Hot Chip
Hot Chip are an English synth-pop band formed in London in 2000. The group consists of multi-instrumentalists Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke, and Felix Martin. They are occasionally supplemented by Rob Smoughton and Sarah Jones for live performances and studio recordings. The group primarily produces music in the synth-pop and alternative dance genres, drawing influences from house and disco.
Hot Chip began as a bedroom recording project for Taylor and Goddard, who met while students at Elliott School, Putney; their earliest lineup included Smoughton as their drummer. After completing two EPs, Mexico and San Frandisco, the group released their debut album, Coming on Strong and added Doyle, Clarke, and Martin to their lineup. The band's second album, The Warning, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Their follow-up, Made in the Dark, included the single "Ready for the Floor", which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. The band have subsequently released the albums One Life Stand, In Our Heads, Why Make Sense?, and A Bath Full of Ecstasy.
Outside of Hot Chip, the band members, individually and in partnership with each other, are active in other musical acts and occasionally perform DJ sets.
History
2000–2005: Early releases and ''Coming on Strong''
Hot Chip formed as a duo consisting of Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard, both of whom had met as students at Elliott School, Putney. With a shared love of R&B and house music, they started collaborating on music around 1998. Early formative releases included 2001's Mexico EP on Victory Garden Records, and the self-released San Frandisco EP in 2002. After years of self-releasing records, they signed with Moshi Moshi in 2003 and released their debut LP Coming on Strong in 2005. During this period, they were joined by Owen Clarke, Felix Martin and Al Doyle. They started working on their second album and signed a UK and US record deal with DFA Records and EMI. DFA and Astralwerks released their debut album for the first time in the United States in late 2005.2005–2007: ''The Warning''
In 2006, Hot Chip released their second album, The Warning. Now signed to EMI in the United Kingdom, the band gained more mainstream appeal as well as the attention of critics. The album was shortlisted for the 2006 Nationwide Mercury Prize and was Mixmag's Album of the Year 2006. This album spawned also two UK top 40 singles: "Over and Over" in March 2006 and "Boy from School" in May 2006. "Over and Over" received attention for its music video, which was directed by Nima Nourizadeh, and was also named as the best single of 2006 by British music magazine NME.2007–2009: ''Made in the Dark''
The band released their third studio album, Made in the Dark, on 4 February 2008. The first song to be released from it was "Shake a Fist", which was released as a limited one-sided 12-inch vinyl in August 2007. The second release was "Ready for the Floor" in January 2008, which peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart. In order to promote "Ready for the Floor", the band appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in January 2008, and Joe Goddard appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks on 31 January. In February 2008, the band performed on the American talk shows Jimmy Kimmel and Carson Daly. At the end of 2008, "Ready For The Floor" received a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording nomination, but the song later lost out to "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger " by Daft Punk. On 7 May 2008, the group performed their third single, "One Pure Thought", on Radio 1's Live Lounge. The hypnotic clip for "One Pure Thought" was selected as one of the best music videos of 2008 by AllMusic.2009–2010: ''One Life Stand''
Having completed a world tour in February 2009, Hot Chip returned to London and began writing and recording their fourth album, One Life Stand.In early 2009, Alexis Taylor told NME that the band recorded new songs including "Alley Cats", which the band played regularly while touring in 2008/2009. Initially, Taylor hinted that the album was going to be "a bit calmer this time" in comparison to Made in the Dark with songs that are "more mid-tempo and disco influenced", although the two tracks released prior to the album, "Take It In" and "One Life Stand", suggest that it will be more upbeat than first suggested, and may be more influenced by early house music. Alongside the regular band members, Hot Chip collaborated on several of the album tracks with the drummer Charles Hayward from This Heat and Camberwell Now, Leo Taylor, drummer from the London-based band The Invisible and the Trinidadian steel pan player Fimber Bravo.
One Life Stand was released on 1 February 2010.
2011–2013: ''In Our Heads''
Their self-produced fifth studio album In Our Heads was released on 11 June 2012 by Domino.About the album, Taylor stated, "I think In Our Heads was a bit speedier, and made with less pressure, but more fun – partly due to people in the band not having too many hang ups about how good the material was – we seemed to be happy with the songs we were writing and they came quickly – and partly due to the fact that we had been enjoying ourselves elsewhere, whether at home, or on tour, or recording with our other projects, or DJing. I think that is right about subtler confidence, but it may also be that we are a bit more accepted these days as we keep doing what we want, and gradually people stop saying 'why' to everything and each decision. The songwriting developed quickly from songs that were dreamt ; songs that were written via email file sending ; songs that we bashed out in collaborative writing sessions between Joe and myself ; songs that a few of us in the room wrote more of: 'Dark and Stormy', or to some extent "Let Me Be Him" ; or finally songs that were written after we completed the last album and which were still in our minds: 'Always Been Your Love', 'Doctor'." "Dark and Stormy" has been since released as a non-album single.
2014–2018: ''Why Make Sense?''
On 10 February 2015, the band announced their sixth studio album, titled Why Make Sense?. The first single from the album, "Huarache Lights", was released on the same day. The album was released on 18 May 2015.2019: ''A Bath Full of Ecstasy''
On 4 April 2019, the band announced that their seventh studio album, titled A Bath Full of Ecstasy, would be released on 21 June 2019. The first single from the album, "Hungry Child", was released on the same day. They released the second single from the album, "Melody of Love", on 29 May 2019.Tours and appearances
During live performances, Hot Chip reinvent their studio compositions to form what has been described by Glide magazine as "heavy beat-driven improvisation" that create "an atmosphere of excitement, energy and the unexpected." Festival appearances include V Festival, Dour Festival, Glastonbury, Treasure Island Festival, Roskilde festival, Sónar, Benicassim, Electric Picnic, Bestival, Lovebox Festival, Bonnaroo, the Reading and Leeds Festivals, the Big Day Out, Melt! festival, T in the Park, Summer Sundae, Splendour In The Grass, Lollapalooza and Lollapalooza Chile, the Brazilian, Oxegen, Coachella, Way Out West Festival, Austin City Limits, Ultra Music Festival, and the Osheaga Festival.The band is also known for its DJ talent; they have released several mix CDs and mixes for national and international radio stations and they all DJ regularly worldwide.
Al Doyle played guitar with LCD Soundsystem on tour and was present during their last concert at Madison Square Garden.
In April 2012 "Boy from School" featured in The Simpsons episode "A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again".
On May 29, 2017, "Over and Over" was featured in the American Dad episode "Bazooka Steve".
Other recordings
Hot Chip released a album in 2007, and the mix album A Bugged Out Mix by Hot Chip in 2009 on the Bugged Out label.In 2008, the band released an EP which included collaborations with Robert Wyatt. Wyatt sang and reworked versions of three tracks from Made in the Dark, and the Hot Chip with Robert Wyatt and Geese EP also included a remix by Geese, a string quartet based in London who have regularly contributed to Hot Chip's recordings.
Alexis Taylor released a solo album in 2008 entitled Rubbed Out, which saw him focusing more on the fundamental sounds used by Hot Chip leading to a more downtempo and bluesy album than Taylor's works with Hot Chip.
Joe Goddard has also released solo productions including "Bassline '12" and "Gabriel", the latter of which was featured in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V. He has also remixed songs from other artists including Disclosure, Breach, Dirty Projectors, Nneka, and Kanye West.
The band covered the William Onyeabor song "Atomic Bomb" for the Luaka Bop compilation "What?!" in 2014.
Band members
- Alexis Taylor – vocals, synthesiser, guitar, percussion, piano
- Joe Goddard – vocals, synthesiser, percussion
- Owen Clarke – guitar, bass, synthesiser, percussion
- Al Doyle – guitar, backing vocals, synthesizer, percussion, bass, flugelhorn, steel pans
- Felix Martin – drum machines, synthesizer, programming
- Rob Smoughton – a member of Hot Chip from 2001 to 2003 when he left to start the solo project Grovesnor. In 2009 he returned as the band's drummer for the One Life Stand tour and in 2012 moved to guitar, bass, percussion, backing vocals and synths. He features in the videos for "Night and Day" and "Don't Deny Your Heart" and regularly records with the band, featuring more prominently from the album In Our Heads onwards.
Guest members
- Leo Taylor – drums
- Sarah Jones – drums, backing vocals, began playing live drums and backing vocals for Hot Chip's 2012 tour and featured in their official music video for "Night and Day" directed by Peter Serafinowicz. Left the band sometime prior to their Bathful of Ecstasy album to join Harry Styles backing band.
- Charles Hayward – drums
- Fimber Bravo – steelpan
- Jim Orso – drums during US tours, Fallon/Kimmel appearances, and Coachella week 2 in 2012-2013
- Questlove – drums on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
- Chris Berry – drums in Washington, DC and during week 1 of Coachella in 2013
Discography
- Coming on Strong
- The Warning
- Made in the Dark
- One Life Stand
- In Our Heads
- Why Make Sense?
- A Bath Full of Ecstasy
Awards and nominations