Hot Cha Cha

Worldly Women
Cleveland's HotChaCha is an All-Girl Band That Needs No Such Novelty
By Andrew Clayman
Published in The Cleveland Scene, October 2009

It's a coming-of-age tale we've all heard a hundred times before: young girl escapes war ravaged Bosnia, spends formative years in Germany, and eventually arrives in Cleveland, Ohio, where she gains employment as a social worker for the elderly and moonlights as the wild, exhibitionist lead singer of an all-girl art punk band. ...Okay, so maybe it actually sounds more like the plot to a Joe Eszterhas movie, but for HotChaCha frontwoman Jovana Batkovic, the unusual circumstances of her life have only helped to accelerate her growth as an artist-- a development highly apparent on her band's debut full-length The World's Hardest Working Telescope & The Violent Birth of Stars.

"I think a lot of my life experiences-- leaving home, all the traveling-- they just made me a little more assertive, intense, and just kind of stronger-where I'll do what I have to do to get my point across," says Batkovic, who co-founded HotChaCha with guitarist/keyboardist Mandy Aramouni in 2007. "It also taught me to be-- maybe not cynical-- but able to joke about things that I probably should consider very serious. For me to deal with my life and how it's been, I just had to look at things from a lighter side. So a lot of times, I think that affects some of my lyrics-- using humor in a serious situation."

Exhibit A: "Bob Has a Better Cow"-- a catchy new single ostensibly inspired by Batkovic's rural upbringing in Bosnia, but lyrically more absurdist than biographical. As Batkovic freely admits, her word choice-- be it English, German, French, or Serbian-- is often dictated more by "feel" than meaning. In a way, HotChaCha's music follows a similar principle, as Aramouni, Heather Gmucs (bass), and Lisa Paulovcin (drums) successfully maintain a sort of primal immediacy throughout The World's Hardest Working Telescope, shifting from skittering dance-rock to atmospheric post-punk without ever sounding overly self-conscious.

"Sometimes you'll hear people say things like that, 'Well, you guys are pretty good for a girl band,' which is really annoying," Batkovic laments. "But there are pros and cons to it all. A lot of times I get more response for booking shows because we're an all-girl band-it's kind of different and exciting to people. And on tour, it's easier to find a place to crash, because I think people feel safer with four girls. They assume we're clean, I suppose [laughs]."

Still, like every all-girl band before them, HotChaCha knows that going dudeless means having to work twice as hard for respect. And while Telescope (in stores October 27) is a huge leap forward from the band's 2008 debut EP (Rifle, I Knew You When You Were Just a Pistol), some cynical listeners might not be sold until they see the band live-an experience that's hard to forget, thanks in large part to Batkovic's over-the-top stage (and sometimes off-stage) theatrics.

"Performance wise, I'm obviously an exhibitionist," she says. "I've done theater since I was fourteen, and I got my undergrad in theater. I've just always kind of wanted to be the center of attention."

With a highly anticipated new album, positive comparisons to indie titans like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and a little sex appeal for good measure, HotChaCha have all the elements in place to be Cleveland's next breakout act. For the time being, though, Batkovic is quite content spending her days as Jovana the social worker, even if her clients don't quite "get" her other career.

"At work, an elderly woman asked me why I was seemingly on vacation so often, and finally I had to explain that I was actually in a band," Batkovic recalls with a laugh. "So she starts telling me how dangerous it is for a girl to travel and to be in bars. It was pretty funny. You know, the elderly are awesome-they tell you exactly what they think right to your face. But yeah, I don't think I'll be seeing any of them at the shows."