Hot Zex
*shoegazing*

Группа из Новосибирска, известная далеко за пределами Росии...
www.hotzex.net/index2.html
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One summer three classmates (Walter, Anton and Volodya), having grown totally bored with routine track practices, decided to bring a change into their lives and formed a rock-band. They drew their inspiration from bicycle riding & listening to Sonic Youth, Joy Division and Einsturzende Neubauten. In their search for necessary instruments they toured construction sites and collected all sorts of pipes and other kinds of scrap metal, which would afterwards be brought home and used for countless hours of inspirational recording.
By the fall of the same year they already had a set of drums, a guitar, a two-channel amplifier and 4 speakers. Now they become a full-fledged rock-band: Walter played the guitar, Anton was the bass player and Volodya was behind the drums. Apart from Anton, who'd already had a chance to play his bass, none of them had ever had any experience with their instruments. A few months later the band found a 10-channel mixer, a cheap reverberator and most importantly -- they came up with a name (which up to this day cannot be deciphered). So, the recording began.
At the time when Alex joined the band, they had kept busy giving concerts, making recordings for home & parties listening, and generally making a substantial contribution to the Novosibirsk underground scene.
A little while later they finished recording their debut album "Sugarbabies". Walter left the band. Hot Zex began using the drum-machine and Volodya became the guitar-playing frontman.
Afterwards came "Velvety", the band performed in Novosibirsk and took part in various festivals while finishing the recording of "Dual". Later on "Velvety" and "Dual" were released in small quantities by one of the local record companies.
In 1998 - 2001, Hot Zex were not talked about very much. Volodya, Alex and Anton were got together every once in a while for an occasional club gig, though everyone was more involved with their own projects than with Hot Zex.
In the fall of 1999, they went to the studio with an idea for a new track called "Feel The Light". This very moment marked their first full-fledged album conception, which was totally unexpected by the guys themselves.
The material recorded between August 1999 and May 2001 is entitled "Album (7 lovesongs and a track about the daily routine of an airport)". " We had been thinking about recording a true album for quite a long time and during the recording session it was a topic we were constantly revolving around…" - Anton confesses.
"Album" is Hot Zex, taking an outsider look at their music. They are still very melo, timid, yet they are cynical. Their sound has gained power and thickness and the melodies have become refined and stirring. This record is a thick line under their work before this release.
"We just love both "Velvety" and "Dual", and we are still deeply impressed by the feeling of these days. Yet, so far, nobody wants to do anything of the kind," - Volodya shared during the album recording session. - "So, we had to wait for two years before starting the new record and it took us two more years to finish "Album". The "Planets" remixed version present on the new record is very symbolic in this sense". The trio produced the record themselves as before, however they abandoned the recording scheme they had been using. "This is our most experimental record, yet, I believe, it is much more "transparent" and easier to listen to"- Volodya affirms.

The sonic canvas for some of the album tracks was recorded during a home session by Volodya and Alex in March 1998. They mixed the drum machine with a bunch of sophisticated geek stuff and guitar effects. It is said that this session archive contains a stunning live dub track, recorded without overlays, where Alex "steers" a LP player and the drum machine and Volodya plays bass. They also say that Laurence Colbert, Ride and Animalhouse's legendary drummer, especially marked this track out of all Hot Zex's records.
On "Album" Hot Zex used acoustic instruments and vintage soviet synthesizers. They recorded drum tracks with a single mic… It is commonplace to say that all innovation is somewhat destructive in nature. Hot Zex saw it happen… Early in 2000, during the "Album" session, Alex quit. He was replaced by Misha, who had played a couple gigs with the band as a session musician and participated in one of the new track records. With this new member on board the crew finished the recording and started touring Russia with the new material.
In October 2000, "She Could Make Things Perfect" was voted "Mp3 of the month by German label Bouncing Corporation. They scheduled "the Bouncing mp3 Singles Club 2000" vinyl collection for release in spring 2001 but it did not come out until today. At the same time, in May 2001, in Japan, the international CD collection of shoegaze entitled "Seven Winters" saw the light of day. Hot Zex contributed their "Skylab Sounds" track to this release. And it was not lost among notorious pieces by Astrobrite and other famous contributors. Hot Zex received very warm criticism, worth quoting: "fantastic dream pop" (Daniel Sostrem, head of Clairecords, USA). Skylab Sounds reached 9th position in the resulting 2002 chart - The 10 Best Indie Music From "The Michael Antony Show" onVoyage Beyond Radio, an American radio station.
The promo version of "Album" was highly appreciated by musical critics all over the world and was even called one of the best Indie albums ever by Ef Zene (UK). In November 2001, the band was touring Moscow clubs, where about 20 new songs and instrumentals were introduced to the public.
2002 was rather a slack for Hot Zex. The lads were busy refining the new material and you could see them only on MTV Russia with their "Feel The Light" video. At the beginning of 2003 the band started rehearsing with a drummer, Kostya Nikonov. They soon did a series of gigs, some of them were flavoured by DJ TEKK's scratching.

Finally, in June 2003 "Album" was released by Japanese independent label Chelsea Girl Records. This milestone event was celebrated by a fabulous concert in Novosibirsk's Rock City The heroes played the whole album keeping the order of the tracks as they followed on the disk. The only difference was that some arrangements were different. 700 people attending this gig got a lifetime lasting impression. Only bands completely true to themselves and their music thought time can play it that way.
2004 was an explosion in the life of Hot Zex. Several Moscow tours, Siberia rides, series of Novosibirsk concerts. Volodya, Anton, Misha and Kostya spent a few weeks in late April - early May recording demos for the new album. More than 800 fans came to RockCity club in Novosibirsk on 5th of August.It was the biggest Hot Zex show in Siberia. Video and audio tracks were recorded, mixed, cut, and then used as a demo. Until now the band has no ideas about this video as a commercial release. In September they went back to the studio and just before 2005 started they had 9 new selfproduced tracks.

The begining of 2005 was very impressive. Hot Zex has played their best intimate Moscow club tour ever and took a plane to Holland. 14 of January they played at Eurosonic 2005 festival in Vera club (Groningen). This gig was broadcasted through Holland, Belgium and Germany by EBU-UER.

Now Hot Zex are looking forward to their first Eropean tour. Also boys do hope to release their new record later this year — album title suggestions are welcome!