H.O.T.H. at Danny’s, 2016/Photo: Beau Wanzer
Monthly party Hot On The Heels (H.O.T.H.) is for the mutants and creatures of the night, according to its founder Beau Wanzer. Held on the first Tuesday of the month for twenty years, the day is an odd one for nightlife. It’s the weekday for industry folk to gather for one last celebration before Wednesday starts the weekend prep. It’s also the day weekend revelers might still be spilling into, and a night for corporate reprieve after the grind picks back up. True to its weirdo ethos, the series is free, offering a space for all to gather and let their freak flag fly. The recurring event celebrates its two-decade anniversary on May 2—a Saturday for the first time, breaking from its routine for a proper rager.
Wanzer, a Chicago transplant, is no poser. Since moving to the city, he’s worked in a range of record shops that drove his music production to the experimental and industrial edges. By planting deep roots in Midwest electronic music, he now is a staple of the city’s nu-wave sound. Like most musicians hoping for bookings, Wanzer decided not to wait on others to catch up to the niche, instead organizing an evening for “me and friends to bring our strange records and geek out about music for a couple hours,” he explains. The night was a hit.
After twenty years, 230 H.O.T.H. parties and over 600 performances, the foundation of the show comes from tapping musicians from a plethora of backgrounds, opting for those who are on the fringes of the mainstream. The shows are still a place for Wanzer to explore his own practice too, as he usually opens and closes the event. By taking the slots usually reserved for beginners, he not only better platforms the artists he books, but can expertly set the trajectory of the party and tie it back up in a bow. The usual format includes both DJs and live acts, and allows each the freedom to play whatever their heart desires, which is an important tenet of music that skews toward noise.
H.O.T.H./Artwork: Beau Wanzer
Sometimes, a fire alarm set off by the fog machine is mistaken for part of the set, as in a recent Anti-Soul Organization performance. Or a perturbed audience member, not expecting an alternative night, might yell “this is the worst music I’ve ever heard” and throw beer on the artists, as during Orphan Schlitz’s set. Regardless of what happens, H.O.T.H. will go on, whether that means holding up a collapsed table or finding a new venue, as when the series outlasted the beloved bar Danny’s, which originally hosted it. Wanzer says he won’t stop but “just keep doing it until I can’t do it anymore.”
The series is now housed at the California Clipper and continues to be a blast, finding support over the years from many corners of Chicago’s under- and above-ground music scenes. The original tag line, “an evening of uncomfortable music,” has not been lost. It’s in that discomfort, with the parties’ wild lineups and their expert containment and release, which can still produce warm, fuzzy feelings. By the end of the night, H.O.T.H. parties spawn a reverence for life, however silly or chaotic it might be.
Wanzer’s closing track at two recent iterations is one example—a children’s chorus performs a rendition of Petula Clark’s “Downtown,” where their angelic voices stumble and bump into each other, shouting “We can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares / So go downtown / Things will be great when you’re downtown / Don’t wait a minute more, downtown / Everything is waiting for you, downtown.”
Hot on the Heels’ Twentieth Anniversary Dance Party at California Clipper, 1002 North California on May 2. Event information here.
