Hot Panda

03 July 2012, 14:50 | Written by Matthias Scherer

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In music, much as in life in general, it’s important to stay curious. Maintaining a degree of hunger and trying to remain open-minded gets more difficult the older we get, as a lot of things we thought we knew for certain – our relationships with others, our political and artistic ideologies – turn out to be a lot less set in stone than we’d like them to be.

The third album by Hot Panda, an art-pop/indie-rock band from Vancouver, Canada, is an effort to retain a sense of optimism and humour in an increasingly hostile global environment. Their upbeat, dry arrangements – in the mould of bands like The New Pornographers and Wolf Parade – sometimes are at odds with the subject matter (cultural relativism, world economics) but it’s that contrast that makes the band such an interesting proposition right now.

We talked to band leader Chris Connelly about the band’s take on current affairs, the changes they made from past behaviour, and early-morning pints at UK airports.

It seems like being from Canada used to be a bit of a hindrance for musicians – American fans didn’t care, and Europeans preferred US or UK bands. Right now, it seems that – thanks to bands like Japandroids, Fucked Up, Arcade Fire and so on – being a Canadian band is actually a sign of quality. Would you agree?

I definitely agree. For a country as sparsely populated as Canada, there sure are a lot of great bands coming from there. I don’t think that us, as Canadian artists, are inherently better musicians than people from any other country. I think the upswing in great Canadian bands is directly related to our grant system for the arts. If you’re an artist with a different voice, a unique perspective, then you need time and space to develop your skill into a project that can fulfil your potential. So we have grants that help artists do that. I think Sweden does the same kind of thing as well. It’s really worked well for Canada though, so it’s a shame that our Conservative government now wants to cut funding to the programs that help foster so many great Canadian bands.

How difficult is it for individual artists and bands to get funding for their music from the government right now? Did Hot Panda make use of this system?

We definitely have benefited – and still do – from our Arts Grants system. I don’t think Canadian bands like us could have existed without them. There’s something about being able to get money from the government that frees you up to take more risks in your music. If you were sinking all your own money into it, I think people would feel too much pressure to make the safe move. You’d have a bunch of Nickelbacks running around. Our current Conservative government is cutting funding though. It’s the same bullshit argument being made all over the world, that though times equals cutting spending. Last time I checked though, it wasn’t reckless, unregulated arts spending that crashed the economy.

Let’s talk a bit about your new album Go Outside. I really like the vocal line in the verses of ‘One In The Head, One In The Chest’ – it sounds as if it was arrived at via improvisation. Is that how you wrote that melody?

It was a little bit improvised. I tend to sing kind of gibberish melodies when I first work on a song, then some phrases kind of naturally come out of that nonsense. ‘One in The Head, One in the Chest’ was the fist line to pop out of that song. The rest of the lyrics were written based on that sentence.

The lyrics of that song seem a bit more sombre than usual, even though they are delivered in a slightly sardonic way. Is the line “Out of the violence came lawlessness/preservance of self-interest/of the asshole with the biggest gun” a reference to the wars western countries have been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Yeah, it’s Afghanistan, it’s Iraq, it’s Europeans coming over to North America and just wiping out an entire people. We still tend to have this mentality of “if you disagree with us, we’ll kill you, because we’re stronger than you.” That hasn’t ever really changed.

Are we our own worst enemy?

In a lot of ways we are. But I think we turn to violence because it’s easy. It’s an unimaginative and lazy way to settle something.

That song and ‘Future Markets’ are the songs that most obviously reference things that are happening around the world right now. Have you as a band and as individuals been discussing these issues among yourselves?

I think the world is in a very interesting place right now. It’s on the cusp of very big changes. And as a result more and more people are talking about these things. I write the lyrics but we all talk about this stuff.

My favourite song off the new album is probably ‘See You All Around’, what’s the back story to this song?

That song has been around for a very long time, in lots of different forms. We rearranged it many times before it found itself in its current state. It always reminds me of a Stereolab song. Lyrically, it’s about getting tired of going out drinking at night, going to shows. Like, it’s all the same people and same things all the time. It’s starting to feel a little old. I’m starting to get a little old as well…

In what other ways do you think you’re getting older, both as a person and a songwriter? Are you getting more ‘zen’ or are you going the other way and getting more exasperated at how complex everything is?

I feel like I want to contribute to the world in a creative, constructive and positive way. I’m tired of approaching everything with cynicism and negativity. It’s a really ugly way to live and I feel like I’ve spent too much of my youth living that way. It’s toxic and destructive and I don’t think it leads anywhere interesting.

One of the first associations I made when I listened to the record was the more melodic moments in the music of The New Pornographers and Destroyer. John Collins, who plays in both bands, helped to produce your record. What did he contribute to the way the finished record sounds?

David Carswell, who plays guitar in Destroyer, also acted as co-producer. They both helped out immensely on this record! We did our last record with them as well, but this time felt completely different, I’m not sure why… maybe they just liked this record better. But for whatever reason, they were much more vocal in contributing ideas on this record. Some of the songs really changed a lot in the studio, based on suggestions from them. Like, ‘Boats’ and ‘Littered Coins’, were a big part of those songs. They also had the idea to mix the sound of chains being dropped into the drums on ‘One in the Head, One in the Chest’. That was pretty cool.

What did the band change from the last time you made a record? Was there anything you wanted to try and avoid doing from How Come I’m Dead?

We wanted to work harder on this record. We put a lot more time, thought and effort into this record. The songs on How Come I’m Dead? were recorded the way they first came to us. With Go Outside, we rearranged all these songs in many different ways. We experimented with them a lot and really got to know them. I really wanted to put a lot of myself into this record, to not be lazy and half-assed about anything. It’s a cliche, but hard work really does pay off.

One thing I like about your band is that you always sound like you’re having fun playing, that you try and inject some snarky kind of humour into most of your songs, even more serious songs like ‘Holidays’. Humour and music are often a bit of a dangerous mix, because for most people music is Serious Business – which bands do you think have combined the two in the best way?

I’ve always found myself drawn towards bands who have a good sense of humour. I always thought The Beatles did a great job at balancing humour in their music. So did The Kinks, Devo, Roxy Music, Talking Heads, Ween… Lots of great bands.

Do people sometimes dismiss you as ‘quirky’?

We get ‘quirky’ a lot. I don’t mind it as description. Our music is a little quirky. I think it needs some other adjectives to go with it in order to make it an interesting description, though.

You’ve been a touring band, with a couple of line-up changes, for a number of years now. Are you hardened touring musicians now or is it still a bit of a shock to the system to go on tour and then go back to the real world? What’s the best party you had while on the road? And what was the best food you had on tour?

I think I’ve gotten much better at juggling my home life with my touring life. When I’m home for a long time I get excited to tour, and when I tour for a long time I get excited to go home. I miss and love them both! We had a great time at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona this year. The backstage area was literally right on the beach, people where actually swimming backstage. It was wonderful, beautiful experience. So much good food, too! I think, food wise, I get most excited for the Mexican food in the South West of the USA. I also like the BBQ in Texas!

A while back you tweeted ‘The UK is the only place in the world where the airport bar is packed at 5.30am’. It’s classic ‘funny because it’s true’ material. Did you partake in an early morning beer? Are you even big drinkers?

We all like to drink! I don’t think I could do it at 5:30 in the morning though. But if I was going to, it would be with some Brits at the Airport!