Nathan Larson is articulate, intelligent, fervently impassioned, and can speak a mile a minute. A conversation with him is a virtual whirlwind of words, facts and fractions, where “civil liberties”, “Al Gore”, “priests” and “60s’ manifestos” are interspersed among “glam rock”, “cowbell”, “alter egos” and “one-fourth hot”.
Larson is a vocalist and guitarist for the politically-inclined rocking foursome Hot One, whose bio informs us they are “a shiny new realist rock band. Four sexy soldiers you thought AWOL; you thought wrong.” They specialize in delivering blatantly direct socio-political lyrics that are often hyperbolically sarcastic in tone, while their themes touch upon disturbing and controversial topics such as child abuse, war, corporate entities and filthy lucre along a background of fun, loud rock `n roll riffs.
Opening track “Get Your Priest On!” for example, serves as an unsettling introduction for issues to come: “Come out of the closet/Climb up on the pulpit/Some preach to the tender and mild/..Boy sleep so pretty/Come hither prithee/and lie by my side for awhile.”
Such coarse speech may reek of bad taste to some, and Larson absolutely agreed. “Yes, it should be viewed in bad taste, but on the other hand.if you can point out different things and shed light on them and not shy away and talk about them in anyway you choose, great, then you’re talking about the issue. [You can’t not] talk about something in a certain way just because it’s a taboo subject. You can do whatever you want. That’s the beauty of this culture. These are the things that are being eroded away. Take advantage now.If we had a national platform, I have no doubt that the FBI would kick down my door.I’m trying to be as empathetic as I can”.
Larson’s interest in the political arena began at the time of the 2000 US elections. Having no interest in politics whatsoever at a younger age, this election “really galvanized and spurred on a lot of people to get involved and active about these things.it was so clearly these major violations of civil liberties and human rights, blatant stuff that had been going on for while in our country.it became incredibly obvious with this current administration. To not do anything would be irresponsible. [Having a band] seemed like a fun way to get out and vent.It’s cathartic”. Formed in early 2006, all band members derive from highly successful former projects: Canadian musician Emm Gryner plays bass and provides back-up vocals, providing the beats is former Guided by Voices drummer Kevin March, second guitarist Jordan Kern hails from T.O. act Escalate, while Larson himself played the role of lead guitarist in Shudder to Think before taking a moratorium to create scores for films such as Boys Don’t Cry, Velvet Goldmine, Palindromes and Dirty Pretty Things, among others. “We all know what it means to sit down and write a song. We have a lot of experience between us… [but] the way you click with each other, that’s been as important as our experiences ,” said Larson.
The aforementioned band bio further declares the following pseudo-facts: “Hot One likes shit loud and isn’t above cock-rockage, but also respects texture, experimental structure; and on occasion seeks the non-obvious sonic solution. Hot One: helps u get your freak on. Hot One, Sucker!” Larson commented , “If you can rock out to it, it helps you get your freak on! You may just stand there and get your freak on quietly, but all rock bands that have cowbell help you get your freak on. [Our music is] not earth-shattering or groundbreaking, it’s just fun rock! Put the politics into that, [and] it’s an interesting mix with, I hope, equal weight on both sides”.
“I don’t expect doing this little band to even reach the people who we disagree with. We only ever in the life of this band preach to the choir; it’s more like therapy for the people who agree with us, as opposed to changing the world.it will never occur that everyone suddenly agrees or that suddenly there’s no greediness in this world ,” said Larson.
Ultimately, what’s so hot about this little band called Hot One? Larson elucidated: “The character I play in this band is hot.You’re always a character. We [all] definitely have alter egos.I’d say Emm would be more 75 per cent hot. [but] I’d say individually we would be about 25 per cent hot”. Best take note of Hot One, because what other rock band will give you math lessons?
Hot One plays Nov. 11 at The Green Room.
5386 St-Laurent
Tickets $10
