In a dark Brighton basement only lit by fairylights and the glow of a tape deck, four students strip back their recording process, desperately chasing an authentic sound that’s older than their parents.
Introducing Hot Rats, a four-piece BIMM University band based in Brighton mixing rock, jazz and blues to create a unique unfiltered sound in a decade of over-produced music. The band consists of lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Riyadh Bagirli, bassist Will McCready, pianist Robin Gilmour and drummer Sam Portas. Rooted in Brighton’s chaotic creative scene, Hot Rats are making a statement. Channelling the raw swagger of 70s rock ’n’ roll, the band brings the era back to life with long hair, wide-leg flares and layers of well-worn denim.
In an age of perfectionists and autotune, Hot Rats reject modern trends taking music back to its stripped roots. “We’re all influenced by a certain couple of decades in music being the 60s and 70s, the sound we hear on our records, you just don’t hear that any more on modern day recordings,” Riyadh explains.
The band’s new single ‘New Boy’ released on Halloween, offers a glimpse into their upcoming LP. A debut that showcases the band’s technical musicianship, and the mixing of genres and the gentle but powerful melodies of lead singer Riyadh and pianist Robin.
With the recording process relying solely on tape deck machines and minimalist techniques, the band are starting to turn heads. “We’re chasing a feeling we can only really find in the grooves of our old favourite records. When you limit yourself in that way with only four tracks on a cassette tape, it opens so many new doors to creative solutions,” Riyadh says.
The limited creation process resulted in less time fixing mistakes, just achieving the right emotion in the moment. This allowed the music to feel more raw, alive and honest. “A minimalist style adds to the sound, it makes it more authentic. The whole idea is to be as genuine as possible,” Sam adds.
With the choice of so many recording techniques available to artists, it highlights how committed Hot Rats are to remaining unique. The process of tape-deck recording and the struggles it presents inevitably takes its toll on the band. “The whole process cost a lot of time and money, it’s been a really humbling experience. We’ve learnt a lot,” Riyadh recalls.
The band’s songwriting process generally starts with lyricist Riyadh. “I’ll write the chords, the melody and the lyrics at home, the real skeleton of the song, then I’ll bring it in and the band will arrange it.” While he remains the band’s primary creative force, the rest of the group are quick to insist their music is a collective effort. “Hot Rats only works because we’re all in it. Robin has just written his first song, which is amazing, so hopefully we can get everyone writing more and more music,” Will emphasises.
When choosing a name for the band, inspiration struck close to home. “We thought, how about we just look through my record collection and see if any names pop out to us and ‘Hot Rats’ clicked straight away,” Will explains, taking inspiration from Frank Zappa’s iconic album Hot Rats. The band were quick to explain their heavy influences. “He’s definitely an inspiration to us, I wouldn’t say the band’s a tribute to him, although we do a great cover of ‘Peaches en Regalia’,” Will adds.
In an industry that’s notoriously hard to break into, Hot Rats’ dismissive attitude toward modern music trends might seem risky. However, the band remains true to their beliefs – all they care about is creating the raw stripped-back sound that ultimately defines them. “The nature of the music Hot Rats draws inspiration from is not the sort of music that would be considered mainstream any more. There’s a potential limit on how popular we could get. I kind of like that though because It’s not about that. The only reason I want to make money from Hot Rats, is to keep doing this,” Sam explains.
True to their musical inspirations they are a reminder of why people fell in love with music in the first place. Hot Rats are the real deal. Turn up the volume and let their sound remind you of how music should feel. Hot Rats are everything modern music forgot it needed.
