Boris Pelekh: After my old band that I toured with for many years, called Daze, fell apart, I started going through all the compositions that I’ve developed over the years, and put together a solo record. It was kinda like the Foo Fighters’ first record, I played all the instruments, sang all the songs, produced all the stuff on my own. I released it and it got a lot of attention from a lot of my music colleagues, a lot of my friends and fans. And it attracted attention from the industry as well, who requested a show to see the live songs, but I didn’t have a band. So that’s what prompted me to throw together a band and start playing. That is what hey guy is now today.

T3M: One of the songs you’re doing is a cover of Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody.” Why did you choose to tackle that song?

BP: Covering songs is not a goal of mine. However, I’ve always been fascinated with that song. The first time I heard it in high-school I thought it would be fun as a rock riff. When I was putting this record together on my own, that first track was an idea that I wanted to do for a long time, but I wasn’t sure how that vocals would work out. It actually worked out really well. Covering a song is a unique thing. If you’re going to do it, I think you should make such a change to properly implement what you’re doing rather than playing it exactly that same way it was made. The song should be an arrangement and composition of its own.

T3M: Have you received any feedback from Aaliyah’s camp?

BP: Not from them, but a lot of Aaliyah’s fans… I was a little bit worried about it because the whole rock and roll / hip-hop crossover doesn’t always happen smoothly. All the hip-hop people have said it’s a homage and a respectful very well-crafted cover in a completely opposite genre. Overall it’s been a really great response. I haven’t heard from Timbaland yet.

T3M: The song is featured on you EP How To Kill Me?

BP: It goes along with a video now that we shot just about a year ago. We’re going to be re-releasing the video with the song as part of the album package.

T3M: When was the EP released?

BP: February of last year.

T3M: You have a new album coming out?

BP: We have an album coming out in July and we’re super excited about it. It’s basically taking the EP and taking some new material. It has a real band feel to it, as opposed to the EP which was just me playing all the instruments. We recorded it playing all together in one room.

T3M: You were one of the touring members of the Naked Brothers Band and had a chance to work with Michael Wolff. What did you take away from that experience?

BP: So much. I was very very fortunate to be involved in that project. I was originally going through a period of just doing a lot of session work in New York. From the outside, me not knowing much about the project at first, I was thinking it was just another tween, super-trendy, lollipop type of situation. But what I walked into was something I did not expect. The kids were superb musicians… super talented. Michael Wolff is an incredible jazz pianist who offered so much of his advice about the arrangements. It was such a learning environment. I really didn’t expect to join a tween band for touring. The mom of the band is Polly Draper, a famous actress and screen-writer. She is a person who there is a lot to be learned from as well. It was a really great experience. I joined the band at the peak of their fame, so we were playing really large venues. It was quite an adventure.

T3M: Any closing thoughts?

BP: I highly urge everyone to check out the record when it comes out. It’s very interesting. It’s an album of songs, but it listens through like one piece of music, almost like an opera. Our live show is identical to our record, we play it straight through with all the transitions. The live show is really energetic and very creative. We do a lot of crazy things on stage, like beat-box and soloing while eating sandwiches.

T3M: It looks like you guys have a lot of fun.

BP: The whole motto behind Hey Guy is that we play sophisticated music, but we’re just goof-balls.

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