the hotdamns
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the hotdamns

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Band Americana Country

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"Music Feature: Three Chords and a Shot"

The fifth and last song on The Hotdamns brand spanking new CD (recorded at Sound of Music) is called "Vanquished," full of the drama and majesty that recalls the best of Roy Orbison. The refrain "I am vanquished, you have won," is a sentiment that has plenty of applications in one’s daily life.

True story: David, hating his current job, having a bad day, called in sick one day hoping to be fired. His boss (who shall remain anonymous) put out an APB on him as a missing person prompting frantic calls from family members. He did not go back.

It’s all in the spirit of The Hotdamns, a not too country, not too rock, country band who has a liqueur named after them (80 or 100 proof)…or is it the other way around? The Hotdamns are Danielle Ahart (piano, vocals), David Hughes (guitars, vocals), Jay Lindsey (bass), and Frank Guertler (drums, not present for the interview), and we all drank beer in the afternoon.

David, I saw on your Myspace page that you like t-shirt sheets—what’s the appeal?

David: They’re cheap and they’re soft.

You know that could be taken out of context: they’re cheap and they’re soft.

Danielle: (Raucous laughter)

David: (Complete silence)

You all are in relationships; how does that work out for country songs?

Jay: Actually, there has been a problem as far as that goes. All my good ones were written after a break-up and before my [current] relationship, so since then I have been doing other subject matter. We [he and his girlfriend] are still getting along at this point. I was joking with her about that; she asked when she was going to get a song and I told her that once she dumped me she could have a song. There’s always other stuff; you can talk about your crappy jobs, but no love songs for now.

There’s a good dynamic between you two on the CD [singers David and Danielle].

Jay: When I write I definitely have harmonies in mind for them. I think it’s one of our strongest points, the interplay between them, because they both have great voices and they blend really well. It took them yelling at me to stop writing all songs as relationship songs; you have this guy and this girl with great voices singing with each other.

Danielle: Like Johnny Cash and June Carter.

Dave: We both have different significant others...

Danielle: Who have to watch us do this.

Dave: Sometimes I have to go home and explain, "No, no, no, it’s just a song..."

I saw a bumper sticker this morning that said "Discourage Inbreeding—Ban Country Music."

Jay: Until I came to college I had little idea what country was. I was into punk and heard Social Distortion and Johnny Cash and started realizing they were singing about the stuff that everyone needs to be singing about. Most people who say that [the bumper sticker slogan] haven’t heard good country.

Danielle: That was country music to me several years ago. My parents got into Alan Jackson, and I thought, that guy sucks. I like to know where things come from, that’s why I listen to old stuff, old timey stuff. I have anthologies of folk music just so I can know where I’m coming from.

David: I’ve spent most of my life listening to punk music; as much as I haven’t wanted it to, that stuff comes out. There’s been a real upstart of people our age listening to and playing a lot more rootsy stuff. It hasn’t been loud three chords, now its just kind of slow three chords. Same subject matter, it’s the same stuff, it just has a different feel to it.

Jay: If I have something that sounds good in a song, I’m not going to not do it because it’s not country. - Brick Magazine


Discography

Vanquished EP

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Bio

"Full of the drama and majesty that recalls the best of Roy Orbison."
- Brick Weekly

Channeling the classic heroes and heroines of country with a rock and roll
swagger, the Hotdamns have crafted themselves into a vibrant Americana band.
Their debut EP, Vanquished was recorded by John Morand at Sound of Music (Cracker, Lucero, Sparklehorse, Jason Molina) in their hometown of Richmond, VA. The male / female vocal interplay mingling within warm, Western harmonies is akin to early Whiskeytown or maybe even the New Pornographers, since Danielle Ahart's vocals inspire memories of Neko Case's best moments. It's back porch songcraft at its finest. Now a five piece, the Hotdamns bring their sound to audiences all over the South, Midwest, and East Coast.