In a tiny storage room on E. State Street, Mister Got Heat shares space with dismantled beds, hanging bicycles of doom and other sharp and menacing death traps. The room has a small, elevated platform not even large enough for all four members and their instruments, so one is relegated to a lower landing.
It is in this tiny corner room of the Phi Kappa Tau house that Mister Got Heat practices its highly eclectic brand of rock 'n roll. While performing, they shift from light-hearted, bass-driven songs to others that carefully straddle the line between reggae and rock.
But it is the vocals that truly make Mister Got Heat stand out. Unlike many bands in Athens, all four members of this band have got pipes ' and use them.
There is no simpler statement that sums the band's abilities: We can sing
said bassist Daniel Boyer emphatically.
Saxophonist Jon Slater III and drummer Patrick Miner ' the only Phi Tau brother in the group ' are both active in Ohio University's highly respected vocal group, The Singing Men of Ohio. However, Mister Got Heat is not a doo-wop or A-capella band. As Boyer said, It's not wuss rock.
The band's name came to Boyer in a dream when he was younger, his band mates said. A man was tap dancing feverishly with skills only possible in a dream. In this vision, someone yelled out Mister Got Heat to describe the gyrations of this man, and the words stayed with Boyer.
Later on, when Boyer, Slater and guitarist Matt Slater were hanging out, they browsed Yahoo! Personals for fun. They snatched amusing pictures of hopeful singles and Photoshopped them together, often giving their motley assortments of characters band names. Boyer used Mister Got Heat for one of these groups, but the friends decided it was too good to be just a memory.
Mister Got Heat's influences are as wide as their repertoire. Bands such as Cake, Ween, Radiohead, Primus and old-school No Doubt all influenced the band. But artists such as U2 and Phil Collins also had an impact on the group: Their music inspired Mister Got Heat to be unlike them as much as possible, Boyer said.
Jon Slater said the band has been practicing for a while, but the members did not have enough original material for a show. The band could have played covers, he said, but he has a problem with playing crap.
Now that the band has a body of work to draw on, Miner said, the band will be performing much more around town.
I'll even put off my engineering degree Miner half-jokingly said.
Mister Got Heat will play two shows this weekend. The first is with Crucifixion Addixion and Drive Faster tonight at The Union, 18 W. Union St. The second show is a benefit for the OU chapter of Habitat for Humanity Saturday. The cover will go to support OU students traveling to Louisiana during spring break to help rebuild houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
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Mister Got Heat members Patrick Miner (drums), Daniel Boyer (bass), Matt Slater (guitar) and Jon Slater III (sax/vocals) make up a band full of energy, which is reflected in their music.
