Hot x Proxy are announcing their return to the land of the living, after a quiet year and a half away from the stage, with the added oomph of “The Operator.” What might have been a healthy bout of nonsense with a side of gusto because a trojan horse of Canadiana, likely through the early implementation of subversive conditioning by the CRTC during Chris Hynes’ childhood.
“First of all, it’s a punk song about love or a love song about punk. Not sure. Definitely both,” says Hot x Proxy’s guitarist Chris Hynes. “It’s was a funny exercise for us to picture a person falling in love with the operator on the other end of the phone line. Not in an unrequited way either. The person on the other end loves them back. Texting is for suckers! That’s what we say.”
The video makes some pretty heavy nods to Canadian television classics, like CODCO and Camp Caribou, which preferred to deliver their segments upsidedown with googly-eyes glued to their chin. It’s a proud tradition that has been carried on through our culture to talent shows and birthday parties everywhere.
“The world was/is so upside down right now that we wanted to shoot a video with our chins held high, you know,” says Hynes.
On the (slightly) more serious side of the lyrics, “The Operator” is about making a connection when you need it most.
“It’s a tragic story of a lonely soul looking for love, looking for companionship looking for that dependable someone who will always be there to talk to when all you need is a voice on the other end of the line,” adds Lucas Coady.
As odd as that might seem, those are the very real circumstances under which Maria Anderson, the night switchboard operator at the New Brunswick Telephone Company at the turn of the last century, would come to fall in love with Thomas Ashburnham. Of course, they would famously come to be known as Lady and Lord Ashburnham, and the story of how they met would be overshadowed by her more famous mustard pickles.
“I didn’t know that, but I change my answer,” quickly adds Hynes. “That’s what the song is about.”
That CanCon gets embedded really deep.
Hot x Proxy’s return to the world is more than simply the release of “The Operator.” The band has also announced a show at the Black Sheep in St. John’s with Goodbye Apollo. They’re also currently preparing for the release of a new album for early 2022, along with an Atlantic Tour in the Fall ( COVID permitting).