Yo so it’s December 2007 and the Hot Water Music boys have been on “indefinite hiatus” for about 2 yrs. Chuck is busy doin’ his thing and rulin’ at it, A full length, live record, a video, soundtrack, uh, track, 7″ singles fan club, the shows are sick, jesus.

The Draft is kickin’ ass all over the place just off their first headlining tour this past fall and working on their second record (full length) not to mention the digital EP, seven inches (yeah, that’s a good size), and probably the best Replacements I’ve ever heard ever.

So I guess if your favorite band in the world is gonna break up this is really the way to do it and other motherfuckers should take note.

With all that in the mix what’s really the next best thing that could happen? Well, of course it’s your favorite band which has broken in to a 1/4 and 3/4 coming back together like fuckin’ Voltron or Megatron or some shit to be your favorite band again. And goddammit that’s exactly what’s happening for the moment.

Just to clarify; I am a ridiculous fan boy. I bought every ticket I could afford to the reunion shows. I bought extras for friends just in case their too stupid to have bought their own (Erok and Cody I’m lookin’ at you). I’m drivin to Jersey; I’m flyin’ to Chicago; and I’m just hopin they announce a fuckin Triple Rock show before I buy my plane ticket so I can plan accordingly.

Now I don’t mean to jinx things and disturb the whatever, high atop the thing and all but being a fuckin’ fan boy, I’m speculatin’ on all possible next steps and it’s really not so far fetched. I mean, the dudes are talkin’ about it themselves and it’s not like I’m sitting around wondering what t-shirt they’re gonna wear to the next show (although Wollard was wearing that same “Virginia is for Lovers” shirt at two shows I went to like 6 months apart), but instead I’m pondering just what the next New What Next is gonna sound like. You know what the fuck I’m talkin’ about?

Hell yes you do. Now check it out cuz I’ve got some thoughts on the matter…

As we know both sides of the split have been fuckin’ incredible. The Draft made songs that made unsuspecting co-workers into fans against their will due to my ridiculous over playing of the myspace page prior to the record coming out, and the Chuck songs just ferment like wine, better and better with time.

So here’s the rub; what does the next Hot Water Music record sound like? Again let me state for the record my diametrically opposing sides of my own inner argument. I’m certainly a little leery about tempting the blah blah from whence it came down the figgity fuckity mountain side but Fan Boy is really winnin’ this one so….I seriously think the new record, is gonna be the best fuckin’ shit in the world ever…ever.

Now all that ridiculous suspense built up is diminished slightly cuz I just came out and said what I’m thinking: The new record could simply be the next “New What Next” and I would love the living shit out of it no matter what I’m sure cause, well after like 10 years I haven’t been anything less than impressed. But what I really think is that it’s like this; imagine you’ve been in a relationship with a great person for the last decade and a half-ish or so, and now after all that it was good, and I mean real good, but for whatever reason it just had to go away for a while, could be mid-life crisis, could be fear of commitment, could just be boredom, could be you just wanna see “what else is out there”. Huh? Sound familiar? Yeah, now he/she moved out you’ve been on countless benders and one night stands, hell maybe you even had a real deal rebound relationship in there; good for you.

But really there’s still that something missing or more so you start to think that it didn’t have to be all or nothin’? So you start maybe with somethin’ simple. Maybe it’s a little myspace message, maybe it’s a forwarded email entitled “some pictures don’t need captions” with girls sitting casually at a bar table, very normal until you notice the beer bottle jutting out the hooh hoo (does your brother send you that ridiculous shit too???).

Whatever the case, however it starts it just explodes, reigniting those old feelings, all the good ones too, and finally you graduate to full fledged emails, then a little text-flirting then real deal actual phone calls where you decide to meet up for drinks and end up going back to your place and having the best make up sex in the world!

It’s old familiarity mixed with rediscovery mixed with the undertones of different lovers making the most vehement brew of love gravy you’ve ever dared to serve at your holiday party. This my friends is what the next Hot Water Music record could hold in store for each and every one of us. It could be the new (insert your favorite HWM record here)! Or it could really be some crazy new rock your fuckin’ faceass/assface off in the most subtle and overt ways possible.

So I guess what I’m sayin is that whatever the new record (please god! If there is one!) portends, be it the new next whatever comes next, or the drippy awesome rediscovery sex music-explosion described above I’m really just pretty sure that I have the best favorite band in the world.