Biography

Introduction

Hot Chip is a British electropop band. They have released three studio albums—Coming on Strong, The Warning, and Made in the Dark. The Warning was named Album of the Year by Mixmag and voted the fourth best album of 2006 by NME. They released their third studio album, Made in the Dark, in February 2008; Mixmag awarded it the title Album of the Month in their January 2008 issue.

History

Formation

Hot Chip formed in 2000, though members Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard had previously worked together and had been at the same sixth form college at Elliott School in Putney, London. In an interview, Goddard jokingly compared early Hot Chip releases to sixth-form poetry with acoustic guitars, although an interest in dance music rhythms and electronic experimentation is present in even the early recordings and releases such as the 'Mexico EP'. The current line up was completed when occasional collaborators Owen Clarke, Felix Martin and later Al Doyle joined the band full time in 2003.

Coming on Strong

After years of self-releasing records, they signed with Moshi Moshi in 2003 and released their debut LP Coming on Strong in 2004. During this period, they were joined by Felix Martin and Al Doyle. They started working on their second album and signed a UK & US record deal with DFA Records and EMI. DFA and Astralwerks released their debut album for the first time in the US in late 2005.

The Warning

In 2006, Hot Chip released their second album, The Warning. Now signed to EMI in the UK, the band gained more mainstream appeal as well as the attention of critics. The album was shortlisted for the 2006 Nationwide Mercury Prize and was Mixmag's Album of the Year 2006. This album spawned also two UK top forty singles: "Over and Over" in March 2006 and "Boy from School" in May 2006. "Over and Over" received attention for its music video, which was directed by Nima Nourizadeh, and was also named as the best single of 2006 by British music magazine NME.

Made in the Dark

The band released their third studio album, Made in the Dark, on February 4 2008. The first song to be released from it was "Shake a Fist", which was released as a limited one-sided 12" in August 2007. The second release was "Ready For The Floor" in January 2008, which reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart. In order to promote "Ready for the Floor", the band appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in January 2008, and Joe Goddard appeared on Never Mind The Buzzcocks on 31 January. In February 2008, the band performed on the American talk shows Jimmy Kimmel and Carson Daly. On 7 May 2008, the group performed their third single, "One Pure Thought," in Radio 1's Live Lounge. The hypnotic clip for "One Pure Thought" was selected as one of the best music videos of 2008 by AllMusic.com.

Fourth studio album

Having completed a world tour in February 2009, Hot Chip returned to London and are in the process of recording their fourth album. Alexis Taylor told NME that the band have already recorded some new songs including "Alley Cats", which the band played regularly while touring in 2008/2009 and "Thieves in the Night". Taylor hinted that the album was going to be "a bit calmer this time" in comparison to Made in the Dark with songs that are "more mid-tempo and disco influenced".. The album will be released in 2010. They reported on their twitter page that they had recently recieved the near finished copy of the album on two memory sticks, and were putting the final touches to it now.

Tours and appearances

During live performances, Hot Chip reinvent their studio compositions to form what has been described by Glide magazine as "heavy beat-driven improvisation[s]" that create "an atmosphere of excitement, energy and the unexpected." Festival appearances include V Festival 2008, Dour Festival, Glastonbury, Treasure Island Festival, Roskilde festival, Sónar, Benicassim, Electric Picnic, Bestival, Lovebox, Bonnaroo, the Reading and Leeds Festivals, the Big Day Out, Melt! festival,T in the Park, Summer Sundae, Splendour In The Grass, Lollapalooza in 2006, the brazilian Tim Festival in 2007, Oxegen in 2008, Coachella in 2007 and 2008, and Austin City Limits in September 2008. They also played at San Diego's Street Scene in 2008.

During a performance at the Glastonbury festival on 28 June 2008, Hot Chip played their cover of "Wearing My Rolex" and were joined onstage by Wiley. They also ended a number of sets in 2008 with a cover of Prince's (popularized by Sinead O'Connor) "Nothing Compares 2 U."

The band is also known for its DJ talent; all five members took part in a DJ set live on BBC Radio One's The Essential Mix radio program, hosted by Pete Tong, on December 29, 2007. They have released several mix CDs and DJ regularly worldwide.

Other recordings

Hot Chip released a DJ-Kicks compilation album in 2007, which included a new song called "My Piano", also released as a 12".

In 2008, Hot Chip contributed the song "Babongo Tribe Remix" to the Survival International charity album, Songs for Survival. They also contributed a cover of Joy Division's "Transmission" to the War Child charity album, Heroes, in 2009.

Members

Alexis Taylor – vocals, synthesizer, guitar, percussion, piano
Joe Goddard – vocals, synthesizer, percussion
Owen Clarke – guitar, bass, synthesizer
Al Doyle – guitar, synthesizer, percussion, backing vocals (Also plays guitar, bass, synths, and percussion for LCD Soundsystem)
Felix Martin – drum machines, synthesizer

Former members

Hagop Tchaparian aka The Letter G – drum machines
Rob Smoughton aka Grovesnor - Drums
Dillon Farrell – guitar, backing vocals, thumb piano
Scott Bennett aka "DancingScott" - guitar, backing vocals, percussion thumb piano
Daniel Paton – drums
Chris Trigg - bass guitar