The Hotcakes: Caution, The Band You Are About To Enjoy Is Extremely Hot

Misti Schindele | December 5, 2011 | 0 Comments

A year ago, I was introduced to a fabulous unsigned band “The Hotcakes” and it was love at first listen. With a sound that mixes the greats like Blondie, The Ting Tings with a splash of rock and roll and pure fun, you get the magic of The Hotcakes.

We had a chance to talk to The Hotcakes band members, which include Erin Marsz, Lee Leshen, Matt Stamm, Nate Lueck, and Kevin Snider to discuss the beginnings of the band and where they see themselves going next.

CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR EXCLUSIVE PHOTO SHOOT WITH THE HOTCAKES.

KENTON Magazine: How long have you been playing?
Erin: We have been playing together as a band for the past 3 years.

Lee: Erin and I have been working together for almost six years. The band, as you see it here is about three years old.

KENTON: What is behind the name “The Hotcakes?”
Lee: I feel like we haven’t developed our “funny answer” answer to this question. The real story is that we were going around in a long email chain about the band name, narrowing it down, slashing the ones that didn’t make the cut, until we determines that “The Hotcakes” made the most sense, almost from a “mind’s eye” point of view for success. For instance, if someone were to ask us, “How are ticket sales?” we’d hope to be responding, “Sellin’ like hotcakes!” “How’s the new album doing?” “Sellin’ like Hotcakes!” Yeah, we need to think of a funny story for this one. Any suggestions?

Nate: A couple of us may or may not have been really hungry at the time. It’s like shopping when you haven’t eaten all day – you just shouldn’t do it.

Kevin: Little known fact: when I joined the band (about a year after its initial inception), the band was simply called, Cake.

Erin: We all met at a New York culinary institute where we realized our love of jalapeno’s and baked goods was a uniting force. We also all failed out of the program. Cakes shouldn’t be delicious. They should be art, damn it!

Lee: See? MUCH funnier than the real story.

KENTON: What do you feel is different about The Hotcakes compared to other bands in the same genre?
Nate: In all honesty, I feel like The Hotcakes tend to stay a little bit truer to the roots of our genre than other bands. There seems to be a tendency in modern dance rock to be very heavily produced, whereas we like to rely on more traditionally authentic means of getting people to dance their socks off.

Lee: Bootsy Collins called us, “Blondie on Steroids.” I’m not so sure there is another band out there that’s like that. That’s not ego talking – it’s just that I don’t know of anyone doing what we do. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are doing some really interesting, solid stuff, but their newer material is more straight rock and tends to move Grace to a Robert Plant area (where she sounds terrific!), while I think Erin sticks to the Blondie/Grace Slick sound, and our music is more dance-pop.

Erin: Well, we are really different then a lot of the other bands in the death metal genre in that we are the ONLY death metal undercover band. Many have attempted it. But many have failed. It’s like climbing the North face in Switzerland except with crappy 1940′s gear and a very severe chance of freezing to death in the extreme conditions you are under prepared to handle. But we are prepared. And we handle it. We are taking a genre that is a huge love of Norsemen, and spinning it on its head. It’s mind blowing really.

KENTON: Where do you see The Hotcakes in the next 5 years?
Nate: I actually foresee a good opportunity for us to bring about a good marriage of different kinds of artistic expression, namely music and fashion. It seems that the world today is increasingly keen on combining media, and we definitely seem to have our feet in both camps as far as that goes. I think it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Erin: Nowhere, because in 6 months the time machine will be available to the mass market in all local Targets and I’m just planning on going back to my childhood to prevent the death of my favorite parakeet ‘Squeaky’. So until I succeed in that, I will not be coming back to this time period and can’t really assess how different everything in the world will be once I save this charming little bird. But I’m positive; the world will be a friendlier place with a lot more candy, and less creepy people with vans offering it.

Lee: I’d say we’ll be looking out at what we’ve accomplished from our penthouse suite in The Hotcakes Hotel on The Hotcakes Island drinking The Hotcakes’ branded margarita mixes, while promoting our tour that kicks off at The Hotcakes Arena (formerly known as Madison Square Garden).

CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR EXCLUSIVE PHOTO SHOOT WITH THE HOTCAKES.

You can find all both of The Hotcakes albums “Gonna Go Out!” and their self-tiled EP on iTunes. Be sure to ‘Like’ them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter for all the latest info including where you can catch their always-amazing live performances.