Hotline TNT Level Up

Hotline TNT, the longtime project of Will Anderson, is “leveling up.” My heart sinks a little bit as he tells me this with a big smile on his face from somewhere in St. Louis. He’s in his van and can see the Gateway Arch looming in the background as he explains that the band is signed to Third Man Records now and has a whole team working with them on their new record, Cartwheel. For the first time, he sees the possibility of turning this into a real career—no more substitute teaching or bartending. This record is going to be his shot at really making it with this music thing.

I feel like the rug is getting torn out from under me, like he’s going to stop and say “Just kidding!” Coming from a guy who still prints his own basketball fanzine and initially only uploaded his first album, Nineteen in Love, to Youtube it feels like the exact kind of comment he would cringe at. However, he doesn’t, and though it seems like, in that second, I’m experiencing every fan’s biggest fear-their favorite band admitting that it might be time for them to suck it up and sell out, that’s so far from what’s happening with Hotline TNT.

True, Cartwheel is “the big swing” for Anderson, but that’s not because of press prominence or his departure from strictly self-recording or anything superficial. It’s because of the arresting honesty he employs from the buzzy opener “Protocol” to the closing shimmer of “Stump,” where he avows “Cover up holes in the yard / But you stole my heart.” These point-blank confessions and sketches of scenes are just vague enough to make Cartwheel feel deeply personal without forcing Anderson to put all his cards on the table. It’s not the first step towards selling his soul in exchange for mainstream success, it’s actually one of the most raw records I’ve heard in a while.

A lot of this sincerity is no doubt due to the relationships-some familial, some romantic, some between friends and people he would make music with-that lay at the heart of the album. Anderson manages to make soundscapes feel as profound as the life-altering impact these connections have on us, like the feedback and desperate distortion that decorates “Maxine.” Even amidst the copious amount of Coors Light and “craziest party of all time” in the music video for “I Thought You’d Change,” the failing relationship is what takes center stage. Trying to make sense of the crossed wires and miscommunications is what prompted Anderson to start writing his own songs in college.“I started getting into relationships and started feeling like I needed some sort of outlet to write about myself or someone,” he says.

Anderson grew up playing in his school’s jazz ensemble and in various cover bands with his brother. His first introduction to live music was attending Christian music festivals, “I did have a phase where I was a born again Christian in middle school, but that was more just an opportunity to hang out with girls on Wednesday night after school,” he says. Anderson’s family was instrumental in shaping his music taste, with his older brother introducing him to nu metal bands like Limp Bizkit and his mom buying him his very first Strokes CD.

After making the rounds in the Vancouver DIY scene, Anderson was forced to move back to the states when his visa expired. He decided to decamp to Minneapolis to be close to his family and, while there, he began to lay the groundwork for what would become Hotline TNT. It started slowly, according to Anderson, just a few riffs and a self-released 7-inch that he didn’t think much of. That is until he released his first “statement” LP, Nineteen In Love, in 2021. He recorded the entire album by himself using GarageBand and didn’t even use a guitar amp, instead opting to just plug right into his computer.

The result is a tour de force of imposing shoegaze and glimpses of glittering power-pop. Over 11 tracks, he sprinkles in twinkling overdubs like on “Let U See Me” which are offset by the tumultuous guitars and opaque percussion. After uploading the effort exclusively to YouTube, it didn’t take long for other people to realize that Anderson was really on to something. “I didn’t really grasp how far it was getting,” he recalls, “but I would hear stuff like ‘Dude, I heard your band and I had to get the files from somebody else. I was driving, but I had to keep pushing the screen to keep listening to it.”

The hype around Hotline TNT continued to spread, much to the surprise of Anderson—as he considered it to be more a labor of love at that point than anything else. Still content to keep the record off streaming services, it nonetheless developed a sort of cult-like following. Hotline TNT was quickly becoming the best kept secret in the network of various underground scenes across the country. And, as the songs continued to circulate, the record’s reach was soon becoming undeniable. “People were attached to it in a way that was a little different than just a band you see on your Spotify algorithm,” Anderson adds.

As someone who has always prided themselves in doing things on their own terms—whether it’s hand stamping and photocopying each zine himself or having full control over the recording process—the growing popularity of the project was a catch-22 for Anderson. On one hand, it provided a chance to quit the various bartending/comic bookstore/substitute teaching jobs that kept him afloat. But, on the other hand, it presented a real threat to the DIY ethos at the heart of Hotline TNT.

For anyone else, they would probably tolerate a few compromises for an easy cash grab; but, for Anderson, that’s almost unthinkable. Someone with a self-described “trickster energy,” he’s not too concerned with other people’s opinions of him—as long as he’s doing what he feels is right. He’s fiercely protective of Hotline TNT in a way that’s both endearing and almost obsolete, especially in an industry where people are quick to prioritize steaming stats over authenticity. He admits that the stakes are higher now that he has a whole team behind him and isn’t solely responsible for what happens to Hotline TNT anymore. Still, that doesn’t change his headstrong approach or what he wants to achieve. At the end of the day, Anderson is just trying to make the art that he wants to see. “It gets me into trouble sometimes but I’m not afraid to entertain people and I’m not afraid to criticize people. It turns people off sometimes but that’s okay with me,” he says.

Even when he decided to go the label route, Anderson was crystal clear on the fact that, while he wanted to put some more firepower behind the project, he wasn’t willing to sacrifice his own creative vision. While shopping for labels, he prioritized maintaining the ability to call his own shots—no matter the cost—in order to preserve the artistic freedom that’s so integral to Hotline TNT in the first place. He ended up landing at Third Man Records, an artist-run label whose catalog ranges from scuzz-rock outfit Island of Love to Hotline TNT’s tourmates Sheer Mag—the common link between all of the above being the ride or die DIY mentality that they maintain, even as they push themselves to reach wider audiences and acquire more resources. There’s still an emphasis on the community values that Anderson holds so dear, but a lot less of the mental and financial strain.

“DIY was my life and I cared about it very deeply, and I still do,” he says. “I’m in a different part of my life now and it is possible to make this a career and I don’t have to be a substitute teacher or a bartender. Artists do deserve to be paid well and make a living off of their work. Because it is a lot of work.” If anything, Cartwheel proves that, for as much that has changed with Hotline TNT recently, the most important things have stayed the same. Anderson vets all the bands he plays with and insists on collaborating with his friends. Even when recording in the studio, he ensured that he was working with people he had existing relationships with and felt comfortable creating alongside of. So yes, Hotline TNT is “leveling up,” but, honestly, it’s long overdue. While Will Anderson might have been blindsided by how the band has blown up, it’s not undeserved. Cartwheel being one of the most beguiling records released this year, it’s about time Hotline TNT got the support, recognition and round of applause they truly deserve.