We can’t stomach doing those crowd-pleasing things, Sixteen years is a long time for any band. I wanted to put that song on a record as it’s a good song that never got a wider release. What happens if it’s just the voice recorded well, the piano sounds good… To see if I could make a record that I liked that didn’t have loads of over-dubs. “It’s ridiculous. ... the band's lead singer, recently told The Guardian. “There’s so many things we could do that are just easy, that make people automatically feel connected to something – and we’re not really that kind of band. English synth-pop band formed in Harrow, London, in 1979. He recorded it at home and did everything himself – singing, playing all the instruments, except strings, mixing and recording it. Join Stephen McCauley this evening on his brand new show with quality alternative music and an interview with Hot Chip lead singer Alexis Taylor. He is not, though, your average bombastic frontman. Both your parents are on this album - your mum used to listen to "Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue", which you cover on Piano, and your father first introduced you to the instrument playing John Lennon to you - why did you choose to embed them in this record? “It’s not easy for Hot Chip to keep making money. I think with a lot of other people's records, sometimes I’m listening to them and occasionally wanting less production, sometimes hoping for a more intimate listening experience. I don’t want to bore you but I spent a long time trying to get certain sounds out of the mix. — Hot Chip (@Hot_Chip) March 31, 2019 Their new material initially seems to skew dark, with the beat-free Hungry Child – featuring plaintive lead vocals from Joe Goddard … There will be some people who read about the three versions and think why? Hot Chip goes in a slightly different direction both musically and lyrically. “We wanted to be excited by new techniques and new possibilities, and to be challenged a little bit more. It felt like it wasn’t doing anything to camouflage the sound of my voice.”. It’s kind of related to a DJ set up - the idea of playing them both at the same time. “It’s more, when you start doing these other projects, how much time is there left for each other? Photo: Richard Ecclestone. (“I didn’t really practise any of it and I’m not really sure how good any of the piano-playing is – that’s another thing that’s exposed…”) He had planned to add some strings and was talking to his school-friend and long-time collaborator, Vince Sipprell about contributing viola. When people sit they seem to focus on the music more. It’s difficult to maintain a level of success while people don’t pay for music anymore. Taylor didn’t stop at the thought though, recruiting a variety of musicians to build new versions of the tracks for a unique project. It’s been a bit of a quiet passion of a mine for a while to maybe do that at some point in my career and I think that’s because I like a lot of bare, more intimate records that have a lot of space in them, like some of the Smog albums - Red Apple Falls, Plush, More You Becomes You - and even Randy Newman’s live record where he’s just at the piano. It will have more of an electronic element to it... but we will see. I did Rubbed Out and Await Barbarians and an EP between that called Nayim From The Halfway Line, and while I was writing them I was really happy with them, but I just felt like I needed to get out of that mode of operating, get out of the room I was in, get away from the instruments I was using. The group consists of multi-instrumentalists Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke, and Felix Martin. What came out of this session was potentially his most personal album of his career: it documented his parents' breakup, the first time he cried at music, and the suicide of his friend and longtime collaborator, Vince Sipprell. Maybe we’re an anomaly among those who emerged at that moment.” Like the nu-ravers? On stage, he is barely more forthcoming, singing reedily, often standing side-on to the crowd – who love it nonetheless. I’m going to make another solo record, but I don’t think it will be quite as stripped back as Piano. We spend a lot of money on just putting the show together, paying people to help us move the gear around. “Each of us has our own ways of being obsessional.”. Listen live on BBC Radio Ulster or find 'The Stephen McCauley Show' on BBC Sounds. In … I had covered it with Vince and Emma a couple of years ago - it wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction to him dying - I’d played it with him on stage and I just felt it would be fitting to document a cover, partly for his brother and partly in memory of him. What are your plans for the upcoming tour? Lead singer Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke and Felix Martin. We can’t stomach doing those crowd-pleasing things,” he says. By their second album Hot Chip had added a whole lot more party to their sound, and from then on they’ve been part of so many of our memories. I don’t have that idea that the music my parents listen too is 'not cool'. I don’t really know quite why I wanted to strip things back from me on my own, but with multiple instruments, to me on my own with piano. The band’s longevity might be down to the fact that its members have never been afraid of doing their own thing on the side. 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