New Music

Hot Reno - 'Finding The Right Sound On Buddy'

Aug 10, 2020

7 min read

In a time when the world seems to have slowed down, musicians are doing their absolute best to keep us (and themselves) entertained during this pandemic. Plans have changed, ideas pushed forward and bands are emerging with a plethora of music behind them, ready for us to salavate over.

Celebrating the launch of their new EP Buddy, we caught up with punk rock locals Hot Reno to chat about their new release, COVID life and social distancing gigs...

G’day Hot Reno, my name’s Luke. Welcome to Wall of Sound and thanks so much for joining us today. 2020 has been a year where nothing seems to have gone to plan. How has Hot Reno navigated their way through the music industry during Covid-19?

We are pretty much in the same position as everyone else, we’ve just been rehearsing ever since we were all allowed to be in the same room together. But releasing some new music while everyone was chilling at home was good I suppose. We tried to [plan to] release our single ‘Pray’ and the new EP ‘Buddy’ around the time when things will ease up and then be able to follow it all up with a launch show. Luckily it all went to plan!

You have a new EP titled Buddy out now, could you tell us a bit about the release? Specifically, I’d really like to know COVID-19 affected the recording process for the EP.

We recorded the EP way before Covid-19 came about. We were looking at planning our release when it first hit but we had to hold back for a while.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjzbo08j0sc&w=640&h=360]

I like that the Buddy EP really captures the essence of your skate-rock sound. The style was obviously immensely popular in the 1990s and early 2000s, and has made a significant comeback in recent years in Australia thanks to local bands like Violent Soho, The Bennies and Skeggs. Thinking back to your own musical influences growing up, which bands were on heavy rotation for you and how did they impact how you developed your own sound as a band?

It seems that our style as a band is constantly changing and evolving. We had been playing around for a while trying to find the right sound but with ‘Buddy’ I think that we’ve found one that we all really like. We’ve taken influences from bands like Title Fight, Turnstile, even a little bit of The White Stripes to get to the point we’re at now but who knows, we might be inspired to go in a different direction next.

What does a typical day in the life of Hot Reno look like?

A typical day in the life of Hot Reno usually consists of work, drive to band practice, practice for two hours, banter for an hour and then either head home for dinner, back to work or in the best circumstances, go play a gig.

You’re incredibly lucky to have some shows later this week to promote the EP. What kind of social distancing measures will you need to have on the night? Social distancing mosh pits? I think you could make a killing selling Hot Reno face masks.

We cannot wait to get back on stage! Especially with amazing support acts by our side. Due to the laws at this stage, all patrons will be seated which is going to be a weird sight to see but nonetheless, we’re going to be bringing the same frantic energy to the show that we always have!

hot reno gig 1

Thinking ahead to the end of the year and 2021, what are Hot Reno’s plans for the future?

It’s hard to plan ahead for next year at this stage because of the uncertainty of what next year will even be like. So our plans currently are to continue to practice and write some new material and get some new releases ready for the world to hear!

Finally, I recently asked Wishful Thinking this question and now I’d like to ask you. Did you watch ‘Tiger King’ and do you think that Carol Baskin killed her husband?

No I did not watch ‘Tiger King’, but yeah I’ve seen her eyes, they’re scary.

Cheers guys, all the best with the EP launch show!

Interview by Luke Sutton – (@lukeasutton)

Hit up Hot Reno on Facebook and Instagram

Grab their Buddy EP right here

hot reno - buddy ep