Hot Challenge
Panda
Dangraham

"It's about time San Francisco earned some boy-band cred. After birthing such talented yet disheveled all-male acts like Journey, Grateful Dead, and Dead Kennedys, the city by the bay has not been high on the cute boy-band charts since...well, ever. Historically, it seems the East Bay has been more nurturing ground for mancandy in the music scene (look to Panda, Green Day, and Tony! Toni! Tone! for proof). So imagine my surprise when I witnessed dolled-up PYTs screaming their tonsils out for Hot Challenge at the Great American Music Hall one Saturday night. Behold, San Francisco has finally produced a band with lots of testosterone and sex appeal.

More to my surprise, the angsty, horny, poppy Hot Challenge proved that they could play instruments and sing as well as shimmy in their skinny jeans. As a four-piece, they didn't waste a single sound; fairly evolved melodies hung on simple but sturdy bass lines, and the band fused potentially dolorous prog rock vocals with a more up-tempo feel. The formula worked for the masses: tweeny girls hopped up and down alongside fraternity pledges and pigeon-toed hipsters doing the ol' rhythmic head nod. Just enough synth upheld the general feeling of an electro dance party. " - The Owl Mag


"Hot Challenge is a polished San Francisco indie-techno rock band that has lots of modern elements and sounds reminiscent of Interpol, the Killers, Bloc Party and perhaps a touch of Muse and the Cure.  Infused with all that is a welcome emphasis on catchy choruses that make the band's new EP one of the most digestible records I've heard in a long time. No, really. I actually found myself repeatedly listening to this record when I didn't have to…this is a band that understands that just enough style and substance with good hooks can cross lines and attract a wide fan base. It would be no great stretch to suggest that Hot Challenge is ready for a record deal."

--Contra Costa Times, January 17, 2008