Interview with The Hi-Tops

The Canadian four-piece The Hi-Tops recently released their outstanding sophomore EP entitled Characters.  I had the chance to interview the band where we discussed the EP, the benefits of the four of them living together, the diversity of some of the new songs and more.

Can you give me some background on the band?

We're from Calgary, Alberta Canada! I (Kole) grew up with Luke, our guitarist, going to school and being friends since kindergarten! I met Will in high school and played hockey with Chandler. Two years after we were all interested in starting a band, so we got together and started jamming in my parents garage! 

I read that all of you now live together in a house in Calgary and wrote all the songs on the EP there.  Can you tell me about this? 

 

In September 2022 we all moved in together! Being together just created an extremely creative space where we all felt we could get better in. There were no parents or siblings telling us to turn down, so we really felt like this opportunity was our best chance to create and really build our chemistry and our sound. 

 

I’m assuming that wasn’t the case with the first EP.  How do you feel that made this EP different?

Every idea on the first EP was created independently and then brought to a jam session. On this EP whenever someone was practicing an idea the whole house could hear that idea develop and hear the inspiration and the approach towards it. This gave each song more context to how the lead songwriter was hearing the polished idea. We have also just all matured musically since the first EP so the ideas were just better and easier to work with. 

 

The band has been together since 2019, which is right before the start of the pandemic.  How did that impact the band and did the pandemic have anything to do with the decision to move in together?

The pandemic gave us a great chance to slow down and really focus in on our craft. We all kinda realized that the pandemic wasn’t ending any time soon, so we decided to all really hone in on our respected instruments which made gigging post pandemic an extremely smooth process. To your second question - there was a period of time where we weren’t allowed to see each other and jam, so when the opportunity came to move in we wanted to ensure that we could always jam no matter the circumstance. 

 

While the majority of the songs on the EP are on the heavier end of things, there are a couple that are more on the mellow or poppier side of things.  First up is “Peaches and Cream”, which is a track that I really love and is definitely the most different.   It has an extremely hook-heavy 80’s alt-pop vibe that to me at times sounds a little like the band The Housemartins.  Where did the inspiration, and the direction, of that song come from?

I had been listening to a lot of Australian bands at the time (Ocean Alley, Sticky Fingers, Dear Sunday, Skeggs) and I really started to like the way they used bright sounding major and minor chords all over the fret board. Specifically “Up In The Clouds” by Skeggs really inspired a fast paced melodic chord progression that eventually became “Peaches and Cream”. 

 

The other song is “Old Enough”, a track that starts off slower and atmospheric with hints of Santana and The Doors.  It also has a little jazz influence and then there’s a great guitar solo towards the end.  What can you tell me about that one?

I really appreciate classic rock and that sound, definitely a huge Jim Morrison and Santana fan. But at the time I was more interested in focusing on a simple groove rather than the fast-paced riff. I wanted to see the mileage I could get out of a simple but catchy chord progression and see how a song can form out of that. Usually, I really complicate things while I'm songwriting, but this song was written on a “first thought, best thought” basis . That being said, regarding the post chorus harmony guitar line, I specifically remember thinking to myself “what would Santana do here”. 

 

Have you had much feedback from older fans about these different sounding songs?

The main feedback has kinda just been how we always seem to be improving. Though the songs are different, you can still hear our voices and our characteristics that make us The Hi-Tops. We definitely write a diverse catalogue of music but we kinda always know that it still sounds like us, and we’re not trying to sound like anyone else. 

 

Even though the other songs are all heavier there is still plenty of diversity within them.  “Shiver” and “Pretender” both have a bit of a punk punch to them, while “Change of The Season” is more classic rock and “Criminal” has a big stadium sound to it.  Is the diversity something you consciously strive for or does it just happen?

I think it comes more naturally. We of course never try to write the same thing twice, and definitely never wanna be bound to one genre. We all pull from so many different influences that change week in and week out so naturally the ideas change and the songs change with them. When we wrote “Shiver” the band was listening to a ton of Billy Talent. With that we just wanted to write a song with that level of intensity and that level of Ian D’sa riffage and I think we came as close as we could! Conversely, when I wrote "Change of the Season", I was listening to a Billie Eilish live concert and wanted to write something with a pop like hook but tied together by solid song writing. 

 

Do you see the band continuing to have more diverse songs and musical directions on future releases?

This past EP was recorded in May of 2022 so we have been sitting on these songs for a while. With that we have written a ton of other songs and I can guarantee that the next catalogue of releases is going to continue to be just as diverse. 

 

You have a really fun video for “Change Of The Season” that’s reminiscent of some of the classic, somewhat goofy, videos that use to be all over MTV.  Can you tell me about that?

One of our favorite movies ever is Boogie Nights. We talked to the director of our music video Chris from “Melodic Imagery” and basically said we wanna fuse Boogie Nights, with the “Sabotage” Beastie Boys video, with the “3s and 7s” Queens of the Stone Age video. We can't compliment him enough, because he did a lot of the heavy lifting on that one and really brought it together. That one was really just us trying to be as goofy as possible while putting together a killer music video. 

 

I read that the band was initially called House Hippo.  Is there a story behind that name and why the change?

We honestly just were ready for a change. House Hippo was fun but we kinda just felt we grew out of it. 

 

What are your plans for supporting the EP now that it’s out?

We are heading for a small little Canada tour here in June! We're playing in Edmonton June 17th, Toronto June 22nd, Montreal June 23rd, Hamilton June 25th, Frogfest in Alberta June 30th and finishing off in Calgary at the Palomino July 1st. All the ticket links in are available in our bio! 

 

Is there anything else you would like to share with readers?

If you’re in town for any of the dates listed above! Come on down, we would love to meet ya! Follow us on Instagram @thehitopsband.

(Sodeh Records)  (The Hi-Tops / The Hi-Tops - Facebook)