The debut album from UK power-pop outfit The Hot Damn! has been a long time coming. Formed out of the ashes of Scottish rabble-rousers The Amorettes and Aussie/English party-byrds Tequila Mockingbyrd the quartet has added a much-needed explosion of colour onto an otherwise monochrome-filled music scene. But rather than rush an undercooked album out when the buzz surrounding them first began to grow wings, the band – Gill Montgomery (vocals/guitar), Laurie Buchanan (guitar/backing vocals), Lzi Hayes (bass/backing vocals) and Josie O’Toole (drums) – wisely waited until they had more gigs under their belt and the songs were just right. Enter into the world the Day-Glo-filled, empowering, infectious, hook-filled debut: ‘Dancing On The Milky Way’.
With the world lurching from one shitstorm to another, and another US Presidential Election/Circus still to come, an out from the barrage of doom and gloom is often needed and that’s what The Hot Damn! offer up on ‘Dancing On The Milky Way’. Launching with Gill Montgomery asking on opening track ‘Fizz Buzz Crash’; “Okay, you sexy motherfuckers, are you ready for this…course you are”, ‘Dancing On The Milky Way’ is sheer escapism. Guitar-driven, bubblegum-pop with an edge and heaps of delicious vocal harmonies, it’s easy to imagine tracks such as ‘Dance Around’ sneaking onto many Spotify playlists where a rock band might not normally feature; those Bangles-esque vibes are hooky-as-hell (as they also are on ‘DAMN!DAMN!DAMN!DAMN!’, and ‘Can You Hear Me Now?’) and need to be heard by a wider demographic than what a by-the-numbers blues-rock band might reach.
What The Hot Damn! accomplish fairly easily is managing to meld together power-pop lightness with the aspects of a more traditional rock band; ‘Jukebox on The Radio’ for instance (the bass on this from Lzi Hayes influenced that GIF of DiCaprio biting his hand, btw), it’s a bouncy, toe-tapping, head-bobbing gem that adds a little weight to proceedings with a blistering guitar solo. Is it too easy to make comparisons between The Hot Damn! and Ginger Wildheart’s much-loved Hey! Hello! project? Maybe, but considering how much Ginger thrives on power-pop it is not that far-off a comparison. Even stronger Ginger-vibes on the drum-fuelled ‘I Didn’t Like You Anyway’. You might even pick up a hint of a Courtney Love snarl from Montgomery here and there; the punky/new wave ‘About Last Night’ in particular springs to mind when she sings in a lower register.
With ‘Dancing On The Milky Way’, The Hot Damn! have created an album that crosses many genres and opens up so much potential. With the advent of Taylor Swift’s global domination, so many young girls are picking up a guitar for the first time, and that’s a healthy thing. You see, young music fans don’t give a shit about genres in the same way that we grizzled, cynical wankers do: they either like it, or they don’t. That’s why Paramore opening for Taylor Swift makes sense, and why Taylor Swift’s enthusing over The Darkness is fantastic.
Coming soon to a stadium near you: Taylor Swift with special guests The Darkness, and opening act The Hot Damn! – and if Taylor cannot leave ‘Murica because Trump is back in power and has her shackled in chains, then expect to see The Hot Damn! warming the crowd up for Shania Twain and The Struts in a field somewhere; same “Let’s go girls” vibe, but with a wall of Marshall stacks for added oomph. But if the thought of all that is too much, chew on the album’s bluesy-ballad and closing track ‘Sticky Clubs’ – ‘kin perfect with a killer guitar solo.
‘Dancing On The Milky Way’ is available September 27th, pre-order here: www.thehotdamn.com
Review – Dave
Photo credit: Rob Blackham
Headline Dancing On The Milky Way tour:
FRI 01-Nov UK, Cardiff, Tiny Rebel
SAT 02-Nov UK, Nottingham, The Bodega
SUN 03-Nov UK, London, The Garage
THU 07-Nov UK, Newcastle, Cluny2
FRI 08-Nov UK, Whitby, Whitby Rocks
SAT 09-Nov UK, Glasgow, Audio
SUN 10-Nov UK, Manchester, Star & Garter
SAT 14-Dec Germany, Schlachthof Wiesbaden
Tickets and info via www.thehotdamn.com