“It kind of blows me away that it’s been that long. That album still has a near and dear place in my heart. That’s when people really started taking notice, especially with ‘Stampede,’” says Will Anderson, vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and founder of NYC indie rockers Hotline TNT when I remind him, during a recent phone chat, that their debut LP, Nineteen in Love, officially turns five next month. He even admits that it feels like a lot of the band’s early success was a direct product of the pandemic: “Myself and a lot of people I knew were living off of our government stimulus, which gave us a lot of freedom to take a chance and do a lot of DIY touring… Like, we did the Snail Mail tour, which got rescheduled twice and, at the time it was annoying that it kept getting postponed but, in retrospect, we got three times the media coverage.”
Hotline TNT have played the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection numerous times since then, with multiple shows at Ukie and Union Transfer, with Wednesday in January of 2024 and with Drop Nineteens that April (However, Will tells me his most vivid memory of the city is from when a former band played a house show booked by Barrett Lindgren.) The band’s most recent local gig was in October of last year when they headlined Johnny Brenda’s in support of Raspberry Moon, Hotline TNT’s third full-length, second for Third Man Records, and first built by a full band, which dropped in June of 2025 and apparently produced some recent highlights for the group: “We did some great touring around the album, like two really cool shows when the album first dropped, one at 30 Rock, underground Rough Trade (Rough Trade Below), and we played a soccer field (The Ground NYC).” Anderson also notes that the album’s second single, “Candle,” has proven to be the favorite Hotline TNT song of a lot of fans, although admits his favorite album track is “The Scene.”
Last week Hotline TNT kicked off a month-and-a-half run providing direct support for Run For Cover outfit Citizen, which will find itself at Union Transfer this coming Saturday, August 29th, where they’ll be joined by Anxious and our buddies Rocket, with our buddies Cryogeyser joining the tour later. At the time of our chat, Will admits he hadn’t yet met the Citizen guys, while already knowing and loving the Anxious, Rocket, and Cryogeyser crews. He also tells me that these will likely be Hotline TNT’s last dates of 2026, but that fans can expect to hear some music that he and the band plan will be working on throughout the remainder of the year. Additionally, he says, “It’s gonna be heavy guitars and distortion… We wanna get people moving, so if you wanna be the pitmaster, that would be very appreciated!”
Since the days of Nineteen in Love, Anderson has been an outspoken opponent of streaming services like Spotify, originally releasing the album exclusively on physical copies and a digital stream of the entire LP on YouTube, whose description included the “suggestion” to “Cancel your Spotify subscription.” Although he did eventually make Hotline TNT’s work available on such services, last August, two months after the release of Raspberry Moon, he pulled the band’s entire catalogue from Spotify, offering, “We are leaving the Spotify streaming service. The company that bills itself as the steward of all recorded music has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that it does not align with the band’s values in any way. A cooler world is possible.” As a CD listener, DVD watcher, and flip phone user (gold star, for that matter) myself, I’m curious if he has any advice for younger musicians with similar thoughts and feelings.
“I would say, on the surface level, people assume it is practical, but if you really look at it, the juice is not worth the squeeze. Maybe you get a certain amount of visibility, but if you’re in music and art for the right reasons, I don’t think you need to tie yourself to something that is ultimately destructive to music and the state of the world, if you’d go that far, and I would.”
Will’s girlfriend is actor, comedian, and former Philly resident Jill O’Connell (which he tells me brings the two of them to the city a lot to visit phriends and phamily). And, when he’s not working on music, the two of them work on Jill’s House Of Rock, an “Epic variety show about rock and roll, love and other bullcrap.” O’Connell and Anderson created the show themselves, where she serves as host with him as producer. He describes it for me as, “A variety show/talk show with alternative comedy and a musical element.” The latest episode, which you can watch above, features Baltimore hardcore punk band No Idols (composed of members of Angel Du$t, Bib, and Truth Cult), product designer and filmmaker Victoria Pandeirada, and filmmaker and critic Eddy Frumkin. Anderson tells me that the show is a new passion of his, so definitely keep checking YouTube for new episodes.
*Get your ticket here.
