SPILL FEATURE: TO ME IT’S A LOVE ALBUM – A CONVERSATION WITH WILL ANDERSON OF HOTLINE TNT

TO ME IT’S A LOVE ALBUM

A CONVERSATION WITH WILL ANDERSON OF HOTLINE TNT

For those keeping track of what is current in the shoegaze world, Hotline TNT is one name you definitely have come across. Known for their noisy and catchy mixture of power pop and shoegaze, introspective songwriting, fantastic hooks, and entrancing soundscape, Hotline TNT received massive critical acclaim for their second album, Cartwheel. Earlier this year, they released Raspberry Moon, which sees the band making some notable changes. Recently, I chatted with frontman Will Anderson about Hotline TNT’s newest record, Raspberry Moon.

“I’m in my mid-30s now and I think, I hope that my lyrics have gotten a little better over the years,” comments Anderson. “What most people kind of pick up with this album is that there are more straight-ahead songs about being in the beginning stages of a romance rather than a breakup, which is my usual content. So that’s new terrain for me… To me, it’s a love album. It’s about falling in love, among other things. There’s songs about my family, songs about friendships, and songs trying to step into somebody else’s shoes and see things from their point of view.”

Raspberry Moon marks the first time ever that Hotline TNT has released an album as a full band. Previously, Anderson wrote and recorded the albums Nineteen In Love and Cartwheel on his own. Joining Anderson on Raspberry Moon are guitarist Lucky Hunter, bassist Haylen Trammel, and drummer Mike Ralston. Even though Raspberry Moon is the first time Hotline TNT has released an album as a full band, the creative process was still the same. “It was mostly me writing demos either on the road or in a hotel room or when I’m home,” reflects Anderson. “Just the same as always, like I’d get an idea when I’m in the shower or something and run to my iPhone, get out the voice memo, and eventually most of them I took to the rest of the band, and they got their fingerprints on there… The only one that I didn’t start was ‘Break Right.’ That was Lucky who wrote the guitar part that started that song. We were in the studio working on another track that wasn’t really working out, and Lucky just started playing that one. We all just started building other parts around it, and it came together pretty quickly in the studio.”

Raspberry Moon has a nice mixture of soft, mellow, jangly acoustic songs like “Dance the Night Away” or “Lawnmower”, and heavier rock songs like “Julia’s War” and “Was I Wrong?”. “It’s good to have some dynamics,” comments Anderson. “It’s just good to have an album that covers a good amount of ground and doesn’t all sound the same but hopefully sounds like the same songwriter and band.”

RASPBERRY MOON ALBUM REVIEW

A huge influence on Anderson’s guitar playing is Wes Borland of the band Limp Bizkit. “He’s pretty psychedelic, but also those Limp Bizkit albums had to be produced in a way that had broad mass cultural appeal, I mean, they sold millions of records,” he shares. “I just think the production on those albums just made the guitars sound absolutely massive. That was something that drew me in as a kid. He also was like a freak on stage, and I was like, ‘I don’t know what this is, but it’s weird and it’s cool.’ He just kind of had everything I like about rock music. He looks cool, is weird, and he sounds big, and I want to make my guitar sound like that.”

On the other hand, there is a moment in “Letter to Heaven” that was partly inspired by Third Eye Blind songs of the ‘90s. “Everyone in the band grew up listening to those albums, definitely when we were kids,” comments Anderson. “That’s not the first time we’ve done that with this band. There is just a nice kind of simple but loud bendy guitar lead that just doesn’t need any vocals on top of it. Let the guitars do the work there.”

The energetically anthemic shoegaze power pop tune “Julia’s War” is one of the main standouts from the record. Initially, the “na na na na nah” part in the song was just a placeholder. “I figured we would write some lyrics for it,” says Anderson. “But when we got to the studio, it just kind of made sense to have a gang vocal chant there.” The song has also become a fan favourite at live shows. “I definitely command the audience to sing along to that part.”

Another highlight from the record is “The Scene,” especially the exhilaratingly, explosive, hard-hitting guitar riff. “When I started putting the riff together, it kind of reminded me of Oasis a little bit, to be honest,” recalls Anderson. “I’m not a big Oasis fan but more like ‘90s Britpop like Primal Scream or Ride, stuff like that.”

In “Where U Been?,” the loud, melancholic sound perfectly matches the hopefully optimistic lyrical content. “That was kind of a song about friendships that have kind of fallen apart, reflects Anderson. “I still have hope in my heart that they’ll be rekindled at some point, but they haven’t yet and just trying to be okay with that and not rush things.”

One of Anderson’s favourite tracks on the record is “Lawnmower.” “My Dad plays flute on that song, which is one of my favourite Easter eggs,” he states. “I play a guitar solo that kind of harmonizes with it, and just the dichotomy between the acoustics and those distorted leads in the flute works well for sure.”

Raspberry Moon dropped on June 20th. “Overall, my memory of making it is about falling in love with somebody and definitely still inspired by a certain era of music, which we’ve already talked about, like ‘90s guitar rock and evoking some of the same feelings that I felt when I listened to music as a kid,” says Anderson.

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Photo Credit: Graham Tolbert