Hot Freak Nation, led by Greg Roberson (Tiger High, Reigning Sound, Arthur Lee’s Love) and songwriting partner Don Main (The Late Show), is one of two studio projects, featuring Roberson and his fellow Tiger High members—Jake Vest, Toby Vest, and Greg Faison.
When asked about Hot Freak Nation and their numerous releases (two Tiger High albums and the forthcoming debut from The Trashed Romeos), Roberson laughed and said, “No one can accuse us of being lazy. We like to stay busy. If other artists can release two and three records in a year, I figure we can release four in six months. We have our own studio, when we are not touring with Tiger High we are writing and recording. Don and I write constantly, we already have all the songs for the next record written we are just trying to find time to record them."
Roberson met his songwriting partner Don Main in the legendary Indianapolis watering hole The Red Key, a bar frequented by such legends as Kurt Vonnegut and Going All The Way author Dan Wakefield. In town during a stint as the music supervisor to director Mark Pellington on the film version of Wakefield’s book, Roberson and Main formed an immediate musical bond that day, and within days had written and recorded their first batch of songs.
“It all happened by chance.” Roberson said of his meeting Main. "We were going to be shooting a lot of scenes for Going All The Way at The Red Key because a lot of the book, which is a true story by the way, took place in that bar in 1954. So I dropped by to talk with the owner, who has been a bartender at the Red Key for 70 years, about the music scene in the city back then. It’s like 10:30 in the morning and there are only two guys in the bar drinking their breakfast. They are obviously listening to my conversation with the bartender about music, BBQ, and, my hometown, Memphis. At some point one of the guys asked if I was from Memphis. That was Don."
Hot Freak Nation's 13 song debut, Lifetime To Lifetime, was recorded in Memphis by Toby Vest (Tiger High) at High/Low Recording and produced by Roberson & Main with the help of Toby Vest. The record is available on CD and for digital download through Trashy Creatures Records (www.trashycreatures.com) and on Cassette through Trashy Creatures Records/Burger Records (www.burgerrecords.org).
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Hot Freak Nation's album "Lifetime To Lifetime" peaked at #110 on the CMJ Top 200 charts in September 2012