Band of the Month: Hot Lava

Virginia foursome pays homage to inner-techie in all of us

By Amy Kaufman
Published: November 25th, 2008 | 10:20am

WHO IT IS
Guitarist/songstress Allison Apperson, Matt Deans on guitar and keys, drummer and recorder of all things musical Jared Sosa, and bassist/spoonist, Andrew Mowe

LOCATION
Richmond, Virginia

FILE UNDER
Former computer geeks play lo-fi alternative pop

IN A NUTSHELL
“It was sort of an accident,” Apperson said, who stumbled into music with a friend just a few years back while studying at UVA. “We weren't very good — I had just bought a guitar and he knew some keyboard, so we just started messing around.”

Putting digital advancements to good use, the two were able to create a wider range of instrumentals to back up their minimal guitar and keys. “When it was just me and Bill, we wrote a lot of experimental songs,” she says. “‘Write’ might not be the right word… The songs were really keyboard driven and we used a lot of crappy Garageband loops. We had no shame.”

But soon enough, Bill was off to a commune, leaving Apperson scrounging for new band mates. “I asked my friend Jared to come play bass at one of our shows — I used to go see his band before I started playing music, and he was one of the only ‘music people’ I knew.”

Though nothing had been released officially, the foundation already laid out from the former duo seemed to be a great jumping-off point for the new band. Still fresh to the music scene, Sosa moved over to drums, and the new duo recruited friend Andrew Mowe, who had an uncanny ability to play the spoons, as well as bass.

“Andrew learned to play spoons before the bass. I think he just wanted to play an instrument and that's what he had in his house, I'm not sure,” Apperson said of the seemingly bizarre choice of instrument. “He plays them in a jug band or German fashion, just tapping them on his knee.”

Though the band has been witness to roughly seven line-up changes, this foursome has been playing together for the past six months, releasing the debut LP Lavalogy (Bar/None) this past October.

The hollow atmosphere, razor-sharp electronics, and androgynous, frothy vocals heard on Lavalogy pays tribute to the techie in all of us, with such toe-tapping tracks like “JPG in the Sun” and “Apple+Option+Fire,” it’s impossible not to get up and shake it for everyone in the computer biz.

“It's a weird contrast, the technology thing,” she says. “We used Garageband a lot in the early days for loops and crazy noises... and now we just use it to record, which kind of gives the recordings a lo-fi feel. I think we went from one extreme to the other,” she says, likening their sound to “something you would have seen on 12 Angry Viewers.”

GOALS

With enough pop to fuel an army, the next logical step seemed to get the word out internationally. The band is set to debut Lavalogy in Japan this December. “The Japan release will have some bonus songs. We're really excited about Japan, it's the place to be.”

Hoping to release a few more albums in the following years, Hot Lava stays modest and motivated by the moment at hand, mentioning their next goal as a group should be to purchase a new van.

“I think our friends in bands have inspired us in a lot of ways. They've influenced our music and motivated us to write new songs and get up off our butts and play more shows,” Apperson said. “It's like we're in high school, our peers totally influence and inspire us.”

MORE INFO
Hot Lava MySpace

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Hot Lava is Venus Zine’s “Band of the Month” for November 2008. Want to be our next "Band of the Month"? Visit Venus Zine’s Sonic Bids page to submit your profile for coverage consideration.