Hot Club De Paris Interview

After the harvest comes a barren winter.

For guitar groups across the country, it's more than the threat of snow which is sending a chill down their spine. With label budgets getting ever stricter a number of indie bands are off the roster and onto the dole.

For Hot Club De Paris, however, this scenario has never seemed likely. The Liverpool art-punk trio have always kept a strict control of both their music and their career, maintaining a love of DIY ethics.

Returning with their extravagantly titled new EP 'With Days Like These As Cheap As Chewing Gum, Why Would Anyone Want To Work?' the band are on sensational form. Working alone in their Liverpool studio Hot Club De Paris have produced themselves, giving free reign to their jagged ambition.

With another EP on the horizon, ClashMusic spoke to frontman Paul Rafferty about living life on a tight budget.

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Did the success of ‘Live At Dead Lake’ surprise you?
It did in a way. I guess with ‘…Dead Lake’ it was certainly a breakthrough record for us in terms of the way we thought about writing songs and making music. We worked with Brian Deck in Chicago for that record, which was a great experience. It was really important to us in terms of how we capture our songs on record. In terms of the live representation and the touring aspect of it, it was almost the same record.

What did Brian Deck bring to that record?
He didn’t really interfere in any way in the writing process. Essentially we just travelled to Chicago and played him what we had done. He just said “well I don’t really want to fuck with what you guys have done”. All our songs are pretty lean and taut anyway, so he just wanted to contribute by putting on extra percussion, counter melodies and things like that. It was just the way he went about organising the sessions which was really cool for us.

Was it a case of Deck inspiring you to take risks with the music?
They weren’t really risks, as we spent a fairly long time on the record. It was just amazing to spend time with someone who had been involved with some of our favourite records – it was a complete insight. He’s a very musical man anyway – he’s a trained drummer and has played in bands that we absolutely adored. He was just very much interested in showing us what was possible with the equipment that he had and the knowledge that he had. It made us think about recording ourselves in a different way. Before then, we were inspired by the Minutemen – write, tour, record then get it out. That punk rock attitude. Whereas Brian Deck is a punk but he doesn’t mind taking time over things.

You mention that Minutemen attitude – is that where the band are at right now?
It’s definitely the way forward for us. We did get on really well with Brian but we’re certainly more into the process of recording ourselves, just being completely in charge. We’ve always been a fairly introspective band anyway, so we’d like to keep developing in that way. We like to design our own artwork, record our own songs – it’s something that seemed to be a continuation of what our ethic is.

Where does that love of DIY ethics come from?
At the end of the day we’re three people who’ve been involved in punk music and DIY music for a while now. It’s my 29th birthday today, and I first heard Black Flag when I was 14. It’s just hearing that stuff, and seeing that stuff then getting involved. It’s not necessarily using something as a reference point or inspiration it’s more of a case of that’s all there is. Otherwise you end up getting on the road with a load of crew members and the label spending about ten grand on flight cases. Hot Club for me is about a load of friends who share the same ethics and values, the same enjoyment of making music. Which is why I can’t see us stopping at any point.

With no outside interference how do you keep a strict quality control?
We’ve not put anything out for so long, I guess, because I wanted to spend six months working out how to do it – arranging mic placements, getting equipment together. We spent a whole load of time figuring out what the whole process was so I didn’t have to think as a producer. I wanted to get to point where we could record something good very quickly, where I could act as the writer rather than the recorder of the music. In terms of quality control, we’ve got three guys who are all pretty tough on themselves. At the end of the day we are quite a self-indulgent band anyway, it’s not like we’ve ever made any music to get into the charts. We make music that we probably want to listen to, rather than something for the label or whoever we’re trying to impress.

Do you plan to record other artists?
I’ve been doing a few little bits, just to help out friends really. I’ve been doing this three part a capella group the other week which was pretty good fun. It’s a nice tool to have, even with demoing – if you have an idea at nine, ten in the evening you can just ride your bike down to the studio. Rather than having a label breathing down your neck. Some days just don’t feel like working, or some days it just doesn’t come off or you want to work on your own. I guess having a studio affords you all those possibilities.

How did the EP title come about?
It’s a line from a poem by Matthew Welton. He was Manchester based but he’s in Nottingham now. He put out his first collection about three or four years ago and I was given it by a friend at Christmas. I absolutely devoured it – his way with language is just so exciting. He’s really off kilter compared to young contemporary poets. There was this poem called ‘The ABC Of American Suicide’ in the collection ‘The Book Of Matthew’ and the title is a line from that poem. It just seemed like the perfect line to sum up recording the EP in the summer, putting things together. Life was idyllic and I was riding my bike in the sunshine everyday and we didn’t seem to have anything to worry about apart from finishing the record. That line just seemed to sum the whole period up.

Hot Club’s lyrics are very distinctive, is that from a literary background?
I’ve always read books. I’ve always read widely and I love writing, but I’m also a fan of song lyrics as well. It’s different for me to get into a record if the lyrics aren’t any good. On our own material I just write and write until I get something I’m happy with.

How is the next EP shaping up?
It should have six tracks, although it’s not finished yet – I still need to put down some singing. It might actually be longer I’m not too sure. We’ve got it all pretty much recorded. If the first EP was about being poor then this one is about that kind of age when your friends sell their guitars and move their records into the loft. It’s that second coming of age period which we’re all hitting right now. I’m thinking quite a lot about.

Why split the material into two EPs rather than a full album?
This first EP was out first self-recorded release, so I didn’t want to get into the quagmire of getting into fifteen or so songs and realising that I didn’t know what I was doing. We started recording in six songs batches and Moshi suggested releasing an EP. It seemed like an easy way to manage the workload. Hopefully over the summer we can record a whole bunch and maybe release a ten, twelve track album later on in the year.

How is the new material going over live?
I mean the EPs just gone out so people are still getting to grips with it. We’re not really the type of band where people turn up and bounce up and down. We tend to attract quiet audiences, like boys who want to talk about bass set ups. We tend to attract a few geeks. From what I can tell people certainly seem to appreciate the new direction.

Hot Club De Paris - With Days Like These As Cheap As Chewing Why Would We Ever Want To Work? is out now