Press

On The Spot: Giuliano D'Orazio of Hot Letter

By Victor D. Infante
Telegram & Gazette Staff

12/25/16

Describe your music in a Tweet

Learning from legends, living in the now, envisioning the future. Music for everyone.

What was your worst concert, and what made it so terrible?

I enjoy every show I play - musically speaking! Logistics, on the other hand, can be a pest. The worst experience was probably one time Hot Letter played on the patio at Michaels Cigar Bar. The heavens opened and the retractable roof had a few leaky spots, just enough to send cascades of water down the walls onto the back of the stage. Needless to say, it was a precarious situation with all the electronics. For safety, we cut our set short and took an extra long break while the storm cell passed. We eventually resumed the performance, a little damp but not shaken. Consequentially it resulted in a great night which ended in the band being showered in flowers. Sweet redemption.

What's song are you most addicted to right now?

Definitely "AY-YO" by Lady Gaga.

What's Next For You?

Hot Letter has a new album very close to completion. It's called "Dream Logic." The band has spent most of 2016 in various phases of transition, and the record reflects that. It's really just myself and Matt Sivazlian, and you can expect a lot more experimentation and stylistic excursions than we offered up with 2015's "Need To Bleed." 

Need To Bleed Album Review

“Need to Bleed,” the new album by Worcester rockers Hot Letter, isn’t the album you might expect it to be. It’s mostly a slow-burn blues album, with classic rock elements, and it rides a bit more on mood than propulsion … and that’s a good thing. The result is a cohesive collection of music that gives each song room to breathe, giving the whole thing a a certain sense of depth.

The band — which will perform at 10 p.m. Oct. 17 at Michael's Cigar Bar, 1 Exchange St, Worcester — gets things started with the smoky title track, which frankly feels more like a closer than an opener, and it takes a couple of listens to understand that that's probably the point. The album isn't the portrait of a disintegrating relationship, it's a portrait of aftermath, and as such, the feeling of dysfunction that pervades the song — "I'll be on stage after the bar closes ... This is who we are, this is how I cope" — lends the album's opening a sickly undertow, a feeling of wrongness that counterpoints the impeccable playing.

And the playing is impeccable throughout the album. Vocalist Giuliano D'Orazio, guitarist Matt Sivazlian and percussionist Michael Gaudette create an extremely tight sound, and every piece seems to fit together effortlessly, a rapport that's clearly in play on the second song, the relatively upbeat "Get What's Mine," the way each instrumental thread seems to relinquish itself to another, then ebbing back again. It's a gorgeous bit of arrangement, and one that belies a lot of the album's narrative.

There's a lot of overt imagery of being wounded throughout the album. In addition to the title track, the third and fourth songs are titled "Black and Blue" and "Let the Pain Out," and fittingly enough, they're both little wounded vignettes, low and moody with plaintive vocal strains, particularly on the latter. "You forgot to let the pain out," D'Orazio refrains, each repetition seeming to smolder more than the last.

Around here, the listener would be forgiven if they expect something to break up the mood, an explosion of anger- and testosterone-driven rock. Instead, the band pivots deeper into the bluesy feel with the melancholy "Meadows" and the grungy, deep-blues "Covenant," which is more of an up-tempo number, but one still marked by an odd feeling of restraint. It's a bitter little song with a great groove, particularly with its Ray Manzarek-like organ the but it's never quite cathartic. That doesn't really seem to be the song's purpose. This is an album that always wants to revel in its misery a little bit longer.

Perhaps tellingly, there's really not a release of anger until the bitter "High Horse," which isn't a relationship song so much as an admonishment of an arrogant musician. In a lot of ways, this is the best playing on the album — even the slow-grinding movements seem to expel anger, and the harmonies on the bridge are fantastic and raw. Still, the weakness with songs that complain about the music scene is that you only ever hear one side, so they always sound like an exercise in jealousy. All the listener hears is the hectoring disapproval.

Still, it's interesting that all that anger is aimed at something other than a relationship, and it certainly sets the stage for the spare, broken-hearted "Lost in You," kicking off another excavation of misery through the ridiculously catchy "Obscenity," the down-and-dirty rocker, "Rough Love," and the barroom brawler "Open Up." It's probably significant that this last passage through the album leans heavier on rock than blues, shaking off a lot of the earlier darkness. "Need to Bleed" wraps up with the clean-feeling "Message of Love," an oddly positive song to cap off an album that lingers so long in heartbreak, but a fitting end nonetheless. Just as it began with an ending, the album ends with a beginning, and there's something stirring about the journey in between.

By Victor D. Infante, Telegram & Gazette Staff Oct. 15, 2015

"My Soul Ain't Coming Back" by Hot Letter: There's something immensely cathartic about this rocker, with its classic rock feel and its inherent sense of flight. Everything here just soars, and the INXS-style musical hooks on lyrics such as "I was licked by/the hot flames of desire" in the chorus is positively arresting. And yeah, when lines like "You were perfect/but I knew you would destroy me" are delivered — and let's face it, that's a line that's more likely fumbled than not — it's sold so completely that you absolutely buy it. This is steamy, sexy rock 'n' roll at its finest. 

By Victor D. Infante, Telegram & Gazette Staff Aug. 8, 2013

"Other Friends" by Hot Letter: There was just something so spicy when the intro to Other Friends by upcoming rock band Hot Letter smashed through my speakers.

While previously hurrying through their new EP’s songs , this one made me want to listen to more. The feel of the instrumentation resembled early Aerosmith ( Think of “Make It” and “Somebody”etc.)  , the raw drum and guitar recordings were just doing their job right. 

Instantly,it felt like I was in the garage of a band that was going to step out into the world and rock it. I felt part of a hot musical secret and I wanted to listen to more.

You can hear it in the timbre, a slight Freddie Mercury intonation comes across and a young , more sensitive Bruce Springsteen in the timbre.  The diaphragm support is there and you can hear the singing fluency.

The production is overall raw and bold. The backup vocals toward the end  just reassure you that Freddie sprinkled a little fairy dust from up there on this song. A strong recommendation if you are into classic rock and in search for something hot and new.

TheRealMusicCritic, (therealmusiccritic.tubmlr.com) Oct. 2, 2014