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Hi Aaron, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?
I’ve been dece to good! Thanks for having me.
Can you talk to us more about your latest single “Beige”?
I’m always trying to find weird new topics to write songs about. This is a song and music video that pokes fun at rich people who decorate their houses almost entirely light brown 🙂
Did any event in particular inspire you to write this song?
One day some years ago I was visiting a friend at their home. This person has quite a bit of money. But, I noticed that even though they had the monetary ability to buy almost any piece of furniture or decoration they wanted and that humans have the amazing ability to produce almost any color we can conceive of, that this person had decided to decorate almost every single item in their home in a light brown color. Once I saw it I started to notice it everywhere. I knew I had to write a song about it!
How was the filming process and experience behind the video?
At first it was hard to find a rich person with a mansion filled with beige colored items who was confident enough in their decorating to allow me in some dancers to show up and poke fun at them in their own home. Eventually, we found a nice couple out in Afton Minnesota who let us film inside and outside of their beautiful home.
The single comes off your new album Hilarious and Epically Legendary – what’s the story behind the title?
I had been struggling to come up with a title for the album for a long time. In fact this album was originally supposed to come out in 2020 but we all know how that year went. It has had many names over the years. Eventually I became so frustrated that I told my friend “I don’t know what I’m going to call this thing but it has to be hilarious and epically legendary whatever it is!” He just looked at me and said “Why not just call it hilarious and epically legendary?”
How was the recording and writing process?
That was so much fun! This is my fourth album but it’s the first time I’ve ever had any other musicians record with me. It was so gratifying to watch professionals play the parts I had written, and also come up with their own solos on the fly!
How do you go on balancing the humor with the music? What does normally comes first?
The humor and the music usually happen completely separately. I have a bunch of music tracks with no lyrics for when I do have a great topic to sing about. Then I massage the two together.
What role does the Twin Cities play in your music?
I have been immersed in the Twin Cities music scene for the last 20 years. My favorite styles of music have always been funk soul and R&B and I think that is the direct result of living in Minneapolis my entire life. It’s not every city that you can go watch musical Legends play almost every night of the week!
Where did you find the inspiration for the songs and lyrics?
One thing that really helped is during the pandemic I forced myself to make a song a week. I would ask audiences for topics then we would narrow it down with a vote and I would make a new song every week. I started a patreon where people would pay me $2 per song. It wasn’t much but it helped pay for groceries during the pandemic. This really got my creative juices flowing and a couple of them love the songs from that era have made it on to this album.
What else is happening next in Heatbox’s world?
I’ve got the official album release coming up on June 18th. Father’s day at the hook and ladder. Then my next big move after that is to hopefully do a bigger theater performance in the fall and release a vinyl version of the album. All the while making a couple more music videos and merchandise. Should be an interesting year!
