We ran their seasonal video a couple of weeks ago. Now we get to learn a bit more about The Hot One Two…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Simply put, Cambridgeshire. Manners comes from Milton Keynes originally, Simon from a humble little village just outside of Huntingdon, Joe from Cambridge and Nick from the bowels of Hell.
How did you meet?
Nick (Bass) and Joe (Drums) have known each other since their early teens and met Manners (for all their sins) whilst studying Music together at University. Simon magically appeared around last Christmas when the band had a huge singer shaped hole to contend with – let’s just say he was a gift from Santa!
How long have you been playing as a band?
With this current line-up, only a year, but we first started gigging back in early 2017 – with a lot of material already having been written prior to the line up that first appeared. The are some songs that have been floating around longer than the band has existed!
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Good question! It came from a heated game of beer pong between Manners (Guitar) and Joe. Manners landed a shot and exclaimed “Hit ‘em!”, he then landed another on the trot and shouted “Hit ‘em with a Hot One Two!” and thus the name was born!
What are your influences?
All the greats (AC/DC, G’n’R, Crue, Zep, etc) and then their new age counter-parts (Foo Fighters, Clutch, Alter Bridge, Blackstone Cherry), caffeine and alcohol.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
F**k. That’s a tough one. Because in all honesty, I don’t think we can say we sound truly unique – we draw so much influence from the classics that I think anyone could listen to us and hear a little bit of something they’ve heard before which will have them reminiscing, or they can at least hear that we’ve drawn the influence from somewhere. The fact of the matter is, with Rock, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it! I guess our uniqueness would be that we don’t feel the need to be unique – we just want to write and play good old fashioned rock music with a slightly modern edge on it, that we enjoy playing, and hopefully people will enjoy listening to and watching live.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Every song has a different lyrical premise in it’s own right, there don’t seem to be any long running themes. Rather boringly, most of the lyrics we come up with our just drawn from real-life experiences/situations that we hope others can relate to. actually, there’s a fair bit about drinking and debauchery come to think of it. Responsibly, of course.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Sweaty, loud & sporadic… you won’t often see us stood on the spot shoe gazing, put it that way!
We’ve not been keeping track but I think we’ve probably hit the 80 show milestone or at least will have before the year is out!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
No comment. But I think it’s safe to say that our upcoming Christmas Hullabaloo show in Cambridge will be our wildest to date – we’ve got big plans for the night and I’m pretty certain people will be guaranteed one hell of a show and a wild night. [Note, this interview was done at the start of December but you can still catch the band live on January 11th at The Junction in Cambridge – Mosh]
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
We thought we would let our drummer Joe have a crack at this one…”being a drummer, my knowledge is pretty limited on their kit, so bear with me here”.
Manners plays a brown guitar (PRS I think?), which has six strings. He play his guitar through an amp which is either a Death Star or Black Star – I can’t remember which as he has de-badged it.
Nick plays a blue sparkly bass which I like. It has five strings which is interesting because bass guitars usually only come with four. It is a Music Man and he plays it through a bass amp.
Simon has a nice voice and sings into a microphone.
I just use an old-school 3-piece Tama Superstar Custom which is actually sounding better with age. A Gretsch G4000 Chrome over brass snare which goes off like a f***ing AK-47. A combo of Zildjian, Sabian & Paiste cymbals – 2 crashes, Ride, China & Hats. Tidy.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Our upcoming Christmas single – “Pints of Cheer”! It’s a festive treat to be sure – you can probably guess what it’s about from the title! It’s out on the 13th of December on all streaming platforms and all major online stores and we’ll be premiering it live at our Christmas Hullaballoo show at the Portland Arms in Cambridge on the 19th of December!
What are your plans for 2020?
We’ve got several singles already bagged up and ready to go out for release throughout 2020, but the main focus will be on gigging as much as possible, getting our name out there across the nation and making new friends and fans along the way!
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
That’s an amazing question. To open, and to really get the crowd revved up and ready to go, it would have to be Lou Bega, but the catch is he only gets the gig if he just plays Mambo No.5 on repeat for the entirety of his set.
Then opening up for Crue would be the dream! Just getting to watch from the wings and be stood on the same stage would be enough in itself!
