Hot Hot Heat

Hot Hot Heat
Bassist Louis Hearn
Background information
Origin	Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Genres	Alternative rock, indie rock, art punk,dance-punk, new wave, post-punk revival
Years active	1999 (1999)–2016
Labels	Dangerbird, Dine Alone, Sire, Warner Bros. Records
Associated acts	Fake Shark - Real Zombie!, Mounties, Johnny and the Moon, Fur Trade
Website	hothotheat.com
Members	Steve Bays Paul Hawley Luke Paquin Louis Hearn
Past members	Dante DeCaro Dustin Hawthorne Matthew Marnik Parker Bossley

Hot Hot Heat is a Canadian indie rock band from Victoria, British Columbia, formed in 1999. The band was signed by Seattle label Sub Pop in 2001 and released its first EP, Knock Knock Knock, and first full-length album, Make Up the Breakdown, the following year. The band has released three albums since, the most recent being Future Breeds in 2010. Its style makes use of electronic and traditional instruments and has variously been categorized as dance-punk, post-punk revival, new wave, and art-punk.

After five years of little activity, on March 13, 2016 Hot Hot Heat announced new music in the form of a special 7" titled "Nature of Things" to be released for Record Store Day (April 16). Following on from this, on April 5, the band announced via Twitter they would be releasing their fifth and final self-titled album on June 24. New song "Kid Who Stays in the Picture" was premiered the same day.

Dustin Hawthorne, a drugstore clerk, and Steve Bays, a personal assistant, had been in many different bands together since 1995 and met Hawley in 1998. In 1999, Hawley bought a Juno 6 keyboard and asked Bays to try playing it, as no one else knew how. Hawley took over the drums from Bays and Hawthorne played bass. Matthew Marnik, who was a friend of the band, sang vocals. The band's original sound can be considered electropunk.

The band soon changed direction to a more melodic, pop-influenced style, losing Marnik and adding guitarist Dante DeCaro. Strongly influenced by the new wave sound of 1980s bands XTC, The Clash, and Elvis Costello and the Attractions, the new lineup, with Steve on vocals, quickly released a series of 7" singles and toured extensively in Canada and the American Pacific Northwest, joining up with similarly-styled indie rock bands such as Les Savy Fav, The French Kicks, Radio 4, Ima Robot, and Pretty Girls Make Graves, and opening for established Canadian rockers Sloan on a national tour.