IE: When I found out you guys have been together a little over 2 years I thought it was a mistake since you already have a full length out, a new EP and a 2nd EP basically finished and ready to go... not to mention some touring on top of that as well. How have things come together so fast for Hot Blood? Does everyone in the band seem to have the same drive and motivation behind everything band related?

Alexander: There definitely is a drive. One thing I have noticed with Hot Blood is everyone is always trying to practice and work on new material. So because of that we tend to get a good amount accomplished. Charlie has a studio (Word Of Mouth Studios) so we are able to do room recordings of practices and demo stuff easily which really helps for getting songs completed and ideas flushed out. All the girlfriends and wives of the band are very supportive and have helped out a lot. Everyone in the band enjoys playing the music so it has been a really easy ride so far. Everyone wants to keep playing, writing, and going forward. We hope to do a tour or two more this year!

IE: For people who may not have heard of you guys as of yet can you give us a quick summary of what Hot Blood represents both musically and lyrically?

Alexander: Musically it is pretty fast and aggressive. Lyrically it is pretty fast and aggressive. Kiley writes awesome, sometimes educational and sometimes inspirational lyrics. I think one of the most important aspects of art is to make one question things maybe you wouldn't normally question or think about. Kiley is able to do this very effectively. He is very observant which is key in having an important message. 

Kiley: Lyrics are something that never come easy to me. I always immediately after recording vocals start changing lyrics. There is a lot of social commentary and political satire in my writing and that kind of stuff can lose relevancy at a really tremendous rate. I tend to write through a veil of biting sarcasm a lot of the time but it's an effective way of conveying your message I think. 

IE: The new one is called “Overcome Part 1” and is part of a series of EP’s you guys plan to do. How many EP’s will be in this series and can you talk about the artwork on “Part 1” and what's the meaning behind it?

Alexander: “Overcome” will be a trilogy. (3 releases- all EP’s) The idea for the release of “Overcome Part 1” was whoever bought it would have a lot of stuff to enjoy. We tried to cover all bases. You would get the flexi disc (music), a written piece by our friend (visual/writing), Kiley's lyrics were included on the back (visual/writing), a CD of the tunes (in case you don't have a record player or you wanna jam out in your car), and a poster with the artwork (visual). We wanted people to have stuff to look at and check out while their record was spinning the tunes. For me personally the artwork has a lot going on as far as meaning. When I made the piece I wanted people to check it out and hear what they thought it meant. The artwork is meant to be seen in person on a poster. I tried to draw something with a lot going on so people could spend time analyzing it or just checking it out in general. Would still love to hear anyone's interpretation or what they think it's all about.

IE: Any special meaning behind the name Hot Blood or did you just like how it sounded?

Alexander: We are all HUGE Foreigner fans.

Kiley: Prior to Hot Blood, we were called The Goons because the original bassist, Alexander, and I are all pretty tall dudes (I think we also kicked around the idea of “Lurch” too, which I still like). The problem is there are a lot of bands named The Goons so we needed something different. I was sticking my boots in a fire at a friend's house to warm up and I could feel my blood getting hot. I sent Alexander a text saying I thought it was a cool name. It was more of a placeholder but we just kinda ran with it. 

PHOTO BY: JOHN POSADA @ THE BRIGHTON BAR

IE: How many shows has the band played live to date?

Alexander: That is a tough one. We have easily played over 50. We may be approaching triple digits by now.

IE: Does anyone in the band currently split time with any other bands and if so what bands?  What bands have your members been a part of in the past?

Alexander: Charlie plays bass in The Pure Thirteen and Barry And The Penetrators. Billy plays drums in Irate Primate. I play bass in The Battery Electric and Mat Kiley was in The Big Dumb Ugly before Hot Blood.

IE: You have opened up shows for GBH, Andrew WK, Night Birds and even Biohazard so far and have done shows up and down the East Coast and into Canada. Your Facebook page doesn't hide the fact that you guys seem to like your liquor. With all that said please give us some of your favorite tour stories if you can recall them from the bands not so long history.

Kiley: We were in Baltimore last summer at some bougey bar our buddy Doug from The Vansaders wanted to go to. We had been drinking all day and were half in the bag when we got there. They immediately asked us to leave to which I responded by climbing a support beam in the middle of this ritzy restaurant and refusing to come down. Later on that day we had chicken fights with no pool and I fought a tree. The tree won by the way. We had a really great turn out at SXSW last year at one show we played with INVSN (Dennis Lyxzen of Refused's new project) but it turned out it was the bar that all the deaf people in the area would meet up. So we had this huge crowd of people dancing and having a good time, and were thinking man this is rad, were gonna sell so much merch. Turns out like 95% of the place was totally deaf. I think we did like 25 bucks in merch that night. There are a lot of other ones but I don't wanna get anybody in trouble. 

IE: Who is in charge of the radio while you guys are on the road driving between cities and what kind of stuff would we be hearing the most if we were to ride along with you?

Alexander: This past tour we did in Canada I would say me and Kiley were in charge. The drive up to Buffalo we heard a lot of NOFX, Bad Brains, Generation X, and stuff. Then for most of the tour it was about 4 different James Brown live CD’s, Cracker's new album, and Fimbulwinter the latest Satanic Warmaster album, and Bullet Treatment!

IE: Like I mentioned earlier you guys are on a pretty fast pace with getting things done as a band. Where would you like to see Hot Blood in say a year or two in regards to releases, touring and just getting your name out there in general?  Is Hot Blood something you see as becoming a full time thing and if not what's a happy medium for all involved?

Kiley: At this point I want to keep going forward with the full head of steam that we have since the beginning. We are on track to put out 5 releases this year. Were always writing new stuff so I figure well always put out new stuff. Then comes touring and all the fun accoutrements that go with it. I'd love for it to be our jobs and quit our day jobs but right now it doesn't seem plausible. We just going to keep grinding and hope it someday it is.

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