Hot Hot Heat Shuffle Lineup for 'Future Breeds'

Two years after they locked themselves away in a Vancouver studio, purposely shutting out everything but creative influences, the men that make up Hot Hot Heat are finally ready to emerge with their first album in three years, 'Future Breeds.'

"It's extremely melodic, but it sounds like a record made by a bunch of dudes that are pretty weird dudes, that just didn't have anybody telling them no," frontman Steve Bays tells Spinner of the band's follow-up to 2007's 'Happiness Ltd..' "We pretty much shut off everyone in our life except for the core people that matter. We're just doing what we want, how we want."

Hot Hot Heat's lineup has shuffled a bit since last time the band launched a release. In fact, Bays explains that 'Future Breeds' almost wasn't a Hot Hot Heat record at all after the four-piece came back from an Australian tour and parted ways with bassist Dustin Hawthorne, who they "just weren't vibing" with any longer.

"I didn't even really know where the band stood after [the Aussie tour]. When we came back, he's like, 'I'm moving to Montreal,'" Bays recalls. "So [drummer and HHH co-songwriter] Paul [Hawley] and I just kind of started what we thought was going to be a side project and then it was too good to just not use for Hot Hot Heat. "At the end of the day, my voice is on it, he's playing drums; we've always been the main writers, so it's like, 'Why wouldn't we call it Hot Hot Heat?'"

After that amicable split, the group tossed bass duties to a cast including guitarist Luke Paquin, friend Ryan Dahle (who mixed the record) and Parker Bossley. But while the band lost one member, an old friend came for a visit while they were recording tunes inspired by their home city of Vancouver: original Hot Hot Heat guitarist Dante DeCaro. During one late-night session, DeCaro contributed a guitar line to 'Times a Thousand' Bays reveals.

"Our studio's right in Gastown, kind of like Downtown Vancouver, so any time friends are in town our studio is the place people would come out and party. So, along the way he played on a song," Bays explains of the mini-reunion. "We already had this song, a big long loop of it and he kind of jammed over it."

Hot Hot Heat plan to showcase songs from the new record when they begin their weekly Wednesday residency at Brooklyn's Public Assembly in May. It appears they will be bringing a new contributor, as Lu Wu has of late been playing bass for the band.

"I've been in a million bands and I've jammed with a ton of people. Musicians come and go, with the exception that Paul and I are musical soul mates and Luke's been with the band for like six years now," Bays says of the lineup changes they've been through. "People come and go and I don't really ask anything of them except if you're gonna be hanging out with me; just be there for the right reasons and be there because you're extremely passionate."

'Future Breeds' is due out June 8.