$4 | Buy Extended Play

Yeah, I know you. You’re that person who has people over and winds up scrambling around looking for that old Jock Jams CD. Still, you figure it’s better than your friends, who seem to have Beyonce, Lil’ Jon and 50 Cent on continuous loop. Indie music is great and all, but let’s face it, you need some tunes that go down a little better with those shots of Admiral Nelson. That’s where The Hot Box comes in.

The Minneapolis-based instrumental rap group’s debut EP Extended Play puts Jordan “Vision” Sandvig’s inventive lyrical screeds over a ridiculously talented five-piece. The result is six tracks you’ll be humming in the shower for weeks.

A&SB caught up with Hot Box guitarist Gavin Werner for a status update following their epic “party bus” in downtown Minneapolis. (In which the band joined fans on a drunken bus tour the night of a show.) Werner honed his out-of-this-world talent playing complex guitar riffs for a traveling Croatian band, so he could forgive your humble reporter for assuming playing hip-hop would reign in his skills.

“No, not at all, I got way too many solos,” Werner chuckled as he watched a baseball game. “Jordan adapts to us lyrically … We always thought that in this day in age, [rap is a] much better way to get a message across than some ambiguous metaphors that can be reinterpreted.”

Indeed, The Hot Box is well on their way to achieving the best of both worlds: The provocative lyricism of hip-hop and the intricate rhythms of rock n’ roll.

Blazing a new musical trail isn’t without its challenges, as attracting a consistent crowd without a built-in genre takes extra marketing muscle. Yet Werner seemed oblivious to The Hot Box’s dilemma shortly before acknowledging it. “I never really thought about it ‘till you just asked me that,” Werner said. “I thought people just liked good noises.” He later detailed their struggles to cross over into the Twin Cities’ indie rock audience, as The Hot Box is consistently booked at hip hop venues.

Still, like most young bands, they have been buoyed by a tight network of supporters on the road to the appropriately named Extended Play, which was recorded in a marathon 8-hour session.

“Nowadays, there’s no genre’s anymore,” Werner said. “It’s all the same stuff.” No offense to Gavin, but The Hot Box is easily a cut above the rest.

The Hot Box on Myspace

EDITOR’S NOTE: Video has been updated.