Hottman Sisters graduate from family jam sessions to national tours and big-time stages
From family jams in their basement in Omaha, to touring the nation, the Hottman Sisters have come a long way.
This week their journey brings them to Spokane with concerts scheduled at the Viking and the Pin.
Sisters, Jessica, 26, and Heather Hottman, 28, formed the band in 2015, and soon added drummer Ed Getzlaff, 25.
“Heather and I have been singing together forever,” Jessica Hottman said. “Our mom sings and plays the drums.”
Jessica plays electric guitar and handles songwriting duties. Heather plays synth and focuses on tight harmonies.
“I’m a total sucker for harmony,” she said. “I love hearing the blend of voices.”
They sang in church and hit the Omaha music scene hard, refining their sound, gradually moving from indie folk to indie pop and rock.
Getzlaff didn’t grow up in a musical family, but his dad gave him Nirvana’s “Nevermind” CD when was in third grade, and he fell in love with drumming.
“I studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston,” he said.
The trio toured extensively, playing in large festivals such as SXSW and Maha Music Festival. In 2017, the band played more than 70 shows and opened for headliners like Run the Jewels and the New Pornographers. .
Their new EP “Louder” dropped September 28, and celebrates the band’s musical evolution.
“Our sound is louder,” Hottman said. “The band and our music is a little more charged. The new album is bright and lively with a dark, haunting mysterious side to it.”
They released their single “Fire” in August with a music video.
“It’s the crux of our new sound, kind of our anthem,” she said.
The “Fire” lyrics, vocals and video add a definite edge to their previous softer style.
Light the place on fire
Burnin’ up the memories
I think I’m getting heatstroke
Smoke will bring me to my knees
Strikin’ up the matches
Leave the places in ashes, please
Tip over the candles
Let the flames come over me
“I write a lot from experience,” Hottman said. “I write at the keyboard.”
She finds inspiration in listening to current music, as well as in the music she grew up with.
“The Backstreet Boys were so cool, and Kelly Clarkson! I didn’t know music could sound like that!”
The band’s new sound and new EP also marks the first time they’ve headlined a tour.
Working and traveling together is an awful lot of togetherness for even the closest of sisters, and Hottman admits she and Heather have “night and day personalities.”
“But we can laugh at ourselves and Ed is a great peacemaker,” she said.
Getzlaff chuckled.
“They’re the sisters I never had,” he said.
Hottman said concert-goers should expect all the new music from the “Louder” EP plus some surprise songs from the past, and maybe even a new tune or two.
“This tour is more theatrical in some ways,” she said. “I’m really excited about it.”
But more than anything the sisters said they’re thrilled to get to make music together.
“We both find such joy from singing together on stage,” said Heather Hottman. “It’s the backbone to what we do. It’s what drives us.”