Hot Little Hands aren’t a band who likes to stand still. Fresh from their run in the Toohey’s Extra Dry uncharTED competition, the band are now touring around the country to promote their debut album Dynamite in Black and White. The band’s drummer James Harvey took time out of his busy schedule to chat to me about the CD, life on the road, and their unique sound.
You’re about to start your Australian tour. Are you looking forward to getting back in front of local audiences?
Yeah we love it! Australia’s so massive and so each city we play in is so different – it’s great!
You recently played some shows in New Zealand. How did the crowds over there respond to your music?
New Zealand was very kind to us indeed! The audiences went nuts – and as far as we know they hadn’t heard much if any of our music before. We might even be playing the Rhythm and Vines festival over the New Years period!
This is a bit of a blink-and-you’ll miss it tour. Are there any plans to get out and play some regional dates later this year?
Hopefully. We do love playing regional shows – again it’s so different each place. Fingers crossed we will get to but we’re also hoping to record a new album soon so we’ll have to see.
There’s a lot of travelling involved in getting to all those capital cities. How do you amuse yourself on the road?
I’d like to say we knit up a storm … but that would be a lie. There’s lots of loud music listening and Frisbee inside the airports until we get told off … and then sneak a few more throws in before they come back.
This tour is in support of your debut album Dynamite In Black & White. What can you tell me about the record?
Wow. That’s a tough question. The record took three goes at getting the final product over about three years. It’s a bit of a magical mystery tour into our minds – it visits a lot of places … mainly because we get bored pretty quickly and need to keep things interesting for ourselves. But overall it’s a really fun record to listen and dance to cover to cover.
I’ve heard your sound described as a “mix of 80s revival, 50s electronic-voodoo-swamp-blues and 60s garage disco.” How would you describe your music?
Ah. Yes I think whoever wrote that was on to something. Our influences are pretty broad and you can hear bits and pieces of that in the music. I think our music has something really familiar about it but you’ve never heard it before … if that makes sense.
Your sound seems to draw from a really eclectic collection of influences. What are you listening to at the moment?
Quite a bit of hip-hop and R&B, but also some more obscure cult favourites like Dennis Wilson (drummer of The Beach Boys). It’s important to keep a variety of things flowing through one’s ears.
You recently made it to the finals of the uncharTED competition. What was it like to be part of that?
That was heaps of fun! Even though we didn’t win it’s been really great for us. We’ve met some cracking people through uncharTED and it gets heaps of exposure!
If readers haven’t bought tickets to your shows yet, why should they?
It’s a great fun night from start to finish. We like to play with acts that we want to dance and party to ourselves so if you like fun, then you can’t lose!
So after this tour, what’s next for Hot Little Hands?
We’ve got a couple of exciting shows straight after the tour with Kram, and headlining at the Prince of Wales in Melbourne through uncharTED, then we’re hoping to play a bunch of festivals over the summer as well as write/finish writing new material!
You can catch Hot Little Hands on their current tour in Brisbane (22nd Aug – Troubadour), Melbourne (27 August – Northcote Social Club) and Adelaide (28 Aug – Rocket Bar), tickets from Posse. They are headlining Tooheys Extra Dry uncharTED Live in Melbourne, 9th September at Prince of Wales Bandroom. Doors open at 7:30pm, entry is free! To see the rest of the line up for uncharTED Live or more info, head to www.uncharted.com.au. For more information on Hot Little Hands visit the band’s MySpace page.
Image source: The Harbour Agency