English electropop outfit Hot Chip have enjoyed a highly successful 12 months. Their second album, The Warning, has received considerable critical acclaim and the band have played to appreciative audiences around the world, including a memorable performance at Electric Picnic. To top it all off, the album received nominations for the Mercury Music Prize and, more recently, the US Shortlist Music Prize, which the band will be competing for alongside the likes of Tom Waits, Joanna Newsom and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy.
However, the band’s guitarist, Joe Goddard, hasn’t exactly been keeping abreast of developments, if his response to Hot Press’ query about the Shortlist nomination is anything to go by.
“I didn’t know that,” he admits from his home in Kentish Town. “I must have a look on the internet and see what it’s all about. It sounds great though. We’re in good company!”
I’m slightly hesitant to ask Joe about the Ivor Novello Award nomination for ‘Over And Over’ in case he hasn’t heard about that either, but, fortunately, that doesn’t turn out to be the case.
“I was surprised by it,” he reflects. “Ivor Novellos are songwriting awards, and although ‘Over And Over’ is a fun record to dance to, I don’t think of it as being a great song. I guess it just has a couple of lyrics which really stuck in people’s heads, which is something that good pop songs tend to do, and maybe it’s been decided on for that reason. But it’s a fantastic thing. My main ability is using a computer to make beats and programme stuff, so I never really thought that I would be nominated for a songwriting award.”
Hot Chip’s recent projects include a mix album for the DJ Kicks series, for which the band have put together a superb collection of rock, dance and soul tracks. Interestingly, in a recent interview with this writer, Groove Armada’s Tom Findlay explained that mix albums can be quite tricky to compile, particularly if they are a collaborative effort between two or more people.
“It sounds like we had a similar experience,” says Joe. “All five of us chose songs that we wanted to go on the mix. We made a big list of tracks that we were into for various reasons, whether they were ones that we had been DJ-ing with recently or were just old favourites of ours. So we sent that list off to the record company, who then informed us that we couldn’t have 40% of them for copyright reasons. From those we had left, we then just had to fit them together in as best a way as we could.
“But when the songs were picked, we didn’t really think about whether they would mix together, we just chose them on their individual merits. So it was a difficult process, and probably all of us felt that it wasn’t ideal, but I think the eclectic style of the final mix reflects the band better than a more linear collection would. One of my favourite mix albums is Kieran Hebden’s DJ Kicks, which has a similarly diverse tracklisting. Kieran is a good friend of ours – I actually went to school with him in South West London.”
In the US, of course, Hot Chip are signed to DFA Records, the label owned by Tim Goldsworthy and LCD Soundsystem mainman James Murphy. There seems to be a very strong kinship between Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem, with the two bands even swapping members in recent times.
“Yeah, Al who plays guitar with us, is actually on tour with them in America at the moment,” says Joe. “And last year, we toured with Pat, their drummer. It's a very genuine friendship we have with those guys, which has made it a lot easier for us to go to America. When we arrive in New York we go out to dinner with them, and James Murphy has given us tips on equipment to buy and so on. And Al has learned a lot from playing with them, which hopefully will help us in the future. We really have a good relationship with that group of people.”