hope that the evolution that is Ringing in the Sane will bring the band the notoriety that they deserve.

And why do I think that they deserve it? Well it comes down to touring really… The first time I saw The Hot Lies was in a dingy club on the Gold Coast – they played to an audience of a little more than 100 people but they played exactly the way they would have played if the club had held 1000 people. The reason for this is a complete love of touring.

The boys know how to spend a lot of time locked in a van together. They know each other’s boundaries and personalities, and how to focus on the joy of touring. The exhausting prospect of a new town every night, a new crowd every night, a new group of old friends in every city doesn’t phase The Hot Lies they’re excited about touring and can’t wait to see the crowd reaction to their new songs. Wood in particular is “excited about doing the high energy songs like ‘Emergency! Emergency!’ and … ‘Running Low’ which has some lush guitars”.

This love of touring has also translated into a number of highly lucrative support slots for the band over the years, from Alexisonfire to Sum 41 to the recently announced support for Good Charlotte’s national tour this October.

Hopefully a national headlining tour in support of Ringing in the Sane will be announced soon, even more hopefully they will be hitting these shores.

And the hottest lie these honest gentlemen have ever been told? Well needless to say it involves a girl.

Ringing In The Sane is out now through Liberation.

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