Hot Hot Heat frontman Steve Bays explains Make Up the Breakdown
By Jin Moon
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Steve Bays of Hot Hot Heat |
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It was a Canadian dance rock invasion when Hot Hot Heat hit the music scene with their album, Make Up the Breakdown, and all the indie rock kids were suddenly dancing -- not just idly bobbing their too-cool-for-school heads. Now, hipsters are throwing dance parties, and the new wave of catchy, beat-infused, keyboard-lovin' music is a throwback to the nostalgic days of 24 hour party people. But lead singer Steve Bays' energized howl and anti-gloom lyrics set the band apart from any Joy Division or New Order comparisons, inspiring fits of jubilee, not depression.
But who would have thought rock music from Canada (Victoria, British Columbia, to be exact) would be so catchy and, well, good? Luckily, vocalist Bays, guitarist Dante DeCaro, drummer Paul Hawley, and bassist Dustin Hawthorne of Hot Hot Heat believed in their party-hardy, emotional hyperbolics, and soon after the quartet formed in 1999, so did the rest of the world.
There is a sense of frenzy inherent in the group's songs. The catchy lyrics are the kind you shout out at the top of your lungs and applaud for their clever wordplay. Their songs beg listeners to abandon logic, reason and pretension in favor of uninhibited, reckless fun. The result is nothing short of fabulous. So how is a Hot Hot Heat track born? Here, we take a peek at singer and lyricist Steve Bays' hot hot word skills on HHH's latest album, Make Up the Breakdown.
What comes first � the words or the music?
I think I may have a different approach to writing vocals than most singers. I almost always start with the vocal melody, then I figure out the rhythm and the lyrics come last. I find that if I write the lyrics first, my vocal patterns and arrangements are restricted too much.
For example, if I wrote them first I'd arbitrarily choose a number of syllables and then arrange the lyrics to be something like A-B-A-B or A-B-A-B-C-A-B-C, etc. But, if I wait till we write the song, my vocal arrangement and structure are influenced by three other musicians who aren't even thinking about the vocals. So the result is a far less standard template to work the vocals around. This also allows me to write melodies and lyrics according to my instincts in band practice as opposed to whatever logic I would employ by myself. I'm not a very logical person all the time (I'm more right brained than left brained) so I've never liked lyrics that I think about too much -- they turn out too sterile.
But it's still good to use some logic, as long as there is a reason for it. I think it's important that a singer's lyrics are sincere and reflect the singer's personality; so it seems natural to me that a lot of my lyrics are a bit irrational, neurotic and confused. However, there is always an underlying theme that ties it all together.
Bays explains the lyrics of a few songs on HHH's Make Up the Breakdown:
"Naked in the City Again"
"Naked in the City Again" is not about a specific girl, but for the sake of a more interesting narrative, I chose to sing about a girl as if she were a specific person. The song addresses people that rely on their social acceptance for self-esteem. I think everyone needs to feel accepted by "society" to some degree; it's just how much you need it and to what extent you change who you really are that it can become destructive. I'm a big fan of using loaded words, especially in combination with other loaded words -- or at least words that drop specific connotations. For example, the line, "Lost and naked in the city again." Nobody likes to be lost in a city because it makes people feel vulnerable. However, the thought of being lost AND naked just seems unbearable. So, it's the addition of just one more word that can really manipulate the emotions of the listener.
"Get In or Get Out"
Often when I'm writing lyrics, I'll choose a weird pattern and just stick with it. For example, the chorus for "Get In or Get Out": "Ugly or Pretty, it's still my city. Make up your mind, and get in or get out" is basically symmetrical. It starts with a five-syllable, well-known phrase containing opposites ("Ugly or Pretty"), then has five syllables ("it's still my city"), then has another five syllables ("Make up your mind and") and ends with another five-syllable, well-known phrase containing opposites ("get in or get out"). Lyrically, opposites appear quite often in the album, and it was a conscious decision to acknowledge this in the title of the album, Make Up the Breakdown, containing the opposing words "up" and "down".
Knock Knock Knock
In the EP that we released before the LP, there was a continuing lyrical theme of alliteration. For example, we had song titles like "Le Le Low" and "Touch You Touch You." So it was also a conscious decision to acknowledge the theme by using alliteration in the title, Knock Knock Knock.
"This Town"
Often I sing about things that are going on in my life currently (as opposed to events from the past). When we wrote "This Town," we had just started to play out of town and tour more, and I started to notice the odd social dynamic between myself and people we met on tour. When I met people in new towns, I didn't know if I'd ever see them again; so, it meant I'd either do or say things I normally wouldn't do or say (kind of an artificial courage), or I'd approach them warily, knowing I shouldn't get too attached to the possibility of retaining any meaningful friendship or connection.
For more on Hot Hot Heat, visit the band's official site.
