[LEOs biweekly sonic breakdown column deconstructs a single song from an area musician or band.]
If youre a band looking to make smooth, danceable new-wave, its hard to go wrong by borrowing some style from the legendary 80s musician Pete Godwin. And thats exactly what Mandi Meadows, lead singer of Hot Prowlers, did when the band wrote the piercing song Heavens A Lie.
Its an allusion to, specifically, Godwins song, Images Of Heaven, Meadows said. Its about a tortured man whose lover doesnt reciprocate. Or, may not even exist. In the same way, the lyrics to Heavens A Lie also reflect kind of a tumultuous relationship with a lover. We also allude to Godwins song Babys in the Mountains in the second verse with the lyrics, I left the mountain / I aint your baby no more. Theyre sensual and poignant songs, mixing two themes I really like working with musically and lyrically.
While, sonically, theres more than enough to set the Prowlers song apart from Godwins sound, the band certainly wears the influence on its sleeves. Heavens A Lie begins with a synth warble, four-on-the-floor, flanked by a stark, quirky guitar hook that is darkly catchy. Meadows vocals, a smash-up of Joan Jett bite and Debbie Harry gloss, is a perfect juxtaposition to the straightforward romp and stomp of the song.
Even though it is our latest song, weve been working on it for a few years, Meadows said. The guitar riff in the chorus was inspired by Princes solo during the cover of While My Guitar Gently Weeps at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in 2004. [Hot Prowlers guitar player] Andy [Collins] was just so struck by his style that he wanted to write a guitar part where he could do something similar, and it worked perfectly in this song. I mean, the song came out because I wanted to pay homage to Peter Godwin, and this is what came out of that desire. But, as a band, I think, ultimately, the biggest thing we always want from our songs is for people to be able to dance. We love writing music that gets people moving.
Heaven Is A Lie, according to Meadows, was a bit of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants endeavor. Invited at the last minute to contribute to the River City Rumble compilation released earlier this year, the band found themselves with little time to pull together a fully-finished product.
We had just added Oliver [Carter] and Paul [Chenault] on drums and keys, respectively, but still wanted to be part of the project. We had essentially three weeks to record, mix and master the track and some of the pieces hadnt been written yet, but we actually finished the song in a single marathon recording session. Some of Pauls synth parts and the drum fills were even written while were recording the track. We also released a remix later that Paul did under his Tulipe Noire name. Its a really great club version of the song. Weve even worked to incorporate pieces of it into our live performance of the song.
This article appears in October 9, 2019.