There are many varied pathways into getting into a band; perhaps you saw them live, or heard a single on the radio, or found a playlist containing their song. Maybe the algorithm gods blessed you and delivered something you love directly to your lap. Sometimes, though, you simply hear a riff so good you can’t stop thinking about it. That was my route into Philadelphia nu-punk group HOT SEAT, from a song called “Pepperoni Crackers” and sent to me by my good friend Will. Please validate me and listen below:
See what I mean? That fucking rips. Quick question, however–what the fuck is this all about? I chatted with HOT SEAT on a mildly cursed Google Meet call for the answers America deserves about the origin of “Pepperoni Crackers”, their journey of finding their sound as a five-piece, and their new EP Kissy Kissy.
HOT SEAT! Thanks so much for meeting me. I’m going to get kind of crazy and jump right into the fact that the first song I heard of yours was “Pepperoni Crackers”.
HOT SEAT (basically in unison, while laughing): Hell yeah.
Can you a) explain what the fuck this song is, and b) talk about your experience with the collaborative aspect?
Molly Bearden: Sure! So this was a song we wrote for an episode of the kid’s show Albie’s Elevator which is on the Philly local arm of PBS called WHYY. We know the producer and she asked us to be the musical guest for the episode.
Stephen Kilpatrick: Pepperoni Sam is actually played by Joe Genaro of The Dead Milkmen and it’s kind of crazy because we’ve performed with them before, but we had no idea he was going to be in it too. We just showed up to film and he was there.
MB: We banged it out in like less than a day. That day on set was so fun, too.
Jesse Morency : They were like the nicest people alive, we had such a great time. Every single person there was just happy to be making something cool.
MB: It’s probably my favorite thing we’ve ever done as a band.
Okay, I’ll back up for a second, sorry to just start immediately with that, but I couldn’t help it. Can you tell me a bit about the genesis of HOT SEAT and how you all started playing together?
JM: So Molly and our previous drummer Scott had the idea to do kind of a two-piece thing. Molly and I have been friends since college, so I came on not long after, I think we played like a singular show with the three of us like that before realizing we could use some more people.
MB: We were at an open mic, and Stephen was playing, and super drunk I went up to him and was like ‘HEY, YOU PLAY BASS?’
SK: And I was like ‘not really.’
MB: And I went ‘YOU’RE HIRED.’ (laughs) And then Eddie came on to fill in on some shows while Stephen was on paternity leave. But he gelled with us really well, so we were like–what if we just give you a big dumb instrument and you stay on?
Eddie Devlin: We were just like thinking of what sort of silly thing I could do. And then like a day later I got an ad for a giant keytar on Facebook Marketplace and I was like ‘fuck it, who wants to drive with me to Maryland to go get this thing.’
MB: It’s been really fun to have a bigger sound and goof around on stage with it.
ED: Honestly, after seeing all those pictures from that last show, I’m like, about to call up Roland and see if they wanna sponsor us. The logo is visible in literally every photo.
Photo and header by olliephotographie
And you guys have recently done a regional tour in the US and Canada, right?
MB: Yeah! That’s actually how we wound up with Pavlo too.
Pavlo Demkiv: Hi.
MB: ‘Cause we were like, mostly doing studio stuff, but we needed a live drummer after Scott, so we got him involved.
PD: It also made me go get a passport. (laughs)
JM: The Toronto show was amazing, that crowd was so good.
SK: Molly’s husband is a pilot and he literally flew up to come see the show.
That’s so cute.
ED: And then his bike got stolen.
Like–from the plane?
HOT SEAT: (laughs)
Oh, like. On the street.
PD: That would have been really impressive though.
Clearly, I was having a little too much fun goofing around with HOT SEAT, so I tried my best to get a little bit of insight into the thinking behind their recent EP, titled Kissy Kissy, which self-released on December 5, 2025, after a series of disparate singles dating back to 2023. Kissy Kissy contains four tracks and represents a little bit of a departure of the band sound-wise, veering more alt-gaze dream-pop than their previous work.
So I noticed that prior to your EP, you mostly just dropped singles now and again, and that the older songs have a bit more of that frantic punk energy than the newer release, which is a bit more relaxed and refined. What was your writing and recording process like?
JM: So we actually recorded all of our current output except “Pepperoni Crackers” at the same time, including all of the singles and the four songs off the EP. We kind of figured we’d just release stuff now and then, build up a little bit of a local following instead of dumping everything at the same time.
SK: There really wasn’t a ton of intention behind it, we were like–let’s just record everything we have.
JM: We always work with (producer) Alexi Peters over at Gradwell House and he really feels like part of the band now.
MB: I think a lot of the recording process was us actually figuring out how we wanted HOT SEAT to sound, which is why the more locked-in songs are clumped together on the EP as opposed to standing alone. ‘Frantic’ is a good way to put it for the older songs, and we still like that, but it’s funny to compare them to stuff like “BISEXUAL LIGHTING” which is just like, such a nice, chill song.
You guys also had a really cool collaboration with an animator for some Instagram videos for Kissy Kissy–can you tell me about that?
MB: Yeah! So I’m very passionate about animation, and we worked with this great animator called qqpowpow who has a super unique style.
ED: They’re like 19 or something, really impressive.
MB: But yeah, they were so sweet and really responsive, and we totally love how it turned out, the main animation is for the song “WHIMPER QUEEN” which is off the EP too.
So what’s next for HOT SEAT?
JM: We’re recording again soon! Back at Gradwell House.
PD: February 28th I think.
MB: (looking off to the side) Hi babe, we’re doing an interview.
Molly’s husband: (shuffles away quietly)
Kissy Kissy is available to stream now. HOT SEAT is also somewhat desperately trying to liquidate inventory for a ‘Facebook style’ T-shirt with lyrics to their song “HIGH VALUE WOMAN”. These bad boys are going for $5 and apparently they will straight-up deliver to your house if you’re in Philadelphia, and that is a threat. DM them on Instagram to buy one!
HOT SEAT is:
Molly Bearden – vocals and rhythm guitar
Jesse Morency – lead guitar
Eddie Devlin – keys and keytar
Pavlo Demkiv – drums
