Album of the Week – ‘Paint the Town’ by Hot Potato Band

‘Paint the Town’ by Hot Potato (HPB) Band is Eastside Radio’s album of the Week.

The band’s debut release lets listeners take home a piece of their signature Big Band party anthems that have set alight stages across Australia including Woodford Folk, Festival Of The Sun  and more. Breathing new life into the somewhat lost art, HPB are an Aussie gem. They live for the crowd, mixing together the most infectious rhythms across jazz, roots, pop and world music with a strong foundation in the heartland of Big Band, New Orleans.

Just as they strive to create as authentic a reaction from their audience, so to do they maintain a rawness in their music, much of which comes down to the band only using live instruments to create their lively soundscapes. This is a trait that has remained since the band’s inception following band leader and percussionist Simon Ghali need to find an acoustic band for an unpowered wine festival. The artist’s history of hand picking the nations best session musicians meant he had a little black book full of our finest talent and so assembled the powerhouse that is HPB. In 2014 they collectively introduced the vocal stylings of Sydney-sider Dylan Wright and the rest as they say is history.

As for the groups recording history, they’ve taken their time to build up to a full body of work. Their first single ‘This Is How It Should Be’ is the ultimate summer party anthem. This single served as the teaser to their self-titles debut EP; adding two more original tracks as well as their own take on some Aussie hits including Vance Joy’s ‘Riptide’ and Nick Murphy’s (formerly Chet Faker) ‘Talk is Cheap’.  Five tracks however was simply not enough for their devoted Aussie fanbase. The band, ever the crowd pleasers, exceedingly delivered.

Not only did they bring their a game with exciting horn lines and electrifying beats, they also took the opportunity to tell their story across eight tracks. ‘Believe In Yourself’ and ‘Reach’ being the most obvious, inspires listeners to chase after their passions as they have done so proudly and independently since their inception. ‘Stolen’ challenges our perceptions of the Australian identity following stories gathered across their relentless touring of Australia highlighting the scars of the still broken relationship between the Indigenous elders of this land and their Anglo counterparts. The band are still on their album tour and heading to a venue near you so be sure to take the time to see these tracks in their purest state, the live stage.

19th February – Proud Mary’s (CENTRAL COAST)

8th March – Oxford Art Factory supporting Hot 8 Brass Band (SYDNEY)

10th March – Miranda Hotel (SUTHERLAND SHIRE)

11th March – Kiama Jazz Festival (KIAMA)

17th/18th/19th March – Blue Mountains Music Festival (KATOOMBA)

25th March – Solbar (SUNSHINE COAST)

Track List

1. Sail Away

2. Reach

3. Stolen

4. Let It Go

5. Why’d You Have To Go

6. Spudwhiskers

7. Mystery Man

8. Believe In Yourself

Artist Listing:

SOUSAPHONE
– Daniel Moore

SAXOPHONES
– James Mackay
– Bernard Lagana
– Edward Tan
– Peter Orenstein

VOCALS
– Dylan Wright