Oakland surfpop group The Hot Toddies might have things a little twisted—a hot drink in the middle of the summer?—but they're working on straightening it out by delivering to-the-point garagey jams with high-fructose vocals. The fourpiece-now-threepiece has that typical in-your-basement sound that feels born from night swims, beachside bike rides, and a little too much of that magical elixir. Their latest single, the overly friendly, Shannon & The Clams-esque “Summertime Blues”, builds off of a Lana Del Rey axiom and turns it into lightpunk possibility. You can stream that track below, then look to Tricycle Records next year for a new full-length album.
Erin Skidmore, the band's guitarist, had this to say about the future of the band:
“Formed in 2006, the Hot Toddies spent five years as a foursome of lovely ladies writing tunes and traveling the globe to sing songs and make new friends. We all learned our instruments to play together—Heidi and Erin actually grew up playing piano but learned guitar and bass, then taught Jessica how to play keys and Sylvia learned the drums from her boyfriend. We put out two albums with Asian Man Records and toured all over the US, UK and Western Canada. It was a winsome time of adventure with four best friends, lots of whiskey and a burgundy tour van.
Last year, Jessica moved to Thailand to teach English to cute little kids and the future of the Hot Toddies became uncertain. We knew we wanted to keep playing but weren't sure when she might come back or what the new sound would be like without her. In Feb 2013 we released an EP of songs mostly recorded before her departure with a new label, Tricycle Records. Heidi, Erin and Sylvia toured to Austin and played SXSW for the first time and did some dates across California–getting the feel of just three of us and not four. And most importantly, we wrote our first song as a three piece band: Summertime Blues. We are so proud of this song–going from feeling unsure of what we might be to really happy with the new sound is so exciting. We're working on several more and plan to have a new album to share in 2014 as well as more tour dates to get back on the road.”
