Hot IQs

2004: Wit-pop trio Hot IQs reaches the summit of the Denver underground music community, breaking the top five of Denver Post's annual Underground Bands poll --right behind national act Dressy Bessy. Also in 2004, Hot IQs were nominated as the Best Pop Band in Denver by the Westword. Hot IQs debut album An Argument Between The Brain & Feet was released on Morning After Records. The album has been critically hailed as the "Best Mile High release of 2004" and peaked at #73 on the College Music Journal Charts.

2005 looks to be the indie rock band's break-out year with a phenomenal showing at SXSW, a summer full of touring & shows with the nation's hottest indie bands, and a heavy push on indie retail and specialty commercial radio. Hot IQs are stealing your count chocula, adding ovaltine, and trailblazing their way to the head of the indie rock honor roll.

The beginning: The band started in early 2003 as a simultaneous twinkle in the eyes of former college radio djs, Eli Mishkin (lead vocals, guitar) and Elaine Acosta (drums), and has turned into what critics have called "pure pop pleasure." An exhaustive search of highway truck stops yielded bassist Bryan Feuchtinger, completing the distinctive sound of the young indie rockers.

Sound: Blend classic pop, fuzzed-out rock, and hints of edgy lounge and you have Denver's premier rockers, Hot IQs. With a sound that cites influences from the Pixies, the Kinks, to Archers of Loaf, and possibly the Holiday Inn Lounge Singers' Association of America, Hot IQs put the indie-rock chocolate in your disco peanut butter. Credit their dynamic songwriting, spine-tingling hooks, a rhythm section that thunders with danceable beats, an engaging and passionate live show, their show-stopping good looks, or simply their attractively large brains (ahem) for their quick and growing success.

To date, Hot IQs have shared the stage with The Walkmen, Hot Hot Heat, Louis XIV, The Thermals, AC Newman, Rogue Wave, Crooked Fingers, the Delgados, Earlimart, the Sleepy Jackson, Nada Surf, OZMA, Brian Jonestown Massacre, On the Speakers, Devotchka, Dressy Bessy, Centro-Matic.