Tagged by some creative pundits with the epithetic classification of electro-grunge, Toronto-based band Hot Lips is generating a buzz throughout the region’s club scene for their uncompromising artistry, unmitigated musical prowess and for crafting songs that are emotionally intense, gritty yet deftly melodic.
Comprised of vocalist/synthesizer player Karli Forget, bassist Alex Black and drummer Keith Heppler, the band came together two years ago, after Forget and Heppler decided they wanted to work together on an innovative new project and found in Black the perfect musician to complete the creative trifecta.
“None of us are from Toronto originally. Alex was born in the Soviet Union and grew up in the Newmarket/Aurora area just north of the city. Karli grew up in Cambridge and moved to Toronto to play and I grew up in Waterloo and, same story, moved to Toronto to play. Karli posted an ad looking for a band to put together which I responded to. We kind of talked and realized that we had crossed paths over the years playing in different bands. And Alex I and had toured together on another project,” Heppler said.
“When Karli and I initially met and began working on some songs, when it came time to bring someone in, I suggested Alex. He played with us for about five minutes and that was it – that was the starting of the band, and it’s only been the three of us since the beginning.”
One significant feature about the talented trio is that for all their sonic intensity and truly hard rocking underpinnings, Hot Lips does not have a six-string in sight on recordings or on stage. No guitar at all, but the sound is still lush, full and undeniably intense and emotive.
“We are a three-piece band, and we are songwriting oriented, in the sense that everything we do is leading us to writing catchy, well crafted songs that people remember. The song is the most important thing in this band. But we also wanted to do something a little bit different, so we opted not to have any guitars. Everything you’re hearing on any Hot Lips song is just the product of vocals, synthesizer, bass and drums, ” said Heppler, who also talked about the influences and inspirations that led Hot Lips to creating their unique sound.
“We’re heavily influenced by a lot of the 1990s stuff, particularly along the lines of electronic and industrial bands like Nine Inch Nails, 3Teeth and Killing Joke. We really blend things like that with Nirvana, Veruca Salt, Hole and Garbage but also bands like D.O.A. We are all definitely influenced by punk rock, myself probably more that the others. We’re all huge fans of the DIY ethic like there is in punk where you’re playing as many shows as you can and building things up brick by brick. We always try to maintain that punk attitude, even though ‘punk’ is sort of a vague term these days.”
That said, Heppler said he and his bandmates are far from being dedicated followers of musical fashion, preferring to chart their own course rather than try to fall in with whatever is trendy and ‘trending’ at the moment, realizing that audiences are more fickle than they have ever been, and that integrity is everything.
“To be completely candid with you, we’re not really concerned about what is going on around us. We are trying to do our own thing. We have all been in tons of bands before we came together and so often everyone is trying to see what’s trendy and what is seen as being good and what’s happening now. We just consciously said we’re not going to do that. Let’s just be the band we want to be and make the music we want to hear and do our best to disregard what’s going on,” he said.
“There’s a lot of hypocrisy when it comes to those terms and fitting into a style or genre. People love to put things in boxes; it’s just the way it goes. People love to categorize things. We have always been fans of bands that break that mould and tend to cross different genres. One of the things we play a lot in the tour van when we’re on the road is a British band called Alice Wolf. We’re mesmerized by how one of their songs can be such a beautiful, shoe-gazey masterpiece and then the next song is a two-minute, three-chord punk song, yet somehow, they flow together.
“And that’s one of the things we want to do moving forward in the creative process. We have a bunch of new material that is being recorded but hasn’t been released. I think when it comes out and sees the light of day, it’s going to show a lot of different sides of this band.”
Thus far, over their short career, Hot Lips has released six singles, gathering the first five into an EP called Buzzkill a few months ago, which Heppler said is more for something to sell at shows and use as a marketing calling card. He, like many modern independent bands and artists, is wondering if the concept of recording and releasing full-length albums might be past its expiry date.
“We try to do things a little different than the way bands we have been in before have operated. So, basically, we released one song at a time to the streaming services and then on home-printed CDs to sell at the merch booth. As we got to about five singles, we put out the compilation EP. And then we recently just released another single called I Wonder. The concept of the album and the way that you and I grew up with it where you come home with a CD or a record and it’s got 12 songs, I think in a lot of ways has been played out,” he said.
“An as an indie band, we would rather just put out new songs and not date ourselves with an EP. We work so hard and we work so frequently that we are constantly evolving as songwriters, so to just release an EP or full album that’s taken months and months to do – we don’t want to time stamp ourselves. We will write songs that we are super proud of, take one, record it and release it, and then repeat the process, adding new ideas, new concepts and things we learn as songwriters into the next process.”
The songs recorded and released thus far by Hot Lips, including the incendiary American Hardcore, the critically acclaimed Limelight, as well as the emotive and provocative I Wonder, are examples of a band that is imbued with creativity and, as Heppler alluded to, still developing itself as a songwriting collective.
“How it’s worked up until now is Karli will come to Alex and I with maybe a verse and chorus idea. She is a multi-instrumentalist and is a drummer, she plays bass, she plays keys, so she will send us these rough demos and we will sort of sit on them for a couple of days, or maybe just overnight. Then we will all go to the rehearsal space together and work out the arrangements and maybe tweak those original verse and chorus ideas,” he explained.
“We tend to always write the bridge of songs together, all three of us. But in terms of the initial spark and initial idea, it’s always Karli. And it’s been really cool to watch her grow and evolve as a performer and a songwriter – watching her get from behind the drums to going up front. It’s been a really cool progression to watch, because she has really stepped outside her comfort zone. And she is a brilliant lyricist. I am sure she would be open to collaborating on lyrics because she is super easy going, but why fix something that’s not broken. I know she writes a lot from personal experience, but I don’t want to speak for her. I think if you take a close listen, everybody can interpret songs in a different way.”
All the songs Hot Lips has recorded have been produced in collaboration with Toronto mixing engineer Josh G. Bowman, a working relationship that Heppler said was fruitful right from the initial sessions back in early 2017.
“We actually just went in and did a bunch of new recordings that we will be releasing as part of a fall/winter plan, we just haven’t announced anything yet. I knew Josh from other recording projects and since the first song we ever record, which was American Hardcore, he has done everything with us. He is sort of the fourth member of Hot Lips,” Heppler said.
“He is probably the only guy that we completely trust. We don’t let a lot of people into our inner circle and Josh is always welcome. It’s incredible how little talking the three of us with Josh do when it comes to anything musical. More times than not, we’re always on the same page, and it’s always easier to get where you want to be if you know what you want to do, and you’re working with someone where you have an almost unconscious communication with.”
Since forming, Hot Lips has been working the club circuits throughout Ontario and Quebec, and over the last year has had a chance to open shows for the likes of Canadian alternative rockers Econoline Crush, as well as Michale Graves, the former Misfits legend, and 3Teeth.
On Sept. 22, at 9 p.m., the band will be performing at the third-annual Voodoo Rockfest in Napanee, Ontario (near Belleville and Kingston), which features a number of up-and-coming rock bands from throughout the province of Ontario as well as top tribute groups. It begins on the evening of Friday, Sept. 21 and carries over until 11 p.m. on Sept. 22.
“It’s such an enormous undertaking to put on a festival completely independently these days, so you’ve really got to applaud the organizer [Joe Matthews] for that. I think it’s a great festival with a little bit for everyone. People coming to hear the original acts they’re going to enjoy a bit of nostalgia from the tribute bands and the people there for the tribute bands will hopefully get turned on to some of the original acts,” Heppler said.
For more information on Voodoo Rockfest, visit https://musicfly.ca/kingston/festival/voodoo-rockfest.
For more information on Hot Lips, including other tour dates, as well as upcoming song releases, visit https://hotlipstoronto.com/home.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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