“I try to ignore the whole stigma, really,” says multi-instrumentalist, Al Doyle. “It doesn’t really faze me or factor into how I play. I know what I can do as a musician and I’m more than aware of what everyone else in the band is capable of. We are primarily focused on developing a solid live show – something that stands out. It’s the same as when I was playing in LCD Soundsystem. We honestly don’t feel there is a live show quite like ours in terms of the music that we play in relation to how we play it. Often, a younger audience has only really seen trios and quartets; much smaller groups performing. That’s what takes up a lot of bigger festival bills. We get up there and there’s seven of us with more keyboards and gadgets than you can poke a stick at. We know that it sticks out, and we love when that gets recognised.”
In May, the band released their sixth studio album, Why Make Sense?, to an array of positive acclaim and top 40 chart positions across the globe. Three singles have been released from the record – the robo-pop number Huarache Lights, rave throwback Need You Now and ‘70s-funk homage Started Right. A slick, smart and interesting music video has accompanied each single, which is an outlet the band have utilised to great effect over the years. From alien invasions at boy band shows to a soccer video game gone awry, you never quite know what to expect from a Hot Chip video.
“I think that it goes beyond just being a cool aspect of making music,” Doyle says. “I honestly think it’s one of the last true great art forms. We’ve been really lucky in that we’ve had little more than just an idea going into some of our most popular videos, and we’ve had incredibly creative and big-thinking people like Peter [Serafinowicz] and Nima [Nourizadeh] guiding it. What they’ve been able to do with I Feel Better, Ready for the Floor, Don’t Deny Your Heart – it’s amazing.”
Touring in support of Why Make Sense? has taken up the majority of the year. It’s one thing to worry about things like the setlist and where the next show will be (at the time of writing, the band are working their way through the UK, including sold-out shows in Manchester and Leeds), looming above all of that, however, is the logistics of putting on the kind of shows Hot Chip are renowned for. It’s a big and sometimes arduous task, but Doyle and his bandmates find it an ultimately rewarding exercise.
“It’s not viable to do what we do. It’s not cheap, either. There are seven of us in the band, eight people in our crew that do our lighting and our stage set-up, two tonnes worth of gear that comes with us to every show.” Two tonnes? You can’t be serious. “Yep. Two tonnes of amps, pedals, synths, guitars, speakers, mics – everything. It can get to the point where we do tours with the full awareness that we’re not going to make any money from it. We stick with it because we still get a lot out of playing those shows – especially if we’re coming to areas that we don’t get to visit a lot. It’s worth taking the financial blow just purely for the experience.”
BY DAVID JAMES YOUNG
