Hot Club de Paris

Temping is generally a great way of meeting people you'd never dream of spending time with. However, sometimes the temp can cross their fingers and toes hard and fate might deliver a colleague perfect for struggling through the summer with. In this case it happened to Paul Rafferty when he arrived for work at Chester Racecourse in July 2003. He was propping up the wrong side of the bar serving overpriced beverages to the gamblers when he overheard Matthew Smith waxing enthusiastically about legendary doom-punkers The Misfits. Realising that one another were the best of the frankly attrocious bunch, they discussed the finer details of their record collections and filled one another in on any gaps in their respective knowledge. Jealous that they had not yet met their match, the other temps looked on puzzled as Paul and Matthew spent the afternoon tossing relatively obscure band names back and forth, as they filled those bottomless jugs of Pimms and lemonade.

The rest of the summer was spent swapping the records they'd discussed that day and compiling mix-tapes for one another involving the likes of The Minutemen, Cap'n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Make Believe, Bruce Springsteen, Storm & Stress, Billy Bragg, Don Cabellero, Battles, John Fahey, Black Flag, Beastie Boys, Smog, Shellac, XTC, Talking Heads, Les Savy Fav, Karate and Owls. Though Paul and Matthew already belonged to their own bands, they figured that the Minutemen's Mike Watt's legendary motto ("Everyone should form a band") could possibly be re-interpreted as "Everybody should form another band". Paul and Matthew dutifully enlisted Matthew's little brother Alasdair into their ranks and they set about making music.

And so, in Matthew and Alasdair's parent's living room (the band have since relocated to a basement in Liverpool's city centre) Paul picked up the bass guitar for the first time, Alasdair sat eagerly behind his drum kit and Matthew strapped his prized red Fender Stratocaster to his body. The music came out all odd and pointed; laden with complex time signatures but somehow retaining a familiar pop sensibility. Their early experiments were showcased at their first gig in Liverpool's Heebies Jeebies in April 2004 and since then Hot Club de Paris have collected a small arsenal of skewif punk-pop bombs.

Hot Club de Paris' current writing process is very similar now to those early practice sessions; an initial guitar riff of Matthew's is unveiled and Paul and Alasdair spend a while jamming to it. Many of their songs begin life as instrumentals and over time the music is whittled down and battered into short two-minute pop arrangements, but with a blatant disregard for standard pop formula. The bass guitar tends to dictate the chord progression, "once I've decided what the progression is, I have a bash at writing the words" says Paul, "we'll play it together some more, struggle a little (it's often far too technical to sing over) and once we're comfortable with the song, Alasdair will begin to figure out the harmonies."

A classically trained pianist, Alasdair is behind all of Hot Club de Paris' harmonies. Many of the songs feature layered up harmony lines and it's this and their natural inclination to write and play in complex time signatures that sets them apart. "Odd time signatures are just something we're used to" explains Matthew, " We listen to so much music that isn't in 4/4 that it's completely natural for us to take influence from that. We don't ever write music just to be awkward, it's just the way we write. People write in 4/4 because that's what they're used to, we're doing exactly the same thing with what we do. "

A British three-piece playing sharp, witty pop tunes that blend hook-filled melodies with a lean instrumental attack and precise harmonies, Hot Club de Paris were formed in the summer of 2003 when Paul Rafferty and Matthew Smith were both working part-time at a racetrack in Liverpool, tending the bar. Rafferty and Smith were both musicians with bands of their own, but while chatting during downtime they discovered they had similar tastes and decided to put together a new group as a side project. With Matthew on guitar, Paul on bass, and Alasdair Smith (Matthew's younger brother) sitting in on drums, Hot Club de Paris were born, and after several months of woodshedding, they made their live debut in their hometown of Liverpool in April 2004. Sounding like a successful marriage between XTC and the Minutemen, Hot Club de Paris began making the rounds of the U.K.'s rock clubs, and attracted the attention of the independent label Moshi Moshi Records, which released the trio's first single, "Sometimes It's Better" b/w "Your Face Looks All Wrong," in June 2006. Hot Club de Paris' second single, "Everyeveryeverything" b/w "Hello Comrade (I Quit My Job)," was named Single of the Week by New Musical Express upon its release in October 2006, and a full-length album, Drop It 'Til It Pops, followed in January 2007. The album spawned another pair of successful singles, "Shipwreck" b/w "Symmetry," and later "Clockwork Toy," which was backed by a playful cover of Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al." In the spring of 2007, Hot Club de Paris came to America to play a short tour -- two shows in New York and four in Austin, TX, to coincide with the South by Southwest Music Conference. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide