The Hot Cakes – No, not the Breakfast Food

Written By: Lynda on March 2, 2011 One Comment

Ever wonder how a band comes up with their name, well we do! Especially when their name is the Hot Cakes. We have an interview here with this fun and energetic band, where each band member chimes in to give us a little bit from their perspective.

Tell us about the Hot Cakes– how did you come up with that name for the band?

Lee: Because we’re hot! Duh! JK We had gone through a number of names, and then started thinking about the phrase “Goin’ like Hotcakes.” That’s how we do it – fast and furious. So, The Hotcakes seemed like a good fit!

How long have you been writing music and performing?

Erin: Collectively, we have been writing and playing together for about two years. We do have one new member, Nate Lueck, who we hope to be playing with for more years to come. Separately, I think we all have been playing music and writing for a loooooong time. I bet if you added all those years up and converted them to miles at a ratio of 1 music year = 500 miles, we will probably reach the moon! Just another way to look at this stuff.

Recently you performed at the Knitting Factory for a room full of industry ppl, was it intimidating?

Nate: I don’t think so, in the end industry people are just people that need to dance and feel good, too. Oh, and they also like beer.

When you write a song, is it about the music, the words, does it all come at once or change each time?

Matt: We don’t have a set way of doing it, but we’re in a great collaborative groove lately where the band creates a catchy music bed, and then Erin comes in and kills it with the hooky vocals and lyrics.

Nate: It’s about how everything fits together. That’s what’s so great (but also sometimes hard) about music, it doesn’t like to be condensed into a formula or a procedure. Sometimes things come together very quickly, and sometimes you fight with it forever. Collaboration really does help the process though. More minds with more ideas is ultimately how the best music gets made.

Who are your musical influences?

Erin: We have a lot of different individual influences which we often fight about. I think though as a project some of our influences are definitely the female fronted bands of the kind like Blondie, The Pretenders, and Jefferson Airplane during the Grace Slick years.

Kevin: Lee and I pretty much exclusively listen to Meatloaf. I think Nate toured with Meatloaf. Yeah, mostly Meatloaf.

What is your goal in music? What would be enough and what would be your dream?

Matt: We have a whole list of band goals, from what we want to be doing next week to where we want to be a year from now. It’s hard to think too much further ahead than that, since things in the music industry are so hard to predict. We just want to keep on writing, keep on recording and releasing albums, keep on playing tons of shows. Keep our band dynamic solid. Keep on building a following and creating the buzz we’re already getting in NYC. Of course it would be incredible to hit that huge level where you end up on the cover of Rolling Stone, but I think we’d be pretty psyched to be a well-respected indie band with a good team around us…and a small label putting some money behind us couldn’t hurt either.

What was your most memorable gig and why?

Kevin: There have been many and it’s tough to single out just one. The Halloween show in 2010 when Erin dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood and I dressed up as Grandma. That was certainly memorable. We also played 2 shows at the MidPoint music festival in 2009 that I will never forget. The people of Cincinatti were so welcoming and it was surreal when people would come up to us to say how they couldn’t believe we were the “Paint the Town Red” guys. But the CD release show at Arlene’s last month has to be on the top of that list. It was our first ever sold-out show and we had horns and back-up singers and we played new covers and gave away lots of swag. The energy during that set was incredible.

It looks like you guys put a lot of effort into your presentation, i.e. style and coordinating your appearance to look sharp when you perform – who is in charge of that in the band?

Matt: No one member is in charge of that aspect. We realized early on that our image is a huge part of The HOTcakes as a total package, and when we were thinking about a cohesive look that was at once professional-looking and rock ‘n roll, the whole guys-in-shirts-and-ties and Erin in a hot, shiny, colorful outfit out front came pretty naturally and automatically. It’s not enough for us to be tight musically, we need to look super sweet as well – they go hand in hand.

How does everyone in the band know one another?

Erin: I’m going to try to give you the shortest answer – I met Lee through his ex-girlfriend, I met Matt through my ex-boyfriend, we then got Kevin thru Matt as they have mutual friends, and we found Nate at an airport and told him to get in our van because we had candy and guitar amps. So far it’s all working out…

What do you have in the works for 2011?

Lee: Hard Rock Battle of the Bands, PaperTV featuring Tommy Hilfiger and our song, “Round and Round,” American Eagle will be playing one of our songs in their stores, Saks 5th Avenue will be using our music for some of their spring 2011 campaign videos, and we’re writing new music like crazy!

Where can we find your music or here you play?

Erin: You can find our music at thehotcakes.com, iTunes, Reverbnation, or really any major music online retailer.

Our next show will be at the Hard Rock Cafe on March 10th at 9:30 in a battle of the bands to get the opportunity to open for Bon Jovi in London. We would love the chance and hope we win it!